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Ancient Maya Afterlife Iconography: Traveling Between Worlds
University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2006 Ancient Maya Afterlife Iconography: Traveling Between Worlds Mosley Dianna Wilson University of Central Florida Part of the Anthropology Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Wilson, Mosley Dianna, "Ancient Maya Afterlife Iconography: Traveling Between Worlds" (2006). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 853. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/853 ANCIENT MAYA AFTERLIFE ICONOGRAPHY: TRAVELING BETWEEN WORLDS by DIANNA WILSON MOSLEY B.A. University of Central Florida, 2000 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Liberal Studies in the College of Graduate Studies at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2006 i ABSTRACT The ancient Maya afterlife is a rich and voluminous topic. Unfortunately, much of the material currently utilized for interpretations about the ancient Maya comes from publications written after contact by the Spanish or from artifacts with no context, likely looted items. Both sources of information can be problematic and can skew interpretations. Cosmological tales documented after the Spanish invasion show evidence of the religious conversion that was underway. Noncontextual artifacts are often altered in order to make them more marketable. An example of an iconographic theme that is incorporated into the surviving media of the ancient Maya, but that is not mentioned in ethnographically-recorded myths or represented in the iconography from most noncontextual objects, are the “travelers”: a group of gods, humans, and animals who occupy a unique niche in the ancient Maya cosmology. -
The Carved Human Femprs from Tomb 1, Chiapa De Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico
PAPERS of the NEW WOR LD ARCHAEOLO G ICAL FOUNDATION NUMBER SIX THE CARVED HUMAN FEMPRS FROM TOMB 1, CHIAPA DE CORZO, CHIAPAS, MEXICO by PIERRE AGRINIER PUBLICATION No. 5 NEW WORLD ARCHAEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION ORINDA, CALIFORNIA 1960 NEW WORLD ARCHAEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION 1960 OFFICERS THOMAS STUART FERGUSON, President 1 Irving Lane, Orinda, California ALFRED V. KIDDER, PH.D., First Vice-President MILTON R. HUNTER, PH.D., Vice-President ScoTT H. DUNHAM, Secretary-Treasurer J. ALDEN MASON, PH.D., Editor and Field Advisor GARETH W. LowE, Field Director, 1956-1959 FREDRICK A. PETERSON, Field Director, 1959-1960 DIRECTORS ADVISORY COMMITTEE SCOTT H. DUNHAM, C.P.A. PEDRO ARMILLAS, PH.D. THOMAS STUART FERGUSON, ESQ. GORDON F. EKHOLM, PH.D. M. WELLS JAKEMAN, PH.D. J. POULSON HUNTER, M.D. ALFRED V. KIDDER, PH.D. MILTON R. HUNTER, PH.D. ALFRED V. KIDDER, PH.D. EDITORIAL OFFICE NICHOLAS G. MORGAN, SR. ALDEN MASON LE GRAND RICHARDS J. UNIVERSITY MUSEUM ERNEST A. STRONG UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia 4, Pa. J. ALDEN MASON EDITOR Orders for and correspondence regarding the publications of The New World Archaeological Foundation should be sent to SCOTT H. DUNHAM, Secretary 510 Crocker Building San Francisco 4, California Price $2.00 Printed by THE LEGAL INTELLIGENCER Philadelphia 4, Pa. PAPERS of the NEW WOR LD ARCHAEOLO G ICAL FOUNDATION NUMBER SIX THE CARVED HUMAN FEMURS FROM TOMB 1, CHIAP A DE CORZO, CHIAPAS, MEXICO by PIERRE AGRINIER PUB LICATION No. 5 NEW WoRLD ARCHAEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION ORINDA, CALIFORNIA 1960 CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 I. DESCRIPTION ..•...........•......................•... 2 Bone 1 .................................... 2 Bone 2 2 Bone 3 2 Bone 4 3 Technique ................................................ -
A New Artistic Rendering of Izapa Stela 5: a Step Toward Improved Interpretation
Journal of Book of Mormon Studies Volume 8 Number 1 Article 6 1-31-1999 A New Artistic Rendering of Izapa Stela 5: A Step toward Improved Interpretation John E. Clark Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Clark, John E. (1999) "A New Artistic Rendering of Izapa Stela 5: A Step toward Improved Interpretation," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 8 : No. 1 , Article 6. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol8/iss1/6 This Feature Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Title A New Artistic Rendering of Izapa Stela 5: A Step toward Improved Interpretation Author(s) John E. Clark Reference Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 8/1 (1999): 22–33, 77. ISSN 1065-9366 (print), 2168-3158 (online) Abstract Aided by creative techniques, Ajáx Moreno carefully prepared more accurate, detailed renderings of the Izapa monuments, including Stela 5, with its com- plex scenes of gods and other supernatural creatures, royalty, animals invested with mythic and value symbolism, and mortals. The author raises relevant questions about reconciling Jakeman’s view with the new drawing: Are there Old World connections? Can Izapa be viewed as a Book of Mormon city? Did the Nephites know of Lehi’s dream? Are there name glyphs on the stela? The scene, if it does not depict Lehi’s dream, fits clearly in Mesoamerican art in theme, style, technical execution, and meaning. -
By ROBERT L. RANDS
