Leonardo López Luján and Diana Magaloni Kerpel will receive the Tlamatini Prize in the United States

The archaeologist Leonardo López Luján and the restorer Diana Magaloni Kerpel will receive the Tlamatini Prize in the United States on April 10.

The researcher, one of the most recognized for his work on pre-Hispanic societies, told The Day that for him it means “a great honor and a privilege” to receive the recognition conferred by the California State University in Los Angeles and the Art History Society.

The Tlamatini Prize (“wise”, in the Nahuatl language) is awarded to researchers who have provided key contributions to the understanding of Mesoamerican cultures, not through a particular work, but for “the life journey of specialists in the study of indigenous cultures of the American continent,” López Luján summarized.

The specialists will show the most recent results of their research at the symposium From the Mexica Empire to New Spain: Transculturation and Identity, which will take place the day they receive the distinction at the University of Los Angeles.

Leonado López recalled that the first to receive the Tlamatini Prize in 2012 was his father, Alfredo López Austin. “From then on, each year it is awarded especially to specialists in the study of Mesoamerica, but also pre-Columbian America.

“It gives me great pride that my name is added not only to that of my father, but also to that of great Mesoamericanists such as Eduardo Matos and Miguel León-Portilla,” as well as researchers such as Mary Miller, Frances Berdan, Patricia Anawalt and Walter Alva.

The archaeologist emphasized the importance of sharing the award with his “dear Mexican colleague Diana Magaloni,” a graduate of the National School of Conservation, Restoration and Museography, former director of the National Museum of Anthropology and now deputy director at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California.