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 eleven 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 – Pedro Francisco SÁNCHEZ NAVA, 2018. El Sol en Chichén Itzá y Dzibilchaltún: la supuesta importancia de los equinoccios en Mesoamérica. Arqueología Mexicana XXV (149): 26–31.
- 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, 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.
- –––––, 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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