Welcome to our website of Archaeologists of the Maya World. DBA Maya Heritage Center. I have been involved with this organization and have volunteered since 2017. Our mission is the protection and conservation of cultural heritage both past and present. We believe that preservation is not in isolation but part of a continual relationship between contemporary communities, their goals, and tangible and intangible heritage. We aim to achieve this goal through various short-term and long-term initiatives. In the short-term, are looking to establish an online presence by creating a website, blog, social media pages and a Journal of Maya heritage. Additionally, we conduct multi-disciplinary workshops almost every year, focused on connecting modern-day Maya with their ancient heritage. In the long-term, we aspire to fund initiatives such as a student exchange program and research with universities, and a Polytechnical university for the community. 

In 2017, Dr. Rowberry wrote about the legislation element and process of protecting cultural heritage in a sustainable manner in Puerto Morelos, Mexico, through the creation of register laws, a financially sustainable heritage register. In 2021, and his students from Georgia State University have written about the necessity of creating a partner non-profit in the United States to assist in the mission of the Arqueologos Sin Fronteras del Mundo Maya. With an outline step-by-step of the technical process for creating a non-profit in Georgia, United States. 

We welcome you to join our organization at any capacity. Our organization aims to achieve several goals. We sponsored our first workshop in 2016 AMW to bring together experts and stakeholders from various fields from the Yucatan Peninsula, including archaeology, anthropology, education, art, etc., to share knowledge, experiences, and to discuss the challenges and opportunities for preserving and promoting Maya heritage. Therefore, we have created several initiatives to strengthen cultural heritage. Our initiatives have more to do with empowerment of indigenous communities, and others lean more towards preservation; these initiatives mutually strengthen each other as preservation is strengthened by community involvement, and the reaching of community goals is strengthened by access to heritage. We are dedicated to disseminating news about our activities and the needs of our scientific fields, discoveries, and cutting-edge technologies, to engage both students and public audiences. We are involved with universities whose goal is to preserve cultural heritage. We offer researchers our financial support, to those engaged in field research, publishing, collection research and travel to the Maya region to participate in our programs. The fee from our bio-diversity expeditions will be considered a donation to Maya Heritage Center and will go towards paying guides, with any profit going to fund our other initiatives, such as scholarships, grants and site safeguarding.

Dr. Lizama is a current Senior Representative for the Caribbean and Central American countries at the World Archaeological Congress. She specializes in archaeological and anthropological planning, management and best practices in archaeological conservation.

Dr. Israel Martínez shares the vision and mission of Archaeologists of the Maya World organization. He gives strength to our organization as our volunteer officer and is in charge of our administration and financial accounts. He is a Medical Doctor who graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He has a specialty in Senior Management and a Master's in Health Systems Administration. Israel is engaged in grants identification, and works directly with the Executive Director, and supports largely our vision.

He completed the next certificates: Biomedical Informatics from Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), Clinical Monitoring, and Geronto Geriatrics from UNAM.

From 2008 to 2012, he was the National Coordinator of the Comprehensive Medical Review Program in the Health Prevention Department in a Public Health System in Mexico, where he contributed to developing a National Telemedicine Program.

He was named Instructor and later Associate Professor of the Biomedical Informatics and Integration of Medical Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine UNAM from 2010 to 2017. He became Research Coordinator and later Head of the Department at the same institution from 2012 to 2016.

He was a professor and tutor of the Master in Education for Health Sciences Professionals of UNAM from 2012 to 2016. Currently, he is an Associate Professor and Department Head of Rural Studies at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

William Rogers is our secretary. He provides the business planning and logistics procedures for our programs. He has over 20 years of experience and extensive knowledge in construction, woodworking and agroforestry.  William is native from California. He has worked in designing, coordinating and administrating private projects, while living and exploring in Mexico and Belize for over 20 years. From 2016 to 2018 he worked at Peach Tree Christian Church in downtown Atlanta. He is a supporter of the Maya civilization history and dissemination, participating in archaeological projects, and eco-tourism as a guide to archaeological sites, cenotes, and scuba diving. His interest is in archaeo-astronomy and shares a passion for the flora and orchids of the Yucatan peninsula. He specializes in projects in agro-forestry in Solferino Quintana Roo and has an extensive background in construction in Mexico and in the USA.

