Events

Hieroglyphs, hand signs, and the language of calendars in Ancient Maya texts

Cassie Sando — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 01:06:57 +0000

Hieroglyphs, hand signs, and the language of calendars in Ancient Maya texts Cassie Sando Wed, 01/28/2026 - 18:06

Event Abstract: Ancient Maya cosmology and sociocultural conduct was entwined with a complex calendar system. This is evident from thousands of stone inscriptions and other extant texts, especially given the large percentage of calendar-date expressions within the corpus of hieroglyphic writings. Certainly, calendar expressions are entwined with the underlying language of the hieroglyphs. Clauses with calendar expressions have a specific grammar, and a scribe could choose from a variety of distinct formats to express any date. Each date format corresponded to a specific calendar within the system, and each calendar involved specific meanings or functions given how it uniquely defined one or more cycles of time as a relationship between numeracy and the cosmological order. Calendrical components thereby had layered meanings. For example, a basic unit of time might be synonymous with an animating force or a rite. Different dates could also resonate with one another through their related cyclic properties, and so a specific date within a text could have a particular local meaning if it resonated with a past date in some association with an ancestor. Numbers, especially as they functioned in calendar expressions, are notable for this type of meaning enrichment. Consequently, each basic numeral had multiple distinct hieroglyphic forms, including an iconic bar-and-dot form and an elaborate figural form that depicted a number's patron deity. In this talk, I will argue that there is yet more to this ancient scribal language of calendars than what is made explicit through hieroglyphic writing. By drawing on my recent work to decipher Ancient Maya textual hand signs, I will show how scribes composed calendar expressions that breached hieroglyphic content, in terms of both graphic form and conveyed meaning. Specifically, I aim to highlight the following: Calendar dates encoded by the hand signs of depicted figures within the art of a text; An implied calendrical text that harmonizes local and cosmological concerns; and Intentional polyvalent expressions that hinge on calendrical semantics to create a text that, like time, can be experienced in a nonlinear way.

Bio

Rich A. Sandoval is a linguistic anthropologist with an interest in the unique and diverse communication traditions of Indigenous America, especially those involving signed language. He is specifically focused on practices that integrate hand signs with speech or another modality of linguistic expression. His earlier work described this type of multimodality in Arapaho language, as a feature of casual storytelling. He is currently exploring the phenomenon within Ancient Maya texts, where writing combines hieroglyphs and hand signs held by depicted persons or other figures.

Recent/relevant publication

“The Ancient Maya Script of Hand Forms Embedded in Figural Art: A Decipherment of Numerals Signed by the Rulers of Altar Q” https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-968X.12320

Article about Rich’s work on CPR: https://www.cpr.org/show-segment/metropolitan-state-university-of-denver-professor-has-possibly-unlocked-the-key-to-the-worlds-oldest-sign-language/

Event on Monday, February 16, 2026 @ 3:30 - 5:30 pm in Hellems N380. A reception will follow event. Event Description: Drawing on new research on Ancient Maya hand signs, Dr. Sandoval shows that some calendar dates were expressed not in hieroglyphs but through depicted hand gestures in monumental art-gestures that encode calendrical cycles and link local history to cosmology.

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Wakara Remains

Cassie Sando — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 22:31:53 +0000

Wakara Remains Cassie Sando Fri, 01/23/2026 - 15:31

Max Mueller and Forrest Cuch discuss Max’s recent book Wakara’s America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West. Event Date: February 4, 2026 5:00-6:30 pm @ ENVD 134 (1060 18th Street) Environmental Design Building

MAX PERRY MUELLER is an associate professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the �Թ�� of Nebraska-Lincoln. Mueller is a theorist and historian of race and religion in American history, with particular interest in Indigenous and African-American religious experiences, epistemologies, and cosmologies. Philip J. Deloria (Standing Rock Sioux) describes Wakara’s America as “rich in detail and subtle in analysis... [it is] a classic page-turner that grabs a reader and won’t let go.”

FORREST C. CUCH is an author, spiritual leader, environmental activist, and tribal leader. He was born and raised on the Uintah and Ouray Ute Indian Reservation in northeastern Utah. Cuch is currently engaged in working with spiritual leaders to usher in the new shift in feminine consciousness known as the New Earth and calling attention to climate change and harm to Mother Earth. As part of that work, Cuch recently joined the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation’s Council for Hope.

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Land Grants, Extension Service and Institutional Amnesia: The �Թ�� of Colorado's Forgotten Origins and Potential Futures

Cassie Sando — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 22:13:49 +0000

Land Grants, Extension Service and Institutional Amnesia: The �Թ�� of Colorado's Forgotten Origins and Potential Futures Cassie Sando Fri, 01/23/2026 - 15:13

Land Grants, Extension Service and Institutional Amnesia: The �Թ�� of Colorado's Forgotten Origins and Potential Futures

�Թ�� Event: Many American institutions today have become unmoored from their origins in ways that weaken their coherence and reduce their legitimacy. The 150th anniversary of the �Թ�� of Colorado presents a timely opportunity to reflect on our own origins, and legacies and obligations that are too little known. If asked, “Is the �Թ�� of Colorado a land grant institution?” most with an even cursory familiarity with the higher education sector would answer no—that distinction belongs to Colorado State �Թ��, the state's official Morrill Act designee. However, this assumption obscures a more complex and consequential reality.

