J. Eric S. Thompson
Sir John Eric Sidney Thompson KBE (31 December 1898 – 9 September 1975[1]) was a leading English Mesoamerican archaeologist, ethnohistorian, and epigrapher.
In 1915, shortly after the beginning of World War I, Thompson used the assumed name "Neil Winslow" to join the British Army while underage.
With the completion of his degree in 1925 Thompson wrote to Sylvanus G Morley, the head of the Carnegie Institution's project at Chichen Itza, to ask for a job, inquiring about a field position.
In his autobiography, Maya Archaeologist (1936), Thompson referred to the friezes as "a sort of giant jigsaw puzzle made worse by the fact the stones had been carved before being placed in position" accurately describing his first field experience.
It was not until a return trip to Coba that Morley was persuaded by Thompson's readings, marking his emergence as a prominent scholar in the field of Maya epigraphy.
It was the fieldwork at Lubaantun that led Thompson to disagree with Joyce's argument for the early "megalith" and "in-and-out" style of architectural stratigraphy.
The patterns presented by the data from the Petén region and Uaxactun allowed for these sites to fit within the cultural development of the Maya lowlands.
While Thompson continued to publish on chronology, during the 1940s his main goal was to decipher the non-calendric hieroglyphs which composed the majority of the unread texts.
Kidder, Thompson (1943) wrote, A Trial Survey of the Southern Maya Area, describing sites, such as; Kaminaljuyui, Miraflores, and Copan.
He is also responsible for the long-held belief that the Aztecs, a "highly war-like" society according to the text, were directly involved in overthrowing what he thought were priest-rulers.
In his article, A Survey of the North Maya Area, Thompson (1945) describes how researchers ought to employ a historical framework in archaeological studies.
The Transition period 900 A.D. to 987 the Mayanist felt that there were no identifiable pottery types, he remarked on the fall of Chichen Itza, the abandonment of Puuc/Chenes/Rio Bec, and how Mexican influences were becoming stronger.
According to Thompson, the Mexican period marked a decline in Maya civilization and ceramic styles due to conflict between Mesoamerican polities.
He also claimed that the Mexican Absorption Period 1204 A.D. to 1540 was characterized by the abandonment of most major cities, and that artistic innovation only were produced at low levels.
Sails are not represented in prehistoric Mesoamerican iconography or texts, instead, it is theorized that canoes were used as a primary mode of water transportation for the ancient Maya.
[8] Another author Matthew Watson portrays Thompson as a significant figure in Mesoamerican studies, however, in conjunction with Bruno Latour, the author believes that the famous Mayanist, along with Merle Greene Robertson, and Linda Schele used specific techniques known as "mechanical objectivity" and "trained judgement" which essentially reduces the diversity of Maya artistic traditions to that of modernist texts.
Ardren's article claims, "Thompson interpreted the different glyphic phrases or names associated with the younger set as various tides for the same goddess, a deity he had already assumed to represent the moon".
Ardren recognizes that the concept an all-encompassing, unifying female entity is directly influenced by western philosophical movements and androcentric bias.
[10] In tandem with other critics, Marshall J. Becker (1979) reviews Thompson's assumptions about Classic Maya settlement patterns and social structure and how his influence affected later theories regarding complexity in Mesoamerican culture.
Furthermore, Becker characterizes more modern research as integrative, enabling studies to connect emerging insights about Maya urbanization/complexity with supportive archaeological evidence.
Additionally, Becker mentions how defining "limits" often creates interpretive issues for scholars, it is an important observation in a whole range of archaeological settings; still affecting research today.
Thompson proposed that the Maya socially organized themselves around a two-tiered class system; a view prostrated by Harvard academic traditions.
The authors found that divisions between elites and lower classes were not as stark or simply as previously suggested, moreover, there is evidence for a prominent middle-class which Thompson did not consider.
Ultimately, Thompson did not have access to accurate population estimates or entire maps of settlement patterns, making it difficult for him to assess realistic organizational principles of the Maya.
He draws attention to the ancient Maya tendency to "abandon" a hut after the death of its owner which may invariably skew population estimates.
In Systems of Hieroglyphic Writing in Middle America and Methods of Deciphering Them, the famed Mayanist critiqued some of the historical inconsistencies associated with Diego de Landa's informants.
As he himself noted, he belonged to the last generation of "generalists", engaging in activities ranging from finding and mapping new sites and excavation to the study of Maya ceramics, art, iconography, epigraphy, and ethnology (on the side).