Katherine Ort, is our co-founder and assistant to our executive, performing social media platforms and overlooking all corners of our organization, her undergraduate research in Puerto Morelos and the Yucatan has developed a close familiarity with the Maya culture needs. Assistant to Executive Director. Providing administrative assistance, overseeing social media. Identifies and helps to implement strategic plans of the business objectives, helps to assess potential opportunities for the organization environment and our mission interests.

As a student at Washington State University, she completed her capstone studies in December 2018. Katherine has been working with Archaeologists without Borders since 2016.

She wrote her undergraduate thesis about sustainability in the tourism and heritage fields, and performed her research in Quintana Roo and Yucatan, working directly with our organization.

She has a degree in Environmental Studies, and is currently furthering her research in the sustainability and tourism fields. Her current area of interest is in shaping sustainable behaviors and choices using social media and other means of communication.

Laureano Gonzalez Aguilar He is an industrial engineer, his experience has been in the development of projects, with a strategic vision of analysis, planning and implementation of strategies to achieve specific objectives. Moved to Cancun to work with Nacional Financiera in 1988 with the creation of Cancun. He has experience in the creation, branching, promotion and sale of new companies since 1980. He was the director of operation of the administration, traffic arrival or cabotage ports of Cozumel, Calica, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres and is the director of the board of directors of the Fauna, Flora y Litoral Foundation and GOAL Shipping. 

Engineer Laureano serves as our legal representative in Mexico. He services Mexico as a supervisor of operations for the national ports of Quintana Roo, Mexico. He honorably served 18 years as supervisor. He has deep skills in negotiation, business creation and economic development. He has dedicated better part of 10 years supporting cultural preservation. He is under the supervision of the Executive Director, for the AMW. Manages the administrative and accounting procedures for the AMW, Mexico. Supervises closely our relationships, which include the ordinary operational activities as well as facilitating AWM´ operations and activities in Mexico. 

Dr. Smith has been involved with the Maya World since 2012. Her passion for archaeology brought her closer to our group as our Co-editor of our coming Journal of Maya Heritage. She has been invited to speak in online conferences organized in Yucatan in 2021 with a Wenner Gren grant and she participates with us in temporary bases.

Professor Claire Smith is an archaeologist with the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University, South Australia. While her theoretical focus is symbolic communication, she has a broad intellectual vision and inter-disciplinary approach. She has undertaken collaborative projects with scholars from cultural studies, history, Indigenous studies, Indonesian studies, philosophy, anthropology and theology. While she conducts occasional fieldwork with Indigenous groups in Asia and North America, Claire Smith’s primary research is with Indigenous Australia. She has worked with the Barunga community, Northern Territory, since 1990 and with Ngadjuri people, South Australia, since 1998. In 2018, the Royal Anthropological Institute awarded Claire Smith the Lucy Mair Medal and Marsh Award, for sustained research with Australian Aboriginal communities that has contributed to human dignity. Claire Smith’s publications include more than 80 articles, eight authored books and six edited books, including the 11-volume Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology (Springer 2014). Her current book, with Koji Mizoguchi, is Global Social Archaeologies: Making a Difference in a World of Strangers (Routledge 2019). She is the immediate past president of the World Archaeological Congress 

Bruce has been an unequivocal talent to our organization. His experiences add strength and power to our organization leadership. He shares a passion and vision for the steps towards our goals. 

