Symposium Registration Fee: $145
Early Bird Registration: $125
Prior to Sept 30, 2006

Includes parking, admission to the symposium, a full buffet breakfast, lunch, and coffee at the break, as well as a speaker reception (with complimentary soft drinks and hors d'oevres) which will provide an opportunity to talk with our guest speakers and other attendees in an informal atmosphere.

NOTE: There will be overflow seating in a second auditorium for this symposium. Unlike the prior event, this will be in a larger nearby room with multi-camera audio feed from the main auditorium. The first 220 registrants will be seated in the main auditorium; the remainder will be in the overflow room. For this reason, early registration is encouraged. Onsite registration will be permissible only if seating is available in the auditorium or the overflow room. (Sorry, no student fee is available for this symposium.)

The Future of Maya Studies & Iconography

Dr. Michael Coe
Emeritus Professor at Yale University

Keynote Speaker Dinner Saturday 5:45pm
Keynote Dinner Cost: $75
Seating is limited - Register early

A Member of the National Academies of Sciences, Dr. Coe is an honored professor, a world-renowned field archaeologist for five decades, and an icon in the field of Mesoamerican history and culture research.  In 2004, he received the prestigious “Order Of The Quetzal” award from the Vice President of Guatemala at our San Bartolo Symposium

Our Keynote event will start with a three-course dinner, featuring Chilean Sea Bass (a signature entrée of the Beckman Center), and will include a selection of California wines. Our speaker, Dr. Michael Coe, will highlight the evening.

Breaking The Maya Code

This event has been cancelled due to production problems

Breaking The Maya Code is based on the best selling book of the same title by Dr. Michael D. Coe. This film tells the 400-year story of the loss and recovery of the ancient Maya hieroglyphic writing system.

The film was shot at over 40 locations in 9 countries. It weaves together over 20 interviews with key Mesoamerican scholars, dozens of animated sequences, and an original musical score to draw the viewer into the extraordinary detective story of the Maya decipherment saga.

The complex and beautiful Maya hieroglyphic script was until recently the world's last major undeciphered writing system. The ancient Maya script was used in Southern Mexico and Central America from about 200 BC, until the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century.

Mesoamerican scholars struggled for centuries to decipher the Maya glyphs, which were written on bark paper books (Codices), carved on public monuments, and inscribed on portable objects of pottery, bone, and jade.

Progress was slow until a dramatic breakthrough occurred in the 1950s. Over the past few decades, an extraordinary and diverse group of epigraphers, historians, archaeologists, linguists, and ethnographers have finally unlocked the secrets of the Maya script. Its decoding has unlocked the secrets of one of mankind's greatest civilizations.

David Lebrun, Co-Producer of the film will provide a brief introduction. After the viewing, there will be a Q & A with the Night Fire Film crew & several Mesoamerican scholars who are featured in the documentary.

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Travel in time back to the world of the ancient Maya. Be entertained and educated by our renowned Maya flute player. An award-winning musician of indigenous Mesoamerican music, Xavier Quijas Yxayotl makes all his ancient instruments according to the traditions of his ancestors.

Experience through your visual and audio senses the spirit of ancient Maya Kings, Priests & people; the calls of the rain forest; and the sounds of nature during this unique performance by a master flute player and musician. Xavier has performed all over the world, including the opening ceremony of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize event in Rome and the 2005 United Nations Gala in New York City.

Located on seven acres adjacent to the University of California at Irvine, the Beckman Center is ideally suited to host what should be a most memorable symposium. The facility operates under the ownership of the National Academy of Sciences and Engineering and offers a retreat-like venue for collaboration in a wide range of pursuits.

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