CU Boulder began when Colorado's 1875 Enabling Act allocated approximately 43,000 acres of federal land for the new university—lands that had been systematically appropriated from Indigenous Peoples before being distributed to build the state's educational infrastructure. For nearly 100 years, in compliance with the obligations derived from the federal land grant and nineteenth-century conceptions of the state university, CU embraced a comprehensive public service mission through its Extension Division, helping to establish municipal governments, community colleges, and civic organizations across Colorado. Then, in the decades following World War II, that identity was increasingly eclipsed by federal research partnerships and the quest for national and international prestige.

This panel brings together three scholars whose work illuminates different dimensions of this history and its implications for higher education today. Together, they will explore how the fading of institutional memory regarding CU's land grant origins and history of direct service has obscured important obligations—both to the Indigenous Peoples whose dispossession made its founding possible and to the Colorado communities it once served as a matter of constitutional mandate. At a moment when universities face declining public trust, volatile federal funding, and fundamental questions about their civic role, recovering this history offers more than historical correction. It clarifies the kinds of structural commitments—shared governance with communities, accountable partnership practices, and material engagement with Indigenous Nations—that could rebuild institutional legitimacy over the long term.

Grounded in archival research and in conversation with historical and legal scholarship, this presentation will challenge participants to reconsider what obligations flow from CU's actual origins. It will also explore what was lost when extension work was phased out in the 1970s, what innovative approaches to statewide engagement have developed since—sometimes fitfully but persistently—and what opportunities emerge from reconnecting with Colorado's diverse communities.

As we mark our sesquicentennial year, this panel asks not whether CU Boulder is a land grant institution with a mission of direct public service—the historical record is clear—but what it would mean to reclaim that identity today. This is a unique moment to integrate our research excellence with renewed commitment to direct community engagement, honoring both our founding obligations and Colorado's contemporary needs. The question before us is how we can build the relationships, momentum, and shared vision to make this future real.

Date: January 29, 2026 @ 5:00 - 6:15 pm

Event Registration Link

See schedule of events and more information on Community Engagement Week on their website linked.

The 150th anniversary of the �Թ�� of Colorado presents a timely opportunity to reflect on our own origins, legacies and obligations that are too little known. This panel brings together three scholars whose work illuminates different dimensions of this history and its implications for higher education today. Event Date: January 29, 2026 @ 5:00 - 6:15 pm

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Writing Against the Grain

Cassie Sando — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 20:24:21 +0000

Writing Against the Grain Cassie Sando Fri, 01/23/2026 - 13:24

Art Coulson, a Native author, will discuss the challenges of confronting stereotypes and stereotypical expectations about Native peoples and Native authors in his work, and how he has evolved as a writer in response to these issues. He will also share how other authors and their works have illustrated a path through these challenges.

All CU Boulder Students and affiliates are welcome to attend.

Art Coulson will also have additional events on January 28th on campus in collaboration with the Center for Cultural Connections and Community and the �Թ�� Libraries, please see event flyers below.

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FOODIE TUESDAY: INDIGENOUS & NATIVE AMERICAN CELEBRATION

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 19:54:14 +0000

FOODIE TUESDAY: INDIGENOUS & NATIVE AMERICAN CELEBRATION Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/02/2024 - 13:54

FOODIE TUESDAY: INDIGENOUS & NATIVE AMERICAN CELEBRATION hosted by Engineering Connections is tomorrow, Tuesday 4/2, from 5 to 7 PM in the Williams Village East Lobby! Join for a beading workshop, buffalo painting, Indigenous food demos, and more!

See flyer here.

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Honoring Indigenous Food Sovereignty: An Indigenous Peoples Day Event

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 04:20:20 +0000

Honoring Indigenous Food Sovereignty: An Indigenous Peoples Day Event Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/05/2023 - 22:20

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Events

Hieroglyphs, hand signs, and the language of calendars in Ancient Maya texts

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Wakara Remains

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Land Grants, Extension Service and Institutional Amnesia: The �Թ��� of Colorado's Forgotten Origins and Potential Futures

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Writing Against the Grain

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FOODIE TUESDAY: INDIGENOUS & NATIVE AMERICAN CELEBRATION

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Honoring Indigenous Food Sovereignty: An Indigenous Peoples Day Event

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Land Grants, Extension Service and Institutional Amnesia: The �Թ�� of Colorado's Forgotten Origins and Potential Futures