A native of Valdosta, Georgia, USA Bruce received his BS degree in biology from Valdosta State University and did Masters work in Secondary Education; At the age of 25 he served as a city councilman in the city of Remerton, Georgia and while teaching Biology in high school he restored a 1906 Victorian house in Valdosta where he also served as President of the Valdosta Heritage Foundation. Thereafter, he served as Main Street Manager in the City of Tifton, Georgia where he coordinated a very successful downtown revitalization program for over eight years, which eventually led to Tifton being recognized as one of the Best Small Towns in America. Bruce then moved to Atlanta to work as the Director of the Office of Downtown Development with the Georgia Municipal Association. Following work at GMA Bruce served as the Director of Communications, Research and Rural Development with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. Bruce later served as the Director of Tourism Product Development with the Georgia Department of Economic Development where he worked with local governments, private corporations and non-profits across the state of Georgia to increase investment in and development of new tourism product.  

In October 2009, the Tourism Product Development Office created a new initiative to focus technical assistance in the form of a reconnaissance and strategy visit to a local community interested in developing its tourism potential. In March 2010, the City of Quitman in Brooks County was the first community to receive a Resource Team visit from the Georgia Tourism Division’s Product Development Office of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. During a Resource Team visit, the team members work in conjunction with local leadership and assess the portfolio of tourism related assets within the community relevant to the areas of cultural and heritage tourism, historic preservation, agritourism, community development and rural development. The Resource Team’s objectives include inventorying and discussing those assets that are the most likely candidates for developing a tourism based economy in a community, as well as identifying obstacles that might impede the implementation of such an effort.

Dr. Ivan Batún brings eight years of experience of working in the USA and Mexico to our organization. Our bio-cultural expeditions committee will serve as a source of revenue for our group, as we will provide a expeditions experience to those who are curious about the Maya culture. Our committee will accredit archeologists, led by Dr. Ivan, as well as trained people from the Maya community by our organization experts. Explorers will be able to visit and see lesser-known archaeological sites, as well as explore the natural beauty of the surrounding area. We plan to launch our initial expeditions in Quintana Roo and Yucatan, and eventually expand to other states and countries in the Maya region. 

Dr. Iván Batún has a degree in Anthropological Sciences from the Autonomous University of Yucatán, Master in Archeology from the University of Florida in Gainesville and Ph.D. in Anthropology with a specialty in resource management cultural by the University of Florida.

In the Public Administration, Dr. Batún has been Director of Architectural Cultural Heritage of the Government of the State of Yucatan, Director of the General Archive of the State of Yucatan, and has served as Director of Social Organizatio  of the State SEDESOL, positions that have given him the opportunity to work throughout the state territory in multiple cultural and social development projects. He is Senior Research Professor B at Universidad de Oriente, and research professor adjunct to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States, he develops community archaeological and anthropological research projects whose results have been published and exhibited at national and international conferences. Dr. Batun is an active member of the American Anthropological Association, the Society for American Archeology, and of the Association of Friends of Cultural Heritage of Yucatan. He currently directs the Community Archaeological Project of the East of Yucatan (PACOY) in the Community of Tahcabo, Calotmul, and the binational project "Maya Revitalization".

She has participated with us for several years in the organization committee of our annual workshops and conferences. She worked as a teacher at Universidad de Oriente for eight years teaching tourism development in tourism anthropology, art, Yucatan history, and archaeology. She also served as an adviser for her bachelor´s students theses including the above fields including gastronomy. She was engaged in community museum creation by involving the community members in cataloging and making an inventory of artifacts found in the community and helped in logistics for the Tiholop Yucatán museography. She arranged activities taking students traveling to ancient Maya sites and local communities that make pottery. In 2017, she was involved in ethnographic work in the communities of the Caste War, and in 2020, she collaborated with the Research State Spain Agency. She has worked in excavation and restoration of pre-Hispanic buildings as part of the Chichén project for multiple field seasons and published articles, including current ritual ceremonies. Also, has participated in INAH archaeological rescues and salvages, analysis of ceramic materials from different sites. And performed academic stay at the Faculty of Anthropology (UADY) analyzing the ceramic material from Chichen Itzá Yucatán. In 2023, she moved at the Universidad Intercultural de Campeche, from where she continues her dedication to our mission.

