Stephen Douglas Houston ( ; born November 11, 1958) is an American anthropologist, archaeologist,

epigrapher Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

, and Mayanist scholar, who is particularly renowned for his research into the

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

Maya civilization The Maya civilization () was a Mesoamerican civilization that existed from antiquity to the early modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writin ...

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

. He is the author of a number of papers and books concerning topics such as the

Maya script Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs, is historically the native writing system of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica and is the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered. The earliest inscriptions found which ...

, the history, kingships and dynastic politics of the pre-Columbian Maya, and archaeological reports on several Maya archaeological sites, particularly

Dos Pilas Dos Pilas is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization located in what is now the department of Petén, Guatemala. It dates to the Late Classic Period, and was founded by an offshoot of the dynasty of the great city of Tikal in AD 6 ...

and El Zotz. In 2021, National Geographic noted that he participated in the correct cultural association assigned to a half-size replica discovered at the

Tikal Tikal (; ''Tik'al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the Pre-Col ...

site of the six-story pyramid of the mighty Teotihuacan culture, which replicated its Citadel that includes the original Feathered Serpent Pyramid. Houston is an endowed chair as the Dupee Family Professor of Social Science at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

, and is a professor in the department of anthropology at the university. Houston has collaborated with many of his students and colleagues on projects and publications. He has led investigations at Piedras Negras,

Kaminaljuyu Kaminaljuyu (pronounced ; from Kʼicheʼ language, Kʼicheʼʼ, "The Hill of the Dead") is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization located in History of Guatemala City, Guatemala City. Primarily occupied from 1500 BC to 1200 AD, it has been ...

, and El Zotz, Guatemala. These projects have resulted in new information on the ancient cultures of Mesoamerica.

Biography and career

Stephen Douglas Houston was born in

Chambersburg, Pennsylvania Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Franklin County, in the South Central Pennsylvania, South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Gre ...

and was graduated from Carlisle High School. In 1976, he commenced undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

. From 1978–79 he spent a year as an exchange student at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

, Scotland, where he participated in his first field trips, excavating

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

and

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

sites in counties Offaly and Mayo, Ireland, and at a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

henge A henge can be one of three related types of Neolithic Earthworks (archaeology), earthwork. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ditches ...

near Strathallan, Scotland. Returning to Penn, Houston was graduated ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' in 1980 with a B.A. in anthropology. He then entered the graduate studies program at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, undertaking a

Master of Philosophy A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at leas ...

(Anthropology) research degree, which was awarded in 1983. During this time he took a position of curatorial assistant at the

Peabody Museum of Natural History The Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University (also known as the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History or the Yale Peabody Museum) is one of the oldest, largest, and most prolific university natural history museums in the world. It ...

, followed by a position as a teaching fellow at Yale. Specialising in archaeological and epigraphic Maya studies, Houston participated in several field trips recording Maya

stela A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

e and inscriptions in Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico (

Bonampak Bonampak (known anciently as ''Ake'' or, in its immediate area as ''Usiij Witz'', 'Vulture Hill') is an ancient Maya civilization, Maya archaeological site in the Mexico, Mexican Political divisions of Mexico, state of Chiapas. The site is approxi ...

), and he held the first of various research fellowships. After completing his M.Phil., Houston worked toward completing his Ph.D. in anthropology at Yale, which was awarded (with Distinction) in 1987. During this period he worked as an epigrapher on an archaeological project at the site of Caracol, Belize, and served as director on a project mapping the

site in the Petexbatun region,

Pasión River The Pasión River (, ) is a river located in the northern lowlands region of Guatemala. The river is fed by a number of upstream tributaries whose sources lie in the hills of Alta Verapaz. These flow in a general northerly direction to form the Pa ...

, Guatemala, spending several months at a time in fieldwork for these positions. The work at Dos Pilas was expanded into his dissertation, ''The Inscriptions and Monumental Art of Dos Pilas, Guatemala: A Study of Classic Maya History and Politics.'' Before joining the Brown University faculty, Houston held the Jesse Knight chair at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

. In 2008 the

MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 117 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.6 billion and ...

named Professor Houston as a

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and 30 individuals workin ...

and recipient of a 'genius' award. On 21 July 2011 Houston was awarded the Order of the Quetzal by the president of Guatemala in recognition of his contributions to the study of Maya culture and for promoting knowledge of ancient Mayan culture in the English speaking world. In 2018, he was appointed by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

as the inaugural Jay I. Kislak Chair for the study of the history and cultures of the early Americas at the John W. Kluge Center. Houston is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the archaeology journal '' Antiquity''. He is married to Nancy Dayton Houston and they have two children.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Houston, Stephen D. Mayanists American Mesoamericanists Mesoamerican epigraphers Mesoamerican anthropologists Mesoamerican archaeologists 20th-century Mesoamericanists 21st-century Mesoamericanists Brown University faculty Brigham Young University faculty Yale University alumni 1958 births Living people People from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania alumni MacArthur Fellows Order of the Quetzal