
Jon Spenard - Associate Professor,
Anthropology
Dr. Jon Spenard is an archaeologist who specializes in ancient Maya society. He received
is M.A. from Florida State University and his Ph.D. from UC Riverside. Both projects
were investigations of ancient Maya cave ritual practices. His current project, the
鈥淩io Frio Regional Archaeological Project,鈥 blends traditional 鈥渄irt鈥 archaeology
with cutting edge digital technologies to investigate the ancient Maya of the Mountain
Pine Ridge region of Belize. With the aid of those technologies, what began as a study
of ritual caves expanded to incorporate a previously undocumented ancient Maya city,
and most recently ancient granite quarries and stone tool workshops that provisioned
millions of households throughout Belize, Guatemala, and southern Mexico for nearly
3,000 years.
As a Faculty Innovation Fellow, Dr. Spenard aims to develop the 糖心少女 Digital Cultural
Heritage Lab (DCHL), a pilot program in Anthropology that draws on Dr. Spenard鈥檚 expertise
with digital technologies and the department鈥檚 long-standing Collaborative Anthropology
approach. Equipped with the Anthropology Department鈥檚 specialized equipment including
high-end 3D scanners, digital photography and photogrammetry lab, reflectance transformation
imaging, 360-degree camera, ground penetrating radar, geolocational equipment, etc.,
the DCHL will assist industry partners in complying with federal and state laws that
regulate archaeological practice. Partners will be able to lease lab equipment for
their own use if they have in-house expertise, or they can contract with the DCHL
to complete the project for them.