Fabio Esteban Amador

of National Geographic Waitt Grants Program

Fabio Esteban Amador is a program officer for the National Geographic Society promoting and coordinating scientific and exploratory research around the world. He is also an associate research professor at George Washington University and an associate researcher at the Institute of Nautical Archaeology. Amador is a Mesoamerican archaeologist specializing in the documentation of terrestrial and underwater sites, analysis of cultural materials and developing and promoting visualization techniques in scientific research. Amador received his B.A. from Rutgers University and his Masters and Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Lately, he has focused on the archaeology and exploration of caverns in Quintana Roo, Mexico and photo-mosaicking shipwrecks in Latin America and the Caribbean. Amador’s continued effort to communicating science has allowed him to use photography, cinematography and other multi-media tools to reach large audiences through his publications on the National Geographic’s Explorers Journal and NatGeo News Watch online publications. He is also founder and director of Fundacion OLAS, an organization devoted to capacity building for Latin American scholars dedicated to the study of submerged cultural heritage

Move Over, Mexico: The Maya in Central America

Posted by Fabio Esteban Amador of National Geographic Waitt Grants Program on November 5, 2012
(0)
More »
The Great Jaguar Temple, Tikal National Park. (Photograph by Chuck Reller, My Shot)

When most people think of the Maya, their minds jump immediately to Mexico, but this ancient civilization exerted profound influence throughout Central America. Let Fabio Amador, a Salvadoran expert in Mesoamerican archaeology for National Geographic, take you on the ultimate cultural journey through the Maya of Central America — from places that were inhabited more than 10,000 years ago to modern towns that celebrate their ancient heritage in unexpected ways.