Related Papers
TheUpdatedPreliminaryClassicMaya‐English,English‐ClassicMayaVocabularyofHieroglyphicReadings(2009)
Erik Boot
This is the updated preliminary Classic Maya-English, English-Classic Maya vocabulary. During the period of June 2007-March 2009, the original vocabulary of 2002 was checked, revised, reduced, enlarged, and is now annotated in close to 300 cases. The updated version of this preliminary vocabulary of hieroglyphic readings (still a precursor to a fully illustrated vocabulary) contains some 1,275 main entries, each defined with a minimum of one transcribed glyph example (in total there are over 2,500 transcription examples). The updated English-Classic Maya vocabulary contains over 530 entries. The entries in the original and in this updated preliminary vocabulary have been elicited from ho*roglyphic texts (either carved, incised, or painted) on stone and wooden monuments (stelae, lintels, altars, etc.), on portable objects of stone, wood, bone, and shell, in murals, on cave walls, on ceramics, and in three of the four surviving screenfold books. Each main entry is followed by a reference to the hieroglyphic text in which the example can be found, while seven color figures illustrate a selection of these entries.
Continuity and Change in Text and Image at Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico. A Study of the Inscriptions, Iconography, and Architecture at a Late Classic to Early Postclassic Maya Site (2005)
Erik Boot
The archaeological site of Chichén Itzá, one of the best known ancient Maya cities, is located in the northern section of the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico. Chichén Itzá has figured prominently in both past and present discussions on the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic periods in the northern Maya lowlands. Based on archaeological information and information derived from ethnohistorical sources, this city can be dated to a period from circa A.D. 700 to circa A.D. 1250, with its apogee placed between about A.D. 800 to A.D. 1050. The past and present discussions were directed specifically towards the origin of the inhabitants of the city, the arrival of K'uk'ulkán (“Feathered Serpent”), the origin of non-Mayan (“Toltec”) architecture and sculptural programmes at the site, and the model of its political organization. The center of Chichén Itzá is dominated by a raised platform, which harbours buildings now known as El Castillo (The Castle), the Great Ballcourt, and the Temple of the Warriors. These buildings contain various non-Mayan architectural and sculptural traits. Buildings south of the centre, erected in a regional Maya style, contain a large number of inscribed monuments (mostly lintels) carrying long hieroglyphic texts, which provide Chichén Itzá with the largest corpus of surviving inscriptions in the northern Maya lowlands. Chichén Itzá figures prominently in a wide range of ethnohistorical sources from the Colonial period, such as the “Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán” by Fray Diego de Landa and the “Relaciones Geográficas” by various authors, all in Spanish, and the so-called “Books of Chilam Balam” of Chumayel, Maní, and Tizimín, all in Yucatec Maya. In this study the author discusses the southern Maya lowland origin of the inhabitants of Chichén Itzá, the arrival of K'uk'ulkán and the introduction of so-called Toltec architecture and iconography, the identification of both gods and human beings in the inscriptions, and the political organization at Chichén Itzá. He presents extensive and detailed analyses of architectural and sculptural programmes, hieroglyphic inscriptions, and the Yucatec Maya “chronicles” from the Books of Chilam Balam.
Landscapes of the Itza Archaeology and Art History at Chichen Itza and Neighboring Sites. University Press of Florida
K’ak’ Upakal K’inich K’awil and the Lords of the Fire Chichen Itza during the Ninth Century
2018 •
Eduardo Pèrez de Heredia Puente, Kaylee Spencer
This chapter proposes a historical reconstruction of Chichen Itza during the Terminal Classic period that combines recent ceramic and archaeological data with contemporary epigraphic studies. Through this reconstruction, we argue that we can clarify the understanding of the site’s internal dynamics and of the chronological relationship between its Maya or “Puuc” and Internationalstyle constructions, as well as of the site’s overall impact on northern Yucatan
"A Study of the Religious Worldview and Ceremonial Life of the Inhabitants of Palenque and Yaxchilan"
Paul Schottmueller
Places of Power and Memory in Mesoamerica's Past and Present How Sites, Toponyms and Landscapes Shape History and Remembrance Places of Power and Memory in Mesoamerica's Past and Present How Sites, Toponyms and Landscapes Shape History and Remembrance Estudios Indiana
Daniel Grana-Behrens
For Translation: Eastern Nahua-Mixtec-Zapotec Confederacy 1200-1600
John M.D. Pohl
Places of power and memory in Mesoamerica‘s past and present: how sites, toponymus and landscapes shape history and remembrance
2016 •
Daniel Grana-Behrens
The Classic Maya Western Region: A History (BAR Int. Series 2308, Oxford, 2011).
