Maya Universe in Stone

Stephen Houston is Dupee Family Professor of Social Sciences at Brown University.

"Cultural restitution-in the form of provenancing "orphaned" ancient monuments-is one of the most important endeavors in contemporary archaeology, art history, and epigraphy. In this book a group of leading scholars combine their considerable expertise to show how the meaning and context of a superb work of purloined art can be illuminated and restored."-Simon Martin, Penn Museum and the University of Pennsylvania ;; "A multifaceted and illuminating account of an enigmatic group of looted monuments, this text offers a unique portrait of an eighth-century Maya sculptor and his world. In addition to considering the artistic, political, and cosmological spheres into which the works intervened, it does not shy away from modern realities of looting and the art market, laying out a persuasive case for the origin of these sculptures that will aid in their eventual repatriation."- Claudia Brittenham, Associate Professor of Art History, University of Chicago;; “Houston and his coauthors have written a unique and compelling study of a Classic Maya sculptor, Mayuy. They combine formal, iconographic, epigraphic, and contextual evidence to produce a biography of sorts from four magnificent lintel sculptures done over an extended time period, highlighting the important emergence of self-identification by Maya artists.”—Thomas B.F. Cummins, Director and Professor of Pre-Columbian and Colonial Art, Dumbarton Oaks