UC Riverside Receives NEH Grant To Study Ancient Maya Culture

RIVERSIDE, CA — The National Endowment for the Humanities Wednesday announced $24 million in grants for 225 humanities projects across the country, including nearly $150,000 to UC Riverside to conduct an excavation and survey to detail the presence and influence of Maya residents at the ancient city of Teotihuacan in central Mexico.

Teotihuacan, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987, is characterized by the vast size of its monuments, particularly the Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon. Located about 30 miles northeast of modern-day Mexico City, it was settled as early as 400 B.C. and was the most influential city in the region by 400 A.D.

By the time the Aztecs discovered it in the 1400s and named it Teotihuacan, meaning "the place where the gods were created," the city had been abandoned for centuries.

The NEH, created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation.

"NEH is proud to support these 225 new projects, which embody excellence, intellectual rigor and a dedication to the pursuit of knowledge, even as our nation and the humanities community continue to face the challenges of the pandemic," said NEH Acting Chairman Adam Wolfson.

"We look forward to the contributions these projects will make to our understanding of ourselves and our society through exemplary humanities research, publications, documentary films, exhibitions and undergraduate programs," he said.