From the Fields to the Palaces of the Prehistoric Maya: Hono(u)ring the Contributions of the late Peter D. Harrison

As a young archaeologist Peter Harrison's main interest was in ancient Egypt, but a trip to Tikal at the age of 19 changed everything. He received his BA and MA in Anthropology from the University of Toronto and his PhD from Pennsylvania in association with the Tikal Project. He spent four years working on the Pennsylvania Tikal Project with a focus on the Central Acropolis. Subsequent fieldwork included the Uaymil Survey Project in Quintana Roo, Mexico, and groundbreaking research on Maya agriculture at Pulltrouser Swamp, Belize. His numerous publications on the Maya span more than fifty years and a wide variety of topics, including Maya palaces, architecture, settlement patterns, agriculture, and hieroglyphs, to name a few, and can be found in the bibliographies of virtually every publication on the prehistoric Maya. Additionally, beyond his intellectual contributions to Maya archaeology, Harrison established a foundation to help fund the work of young scholars. His sudden passing in 2013 has left a void in Maya archaeology, professionally and personally, and in this session we hono(u)r his numerous contributions to our discipline.