Age, Biography and Wiki

Merle Greene Robertson was born on 30 August, 1913 in Miles City, Montana, is an American Mesoamericanist. Discover Merle Greene Robertson's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is she in this year and how she spends money? Also learn how she earned most of networth at the age of 97 years old?

Popular As N/A
Occupation N/A
Age 97 years old
Zodiac Sign Virgo
Born 30 August 1913
Birthday 30 August
Birthplace Miles City, Montana
Date of death 22 April, 2011
Died Place N/A
Nationality Montana

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 30 August. She is a member of famous historian with the age 97 years old group.

Merle Greene Robertson Height, Weight & Measurements

At 97 years old, Merle Greene Robertson height not available right now. We will update Merle Greene Robertson's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

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Who Is Merle Greene Robertson's Husband?

Her husband is Bob Robertson

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Husband Bob Robertson
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Merle Greene Robertson Net Worth

Her net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Merle Greene Robertson worth at the age of 97 years old? Merle Greene Robertson’s income source is mostly from being a successful historian. She is from Montana. We have estimated Merle Greene Robertson's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
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Source of Income historian

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Timeline

1913

Merle Greene Robertson (August 30, 1913 – April 22, 2011 ) was an American artist, art historian, archaeologist, lecturer and Mayanist researcher, renowned for her extensive work towards the investigation and preservation of the art, iconography, and writing of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Central America.

She is most famous for her rubbings of Maya carved stelae, sculpture, and carved stone, particularly at the Maya sites of Tikal and Palenque.

Robertson was born in 1913 in the small town of Miles City, Montana to Ada Emma Foote and Darrell Irving McCann, but she moved to Great Falls, Montana as a small child.

Here she became greatly interested in Native American culture and even learned Indian sign language from Blackfoot Indian chiefs her father was close friends with.

But more importantly, in Great Falls she met the artist Charles M. Russell who spent many afternoons teaching Merle how to paint.

She moved to Seattle, Washington, as a teenager and completed high school there and attended the University of Washington.

Merle started working as a commercial artist and gold leaf window painter; during the summers she worked at Camp Tapawingo.

Following her graduation, Merle married her college boyfriend Wallace McNeill Greene.

The couple was married for thirteen years and had two children, David and Barbara.

However, the marriage dissolved when Merle found out her husband had participated in multiple affairs throughout the years.

After the divorce, Merle and her children moved to California, where she began teaching at San Rafael Military Academy.

There is where she first met Bob Robertson, the dean, who she would marry later on.

She and Mr. Robertson traveled to El Salvador to visit cadets Quinonez, Escalon, and Sagrera and learn about Salvadoran archeology.

She later decided to go back to school and moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

She earned her Master's of Fine Arts from the University of Guanajuato, where she studied watercolors, oils, photography, and mural painting from one of Mexico's top artists, James Pinto.

1961

After completing her MFA, Merle began working on the Tikal Project with the University of Pennsylvania in 1961.

She spent three summers drawing the architecture of the Central Acropolis.

She also started her famous rubbings at this time, making the art form a way to document and preserve the information on Maya relief sculptures.

While she was there, it was suggested that she travel through Guatemala and record stelae at other sites.

While Merle carved out a path for herself as a Mayanist she continued to teach school in the states.

She and her husband Bob Both worked at the Stevenson School in Pebble Beach, California; this is where Merle first began to instill her love of the Maya into young students.

She taught a Mesoamerican Archaeology class and she took many of her students on expeditions into the jungles of Central America.

Some of her students even went on to study archaeology at college and pursue a career studying the Maya, one of the best examples being Mayanist Arlen F. Chase.

Initially trained as an artist, Robertson pioneered the technique of taking rubbings from Maya monumental sculptures and inscriptions, making over 4,000 of these over a career spanning four decades (2,000 being monuments).

In many cases these rubbings have preserved features of the artworks which have since deteriorated or even disappeared, through the actions of the environment or looters.

This method was first used by the ancient Chinese but Merle further developed and refined the process.

She developed two techniques using two different forms of ink on rice paper.

The type of ink that was chosen was based on the environmental conditions and the nature of the item being recorded.

Merle, along with Mayanist Tatiana Proskouriakoff and Edith Ricketson, paved the way for women to enter the field of Maya archaeology.

She was the first woman to join the Tikal Project, at a time where it was generally understood that women were not to work on archaeological projects.

Merle is most well known for her work at Palenque.

1973

The meetings started in December 1973 and ended in June of 1993.

A total of 10 of the proceedings of the round table meetings have been published as volumes.

Merle also famously worked at Chichen Itza for many years.

Here she also created a large, encompassing report of all the sculptures at the site.

Not only did she record the hieroglyphic and iconographic inscriptions, she also interpreted the work through the eyes of the authors.

This showed her unique perspective as an artist rather than a formally trained archaeologist.

1980

In the 1980s, she undertook a project to document and record in detail all the sculptural art.

This led to the instrumentation of the series of Mayanist conferences known as the Palenque Round Tables, which have produced some of the most significant breakthroughs in Maya research and the epigraphic decipherment of the ancient Maya script.

1982

In 1982, Merle founded the Pre-Columbian Art Institute, which publishes the PARI Journal.