Graham’s first research position was a three-year project funded by the Nuffield Foundation and working in the small Scientific Department of The National Gallery in London. The objective of this was to study the penetration and swelling of paint films and varnishes by solvents. Following the successful completion of the project, in 1954 he felt he needed work with a broader scope. During the three years he had enjoyed a vivid social life and the many connections this led to allowed him to take up photography semi-professionally and embark on extensive travels. These activities gave rise eventually to two books illustrated with his photographs. A visit to Mexico in 1958 initiated his long involvement with Maya archaeology.
Field work
Graham is responsible for recording and cataloguing the largest single collection of Maya sculptures, carvings and monumental artworks. His photography and drawings at such sites as Coba, Naranjo, Piedras Negras, Seibal, Tonina, Uaxactun, and Yaxchilan has not only preserved highly detailed records of the sites, but have provided Graham and others with records that have been utilized to prevent the sale of looted and illegally and illicitly obtained art and artifacts. Graham has, for many years, been involved as a consultant and witness in criminal cases involving looted art, as well as cases of artifact repatriation.
Professional achievements and honors
In 1968 Graham founded the Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphics Program at Harvard University’sPeabody Museum, joining the museum fully in 1970. In 1981, he became a MacArthur Fellow for his work preserving and cataloguing Maya relics. He received the Society for American Archaeology’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. He was appointed OBE in the 1999 Birthday Honours. Graham published a memoir of his professional life and career, The Road to Ruins, in 2010.
Selected bibliography
Wheeler, Sir Mortimer and Graham, Ian, Splendours of the East, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1965.
Nicolson, Nigel and Graham, Ian, Great Houses, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1968. Also as Great Houses of the Western World, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York 1968.
Graham, Ian. "The Ruins of La Florida, Peten, Guatemala." Monographs and Papers in Maya Archaeology 1 : 427-455.
Graham, Ian. The Art of Maya Hieroglyphic Writing, 1971.
Graham, Ian, Patricia Galloway, and Irwin Scollar. "Model studies in computer seriation." Journal of Archaeological Science 3.1 : 1-30.
Graham, Ian. "Spectral analysis and distance methods in the study of archaeological distributions." Journal of Archaeological Science 7.2 : 105-129.
Graham, Ian, and Peter Mathews. Corpus of Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions. Vol. 6. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Publications Department, 1983.
Von Euw, Eric, and Ian Graham. Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions: Xultun, La Honradez, Uaxactun. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 1986.
Kamal, Omar S., et al. "Multispectral image processing for detail reconstruction and enhancement of Maya murals from La Pasadita, Guatemala." Journal of Archaeological Science 26.11 : 1391-1407.
Stuart, David, and Ian Graham. Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 2003.
Carter, Elizabeth A., et al. "Raman spectroscopy applied to understanding Prehistoric Obsidian Trade in the Pacific Region." Vibrational Spectroscopy 50.1 : 116-124.
