Sir John Eric Sidney Thompson (31 December 1898 – 9 September 1975) was an English archeologist and Mayanist epigrapher, regarded as the pre-eminent mid-20th century scholar of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. He was generally known as J. Eric S. Thompson in print and Eric Thompson to his colleagues. is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... Mayanist is a term which has been in widespread use from the late 19th century onwards, to refer to scholars who have specialised in research and study of the Central American pre-Columbian Maya civilization. ... The Rosetta Stone in the British Museum. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the Americas continent. ... This article is about the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. ...

Thompson was born in London and studied anthropology at the University of Cambridge. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Anthropology (from Greek: ἀνθρωπος, anthropos, human being; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of humanity. ... The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the worlds most prestigious universities. ...

In 1925 he began working under Dr. Sylvanus Morley of the Carnegie Institution on the archeological project at Chichen Itza. He took his new bride honeymooning through the jungle by mule to make one of the first explorations of the Maya site of Coba. Photograph taken c. ... The Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) is a foundation established by Andrew Carnegie in 1902 to support scientific research. ... Temple of the Warriors Chichen Itza is the largest of the Pre-Columbian archaeological sites in Yucat n, Mexico. ... Coba (Cobá in the Spanish language) is a large ruined city of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. ...

Thompson was, as he himself noted, of the last generation of "generalist" archeologists in the field, engaging in activities from finding and mapping new sites, excavation, study of Maya ceramics, art and iconography, Maya hieroglyphics, some ethnology on the side, and writing books for both technical and lay audiences. Maya ceramics are important in the study of the Pre-Columbian Maya culture of Mesoamerica. ... Maya hieroglyphics is the common name for the system of writing which was used by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of the Mesoamerican region. ... Ethnology (from the Greek ethnos, meaning people) is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyses the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the racial or national divisions of humanity. ...

Thompson conducted a number of excavations at sites in British Honduras (present-day Belize). He was one of the first in the field to investigate and excavate smaller sites in areas away from the elite ceremonial centers, to learn more about the lives of common Maya people. This article is about the contemporary indigenous peoples and cultures who descend from, or remain, speakers of the Mayan languages of southern Mesoamerica. ...

Expanding on the earlier work of John T. Goodman and Juan H. Martinez-Hernandez, (largely neglected by other scholars at the time), Thompson developed the correlation between the Maya calendar and the Gregorian calendar that became generally accepted. The Maya calendar is actually a system of distinct calendars and almanacs used by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and by some modern Maya communities in highland Guatemala. ... The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world. ...

Thompson did considerable work in deciphering of Maya hieroglyphics, especially those related to the calendar and astronomy, as well as identifying some new nouns. He developed a numerical cataloguing system for the glyphs (the T-number system), which, with some expansions, is still used by Mayanists today. He initially supported Morley's contention that history was not to be found in the inscriptions, but changed his position in light of the work of Tatiana Proskouriakoff in the 1960s. A page from the Hindu calendar 1871-72. ... For other uses, see Astronomy (disambiguation). ... Tatiana Proskouriakoff (1909-1985) was a Mayanist. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ...

His attempted decipherments were based on ideographic rather than linguistic principles. In his later years he resisted the notion that the glyphs have a strong phonetic component, as put forward by the Russian linguist Yuri Knorosov. After his death, for a time some younger Maya epigraphers blamed Thompson for holding back what became a very fruitful approach to the glyphs with his forceful and articulate disagreements. This sort of criticism seems, however, to rest on a gross overestimation of the actual power wielded by Thompson. Michael D. Coe, one of the most prominent proponents of the phonetic approach while Thompson was still alive, has said that the degree of hostility was unwarranted. In any case, the value and correctness of the phonetic approach was not so obvious in the 1960s and early 1970s as it would become in retrospect with the later progress in Maya decipherment. Decipherment is the analysis of documents written in ancient languages, where the language is unknown, or knowledge of the language has been lost. ... A Chinese character. ... Broadly conceived, linguistics is the study of human language, and a linguist is someone who engages in this study. ... Phonetic (pho-NET-ic) is a nationwide voicemail-to-text messaging service available for most digital mobile phones in which a subscriber is provided a custom voice mailbox for the purpose of receiving all incoming voice messages as actual transcribed text for reading via short messaging (also known as SMS... Yuri Valentinovich Knorosov (Russian: Юрий Валентинович Кнорозов; b. ... I dont know anything! ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ...

Thompson had an erudite but inviting writing style, often displaying a dry wit. He wrote an autobiography covering his early career in the field, Maya Archeologist.

Thompson was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1975. He died shortly thereafter the same year in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. The British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals personal bravery, achievement or service to the United Kingdom. ... Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor; born 21 April 1926) is Queen of sixteen sovereign states, holding each crown and title equally. ... This article is about the city in England. ... Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs) is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west. ...

External link

• The J.E.S.Thompson collection at the Field Museum, Chicago