Ian Graham

Ian James Alastair Graham OBE (12 November

OBE
1923[1] – 1 August 2017)[2] was a British Mayanist
whose explorations of Maya ruins in the jungles of Ian Graham
Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize helped establish the
Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions published
by the Peabody Museum of Harvard University.
Among his related works is a biography of an early
predecessor, the 19th-century British Maya explorer
Alfred Maudslay.

Early life and studies

Born Ian James Alastair Graham
Ian Graham was born 1923 in Campsea Ashe,[3] a
November 12, 1923
village in the East Anglia county of Suffolk,
England.[4] His father was Lord Alastair Graham, the Died August 1, 2017 (aged 93)
youngest son of Douglas Graham, 5th Duke of Nationality British
Montrose. His family also includes relatives in
Academic background
publishing, specifically associated with the Morning
Alma mater Trinity College, Oxford
Post.[5]
Trinity College Dublin

Education
Graham went to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1942 as an undergraduate in physics, but his studies were
put on hold the following year when he left to enlist in the Royal Navy in which he served for the
remainder of World War II, largely working in radar research and development.[5] After the war his
studies were resumed at Trinity College, Dublin from where he completed his bachelor's degree in
1951.[6]

Early career
Graham’s first research position was a three-year project funded by the Nuffield Foundation and working
in the small Scientific Department of The National Gallery in London. The objective of this was to study
the penetration and swelling of paint films and varnishes by solvents. Following the successful
completion of the project, in 1954 he felt he needed work with a broader scope. During the three years he
had enjoyed a vivid social life[7] and the many connections this led to allowed him to take up
photography semi-professionally and embark on extensive travels. These activities gave rise eventually to
two books illustrated with his photographs. A visit to Mexico in 1958 initiated his long involvement with
Maya archaeology.

Field work
Graham's field work was responsible for recording and cataloguing the single largest collection of Maya
sculpture, carving and monumental artwork.[8] His photography and drawings at such sites as Coba,
Naranjo, Piedras Negras, Seibal, Tonina, Uaxactun, and Yaxchilan, created an original, highly detailed
record of these (and other) sites; documentation that is still utilized as legal evidence, preventing the sale
of looted and illegally and illicitly obtained art and artifacts.[9] Graham was, for many years, involved as
a consultant and witness in criminal cases of looted art, including important cases of artifact
repatriation.[10]

Professional achievements and honors

In 1968 Graham founded the Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphics Program at Harvard University’s Peabody
Museum, joining the museum fully in 1970. In 1981, he became a MacArthur Fellow[11] for his work
preserving and cataloguing Maya relics. He received the Society for American Archaeology’s Lifetime
Achievement Award in 2004. He was appointed OBE[12] in the 1999 Birthday Honours.

Graham published a memoir of his professional life and career, The Road to Ruins, in 2010.[13]

Selected bibliography
Wheeler, Sir Mortimer and Graham, Ian, Splendours of the East, Weidenfeld and Nicolson,
London 1965.
Graham, Ian. Archaeological Explorations in El Peten, Guatemala. Middle American
Research Institute, Tulane University, 1967.
Nicolson, Nigel and Graham, Ian, Great Houses, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1968.
Also as Great Houses of the Western World, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York 1968.
Graham, Ian. "The Ruins of La Florida, Peten, Guatemala." Monographs and Papers in
Maya Archaeology 1 (1970): 427-455.
Graham, Ian. The Art of Maya Hieroglyphic Writing, 1971.
Graham, Ian, Patricia Galloway, and Irwin Scollar. "Model studies in computer seriation."
Journal of Archaeological Science 3.1 (1976): 1-30.
Graham, Ian. "Spectral analysis and distance methods in the study of archaeological
distributions." Journal of Archaeological Science 7.2 (1980): 105-129.
Graham, Ian. Yaxchilan. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 1982.
Graham, Ian, and Peter Mathews. Corpus of Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions. Vol. 6. Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Publications Department, 1983.
Von Euw, Eric, and Ian Graham. Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions: Xultun, La
Honradez, Uaxactun. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University,
1986.
 Kamal, Omar S., et al. "Multispectral image processing for detail reconstruction and
enhancement of Maya murals from La Pasadita, Guatemala." Journal of Archaeological
Science 26.11 (1999): 1391-1407.
Graham, Ian, Alfred Maudslay and the Maya: A Biography. Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press 2003.
Stuart, David, and Ian Graham. Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions. Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 2003.
Carter, Elizabeth A., et al. "Raman spectroscopy applied to understanding Prehistoric
Obsidian Trade in the Pacific Region." Vibrational Spectroscopy 50.1 (2009): 116-124.
Graham, Ian, The Road to Ruins. University of New Mexico Press 2010.

