Richard M. Leventhal

Professor, University of Pennsylvania

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Richard M. Leventhal is the Director of the new Penn Cultural Heritage Center, a Professor in the University of Pennsylvania Department of Anthropology, and Curator in the American Section of the Penn Museum. In addition, he is the former Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. He received his BA in 1974 and his PhD in Anthropology in 1979, both from Harvard. He has done extensive archaeological field research in Belize, Mexico, and other parts of Central America for over thirty years. This fieldwork has resulted in several monographs and books on the ancient Maya.

Dr. Leventhal lectures and writes extensively on the preservation of cultural properties and cultural sites, on the need to prevent the looting of global heritage resources, and on the acquisition policies of museums.

Dr. Leventhal’s most recent field project focused on the detailed excavation, preservation, and development of the ancient Maya site, Xunantunich, located in Belize. He has worked extensively with the Government of Belize on a development masterplan for the Belize tourist program. He has also advised the Government on the development of a National Museum. In addition, Dr. Leventhal has been an advisor to several indigenous groups in Belize related to the preservation of archaeological sites and current land-claims of the Maya.

Dr. Leventhgal’s previous positions include President and CEO at the School of American Research in Santa Fe; Director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA; Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, UCLA; and Director of the Institute for Mesoamerican Studies at SUNY-Albany.