Robert J. Sharer (March 16, 1940 – September 20, 2012)^[1][2] was an American archaeologist, academic and Mayanist researcher. He was known for his archaeological investigations at a number of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican sites conducted over a career spanning four decades, and for his archaeological reports, theorizing, and writings in his field of specialty, the ancient Maya civilization. Sharer was a lecturer and professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Anthropology for more than 30 years,^[3] and as of 2008^[update] occupied the endowed chair of Sally and Alvin V. Shoemaker Professor in Anthropology, an appointment which he held beginning in 1995.^[4] He also had an extensive association with Penn's University Museum of archaeology and anthropology, where from 1987 to 2009 he was the curator-in-charge of the Museum's American collection and research section.^[5] He died on September 20, 2012.^[6]

He was the author of Daily Life in Maya Civilization (Greenwood Press 2009), which appeared in two editions;^[7] and, with Loa P. Traxler, The Ancient Maya (Stanford University Press, 2006), which appeared in six editions.^[8]