Dr. Magio is in charge of a unique academic and cultural exchange program, to network & promote study abroad students within our exchange educational program. Design and perform ad hoc interdisciplinary scientific projects.  Providing academic credit, cutting-edge research and cultural exchange activities with a network of students, researchers and collaborators from local institutions of higher education as well other governmental and non-governmental organizations in Mexico. 

Dr. Magio holds a PhD. in Tourism Management, Universidad Autónoma de Occidente (UAdeO), Mexico. Currently, he serves as a CONACYT Research Fellow at Tecnológico Nacional de México / Instituto Tecnológico de Cancún. He is also a distinguished member of the National System of Researchers in México (SNI 1). His research interest is largely focused on sustainable tourism in the Mexican Caribbean: green forms of tourism, policy and governance, tourism impacts, regional development and destination management, with over 30 publications in leading peer reviewed international tourism journals, government reports, books, book chapters, and monographs. He has been awarded several scholarships and research grants to contribute to tourism knowledge, including his current research fellowship, a National PhD. Excellence Award by the Mexican Academy for Tourism Research (AMIT) and the International Institute of Peace through Tourism (IIPT) Scholarship Award for the Best Paper. He has undertaken a number of consultancies/collaborations for public and private sector tourism organizations within Mexico including the Ministry of Tourism (Secretaría de Turismo) and for international agencies, including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the German Agency for International Cooperation and Development (GIZ) and the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST), Washington D.C, where he participate as a member of the Academic Affiliate.

Engineer Otilia Valenzuela is from Mexico City who moved to Quintana Roo in 1985. She is an Agricultural Engineer, and provides coordination, supervision, & administration of educational, environmental, agricultural & agro-forestry programs in Mexico under the ED. Provides Technical Assistance and training. She specializes in regenerative and Sustainable Agricultural Production & Biodiversity conservation. She is currently an advisor, evaluator, and trainer, for the public sector in Mexico for a variety of projects. She lives in Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo.

As the Head of this Committee, he will be in charge of providing funds by selecting merit-based scholarships and awarded to students or individuals based on their academic achievements, research on various academic disciplines, training workshops, social media, editing journals, community education programs and students for our Maya University. Dr. Enseñat is graduated from University of Quebec at Montreal (UQÀM), Canada with a Master in Tourism Management and Planning. He is a professor and researcher at the Undergraduate Program in Tourism at the Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan (UADY), Mexico. Dr. Enseñat’s research interests focus on the tourist use of cultural and natural heritage, the impacts that excess visitors generate on the sites, as well as the strategies and master plans to mitigate them. He has proposed and published a visitor flow management model to minimize the negative impacts of massive visits to archaeological sites through the application of strategies.

Dr. Herrera is our Editor-in-chief of our Journal of Maya Heritage. has been involved with the founding of the organization since 2004 with Manejo Cultural, AC. He has brought a strong foundation and vision to our organization. Which is based in the analysis and study of the Mexican law, as our goal to update Mexican standards in a modern developing country of Mexico for better standards of protecting archaeological heritage. Since 2016, he works as a professor at Universidad Autonoma de Campeche.

Dr. Jose Israel Herrera. Dr. Herrera is a Doctor (Ph.D.) from the Faculty of Jurisprudence of the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Doctor in Government and Public Administration, Master in Anthropological Sciences, and Bachelor of Laws (UADY). He belongs to the National System of Researchers Level-1 and PRODEP Profile of the SEP. He is currently a Research Professor at the Legal Research Center of the Autonomous University of Campeche and member of the Academic Body Rights human rights and constitutional problems UNACAM-CA-55. He is the author of the book "Anthropological Expertise: Its realities and Imaginaries as federal judicial evidence” (2011) and Prior Consultation: Legal elements for its construction and reflection (2021) in addition to 5 compiled books and more than 20 scientific articles. He has been Jr. Representative for Central America and The Caribbean of the World Archaeological Congress. Its lines of research are legal anthropology, indigenous rights, prior consultation, anthropological expertise, and Mexican policies for the indigenous.