A graduate of the University of Cincinnati with degrees in Education and Art, Linda Schele is a native of Nashville, Tennessee. She came to the study of the Maya by chance after a career in teaching Studio Arts at the University of South Alabama. In 1970, she and her husband, David, traveled to Mexico to photograph the Maya ruins in the Yucatan for the University's collection. Almost by accident, the Scheles visited the ruins of the ancient Maya city of Palenque. For Schele, the ruins were a revelation and they led her to focus the rest of her life on the study of the Maya and their culture. Schele often said that the ancient Mayan use of art as a metaphorical agent to depict their cosmological vision was central to her understanding of them.
Between 1975 and 1976, Schele was a Fellow in pre-Colombian Studies at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C. During this time, she worked in conjunction with other scholars and further accelerated the process of Maya hieroglyphic decipherment through major studies of the word order in Maya inscriptions. In 1980, Schele was awarded a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies, and her dissertation, Maya Glyphs: the Verbs, published in 1982, won "The Most Creative and Innovative Project in Professional and Scholarly Publication," an award given by the Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers.
In 1977 Schele founded the Maya Hieroglyphic Workshop at Texas. In 1981 Schele continued her teaching career in the Dept. of Art/Art History at the University and in 1986 she organized a ground breaking exhibition of Maya art.
In the mid-1980s, Schele's academic interest expanded to include the culture of the contemporary Maya. Between 1988 and 1997, Schele, along with Nikolai Grube and Frederico Fahsen, organized and presented 13 workshops on hieroglyphic writing to Maya speaking peoples of Guatemala and Mexico. The goal of these workshops was the re-introduction of hieroglyphic writing and the stimulation of interest in ancient Maya history among the modern Maya. The Maya who were trained in these workshops are now actively engaged in the translation of the writing system of their ancestors. Schele considered this work with her friends in the Maya communities among the most important of her career. On March 21, 1998, Schele was awarded two Diplomas of Recognition by the government of Guatemala, the Museo Popul Vuh and the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in recognition of her work in that country.
Linda Schele died from pancreatic cancer on April 18, 1998. Typically, she continued her work as long as she was able. The night before her final hospitalization she took part in a seminar, in spite of the combined effects of her illness and chemotherapy. She died three days later, surrounded by friends and family. Schele is survived by her husband, David brother Tom Richmond sister-in-law Sandra Jane Quance and father-in-law DeWayne Schele.
Some Books by Linda Schele:
The Code of Kings: The Language of Seven Sacred Maya Temples and Tombs. by Linda Schele and Peter Mathews, with Justin Kerr and MacDuff Everton 1998.
Maya Cosmos : Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path. by David Friedel, Linda Schele, and Joy Parker 1995.
The Blood of Kings : Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. by Linda Schele and Mary Ellen Miller with Justin Kerr 1992.
A Forest of Kings : The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya. by Linda Schele and David Freidel 1992.
The Mirror, the Rabbit, and the Bundle : Accession' Expressions from the Classic Maya Inscriptions. by Linda Schele 1983.
Maya Glyphs : The Verbs. by Linda Schele 1982.
The Bodega of Palenque, Chiapas Mexico. by Linda Schele 1978.
http://www.954.com/AIAsouthFL/schele.html 9\1\98
http://www.halfmoon.org/schele.html 9\1\98
http://www.utexas.edu/opa/news/98newsreleases/nr_199804/nr-scheleobit980420.html 3/07
http://www.saa.org/publications/SAAbulletin/17-5/saa15.html 3/07
Written by students in an Introduction to Anthropology course at MSU-Mankato
Edited 2007