Stephen D. Houston
Dupee Family Professor of Social Science:
Anthropology
Phone: +1 401 863 3251
Stephen_Houston@brown.edu
Research interests: archaeology; kingship and court systems; body concepts in antiquity; writing systems; epigraphy and decipherment; architecture and urbanism; Classic Maya; South America; Europe.
Biography
Born 1958, in Chambersburg, PA; educated at the University of Pennsylvania, A.B. (1980, the University of Edinburgh (Exchange student), and Yale University (M.Phil., 1983, Ph. D., 1987). Prior to Brown served as Jesse Knight University Professor at Brigham Young University. Father of two, spouse Nancy Dayton Houston.
Interests
I am beginning excavations at the Classic Maya city of El Zotz, Guatemala, and have finished five seasons of work at the ruins of Piedras Negras, Guatemala. A book in Maya color concepts and use is in the works, along with another volume on the death or extinction of writing systems, another on Classic Maya civilization. Articles on Maya epigraphy and fieldwork are now in press or in the works.
Degrees
M. Phil, Yale University 1983; Ph.D Yale University 1987
Awards
2004 – Elected Académico Correspondiente, Academia de Geografía e Historia de Guatemala
1999 – Conferencia de Apertura, IX Encuentro, Los Investigadores de la Cultura Maya, Campeche, Mexico
1999 – Land Memorial Lecture, De Young Museum, San Francisco
1996 – Leigh Lecturer, endowed lecture at the University of Utah
1987 – Ph.D. awarded "with Distinction"
1983 – Passed Ph. D. Examinations with Distinction
1980 – Graduated summa cum laude, with Distinction in Major
1980 – Elected to Phi Beta Kappa
1979 – 3 First Class Merits, University of Edinburgh
1976 – Dean's List, University of Pennsylvania
Affiliations
Society for American Archaeology
Advisory board, journals:
Mayab
Antiquity
Ancient Mesoamerica
Latin American Antiquity
Funded Research
2004 – Reinhart Family Trust, for excavations at Piedras Negras ($10,000)
2004 – Kirk and Wolley Family Trusts, for excavations at Piedras Negras ($100,000)
2003 – Kirk and Woolley Family Trusts, for excavations at Kaminaljuyu ($100,000)
2003 – National Geographic Society grant for excavations at Kaminaljuyu ($20,000)
2002 – Kirk and Woolley Family Trusts, for excavations at Piedras Negras ($300,000)
2001 – Ahau Foundation, for lab research at Piedras Negras, Guatemala ($4,000)
2000 – Rust Trust, lab research for Piedras Negras project ($5,000)
2000 – College Research Committee, lab research for Piedras Negras project ($3,500)
2000 – Ahau Foundation, for lab research at Piedras Negras, Guatemala ($6,000)
1999 – Ahau Foundation, for excavations at Piedras Negras, Guatemala ($15,000)
1999 – National Geographic Society, for excavations at Piedras Negras, Guatemala ($25,000)
1999 – ARC grant, BYU, for lab rental and collaborative work at Piedras Negras, Guatemala ($20,000)
1999 – Heinz Foundation, for soil studies at Piedras Negras, Guatemala ($7,500)
1999 – Kirk Family Foundation, for excavations at Piedras, Guatemala ($50,000)
1998 – Ahau Foundation, for excavations at Piedras Negras, Guatemala ($15,000)
1998 – FAMSI, for excavations at Piedras Negras, Guatemala ($60,000), three-year grant
1998 – Rust Fund, for excavations at Piedras Negras ($11,000)
1997 – Ahau Foundation, for excavations at Piedras Negras, Guatemala ($15,000)
1997 – Rust Fund, for excavations at Piedras Negras ($21,000)
1997 – Ashton Family Foundation, for excavations at Piedras Negras ($10,000)
1996 – Ahau Foundation, for excavations at Piedras Negras, Guatemala ($10,000)
1996 – FARMS, for excavations at Piedras Negras, Guatemala ($15,000) (with H. Escobedo)
1996 – Rust Fund, for test-pitting at Piedras Negras, Guatemala ($11,850) (with D. Forsyth)
1996 – FAMSI, for excavations at Piedras Negras, Guatemala ($60,000) (with H. Escobedo)
1995 – Getty Foundation (with Mary Miller, PI, Beatriz de la Fuente, and Karl Taube, Co-PIs; $260,000)
1993-94 – NEH Collaborative Research Project (with David Stuart; $90,000)
1992 – University Research Council Grant ($2,600)
1991 – Mellon Grant for Publication Subvention ($1,000)
1991 – Mellon Grant for Laboratory Research in Guatemala ($4,845)
1989 – National Endowment for the Humanities Project Grant (with Arthur Demarest;
$311,000, matchable)
1988 – H. F. Guggenheim Foundation grant for two years of archaeological excavations in Guatemala (with Arthur Demarest; $50,000, extended for a third year, $25,000)
1988 – National Geographic Society grant for three years of archaeological excavations in
Guatemala (with Arthur Demarest; $96,000)
1987 – Grant in Aid from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Vanderbilt University ($700)
1984 – National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant ($10,000)
1983 – Sigmi Xi grant for archaeological work in Guatemala ($250)
1983 – Hazard Fund grant for archaeological work in Guatemala ($2,500)
