Claude-François Baudez

Claude-François Baudez
Baudez in 2012
Born(1932-12-03)3 December 1932
Died13 July 2013(2013-07-13) (aged 80)
Occupation(s)Mayanist, archaeologist, iconologist
Notable workLost Cities of the Maya

Claude-François Baudez (3 December 1932 – 13 July 2013) was a French Mayanist, archaeologist and iconologist. He was honorary director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, a specialist on the rituals and beliefs of Mesoamerica, particularly of the Maya civilisation.[1]

Career

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In his early years, Claude-François Baudez studied the little-known remains of Mesoamerican civilisations in Costa Rica and Honduras.[2] Since 1971, he has devoted himself mainly to research on the Maya culture. He was co-director of French excavations at the Toniná archaeological site in Mexico, and led the Copán exploration and restoration programme, while studying its sculpture.[3]

He is co-author of Le monde précolombien : Les Mayas, published in the collection “L’Univers des Formes” at Éditions Gallimard; and Les cités perdues des Mayas, a richly illustrated pocket book from the collectionDécouvertes Gallimard”, which has been translated into twelve languages, including English.

Research chronicle

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  • 1957-1960 Costa Rica: Investigations at the Papagayo site in the Valley of Tempisque.
  • 1964-1965 Honduras: Investigations in the Gulf of Fonseca region and in the Valley of Comayagua.
  • 1967-1969 Honduras: Excavation at the archaeological region Los Naranjos (in collaboration with Pierre Becquelin [fr]).
  • 1971-1973 Mexico: Excavation at the Toniná site (in collaboration with Pierre Becquelin).
  • 1977-1980 Honduras: Direction of the Copán Archaeological Project.
  • 1981-1984 Honduras: Annual stays in Copán for in-situ study of its sculptures.
  • 1989 Mexico: Stay in Palenque for in-situ studies of its sculptures.
  • 1990 Costa Rica: Excavations at the Diquís Delta.
  • 1994 Mexico: Iconographic studies at Balamku.

Selected bibliography

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Main temple at Tulum, lithograph by Frederick Catherwood, featured on the cover of Lost Cities of the Maya.
  • Recherches Archéologiques dans la vallée du Tempisque, Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Travaux et Mémoires de l’Institut des Hautes Études de l’Amérique Latine, 1967
  • Amérique Centrale, collection « Archaeologia Mundi ». Nagel Publishers, 1970
  • Co-author with Pierre Becquelin, Le monde précolombien : Les Mayas, collection « L’Univers des Formes » (nº 31). Éditions Gallimard, 1984
  • Co-author with Sydney Picasso, Les cités perdues des Mayas, collection « Découvertes Gallimard » (nº 20), série Archéologie. Éditions Gallimard, 1987 (new edition in 2008)[4]
  • Jean-Frédéric Waldeck, peintre : le premier explorateur des ruines mayas, Hazan, 1993
  • Maya Sculpture of Copán: The Iconography, University of Oklahoma Press, 1994
  • Une histoire de la religion des Mayas : Du panthéisme au panthéon, collection « Bibliothèque Albin Michel de l’histoire ». Éditions Albin Michel, 2002
  • Una historia de la religión de los antiguos Mayas, UNAM, 2004
  • Les Mayas, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2004 (collection « Guide Belles Lettres des civilisations »).
  • La douleur rédemptrice. L'autosacrifice précolombien, Paris, Riveneuve éditions, 2012.

References

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  1. ^ "Claude-François Baudez". babelio.com (in French). Retrieved 2018-02-05.
  2. ^ "Claude-François BAUDEZ" (PDF). cemca.org.mx (in Mexican Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-02-06. Retrieved 2018-02-05.
  3. ^ "BAUDEZ CLAUDE-FRANÇOIS". iesr.ephe.sorbonne.fr [fr] (in French). Retrieved 2018-02-05.
  4. ^ "Les cités perdues des Mayas, collection Découvertes Gallimard (n° 20)". gallimard.fr (in French). Retrieved 2018-02-06.