Maya archaeology program expands in 2009

Maya Ethnobotany studies continue at FLAAR for 2009

Now that we have a 22-megapixel camera to add to our digital arsenel, we are launching additional projects in high quality photography of Maya ethnobotany. These are long-range programs, but here are some of the initial photographs on waterlily research (much of my PhD dissertation was on this subject), on achiote (a red color to add to cacao), naturally cacao itself; ceiba trees (especially the spines), copal pom, and incense in general (since copal is only one of more than five kinds of Maya incense).

Maya-archaeology.org covers Mayan, Olmec, Teotihuacan art, architecture, deities, hieroglyphic writing and the latest digital photography, 35mm film and flatbed scanner technology for recording the artifacts and pyramid-temple and palace architectural remains of these fascinating ancient civilizations. Our strength is digital photography, especially for professional photography in museums or on archaeological expeditions (lighting, 4x5 inch large format cameras for studio photography as well as are portable for location photography, etc).

To make it easier to figure out what digital imaging hardware and software is best, we offer our experience. Our reviews and recommendations will make it easier for you to equip your entrance into the new millennium of digital imaging (see also www.digital-photography.org). For example, archaeologists can now do all their drawings with a large format color plotter, a digital wide format inkjet printer, instead of by hand.

First rollout of a Quiche urn by Nicholas Hellmuth and Tanja Rathjen, Universidad Francisco Marroquin, urn courtesy of Museo Popol Vuh.

FLAAR expands digital imaging technology training center in Guatemala

FLAAR (USA) has assisted in the development of a non-profit entity in Guatemala to encourage continued programs in studies of Latin American anthropology. The new institute is "Asociacion FLAAR Mesoamerica." The offices are in Zone 15.

FLAAR Mesoamerica is a non-profit research and educational institution formed under the appropriate laws of Guatemala . We have already begun our first projects, which are enhanced programs based on FLAAR (USA's) programs over several decades. The first project is assisting SANK, an indigenous self-help NGO organization in Chisec, Alta Verapaz.

A team from FLAAR, Eduardo Sacayon, Rodrigo Giron, and Dr Nicholas Hellmuth, took their state of the art digital camera equipment to do high quality digital photographs to record diversification of indigenous Mayan agriculture and on eco-tourism. Income from eco-tourism helps local Mayan communities further their goals. FLAAR is pleased to react to the initiative shown by SANK in proposing this collaborative project with FLAAR (USA) and FLAAR Mesoamerica of Guatemala. SANK is a capable NGO working in the Alta Verapaz region of Guatemala.

During 2007, 2008 and already in early 2009 other teams from FLAAR continued our digital photography of Maya ethnobotany, especially of cacao. Presently FLAAR has a staff of 17 people in Guatemala.

Current anthropology projects in Latin America

Anthropology is the broadest term to cover a diverse range of scholarly disciplines that include ethnography, ethnology, archaeology, epigraphy, art and architectural history. In European universities Greek or Roman archaeology is taught either in an institute of archaeology or in art history departments. In Europe the archaeology of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica tends to be taught in a language department or department of “ancient America.” In the US, the archaeology of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico tends to be taught in a department of anthropology. In American departments of archaeology, or departments of art history, the studies tend to focus on Greco-Roman civilizations. Exceptions exist, but the FLAAR director has two degrees in anthropology (Harvard and then Brown University) and then an advanced degree in art history (in Europe, where pre-Columbian iconography happened to be a personal interest to the Kunstgesichte faculty of a university in Austria).

As a result of our international background, at FLAAR we are multi-disciplinary, so we don’t pigeon-hole our anthropological and archaeological research. Our current long-range programs are dedicated to encouraging higher quality digital photographic recording and utilization of higher quality photographs in publication in all fields of anthropology by means of employing advanced digital imaging technology.

Current FLAAR projects in anthropology are well-balanced to reflect current reality in Latin America today: we prefer projects that are meaningful and useful. We also are interested in applying our experience and capabilities in areas that are devoid of applications of sensible digital imaging technology. Our largest on-going anthropological research is dedicated to preparing an encyclopedic inventory of the natural resources of Guatemala, Belize, and adjacent portions of Honduras and Mexico, as well as pertinent parts of El Salvador and Costa Rica that interacted with the Mesoamerican civilizations from 2000 BC through to the time of the Spanish conquest in the 15 th-16 th centuries.

We include under the rubric of natural resources the plants, animals, minerals that were utilized by indigenous peoples in the daily life, rituals, religious beliefs, myths, and trading with other peoples.

• Mayan ethno-botanical research
• Iconography of ethno-zoology
• Inventory of minerals used by pre-Columbian peoples
• Improved photography of hieroglyphic inscriptions as an aid for epigraphers
• Archaeology museum makeover

FLAAR does research to evaluate technology that can assist archaeology and art history

Here Dr Nicholas Hellmuth does test scan of the two halves of the maps of Yaxha, El Peten, Guatemala, mapped by FLAAR in the1970's.

