Tatiana Proskouriakoff
| Tatiana Proskouriakoff | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Native name | Татья́на Авени́ровна Проскуряко́ва (Tat’yana Avenirovna Proskuriakova) |
| Born |
January 23, 1909 Tomsk, Tomsk Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | August 30, 1985 (aged 76) Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States |
| Residence | Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Fields | Mayanist archaeology and linguistics |
| Institutions |
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Carnegie Institution of Washington University of Pennsylvania Museum |
| Alma mater | Pennsylvania State University |
| Known for | Seminal contributions to Mayanist archaeology |
Tat’yana Avenirovna Proskuriakova (Russian: Татья́на Авени́ровна Проскуряко́ва) (January 23 [O.S. January 10] 1909 – August 30, 1985) was a Russian-American Mayanist scholar and archaeologist who contributed significantly to the deciphering of Maya hieroglyphs, the writing system of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica.
She was born in Tomsk, in the Tomsk Governorate of the Russian Empire to a chemist and his physician wife. The family travelled to the United States in 1915, her father being asked by Tsar Nicholas II to oversee the production of munitions for World War I. The Russian Revolution forced the family to remain permanently. She was to visit Russia only once after that, to meet the Mayanist Yuri Knorozov.
She was devoted to a career in interpreting art, architecture, and hieroglyphic. While growing up, Tatiana could read fluently at the age of 3. She had a talent for drawing and received lessons in art and watercolor.
The family lived for a while in Ohio, and moved to the Philadelphia area before settling down in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. Tatiana did very well at school, was the editor of the school yearbook, and graduated valedictorian of her class.
She spent a year studying at the University of Pennsylvania before graduating from the Pennsylvania State University in 1930. Initially educated as an architect, she later went on to work for Linton Satterthwaite and for the University of Pennsylvania Museum at the Maya site of Piedras Negras in 1936–37. The Piedras Negras site lies between Mexico and Guatemala. Traveling there was the start of her life's work, as she found a passion for studying the ancient Maya. She made a reconstruction drawing of the Piedras Negras acropolis on her return to Philadelphia.
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