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NeverNever inin FearFear By MerleMerle Greene Greene Robertson Robertson Foreword by Peter R. Mathews © 2006 by The Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute All rights reserved Designed by Lee Langan with Chip Breitwieser for Precolumbia Mesoweb Press Cover and title page by Chip Breitwieser Printed in China on acid-free paper Library of Congress Control Number 2006935469 ISBN 0-934051-11-9 For Joann Andrews Map of the Mexico and Central American Maya Sites Discussed Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . .12 FOREWORD . .13 NEVER IN FEAR. .19 THEY DARED BEFORE ME . .21 THE GREAT BLUE SKY. .25 CAMPS . .36 MARRIAGE & DIVORCE. .39 A NEW LIFE & NEW ESCAPADES . 42 EL PETEN . .45 RUBBING TECHNIQUES . .49 MOTUL DE SAN JOSE . 52 LA LIBERTAD TO SAYAXCHE . 53 SAYAXCHE . .54 DOS PILAS. .57 BOB LOVES THE JUNGLE. 62 AGUATECA . 62 ALTAR DE SACRIFICIOS . .64 TAMARINDITO . .68 ITSIMTE . .69 NARANJO . 71 IXKUN . 73 IXTUTZ. .75 ACCIDENT IN EL PETEN . 76 TO PERU . .77 IXTUTZ MAPPED . .78 SEIBAL . 83 YAXCHILAN . .85 TO EUROPE & THE BRITISH MUSEUM. .87 WEST BERLIN. .88 LONDON, BRITISH MUSEUM . 88 UAXACTUN. .90 JIMBAL . .90 BILBAO & EL BAUL . .93 OTHER SITES . .95 LUBAANTUN & NIMLI PUNIT . .95 LAMANAI . .96 CARACOL . 96 EL PALMAR . 97 CALAKMUL. .98 QUINTANA ROO . .101 COPAN . .102 RIO USUMACINTA AFTER DARK . .103 PALENQUE . 105 MOISES MORALES. 113 DR. SHIELDS . 117 PALENQUE LIFE . 118 THE FLORIDA PROJECT . 122 MESAS REDONDAS DE PALENQUE . 126 TWO DISASTERS . 138 VOLCANO EL CHICHON. .140 CROSS GROUP PROJECT . 148 PETER’S EL CAYO HIJACK . 154 N.G.S. & ACID RAIN . 157 YUCATAN . 159 CHICHEN ITZA. .161 TRAVELING THE WORLD. .171 PARIS & AIX-EN-PROVENCE. .171 THE CôTE D’AZUR. .177 MATT’S TURN . 180 NORWEGIAN FJORDS. .181 TURKEY . 185 INDIA. .189 CHILE . 194 EASTER ISLAND . 196 JAPAN . 198 SCOTLAND . 200 ANGKOR WAT . 201 AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND . .206 SPAIN. .208 ROME. .210 SWITZERLAND. 211 PRAGUE . 213 GREECE . 214 VENICE . 216 JOURNEY OF ODYSSEUS . 217 BELGIUM. .221 TULANE UNIVERSITY . .228 MORE HIGHLIGHTS . 233 P. A. R. I. 233 AWARDS & GALAS . 234 MY FAMILY & FRIENDS . 239 WATERCOLOR PAINTING . 248 A NEW ME . 250 PRINCIPAL PUBLICATIONS . 252 EXHIBITS OF THE RUBBINGS . 253 Stucco figure from the crypt of Pacal the Great PHOTO CREDITS All photos by Merle Greene Robertson or her archives except: John Bowles. .Page 192 David Dressing . Page 231 (bottom) Susan Dutcher . Page 220 Blair Greene. Page 182 (bottom) David Greene . Pages 234 (bottom), 235 (top and center) Ron Henggeler . Pages 251, 252 Doris Jason . Page 131 (bottom) Justin Kerr . Page 150 (bottom) Lee Langan . Pages 36, 104, 133, 148, 149 (top), 206, 236 (bottom), 237 (top), 238 (top), 239, 244 (bottom), 247 (bottom) Claudine Marken . Pages 178, 181, 242 Jim Metzler . .Page 243 (center) Courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Museum . Page 48 (bottom) Bob Southwick . Pages 226, 227 (bottom) David Sturdevant . Page 246 (bottom) Khristaan Villela . .Page 169 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For a long time my friends have been trying to get me to write a book about my life working in the dense jungles of Mexico and Central America, but also to include my life as a child and paint- ing my way around the world. I thank Cristin Cash for making me get started. She spent an hour every evening for two differ- ent months while working for me in San Francisco, taping the stories I told her. Then she would put them into the computer for me to work on. Martha Macri, Maureen Carpenter, and Dana McClutchen spent months putting all of my rub- bings photographs and slides into a database so I could find them. For this I am most grateful. Much has been gleaned from my husband Bob’s diaries that he so meticulously kept of every little detail. I thank all of my grant donors, who made working in the jungle possible: The American Philosophical Society, the Edith Stern Fund, the Zemurray Foundation, the Lende Foundation, N.E.H., the National Geographic Society, FAMSI, and The Explorers Club. My many Stevenson School students who play such an important part in the telling of all this—I love you all. I thank Peter Harrison and Pat Culbert for mak- ing a Mayanist out of this neophyte gringo, and my pal for some 45 years Peter Mathews, I thank for doing such a generous foreword. And finally I acknowledge Lee Langan and Joel Skidmore for actually seeing this all come to completion and its publication. Without these two, this would never have gotten off the ground. I thank you. With Cristin Cash 12 Never in Fear MERLE GREENE ROBERTSON A MASTERPIECE IN PROGRESS By Peter Mathews Merle Greene was born in Montana and grew up in Great Falls, in a beautiful region of the United States characterized by roll- ing grasslands flanked by the majestic Rocky Mountains—a very different landscape from the jungles of Central America and Mexico where she has spent most of her working life. Two aspects of her youth in Montana were to have a large influence over the direction of her life. One was an interest in Native American culture. Merle’s family spent their vacations beside a mountain lake at the edge of Glacier Na- tional Park. Merle frequently went with her father to visit his friends, Blackfoot Indian chiefs, and it was here that she learned Indian sign language. The other influence was the great artist Charles M. Russell, who lived in Great Falls. The young Merle spent many an afternoon on his front porch observing and learn- ing about painting..