Head, Research Advisor
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 ten 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, 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.
- 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 – Heinz-Dieter RICHTER – Pedro Francisco SÁNCHEZ NAVA, 2013, El tiempo registrado en el espacio urbano: alineamientos astronómicos en la arquitectura de Tikal, Petén, Guatemala. In: Bárbara Arroyo – Luis Méndez Salinas, eds., XXVI Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, vol. II: 1065–1078. Guatemala: Instituto de Antropología e Historia – Asociación Tikal.
- ŠPRAJC, Ivan, 2011, Astronomy and its role in ancient Mesoamerica. In: David Valls-Gabaud and Alexander Boksenberg (eds.), The role of astronomy in society and culture: Proceedings of the 260th symposium of the International Astronomical Union held at the UNESCO headquarters, Paris, France, January 19-23, 2009, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 87-95.
- ŠPRAJC, Ivan, FLORES ESQUIVEL, Atasta, ČAVAL, Saša, GARCÍA LÓPEZ, María Isabel, MARSETIČ, Aleš, 2010, Archaeological reconnaissance in southeastern Campeche, Mexico: summary of the 2007 field season. Mexicon 32 (6):148-154.
- ŠPRAJC, Ivan, 2009, Lost Cities: Archaeological Quests in the Land of the Maya. Ljubljana: Založba Modrijan.
- ŠPRAJC, Ivan, 2009, Propiedades astronómicas de la arquitectura prehispánica en la isla de Cozumel, Quintana Roo, México. In: Los Investigadores de la Cultura Maya, 18, tomo II: 111-136. Campeche: Universidad Autónoma de Campeche.
- –––––, 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).
Anthropological and Spatial Studies (research program • 1 January 2015–31 December 2020)
Archaeological Reconnaissance in Southeastern Campeche, Mexico (exploration • 1 February 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.
Keywords
Mesoamerica • archaeology • archaeoastronomy • Maya culture
Recognitions & awards
ZRC SAZU gold award, 2002
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