Maya Astronomer Named, and Controversy Over Utah Monuments and Smithsonian Signage - Ep 335

In today’s archaeology news episode, we discuss three articles, starting with a discovery at the Maya city of Xiulán, Guatemala: a small room interpreted as a scribe/astronomer workspace with 11 hieroglyphs naming Sak Ton Wax (“white-chested fox”) and more than 50 mathematical “micro texts” tracking Venus and Mars as the author. We then cover a report that President Trump reduced Grand Staircase–Escalante and Bears Ears by nearly three million acres, opening lands to mining and ending the Bears Ears Commission’s tribal co-stewardship. Finally, we discuss a report on an executive order to post warnings outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History about “inaccurate information,” and we argue it politicizes history and promotes alternative narratives.

Links

Segment 1

• Archaeologists decipher the name of a Maya astronomer for the first time (nationalgeographic.com/history/article/first-m…)

• Meet Sak Tahn Waax, a Maya Math Whiz Who Lived More Than 1,000 Years Ago and Left Behind a ‘Really Elegant, Complex’ Formula (smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/meet-sak-tahn-wa…)

Segment 2

• President Trump drastically shrinks 2 Utah national monuments — again (apple.news/AL9xUYzdWTWioCLPAyi_4Lw)

Segment 3

• Trump orders signage warning visitors of ‘inaccurate information’ at Smithsonian (nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trum…)

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Chris Webster

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Rachel Roden

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