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Dmitri Beliaev

Russian State University for the Humanities, Knorozov Center for Mesoamerican Studies, Faculty Member

National Research University Higher School of Economics, International Center of Anthropology, Faculty Member

Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology Russian Academy of Science, Department of America, Senior Research Fellow

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Papers by Dmitri Beliaev

Yokel, el reino maya clásico del occidente de Petén: los datos epigráficos

37 Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala 2024, 2025

Yokel was one of the less known Classic Maya polities of the Southern Lowlands. Its center was lo... more Yokel was one of the less known Classic Maya polities of the Southern Lowlands. Its center was located at the site of Huacutal, 19 km to the northwest from San José. Until now rare mentions of Yokel in the epigraphic sources were dated to the Late Classic and indicated that ruling lineage was founded in late 7th century AD. New analysis of the Early Classic texts from Tikal redocumented by Atlas Epigráfico de Petén project demonstrated
that Yokel dynasty existed already in the 5th century AD and was allied to Tikal. It is possible that in that time the center of Yokel was not located at Huacutal but in sorne unknown site in the western Peten.

La unidad política de Itsimté en el Clásico Tardío: nuevos datos epigráficos

35 Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala 2022, 2023

Itsimte or Itzimte (Itsimte-Sacluk) is a Maya archaeological site situated in the municipality of... more Itsimte or Itzimte (Itsimte-Sacluk) is a Maya archaeological site situated in the municipality of La Libertad, Department of Petén, Guatemala. It is known from the beginning of the 20th century, but only once was excavated by the team of Atlas Arqueológico de Guatemala under the direction of Hector Mejía in 2002. Atlas Epigráfico de Petén Project since 2013 started new documentation of monumental corpus of Itsimte. Using these data, it became possible to reconstruct Late Classic history of Itsimte polity and to define its place within the system or hierarchical political relations that encompassed Sothern Maya Lowlands in the Late Classic, as well as to trace its relations with neighboring polities, including Ik'a' (Motul de San José), Hixwitz (Zapote
Bobal) and Itzan.

New data, new interpretations: Dzibanche monuments through the lenses of a 3D scanner

Ancient Mesoamerica, 2024

This article presents some preliminary results of the first field season of 3D documentation of b... more This article presents some preliminary results of the first field season of 3D documentation of buildings, monuments, and portable artifacts from the archaeological site of Dzibanche in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Documentation took place at Dzibanche, in the INAH regional research center in Chetumal, and in the Maya Museum of Cancun. Part of the resultant corpus of imagery and inscriptions has not been previously disseminated in academic literature. The analysis of published texts and iconography has benefited from higher resolution and visualization tools made possible by 3D digitization. The presentation proposes several updates to the published interpretations of Dzibanche monuments, and it highlights how new additions to the corpus expand our understanding of Dzibanche's political history and ideology.

El desciframiento de la escritura maya por Yuri Knórosov en la prensa mexicana de los años 1950

Antrópica. Revista de ciencias sociales y humanidades, 2025

El artículo está dedicado a la presentación del desciframiento de la escritura jeroglífica maya p... more El artículo está dedicado a la presentación del desciframiento de la escritura jeroglífica maya por Yuri Knórosov en México en la década de 1950. Se analizan los materiales de los diarios como El Nacional, El Universal, Excélsior, El Informador, etc., desde 1952 hasta 1957. Los periodistas mexicanos y los expertos consultados expresaron opiniones tanto favorables como críticas. La discusión activa en la prensa mexicana contribuyó no solo a la divulgación de los conocimientos sobre la cultura maya, sino también a la creación de una nueva visión de la Unión Soviética como país moderno, con sus aportaciones en ciencia y tecnología.

Dominio teotihuacano y sumisión maya pintados en la pared. Nueva interpretación y desciframiento de mural del edificio B-XIII de Uaxactun

XXXIII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2019, 2020

There are few Mayan murals known so far, in the case of the site Uaxactun, there are the painted ... more There are few Mayan murals known so far, in the case of the site Uaxactun, there are the painted scenes of the Building B-XIII. However, at the beginning of its discovery, the interpretations were minimal and incomplete, since at that time it was not possible to read the glyphs and the context of their iconography was not understood. However, a copy of the murals was preserved, albeit inaccurately. Unfortunately, due to the destruction of the original and the difficult access to a couple of photographs kept in the archives of the Carnegie Institution, the investigation of this mural was forgotten, despite being an extremely important source of the Teotihuacán domination over the Petén. Therefore, in the following paper we try to identify the protagonists of the mural, giving them back their historical identity, looking for the meaning of these painted scenes. In spite of the difficulties of the Early Classic inscriptions, this research is an effort to try to reconstruct the message and its historical context.

