Principal Research Associate, Professor
Head of the Institute
+386 1 4706 497
Sprajc's interests have been focused on Mesoamerican archaeology and archaeoastronomy. He has accomplished extensive research on the concepts about the planet Venus in the Mesoamerican world view, and on the practical and ritual significance of astronomical orientations in prehispanic architecture. During twelve field seasons of archaeological reconnaissance he directed in the southern part of the Mexican federal state of Campeche, i. e. in the central parts of the Yucatan peninsula, a number of formerly unknown archaeological sites were found, including major centers of ancient regional political organization.
- ŠPRAJC, Ivan, ed., 2023. Ampliando el panorama arqueológico de las tierras bajas mayas centrales: Informe de la temporada 2023. México: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Archivo Técnico.
- ŠPRAJC, Ivan, 2023. Equinoctial Sun and astronomical alignments in Mesoamerican architecture: fiction and fact. Ancient Mesoamerica 34 (2): 281-297.
- ŠPRAJC, Ivan – Takeshi INOMATA – Anthony F. AVENI, 2023. Origins of Mesoamerican astronomy and calendar: Evidence from the Olmec and Maya regions. Science Advances 9 (1): eabq7675.
- ŠPRAJC, Ivan – Aleš MARSETIČ – Jasmina ŠTAJDOHAR – Sara DZUL GÓNGORA – Joseph W. BALL – Octavio ESPARZA OLGUÍN – Žiga KOKALJ, 2022. Archaeological landscape, settlement dynamics, and sociopolitical organization in the Chactún area of the central Maya Lowlands. PLOS ONE 17 (1): e0262921. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262921
- ŠPRAJC, Ivan – Nicholas P. DUNNING – Jasmina ŠTAJDOHAR – Quintin Hernández GÓMEZ – Israel CHATO LÓPEZ – Aleš MARSETIČ – Joseph W. BALL – Sara DZUL GÓNGORA – Octavio Q. ESPARZA OLGUÍN – Atasta FLORES ESQUIVEL – Žiga KOKALJ, 2021. Ancient Maya water management, agriculture, and society in the area of Chactún, Campeche, Mexico. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 61: 101261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2020.101261
- ŠPRAJC, Ivan, ed., 2021. Archaeological reconnaissance in eastern Campeche, Mexico: Chactun, Tamchen, and Lagunita. Middle American Research Institute Publ. 73. New Orleans: Tulane University.
- ŠPRAJC, Ivan, 2016. Lunar alignments in Mesoamerican architecture. Anthropological Notebooks 22 (3): 61–85.
- ŠPRAJC, Ivan – Alejandro CAÑAS ORTIZ – Pedro Francisco SÁNCHEZ NAVA, 2016. Orientaciones astronomicas en la arquitectura de Mesoamérica: Occidente y Norte. Prostor, kraj, čas 12. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC.
- SÁNCHEZ NAVA, Pedro Francisco – Ivan ŠPRAJC, 2015. Orientaciones astronómicas en la arquitectura maya de las tierras bajas. Colección Arqueología, Serie Logos. México: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
- ŠPRAJC, Ivan – Pedro Francisco SÁNCHEZ NAVA, 2015. Orientaciones astronómicas en la arquitectura de Mesoamérica: Oaxaca y el Golfo de México. Prostor, kraj, čas 8. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC.
- ŠPRAJC, Ivan – Peter PEHANI, eds., 2013. Ancient cosmologies and modern prophets: Proceedings of the 20th Conference of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture. Anthropological Notebooks XIX, supplement, Ljubljana: Slovene Anthropological Society.
- ŠPRAJC, Ivan, 2021. Astronomical aspects of Group E-type complexes and implications for understanding ancient Maya architecture and urban planning. PLOS ONE 16 (4): e0250785.
- –––––, 2021. Significado astronómico de los grupos E en la arquitectura maya: Una reevaluación. Prostor, kraj, čas 18, Ljubljana: Založba ZRC.
- –––––, 2020. Lost Maya cities: Archaeological quests in the Mexican jungle. College Station: Texas A&M University Press.
- –––––, 2018. Astronomy, architecture, and landscape in Prehispanic Mesoamerica. Journal of Archaeological Research 26 (2): 197–251.
- –––––, 2001. Orientaciones astronómicas en la arquitectura prehispánica del centro de México. México: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
- –––––, 1996. Venus, lluvia y maíz: Simbolismo y astronomía en la cosmovisión mesoamericana. México: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (Colección Científica 318).
Archaeological Reconnaissance in Southeastern Campeche, Mexico (exploration • February 1, 1996 - )
Ivan Šprajc graduated in archaeology and ethnology at the University of Ljubljana (1982). He obtained his M.A. degree in history and ethnohistory at the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico (1989), and his Ph.D. in anthropology at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (1997). In the 1990s he worked as a researcher of the Mexican Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.