Yuri Knorosov

Yuri Valentinovich Knorosov (Russian: ???? ???????????? ????????; b. November 191922 ? d. March 31 1999) was a Russian linguist, epigrapher and ethnographer, who is renowned for the pivotal role his research played in the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphics.

Later life

As his theories became more widely known, Knorosov was in 1956 granted leave to attend an international convention of Mesoamerican scholars in Copenhagen. This was to be his one and only venture outside the Soviet Union for quite some time, since as a Soviet academic, Knorosov was subject to the usual restrictions placed on travel outside of the Soviet Union. Over subsequent years western Mayanists needed to travel to Leningrad to meet up with him. It was not until 1990 that he was eventually able to leave Russia again and finally visit the ancient Mayan homelands and archaeological sites in Mexico and Guatemala. This was at the invitation of the Guatemalan President Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo, at a time of improved diplomatic relations between the two countries. Cerezo presented him with an honorary medal, and Knorosov was able to extend his stay in the region, visiting several of the important Maya sites such as Tikal. However, shortly after Vinicio Cerezo left office, Knorosov received threats from suspected right-wing militarist groups who were antagonistic to the indigenous Mayan peoples, and was forced to go into hiding and then leave the country.

Related Topics:
Copenhagen - Soviet - 1990 - Mexico - Guatemala - Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo - Tikal

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Knorosov had broad interest in, and contributed to, other investigative fields such as archaeology, semiotics, human migration to the Americas and the evolution of the mind. However, it is his contributions to the field of Mayan studies for which he is best remembered.

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In his very last years, Knorosov is also known to have pointed to a place in the United States as the likely location of Chicomoztoc, the ancestral land from which --according to ancient documents and accounts considered mythical by a sizable number of scholars-- Indian peoples now living in Mexico are said to have come.

Related Topics:
United States - Chicomoztoc - Myth

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Knorosov died in St. Petersburg on March 31, 1999, of pneumonia in the corridors of a city hospital, just before he was due to receive the honorary Proskouriakoff Award from Harvard University.

Related Topics:
Pneumonia - Proskouriakoff Award - Harvard University

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