{{short description|Spanish archaeologist}} {{family name hatnote|Lacadena|García-Gallo|lang=Spanish}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Alfonso Lacadena | image = Alfonso Lacadena.jpg | image_size = | caption = Lacadena in 2017 | birth_date = {{birth date|1964|8|21|df=y}} | birth_place = Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain | death_date = {{death date and age|2018|2|9|1964|8|21|df=y}} | death_place = Madrid, Spain | field = Mesoamerican cultures | work_institutions = Complutense University of Madrid | alma_mater = Complutense University of Madrid | known_for = Mayan and Aztec epigraphy | prizes = Tatiana Proskouriakoff Prize (Harvard University) | spouse = }} '''Alfonso Lacadena García-Gallo''' (August 21, 1964 – February 9, 2018), was a Spanish archaeologist, historian and epigraphist. He specialized in Mayan culture,{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} specifically in deciphering and interpreting its texts. He was also a professor at the Complutense University of Madrid.
== Biography == Born in Zaragoza, Lacadena was a specialist in Mesoamerican indigenous written sources, Mayan linguistics, Nahuatl writing and comparative Mesoamerican literature. An author of numerous monographs on these topics, he had a Doctorate in History and was awarded the Extraordinary Doctorate Award (Academic year 1994-1995) of the Faculty of Geography and History of the Complutense University for his doctoral thesis on Mayan handwriting. On October 13, 2011, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, from Harvard University, awarded him the Tatiana Proskuriakof Prize for his contributions to the decipherment of Mayan and Nahuatl writing.
Lacadena worked with the Ch'orti ethnic group in eastern Guatemala, near Honduras. He dug in the ruins of Matxakila, in the Petén jungle. He studied hieroglyphic texts at Ek Balam, about 50 kilometers from Chichén Itzá.<ref>[http://www.blogseitb.com/rogeblasco/2012/08/05/alfonso-lacadena-garcia-gallo-experto-en-epigrafia-maya-nos-muestra-el-calendario-de-esta-antigua-civilizacion Alfonso Lacadena García-Gallo, experto en epigrafía maya, nos muestra el calendario de esta antigua civilización] {{in lang|es}}</ref> He also taught numerous epigraphy courses at both the Autonomous University of Madrid and the Autonomous University of Yucatán as well as at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
He was author of two own works, seven co-works and five articles. In October 2017, the III Meeting of Gramotology honored him for his work at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.<ref>[https://www.ucm.es/antropologiadeamerica/alfonso-lacadena-garcia-gallo Departamento de Historia de América II (Antropología de América)] {{in lang|es}}</ref> Married, he was father of two children. He died of cancer on 9 February 2018, aged 53.<ref>[https://twitter.com/RecorridosSidet/status/962148074205442048 Hoy, 9 de Febrero de 2018, falleció en Madrid, el Dr. Alfonso Lacadena García-Gallo.] {{in lang|es}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=February 2018}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lacadena, Alfonso}} Category:1964 births Category:2018 deaths Category:Mayanists Category:Mesoamerican epigraphers Category:Spanish Mesoamericanists Category:Nahuatl Category:20th-century Spanish historians Category:Complutense University of Madrid alumni Category:Deaths from cancer in Spain Category:21st-century Spanish historians Category:People from Zaragoza Category:Academic staff of the Complutense University of Madrid