William Fash is the Charles P. Bowditch Professor of Central American and Mexican Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. He begann doing archaeological research in the Copan Valley in 1977, and received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Harvard University in 1983. Ever since, he has directed multi-institutional, multi-national, and interdisciplinary research that illuminates ancient Maya lifeways, art and cultural history at the renowned ancient city of Copan, Honduras. He and his wife Barbara played key roles in the conception, design and creation of the Sculpture Museum in Copán which showcases the magnificent cultural heritage from that city. The museum has proven important to local pride and understanding, to economic development and to preserving the cultural patrimony of the ancient Maya. For his efforts he was awarded the Order of José Cecilio del Valle by the President of Honduras in 1994, and selected to succeed his Harvard mentor, Gordon Willey, as Bowditch Professor of Central American and Mexican Archaeology and Ethnology in that same year. He served as Chair of Harvard’s Department of Anthropology from 1998 – 2004, and as Director of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology since 2004. He is the author of Scribes, Warriors, and Kings (1991, rev. ed. 2001), History Carved in Stone (1992, with Ricardo Agurcia), Copán: The History of an Ancient Maya Kingdom (2005, with E. Wyllys Andrews), The Ancient American World (2005, with Mary Lyons), Gordon R. Willey and American Archaeology (2007, co-editor with Jeremy Sabloff); The Art of Urbanism (2009, with Leonardo López Luján) and over 100 scholarly articles and book chapters. William and Barbara Fash recently received the Hoja de Laurel de Oro, a lifetime achievement award, conferred by the Minister of Culture and the Arts.