Late Classic Maya Vase with the mention of Sihyaj K'ahk' from the Museo VICAL, Casa Santo Domingo, Antigua Guatemala

Mexicon. Zeitschrift fur Mesoamerikaforschung, 2017

In November 2013, a team of the Atlas Epigráfico de Petén project consisting of Dmitri Beliaev an... more In November 2013, a team of the Atlas Epigráfico de Petén project consisting of Dmitri Beliaev and Camilo Luin visited the Museo VICAL at the Casa Santo Domingo in Antigua Guatemala and its repository. Among the stored ceramics was documented an unprovenanced Late Classic ceramic vessel (registered with IDAEH as No. 1.2.75.390) which stands out because of its scene and inscription.

Dos vasijas mayas desconocidas de la colección del Museo Popol Vuh

Mexicon. Zeitschrift fur Mesoamerikaforschung, 2018

En las reservas del Museo Popol Vuh de la Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala, tuvimos la ... more En las reservas del Museo Popol Vuh de la Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala, tuvimos la oportunidad de fotografiar dos vasijas mayas hasta ahora desconocidas (MPV 7097 y MPV 7098, respectivamente). Ambos objetos presentan textos jeroglíficos identificados como fórmulas dedicatorias o secuencias primarias estándar.

La cerámica estilo Códice del Museo Popol Vuh

BOLETÍN DEL MUSEO CHILENO DE ARTE PRECOLOMBINO, 2024

The Popol Vuh Museum at the Universidad Francisco Marroquín houses one of the largest atlas of Pr... more The Popol Vuh Museum at the Universidad Francisco Marroquín houses one of the largest atlas of Pre-Hispanic and Colonial Art in Guatemala. It was founded in 1977 by Jorge and Ella Castillo, who donated their collection to make it accessible to researchers and the public. The current facilities opened on the university campus in 1997 as part of a cultural complex that includes the Museo Ixchel del Traje Indígena and the Juan Bautista Gutiérrez Auditorium. In this article, we will present examples of Codex Style ceramics from the museum's collection to contribute to the investigation and dissemination of Pre-Hispanic Maya cultural heritage.

Western Foreigners in the Dresden Codex

Nielsen, J & Helmke, C (eds) 2013, The Maya in a Mesoamerican Context: Comparative Approaches to Maya Studies : proceedings of the 16th European Maya Conference, Copenhagen, December 5-10, 2011. Acta Mesoamericana, vol. 26, Verlag Anton Saurwein, Markt Schwaben, 2013

This article reviews the currently known references to ts'ul 'foreigners' in ancient Maya hierogl... more This article reviews the currently known references to ts'ul 'foreigners' in ancient Maya hieroglyphic texts and the Codex Dresden in particular, as well as its varying glyphic spellings. Special attention is given to the research history of the syllabogram ts'u, among them the different readings and inrerpretations first offered by Yuri Knorozov. An examination of early colonial sources such as Yukatek dictionaries, suggests that originally the term ts'ul was used generically for non-Yukatek peoples by the scribes of the Dresden Codex, but also indicate that a semantic change in the meaning of the word took place due to the presence of politically and economically powerful Nawa-speaking peoples in the Yucatan peninsula. Thus, ts'ul became a term also used for 'Nawa-speaking person' as well as for 'master, chief'.

