Ian James Alastair Graham OBE (12 November 1923 – 1 August 2017) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Mayanist whose explorations of

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

ruins in the jungles of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, Guatemala, and

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

helped establish the ''Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions'' published by the Peabody Museum of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. Among his related works is a biography of an early predecessor, the 19th-century

Maya explorer

Alfred Maudslay Alfred Percival Maudslay FRAI (18 March 1850 – 22 January 1931) was a British diplomat, explorer, and archaeologist. He was one of the first Europeans to study Maya ruins. He also fully translated and annotated the best version of Bernal ...

Early life and studies

Ian Graham was born 1923 in Campsea Ashe, a village in the East Anglia county of Suffolk,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. His father was Lord Alastair Graham, the youngest son of Douglas Graham, 5th

Duke of Montrose Duke of Montrose (named for Montrose, Angus) is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Scotland. The title was created anew in 1707, for James Graham, 4th Marquess of Montrose, great-grandson of famed James Graham, 1st Marquess ...

. His family also includes relatives in publishing, specifically associated with the ''

Morning Post ''The Morning Post'' was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''The Daily Telegraph''. History The paper was founded by John Bell. According to historian Robert Darnton, ''The Morning Po ...

''.

Education

Graham went to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

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 The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

in which he served for the remainder of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, largely working in radar research and development. After the war his studies were resumed at Trinity College, Dublin from where he completed his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in 1951.

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 The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director of ...

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 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

in 1958 initiated his long involvement with

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

Field work

Graham's field work was responsible for recording and cataloguing the single largest collection of

sculpture, carving and monumental artwork. His photography and drawings at such sites as

Coba Coba ( es, Cobá) is an ancient Maya city on the Yucatán Peninsula, located in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The site is the nexus of the largest network of stone causeways of the ancient Maya world, and it contains many engraved and sculp ...

, Naranjo,

Piedras Negras Piedras Negras may refer to: * Piedras Negras, Coahuila, a city in the state of Coahuila, Mexico ** Piedras Negras Municipality, a municipality in Mexico, with the center in the eponymous city * Piedras Negras (Maya site) Piedras Negras is the ...

Seibal Seibal (), known as El Ceibal in Spanish, is a Classic Period archaeological site of the Maya civilization located in the northern Petén Department of Guatemala, about 100 km SW of Tikal. It was the largest city in the Pasión River region ...

, 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 Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

and illegally and illicitly obtained art and artifacts. Graham was, for many years, involved as a consultant and witness in criminal cases of looted art, including important cases of artifact repatriation.

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 The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

for his work preserving and cataloguing

relics. He received the

Society for American Archaeology The Society for American Archaeology (SAA) is a professional association for the archaeology of the Americas. It was founded in 1934 and its headquarters are in based in Washington, D.C. , it has 7,500 members. Its current president is Deborah L. ...

’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. He was appointed OBE in the 1999 Birthday Honours. Graham published a memoir of his professional life and career, ''The Road to Ruins'', in 2010.

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

References

* *

External links

*
Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions Program at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University

Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions, Volumes 1–9. Published by the Peabody Museum Press and distributed by Harvard University Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Ian 1923 births 2017 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Alumni of Trinity College Dublin British Mesoamericanists MacArthur Fellows Mayanists Mesoamerican archaeologists Mesoamerican artists Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Suffolk Coastal (district) 20th-century Mesoamericanists Royal Navy personnel of World War II British expatriates in Ireland British expatriates in the United States British expatriates in Mexico British expatriates in Guatemala