Claude-François Baudez

Claude-François Baudez (3 December 1932 – 13 July 2013) was a French Mayanist, archaeologist and iconologist. He was honorary director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, a specialist on the rituals and beliefs of Mesoamerica, particularly of the Maya civilisation. In his early years, Claude-François Baudez studied the little-known remains of Mesoamerican civilisations in Costa Rica and Honduras. Since 1971, he has devoted himself mainly to research on the Maya culture. He was co-director of French excavations at the Toniná archaeological site in Mexico, and led the Copán exploration and restoration programme, while studying its sculpture. He is co-author of Le monde précolombien : Les Mayas, published in the collection “L’Univers des Formes” at Éditions Gallimard; and Les cités perdues des Mayas, a richly illustrated pocket book from the collection “Découvertes Gallimard”, which has been translated into twelve languages, including English. 1957-1960 Costa Rica: Investigations at the Papagayo site in the Valley of Tempisque. 1964-1965 Honduras: Investigations in the Gulf of Fonseca region and in the Valley of Comayagua. 1967-1969 Honduras: Excavation at the archaeological region Los Naranjos (in collaboration with Pierre Becquelin). 1971-1973 Mexico: Excavation at the Toniná site (in collaboration with Pierre Becquelin). 1977-1980 Honduras: Direction of the Copán Archaeological Project. 1981-1984 Honduras: Annual stays in Copán for in-situ study of its sculptures. 1989 Mexico: Stay in Palenque for in-situ studies of its sculptures. 1990 Costa Rica: Excavations at the Diquís Delta. 1994 Mexico: Iconographic studies at Balamku. Recherches Archéologiques dans la vallée du Tempisque, Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Travaux et Mémoires de l’Institut des Hautes Études de l’Amérique Latine, 1967 Amérique Centrale, collection « Archaeologia Mundi ». Nagel Publishers, 1970 Co-author with Pierre Becquelin, Le monde précolombien : Les Mayas, collection « L’Univers des Formes » (no 31).