David is the leading Maya epigrapher of our time. He (along with a few other scholars) came to decipher and reconstruct the linguistic system of ancient Maya glyphs. His views of the Maya transcend the traditional approach of Archeology and offers a more complex and sophisticated understanding of the Maya Civilization.

Starting at an early age, and in the last decade has started to revel a whole new landscape of content related to philosophy, cosmology, space and time. He is the youngest person ever to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, at age 18. He currently teaches at the University of Texas at Austin and his current research includes study of Maya, Aztec and ancient Mesoamerican images and texts.