Richard D. Hansen

Richard D. Hansen is a American archaeologist and adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of Utah

Hansen in 2017

Hansen is a noted specialist on the ancient Maya civilization and directs the Mirador Basin Project, which investigates the a circuscribed geological and cultural area known as the Mirador Basin in the northern Petén, Guatemala.[1][2] He has previously held positions at the University of California, Los Angeles and Idaho State University where he was awarded the Idaho State University Distinguished Achievement Award (2009). He is also the founder and president of the Foundation for Anthropological Research and Environmental Studies (FARES) which is a 501 (c) (3) non profit scientific charitable organization formed in 1996 which seeks to: (1) conduct multidisciplinary investigations of the Mirador Basin region of northern Guatemala; (2) Conduct extensive conservation and preservation programs of both the cultural and environmental heritage of Guatemala; (3) Provide literacy, educational, and vocational training opportunities and provide for the economic development of impoverished communities in northern Guatemala. His work has been featured in 31 film documentaries and was the principal consultant for the movie Apocalypto (Mel Gibson) (Hansen 2012a), CBS Survivor Guatemala, and National Geographic's The Story of God with Morgan Freeman. Hansen has worked in the Mesoamerican region and early Maya civilization since 1978. Since 1980 until the present, discoveries by Hansen and his colleagues established the idea that ancient Maya societies had centralized governments and early state formations far earlier than once supposed, building numerous massive centers as early as 1000–600 BC that are connected by a complex web of intersite causeways (Hansen 1984,1990,1991,1992 1998, 2001, 2012b, 2016a, 2016b, 2017a; Clark and Hansen 2001; Hansen et al. 2002; Hansen and Suyuc 2011, 2016; Hernandez et al. 2016). Hansen has also identified evidence for an extensive collapse of the Preclassic Maya civilization around 150 AD.(Hansen 1984, 1990, 1998, 2002, 2008, 2012c, 2017; Wahl et al. 2006; Wahl et al. 2007).

Hansen was awarded the Guatemalan National Order of Cultural Heritage in 2005, the Environmentalist of the Year by the Latin Trade Bravo Association in 2008, and the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres of the "Ordre des Arts et Lettres in Paris in 2012. He was awarded the Orden del Pop from Francisco Marroquin University (Guatemala) in 2012, and the highest civilian award in Guatemala, the Order of the Quetzal in 2017. He was also awarded the Orden de la Monja Blanca by the Guatemalan Ministry of Defense in 2019. He was named as "one of the 24 individuals that changed Latin America (Latin Trade Magazine, Dec. 2013, p. 72, www.latintrade.com) and his work has been an important contribution to the understanding of the development of Maya civilization. [3][4].

His work in El Mirador has been criticized in recent years, mainly with claims that he seeks to alter the Maya Biosphere Reserve and transform the area into a privately managed religious theme park with hotels, restaurants, guided tours and a train that will pass through the rainforest. Claims have been made that he wants to remove the community forest concessions from the area. Hansen has recommended that the Wilderness Area would allow no roads, no airplane airstrips, no hotels, and develop the surrounding communities as the focal point of tourist entry with some sort of controlled access to protect and defend the last surviving rainforest in Guatemala. Hansen and a group of organizations formed the Maya Conservation Partnership in Washington, D.C. his true intentions are unknown, and his own ability to profit from the plans he suggests is unclear.