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. Map of Central America Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. ... The term Pre-Columbian is used to refer to the cultures of the New World in the era before significant European influence. ... The Maya civilization is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its spectacular art, monumental architecture, and sophisticated mathematical and astronomical systems. ...

Mayanists working in this specialised field have drawn upon their expertise in many inter-related disciplines: archaeology, linguistics, epigraphy, ethnology, history, photography/art, architecture, astronomy, ceramics, to name but a few. Archaeology, archeology, or archology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... Linguistics is the scientific study of language. ... Epigraphy (Greek, επιγραφή - written upon) is the study of inscriptions engraved into stone or other permanent materials, or cast in metal, the science of classifying them as to cultural context and date, elucidating them and assessing what conclusions can be deduced from them. ... Ethnology (greek ethnos: (non-greek, barbarian) people) is a genre of anthropological study, involving the systematic comparison of the folklore, beliefs and practices of different societies. ... HIStory: Past, Present and Future – Book I is a two-disc album by Michael Jackson released in 1995 by the Epic Records division of Sony BMG. The first disc (HIStory Begins) is a fifteen-track greatest hits (later released as Greatest Hits - HIStory Volume I), while the second disc (HIStory... Photography is the process of making pictures by means of the action of capturing light on a film. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... The Parthenon on top of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece Architecture (from Latin, architectura and ultimately from Greek, αρχιτεκτων, a master builder, from αρχι- chief, leader and τεκτων, builder, carpenter) is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. ... A giant Hubble mosaic of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant. ... [[Image:Conner- Pottery production is a process by which abody, clay mixed with other minerals, is shaped and allowed to dry. ...

The term has particularly been adopted by those who have studied and contributed to the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphics, the complex and elaborate writing system which was developed by the ancient Maya. Decipherment is the analysis of documents written in ancient languages, where the language is unknown, or knowledge of the language has been lost. ... Maya hieroglyphics is the common name for the system of writing which was used by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of the Mesoamerican region. ... Writing systems of the world today. ...

The term was coined by parallel with specialised fields studying other historical civilizations; see for example, Egyptologist (Ancient Egypt) and Assyriologist (Ancient Mesopotamia). A neologism (from Greek νεολογισμός νέος [neos] = new; λόγος [logos] = word) is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (coined) — often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. ... Cities are a major hallmark of human civilization. ... An Egyptologist is any archaeologist, historian, linguist, or art historian who specializes in Egyptology, the scientific study of Ancient Egypt and its antiquities. ... Khafres Pyramid (4th dynasty) and Great Sphinx of Giza (c. ... Assyriology is the historical and archaeological study of ancient Mesopotamia. ... Mesopotamia refers to the region now occupied by modern Iraq, eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and Southwest Iran. ...

Notable Mayanists

• Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg
• Frederick Catherwood
• Désiré Charnay
• Michael D. Coe
• Ernst Förstermann
• Alfred V. Kidder
• Yuri Knorosov
• Diego de Landa
• Teoberto Maler
• Alfred Maudslay
• Sylvanus Morley
• Alice Dixon Le Plongeon
• Augustus Le Plongeon
• Tatiana Proskouriakoff
• Leon de Rosny
• Linda Schele
• John Lloyd Stephens
• Edward Herbert Thompson
• J. Eric S. Thompson
• Jean-Frédéric Waldeck
• Gordon Willey