Oswaldo Chinchilla

Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos is a professor at Yale University, Department of Anthropology, and formerly professor at the University of San Carlos and curator at the Museo Popol Vuh, Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala. His research focuses on Mesoamerican art, religion, and writing, and he has conducted extensive field research at various sites in Guatemala, focusing especially on the settlement patterns, urbanism, and sculptural art of the Pacific Coastal site of Cotzumalhuapa. He is the author of “Cotzumalguapa, la Ciudad Arqueológica: El Baúl-Bilbao-El Castillo” (2012), a descriptive introduction to the site and its sculptural corpus. His recent work on Mesoamerican religion and art has resulted in a series of innovative papers, and the book “Imágenes de la Mitología Maya” (2011), which examines mythological themes in Maya, in the light of a broad, comparative assessment of relevant sources that include the Popol Vuh and other narratives from all over Mesoamerica. In 2011, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for his work on Cotzumalhuapa art and archaeology. He has published numerous papers and is the author of “Guatemala, Corazón del Mundo Maya” (1999), and “Kakaw: Chocolate in Guatemalan Culture” (2005); editor of “Arqueología Subacuática: Amatitlán, Atitlán” (2011); and coeditor of “The Decipherment of Ancient Maya Writing” (2001), and “The Technology of Maya Civilization: Political Economy and Beyond in Lithic Studies” (2011).