FLAAR has been headquartered on the campus of Bowling Green State University for about seven years now. The advantages are to both parties: FLAAR brings about half a million dollars worth of advanced digital imaging technology: now BGSU is one of perhaps three universities in the world with an 80-megapixel digital camera (the Cruse giclee scanner-camera, all $82,000 worth of it).

FLAAR also has two extremely powerful flatbed scanners, such as a 5700 true optical dpi Kodak CreoScitex EverSmart Supreme. This $45,000 scanner is working on digitizing the 50,000 images in the FLAAR Photo Archive.

FLAAR has an enviable arsenal of digital cameras, such as two 48-megapixel BetterLight large format scan-backs. These are both digital systems that can do rollout photography at extremely high precision. We would like to donate one of these to INAH and provide training to them as well.

All this equipment is available to utilize at reasonable cost-basis to museums and universities in the US and Canada, and to archaeological projects in Mesoamerica. We also have Leica and Nikon 35mm (film, not digital) cameras that we would like to donate to archaeologists in Mexico , Guatemala , Honduras , or Belize who prefer the benefits of film over the downsides of digital.

FLAAR also has more than 23 wide format inkjet printers. We would like to donate our excess printers, again to INAH, or IHAH, or to the archaeologists in Belize, if there is interest. We donated one Epson 5500 desktop printer to the El Mirador Project (of Dr Richard Hansen).

FLAAR Mesoamerica, a separate but obviously related institute, is permanently headquartered in Guatemala, and offers reasonable budget priced but high professional quality digital photography and scanning, both in Guatemala City as well as out on location anywhere in Mesoamerica.

Since BGSU has no anthropology department, and no museum on campus (and since the building that housed the FLAAR Photo Archive and testing facilities for digital imaging equipment was torn down last year), for 2008 FLAAR is looking for a more appropriate home elsewhere for its photo archive of 50,000 images of pre-Columbian artifacts photographed over the last 40 years in museums and collections all over the world.

About a quarter of a million dollars worth of advanced digital imaging equipment is also looking for a new home, such as our most recent addition, a 22-megapixel Phase One P25+ medium format digital camera. Our contact e-mail is ReaderService@FLAAR.org.

FLAAR Photo Archive Re-Activated

FLAAR now has a 5000+ true optical dpi flatbed scanner to scan its Photo Archive.

We are pleased to report that after three years effort we have obtained from Creo a $45,000 flatbed scanner, the absolute top quality brand in the world. This Creo EverSmart Supreme scanner can scan 40 slides at a time. The entire FLAAR Photo Archive has been moved from dead storage in Florida to Bowling Green State University in Ohio to be scanned (to be scanned as soon as funding is available).

As soon as the 50,000 original 35mm, 8,000+ medium format negs, and thousands of 4x5 chromes have been scanned, we will seek a museum, library, or archive either in the US, Canada, or Europe that might wish to acquire the originals. BGSU does not have an anthropology department nor a museum, so we do not intend to house the original negatives here in Ohio.

The FLAAR Photo Archive is one of the largest of its kind in the world and represents over 30 years photography by Nicholas Hellmuth throughout Mesoamerica and in museums from Japan, Europe, Canada, through out Mexico, and Australia. There are probably more photos of Puuc and Chenes architecture in the FLAAR Archive, for example, than in the Carnegie Institution of Washington archives at the Peabody Museum, Harvard.

Universities, departments, libraries, or museums who would like to bid for the original of this archive should communicate with ReaderService@FLAAR.org.

The quality of the originals results from all being shot with the camera firmly on a tripod, with professional lighting, using a Leica for 35mm, Hasselblad for medium format, and Linhof for wide format 4x5.

MUSEO IXCHEL:

Each museum is an ideal classroom, so this web site features four museums. The access possible on the Internet provides an awareness of the educational potential within each museum. Pictured here (to the rigth) is the Museo Ixchel, facing the Museo Popol Vuh. FLAAR is doing photography of the textiles in the Museo Ixchel later this year.

Not only will people of many countries learn about the existence of these museums in these Web pages, but we hope to encourage people to visit these archaeology museums in person when they travel to Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.

This web site

We provide information about Maya Archaeology with links to Maya-Art and Books, digital photography, and cameras and scanning. FLAAR also has additional web sites on wide format printers, scanners and laser printers.

Brought to you by Dr. Nicholas Hellmuth, the Asociación FLAAR Mesoamerica, and the Foundation for Latin American Anthropological Research (FLAAR). 
FLAAR research in pre-Columbian civilizations of Mesoamerica is dedicated to a standard of academic excellence which may be defined as scholarship in the European university tradition. For centuries, academics was based on simple classroom presentations, as we all remember from our own school years. But today, technology impinges upon both student and faculty alike. In the 21st century, digital technology will offer improvement in instructional methods that will make chalk, blackboards, and even slide projectors look like the Paleolithic era. The goal of the FLAAR Digital Imaging Technology Center is to make information available today about the digital imaging tools of scholarly research of tomorrow.

Most recent updated February 4, 2008.
Previously updated April 25, 2005 and July 3, 2006 as well as during 2007.