CURRENT PROJECTS:

The esteemed Corpus Program continues to engage in field research and documentation of new sites for publication. Barbara Fash, appointed director in 2005 in an open search following Ian Graham's announcement of retirement in 2004 and subsequent donation of the archive to the Peabody Museum, has set new CMHI initiatives to reach a broader audience, keep pace with the discovery of new monuments and the growing number of specialists in the field (especially in the countries of origin), enhance accuracy and drawing reliability, and anticipate future uses of Corpus data. These include:

•  This Corpus web page, providing a reliable resource for students and scholars to access the monuments and site maps directly , adding updated text translations and research tools

•  Intitiating 3-D technologies for recording and preserving monuments in electronic formats (See Yaxchilan -Scanning History)

•  Ongoing digitization of the priceless photographic archive for its long-term preservation.

•  Update site listings and the overall Mesoamerican map

•  Institute epigraphic cross checking of drawings (i.e. Chicago Epigraphic Survey model)

•  Assisting with monument conservation in countries of orgin

In the Field

San Bartolo Murals

La Corona and the Search for "Site Q"

Yaxchilan 3-D scanning pilot project

Sites in Active Publication

New sites are being discovered at a rapid pace in the tropical forests of Mexico and Central America. To address the imminent dangers new monuments face once they are revealed, the Corpus Program is actively including the participation of outside researchers to assist with their documentation and preservation and will continue to identify new sites and monuments. Forthcoming publications will contain monuments from theimportant sites of:

Altar de Sacrificios

Copan (Early Classic monuments and the Hieroglyphic Stairway)

Cotzumalhuapa

El Peru

Piedras Negras (second fascicle)

Resbalón

Yaxchilan (stelae)

Archival Management

The Corpus of Hieroglyphic Inscriptions materials are part of accession 2004.15, transferred to the Peabody Museum by Founding Director, Sir Ian Graham in June 2004. The materials are housed in the 4 th floor office ofthe Mesoamerican Laboratory, in the Peabody Museum. On-going projects for cataloging, collections scanning, and re-housing of the archive for its preservation, permanent storage, and researcher availability are coordinated with the PMAE Collection Department. Archival materials are being transferred to climate-controlled facilities in the Peabody Museum's Archive Department, while research files will remain in the Corpus Office for active scholarly use. For the next five years the primary focus of the archival collection management plan will be to:

•  Catalogue and inventory the Corpus materials for PMAE's EmBARK database.

•  Scan and re-house the paper and photographic archives.