Mayanist
<p >A <b>Mayanist</b> (Spanish: "mayista") is a scholar specialising in research and study of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_America" title="Central America" >Central American</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian" title="Pre-Columbian" class="mw-redirect" >pre-Columbian</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization" title="Maya civilization" >Maya civilization</a>. This discipline should not be confused with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayanism" title="Mayanism" >Mayanism</a>, a collection of New Age beliefs about the ancient Maya.</p>
<p>
Mayanists draw upon many inter-related disciplines including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeology" title="Archaeology" >archaeology</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics" title="Linguistics" >linguistics</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigraphy" title="Epigraphy" >epigraphy</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnology" title="Ethnology" >ethnology</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History" title="History" >history</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography" title="Photography" >photography</a>/<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art" title="Art" >art</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture" title="Architecture" >architecture</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy" title="Astronomy" >astronomy</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottery" title="Pottery" >ceramics</a>.</p>
<p>
The term <i>Mayanist</i> was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologism" title="Neologism" >coined</a> by parallel with specialised fields studying other historical <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization" title="Civilization" >civilizations</a>; see for example, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptologist" title="Egyptologist" class="mw-redirect" >Egyptologist</a>(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt" title="Ancient Egypt" >Ancient Egypt</a>) and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyriology" title="Assyriology" >Assyriologist</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia" title="Mesopotamia" >Ancient Mesopotamia</a>). It has been in widespread use from the late 19th century onwards, particularly by those who have studied and contributed to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decipherment" title="Decipherment" >decipherment</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_hieroglyphics" title="Maya hieroglyphics" class="mw-redirect" >Maya hieroglyphics</a>, the complex and elaborate <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing_system" title="Writing system" >writing system</a> which was developed by the ancient Maya.</p>