Yuri Knorozov y las escrituras antiguas

Arqueología Mexicana, 2022

Contexto histórico-epigráfico de una nueva estela y otros resultados de las nuevas excavaciones en el sitio arqueológico Tz'ibatnah, Petén, Guatemala

by Dmitri Beliaev and Iveta Puchovanova

35 Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala 2022, 2023

As part of the investigations of the Uaxactun Regional Archaeological Project, investigations con... more As part of the investigations of the Uaxactun Regional Archaeological Project, investigations continued at the Tz'ibatnah archaeological site in the Northeast Peten. Ihis site is located south of the Mirador-Rio Azul National Park, an area that runs from the northern limits of the Uaxactun village concession and reaches beyond the Guatemala-Mexico border. The settlement was located on a high area of up to 200 meters above sea level, on whose plateau large groups of structures dating from the Preclassic to the Terminal Classic were built. This area was investigated for the first time in 2010, by the Uaxactun Project. The most important find was the discovery of "The House of Paintings" by Dr. Milan Kovac, named for its geometric paintings,
handprints and 160 graffiti found on the walls of the main room of the structure. Due to the importance and magnitude of this site, excavated in the 2010, 2011 and 2015 seasons, it was decided to return in the 2021 field season. The results were satisfactory, since the first stela of the site was found, named Stela 1 de Tz'ibatnah. Its reading, offerings and archaeological context provide important data to understand this city. In addition, the new excavations better define several elements of its history, from the management of water in the Preclassic period.

New Evidence of K'inich Muhk, A Tonina Lord from the End of the Sixth Century

The PARI Journal. A quarterly publication of the Ancient Cultures Institute, 2022

The dynastic history of Tonina during the sixth century remains little known. Nonetheless, a hand... more The dynastic history of Tonina during the sixth century remains little known. Nonetheless, a handful of early monuments allow us to outline the events of this period, including the succession of rulers, the dedication of monuments, armed conflicts with other cities, and a series of significant rituals such as the visiting of ancestral tombs. In the present study we attempt to further elucidate this research gap by presenting a series of monuments related to K’inich Muhk, a previously overlooked king of Tonina.

La vasija de travertino del Museo Popol Vuh

by Camilo Alejandro Luin, Sergei Vepretskii, and Dmitri Beliaev

XXXIV Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2021

Recent finds and research concerning objects made from travertine have revealed new information i... more Recent finds and research concerning objects made from travertine have revealed new information in the field of epigraphic studies. Few hieroglyphic texts carved on that material have been discovered; these constitute a limited corpus among the inscriptions from the western Maya lowlands. The vessel presented in this paper is the longest example known to this date and contains a mythological text dealing with fire rituals aiming at securing the continuity of time, carried out during the las five days of the year in the month called wayeb.

Proyecto "Atlas Epigráfico del Petén": Resultados de temporada de 2019

by Dmitri Beliaev and Sergei Vepretskii

34 Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueologicas en Guatemala (2021), 2022

During the 6th phase of the project “Atlas Epigrafico de Petén" (June, 2019) the documentation of... more During the 6th phase of the project “Atlas Epigrafico de Petén" (June, 2019) the documentation of the hieroglyphic inscriptions of the secondary sites of Peten continued. The fieldwork focused in the region of Peten lakes, first of all at the site of Yaxhá. The monuments preserved in the museums and storages of Dolores and Melchor de Mencos were documented too. They included inscriptions from various sites like Akte, El Chal, Itzimte, Machaquilá, Naranjo, Ucanal etc.

La primera guerra maya: evidencias epigráficas sobre el conflicto entre Tikal y Uaxactun en el Clásico Temprano

by Dmitri Beliaev, Alexander Safronov, and Jakub Špoták

34 Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueologicas en Guatemala (2021), 2022

The history of the war conflicts between Early Classic Maya polities in the epigraphic records st... more The history of the war conflicts between Early Classic Maya polities in the epigraphic records starts with the “Entrada” of the teotihuacanos in AD 378. Previous interpretations of this event as a war between Tikal and Uaxactun proposed by Peter Mathews is outdated. However, the revision of the Early Classic texts from Uaxactun (Stelae 18 and 19) and Tikal (Stela 39) proves that the Tikal victory over Uaxactun did take place, but should be dated earlier, ca. AD 375. Probably the expansion of Tikal provoked the alliance between various Maya dynasties from Petén with Teotihuacan that led to the invasion od Sihyaj K’ahk’ and the establishment of so-called “New Order” in the Central Maya Lowlands.

