Mesoamerican Lab

The Gordon R. Willey Laboratory for Mesoamerican Studies

Since its renovation in 1995, the Mesoamerican Lab, or Meso Lab, has been dedicated to research in Mesoamerican archaeology, ethnology, epigraphy, and iconography, and provides working and meeting space for students and faculty year-round. The lab links museum and departmental activities through internships, study projects, and fieldwork. Named in honor of Professor Gordon R. Willey, who taught at Harvard as the Bowditch Professor of Central American and Mexican Archaeology and Ethnology from 1950–1986 (Emeritus, 1986–2002), the lab fosters collaborations between the Harvard faculty, students, museum staff, outside scholars, and countries with Mesoamerican archaeological sites and descendant communities.

Located on the fourth floor of the Peabody Museum, the lab houses the Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions program (CMHI), ceramic study collections, computer workstations, field maps and data, and advanced graduate student offices. It is used as a locale for teaching from the Museum’s collections in advance seminars, and class sections in General Education and Freshman Seminars.

Harvard Faculty & Peabody Museum Staff Affiliates

William Fash, Bowditch Professor of Central American and Mexican Archaeology and Ethnology
Davíd Carrasco, Neil Rudenstine Professor of Latin American Studies and Director, Moses Mesoamerican Archive
Barbara Fash, Director, CMHI program and Meso Lab
Marc Zender, Lecturer and CMHI Research Associate
Alexandre Tokovinine, CMHI Research Associate
Ann Seiferle-Valencia, Post-Doctoral Fellow

Student Projects

Projects are organized by year. Please follow the links below.

• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2000–2004
• 1995–1999

Harvard Summer Field Schools, Copan, Honduras

1995–2008