Franco D. Rossi

To what degree were ancient representations revisions of history in their own time? The proposed monograph, "Revisions of Sovereignty," explores this question at the Classic period Maya site of Xultun, Guatemala. It brings archaeology, digital technologies, epigraphy, and art history together to present the complete epigraphic record and updated stela archive of the important site of Xultun, Guatemala for the first time. It expands on original archaeological research about an ancient institute of Maya learning (dated to 750-800CE), and its uniformed order of students and teachers, connecting this school’s inscribed records of niche expertise to highly public, ritualized acts of translation that were performed by leaders and subsequently memorialized in stone. The monograph will not only offer an important new data set to scholars, but also a methodological approach for reconsidering institutional legitimacy and the interplay of privately crafted knowledge and publicly influenced history.