Peter Biro
Over the past decade there has been substantial progress in understanding Maya hieroglyphic writing. This development led to the reconstruction of Classic Maya (AD 300-900) political history. Epigraphers suggested a major influence of Teotihuacan during the Early Classic Period (AD 300-600), and some even argued for a direct Teotihuacan conquest of the Maya lowlands. The Late Classic Period (AD 600-900) was interpreted as a constant hegemonic struggle between Tikal and Calakmul, which in different ways influenced Classic Maya political relations. These reconstructions of political history were directly tied to the interpretations of political organisation, ranging from peer polity interaction models (segmentary states, galactic states) to more bureaucratic polities (unitary states, archaic states, hegemonic states). In this book I examine and analyse inscriptions from the Western Maya Region, which are especially rich in information concerning interaction of polities and interpolity organisation. I reconstruct the historical development of the region, examining the influence of Teotihuacan and that of the hegemonic states Tikal and Calakmul. I conclude that at present Teotihuacan’s involvement in Classic Maya politics at best is indirect in the region. In turn, the role of the hegemonic powers is difficult to assess, but it is likely that Tikal did not play a major part in the wider political interactions of the Western Maya Region. Analysing various words in Classic Ch’olan (the language of the hieroglyphs) that are connected to politics, I conclude that the Western Maya Region polities were territorially small and were rarely able to control each other for more than one or two decades, although hegemonic tendencies certainly existed.
Places of Power and Memory in Mesoamerica’s Past and Present How Sites, Toponyms and Landscapes Shape History and Remembrance
Myth and Model. The Pattern of Migration, Settlement, and Reclamation of Land in Central Mexico and Oaxaca
2017 •
Daniel Grana-Behrens, Viola Koenig
Comparison of the documentation in the prehispanic and early colonial pictorials and written texts from Central Mexico, Oaxaca and in between, shows parallels and a specific model for the settlement and the legitimation of land ownership. Migration from a mythic place of origin is followed by choice of the new homeland, which is officially confirmed by the act of inauguration, i.e. a new fire ceremony. Population growth leads to either the abandonment of a village or exodus of smaller groups , thus starting a new migration. The same procedure begins. Cholla was the place to where the elite pilgrimed in order to have their claim to power and land title confirmed. The Mixtecs started as early as in the classic period to migrate to Teotihuacan and later to Mexico Tenochtitlan as immigrant workers. They were the first to leave their Mixtec homeland in the first half of the 20th ct. traveling to the US and Canada. Today, Mixtec communities can be found in Manhattan and all over California.
A Study of Classic Maya Rulership
Mark Wright
Classic period Maya rulers are often reduced to “ideal types” and are discussed in terms that would suggest they were a hom*ogenous group of individuals cut from the same cloth. Contrary to that assumption, this study employs epigraphic, iconographic, archaeological, ethnohistoric and ethnographic data to demonstrate there was significant local and regional variation in the way kingship was expressed through artistic programs, calendrics, ritual activity, accoutrements of power, sacred warfare, the taking of theophoric throne names and titulary, and the composition and adaptation of local pantheons. The identity of each polity was inseparably connected with that of its ruler, and variations on the rulership theme served to reinforce their unique identity in the larger landscape vis-à-vis other polities. The underlying theoretical approach relies on concepts of mimesis and alterity, duality, and complementary opposition, all of which are creative acts which serve to establish a sense of Self in contrast to the Other, both human and divine. This study also examines concepts of divine kingship and deification, and argues that rulers were “functionally divine” while living and were elevated to “ontologically divine” status upon becoming apotheosized ancestors after death. As apotheosized ancestors, they took their place in the pliable local pantheon which further reinforced the unique identity of each site.
