Gerardo Aldana

Professor
Director of Repository for Archaeological and Ethnographic Collections
gvaldana@chicst.ucsb.edu

Contact Phone: 

(805) 893-5713

Office Location: 

1710 South Hall

Education: 

B.S.: University of California, Berkeley, Mechanical Engineering
M.S.: University of California, Irvine, Mechanical Engineering
A.M.: Harvard University, History of Science
Ph.D.: Harvard University, History of Science

Research: 

  • Mayan hieroglyphic history
  • Mesoamerican art
  • Experimental archaeology
  • Science studies
  • Culture theory
  • Indigeneity

Media

Online Presentation:  "K'uk'ulkan and Other Feathered Serpents," The Precolumbian Society of the University of Pennsylvania Museum. December 10, 2022
Podcast on Calculating Brilliance, "Mesoamerican Studies On Air" September 14, 2022
Podcast on Ancient Mayan Astronomy, “What the IF?” August 5, 2022
Online Presentation:  “Quetzalcoatl and the Dresden Codex Venus Table,” Institute for Maya Studies Public Lecture.  July 20, 2022
https://www.instituteofmayastudies.org/gerardo-aldana-july-20-2022/
Online Presentation:  “On the Intellectual Cost of Conquest,” Art, Design & Architecture Museum ‘Amid a Pandemic’ Lecture Series. May 22, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99OV0xpVqsQ

Publications: 

https://ucsb.academia.edu/GerardoAldana

2022

Calculating Brilliance:  An Intellectual History of Mayan Astronomy at Chich’en Itza.University of Arizona Press.

2016

Discovering Discovery: Chich’en Itza, the Dresden Codex Venus Table and 10th Century Mayan Astronomical Innovation. Journal of Astronomy in Culture

2015

"14C and Maya Long Count Dates: using Bayesian modeling to develop robust site chronologies," in Archaeometry, DOI: 10.111/arcm.12200

2011

On Mayan Astronomy and Modern Economics

2011

"On Deciphering Ancient Mesoamerican Foundational Texts: The Challenges of a Non-Logos-Based Creation Narrative" in Foundational Texts of World Literature, edited by Dominique Jullien. Peter Lang, New York.

2011

Tying Headbands or Venus Appearing: New translations of k'al, the Dresden Codex Venus Pages and Classic Period Royal 'Binding' Rituals.

British Archaeological Reports International Series S2239.

2007

The Apotheosis of Janaab’ Pakal: Science, History, and Religion at Classic Maya Palenque. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.