Notes
1. date and full name information sourced from Library of Congress Authorities data, via
corresponding WorldCat Identities linked authority file (LAF) (https://www.viaf.org/viaf/lccn/n
79-106106).
2. "INAH lamenta muerte del epigrafista inglés Ian Graham, especialista en jeroglíficos mayas
- Televisa News" (http://noticieros.televisa.com/ultimas-noticias/nacional/2017-08-01/inah-la
menta-muerte-ian-graham-mayas/). Televisa News (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved
2 August 2017.
3. Alternative spelling: Campsey Ash
4. Dorfman & Slayman 1997: 50
5. "Ian Graham, the improbable explorer | TLS" (http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article77197
0.ece). www.the-tls.co.uk. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
6. Dorfman & Slayman 1997: 50–51
7. Mills, John, Which Yet Survive. Impressions of Friends, Family and Encounters, Quartet
Books, London, 2017
8. "Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions" (https://www.peabody.harvard.edu/cmhi/).
www.peabody.harvard.edu. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
9. "El Zotz Lintel 1 « Trafficking Culture" (http://traffickingculture.org/encyclopedia/case-studie
s/el-zotz-lintel-1/). traffickingculture.org. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
10. "Maya 'Fresco' Fake « Trafficking Culture" (http://traffickingculture.org/encyclopedia/case-stu
dies/maya-fresco-fake/). traffickingculture.org. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
11. "MacArthur Foundation" (https://www.macfound.org/fellows/81/). www.macfound.org.
Retrieved 6 November 2017.
12. "BBC NEWS" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/06/99/queens_birthday_honou
rs/366666.stm). news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
13. "The Road to Ruins by Ian Graham | Peabody Museum" (https://www.peabody.harvard.edu/
node/671). www.peabody.harvard.edu. Retrieved 8 December 2015.

References
Dorfman, John; Andrew L. Slayman (Summer 1997). "Maverick Mayanist" (http://www.archaeolo
gy.org/9709/abstracts/graham.html) (online abstract). Archaeology. 50 (5). New York:
Archaeological Institute of America: 50–60. ISSN 0003-8113 (https://search.worldcat.org/iss
n/0003-8113). OCLC 86456041 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/86456041).
Museo Popol Vuh (n.d.). "Sr. Ian Graham: Orden del Pop 2001" (https://web.archive.org/web/20
100818181054/http://www.popolvuh.ufm.edu/eng/popgrahan.htm). Orden del Pop.
Guatemala City: Museo Popol Vuh, Universidad Francisco Marroquín. Archived from the
 original (http://www.popolvuh.ufm.edu/eng/popgrahan.htm) on 18 August 2010. Retrieved
14 December 2009.

External links
Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions Program at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology
and Ethnology, Harvard University (http://www.peabody.harvard.edu/node/24) Archived (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20110927062939/http://www.peabody.harvard.edu/node/24) 27
September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions, Volumes 1–9. Published by the Peabody Museum
Press and distributed by Harvard University Press (http://www.hup.harvard.edu/results-list.p
hp?collection=1210)

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