A Syllabic Sign for [pe] in the Classic Maya Inscriptions

by Dmitri Beliaev and Albert Davletshin

Revista Española de Antropología Americana, 2022

The paper is dedicated to the "Rabbit Head" sign in Maya hieroglyphic writing. It is possible to ... more The paper is dedicated to the "Rabbit Head" sign in Maya hieroglyphic writing. It is possible to establish its phonetic reading value pe thanks to two observations-the sign is optionally combined with the syllable 'e in the name of La Mar kingdom and bears resemblance to Diego de Landa's sign for the letter "p". This syllabic value pe results in the reading of La Mar as pe[pe]'tuun and identification of two verbal roots: pek-"to summon, call up" and kop-"to roll up, coil". The former one is used to describe convocation of the subjects before the king and invoke gods. The word 'u-kope'm "his rolledup one" is a term for "bloodletting rope", also used as part of a metaphorical "father's child" parentage statement.

Inscripciones jeroglíficas mayas misceláneas sobre cerámica del Clásico Temprano en el Parque Nacional Tikal, Guatemala

Arqueología Iberoamericana, 2021

The “Epigraphic Atlas of Peten, Phase I” project, carried out in 2013, was oriented to the docume... more The “Epigraphic Atlas of Peten, Phase I” project, carried out in 2013, was oriented to the documentation and analysis of Maya inscriptions preserved in Tikal National Park. During the field work with the ceramic collections of the Tikal Conservation and Research Center (CCIT), were re-documented several fragments with hieroglyphic texts that had not received much attention from epigraphists until now. One of them provides information on the dynastic account of an unknown royal lineage from the Peten, and another contains the earliest mention of the enigmatic title ‘tumam’.

Two Vessels from Xultun Workshops in the Tikal Center for Conservation and Research

by Sebastián Matteo and Dmitri Beliaev

Research Notes (23), Textdatenbank und Wörterbuch des Klassischen Maya, 2021

During the past decade the corpus of inscriptions pertaining to the Baax Witz court of Xultun has... more

A Sacrificial Sign in Maya Writing

MAYA DECIPHERMENT: IDEAS ON ANCIENT MAYA WRITING AND ICONOGRAPHY, 2020

https://mayadecipherment.com/2020/06/20/a-sacrificial-sign-in-maya-writing/

UAXACTUN AFTER THE CONQUEST BY TEOTIHUACANOS AS TOLD BY THE MURAL FROM PALACE B-XIII

by Milan Kovac, Dmitri Beliaev, and Alexander Safronov

Contributions in New World Archaeology 13/2019, 2019

The present study deals with the mural of Structure B-XIII of the archaeological site of Uaxactun... more The present study deals with the mural of Structure B-XIII of the archaeological site of Uaxactun in Guatemala. Although this mural was found in 1937 and initially aroused much interest, it does not appear in recent works, given its destruction a few years after its discovery. Many new discoveries in the Maya area have been made and this old one has been burdened with interpretations that are far from the current state of the art. So, we have decided to reinitiate the investigation, digitally recreate the mural on the basis of photographs from the time of its discovery and reattempt to understand its meaning by analysing the image, hieroglyphic writing, and calendric record. We summarise the results and place these in a historical context that allows us to combine new mural data with those that we have obtained from the stone monuments of Uaxactun using modern technology. The results shed light on a critical period of Maya history shortly after the so-called Entrada associated with Teotihuacan.

Resumen
El estudio comenta el mural del Palacio B-XIII del sitio maya Uaxactún, en Guatemala. Aunque dicho mural fue encontrado ya en 1937 e inicialmente llamó mucha atención, no aparece en los trabajos recientes. Se han producido muchos descubrimientos nuevos en el área maya y este hallazgo antiguo se ha quedado medio olvidado, con interpretaciones que están lejos de los ultimos avances. Por lo tanto, hemos decidido reconstruirlo, volver a pintarlo digitalmente de nuevo sobre la base de las fotografías de época y una vez más tratar de comprender su significado, estudiando la imágen, el texto glífico y el registro de calendario. Analizamos los resultados y los colocamos en un contexto histórico que nos permite combinar los nuevos datos sobre el mural con los datos que hemos obtenido de los monumentos de piedra de Uaxactún, utilizando una tecnología avanzada. Los resultados arrojan más luz al período crítico de la historia maya poco después de la llamada Entrada asociada con Teotihuacán.