Rubbings of Maya Sculpture

This packet of twelve CD-ROM disks and printed instructions provides the first easy access to 2,000 of Merle Greene Robertson's rubbings of low-relief sculpture from ninety Mesoamerican sites.

Many of the rubbings are irreplaceable records of monuments since destroyed by deterioration or looting, and some have never before been published.Access to the images carved on memorial Maya sculpture has always presented problems.

Many of the Classic Maya sites are difficult to get to, and in those that can be visited easily the sculpture is often difficult to see.

Since nearly every trace of the original paint has eroded, the viewer is dependent upon the sun or artificial light to produce contrasts between the background and the carved surfaces.

The rubbings preserved at the Latin American Library at Tulane University can be viewed by scholars only on special occasions because of their size and the difficulties of unwrapping and rewrapping them. This easy-to-use compilation of high-resolution scans makes it possible to enhance and manipulate images and print them out as needed.

The Viewer CD allows the user to interact with low-resolution versions of the imagery and the extensive cataloging system.