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION Bureau of American Ethnology BuUetin 157 Anthropological Papers, No. 48 Some ManifestatioDs of Water in Mesoamerican Art By ROBERT L. RANDS 265 1 CONTENTS PAGE Introduction 27 The better established occurrences of water 273 Types of associations 273 The Maya codices 277 The Mexican codices 280 Aztec and Teotihuacdn murals, sculptures, and ceramics 285 Summary 291 The proposed identifications of water 292 Artistic approach to the identifications 292 Non-Maya murals, sculptures, and ceramics 293 Maya murals, sculptures, and ceramics 298 General considerations 298 Highest probability (A) 302 Probability B : paraphernalia and secondary associations 315 Probability B : fang, tongue, or water (?) 320 Artistic typology and miscellany 322 Water and the water lily 330 Conclusions 333 Appendix A. Nonartistic data and current reconstructions 342 Direct water associations : physiological data 342 Water from container 344 Water from mouth 348 Water from eye 348 Water from breast 350 Water from between legs 350 Water from body (pores ?) 350 Water from hand 352 Water from other object held in hand 354 Waterlike design from head 355 Glyph in water 365 Object in water 359 Tlaloc 359 Anthropomorphic Long-nosed God 359 Female water deity 369 Black god (M, B) 360 Miscellaneous anthropomorphic figures 360 Frog 360 Serpent 361 Jaguar (ocelot) 361 Bird 363 Miscellaneous animal 363 Serpentine-saurian monster 364 Detached rear head of monster 364 Other grotesque head, face 365 267 268 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 157 Appendix A. Nonartistic data and current reconstructions—Con. page Death, misfortune, destruction _. 365 Water descending on surface water 365 Water descending on figure 366 The bending-over rainmaker 366 The sky monster and its affiliates 366 Balanced water and vegetation 367 Summary 367 Appendix B. -
Creation Cosmos
Creation, Cosmos, and the Imagery of Palenque and Copan Linda Schele and Khristaan D. Villela University of Texas, Austin At the 1992 Texas Meetings, Schele published in Schele (1992) and Freidel, (1992) presented a new interpretation of the Schele, and Parker (1993), we discuss here creation myth and the imagery associated only the main features of the story and its with it, as they are recorded in Classic Period association to astronomical phenomena. inscriptions. There is continuing debate The story of creation on Quirigua about some of the details in this reconstruc- Stela C (fig. 1) gives us the most detailed tion, but various researchers (Schele, Grube, information about the first moment. The text Nahm, R. Johnson, and Quenon) have tested describes the first event as the “appearance some of its patterns and found them to be or manifestation of an image” (halhi productive. This new reconstruction resulted k’ohba). Here the image that appeared was from the decipherment of texts at Quirigua, of three stone-settings (u tz’apwa tun), Palenque, and elsewhere, relating the events described as a jaguar throne stone placed by of creation and associating them with the Paddler Gods at a place called Na-Ho- various constellations, the Milky Way, and Chan, ‘House (or First or Female) Five- their movement through the sky. Since a Sky’; a snake throne stone set up by an detailed discussion of the creation story is unknown god at Kab-Kah,1 ‘Earth-town’; Fig. 1. The Creation Passage from Quirigua Stela C. 1 a. A council of gods aiding in the setting of the jaguar throne. -
Location and Orientation of Teotihuacan, Mexico: Water Worship and Processional Space
Location and Orientation of Teotihuacan, Mexico: Water Worship and Processional Space Susan Toby Evans “Processions and pilgrimages produced a continuous movement that animated the landscape, thus we are dealing with fundamental ritual processes that created the sacred landscape.” Johanna Broda, this volume Introduction: The Cultural Ecology of Teotihuacan’s Placement In this paper, the ritual practice of Teotihuacan Valley, as well as with the city’s procession is argued to have provided an cosmological setting. The grid’s orientation impetus for the location and orientation of the addressed practical problems such as grading ancient city of Teotihuacan within its and drainage while it maximized ardent efforts environmental context, the Teotihuacan Valley. by worshippers to connect with the living world Cultural ecology and ethnohistory will they revered: the same urban plan that illuminate the rich corpus of information about channeled psychic energy toward sacred the city’s development and the valley’s elements of the environment also channeled geographical features, and suggest that the city’s water and waste through the city and onto topographical situation was generated by its agricultural fields. regional landscape and the needs of its planners Supporting the idea that the city’s to urbanize the site while supporting a growing orientation and location were deliberate population, which involved increasing adaptations to the Teotihuacan Valley, and that agricultural productivity and intensifying the processions were a vital component of propitiation of fertility deities. Teotihuacanos calculations to insure continued fertility, maximized crop production in their valley’s evidence is drawn from: different growing zones, while gridding their the Teotihuacan Valley’s natural city with processional avenues and arenas. -
The Quadripartite Badge: Narratives of Power and Resurrection in Maya Iconography
THE QUADRIPARTITE BADGE: NARRATIVES OF POWER AND RESURRECTION IN MAYA ICONOGRAPHY by VICTORIA ANN INGALLS B.S. Texas State University, 2009 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Anthropology in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2012 © 2012 Victoria A. Ingalls ii ABSTRACT Ancient Maya iconography primarily depicted elite individuals in idealized states of being and rationalized their power and authority through ideological concepts and otherworld beings. This study aims to reexamine previous assumptions made concerning the Quadripartite Badge. This motif is examined based on iconographic associations and contexts, as well as temporal and spatial distributions. The dataset was created from currently identified examples of the Quadripartite Badge, although only a select group is extensively examined. The spread of this motif is demonstrated through time and its spatial dispersals are noted for their political consequences. Indicating the liminal status of its user, the Badge is frequently placed in scenes of transformation, accompanying rites of passage. It is also established that as elite women became more prominent, women from Tikal and Calakmul circulated this iconography through marriage alliances, as seen in the number of newly ‘arrived’ women carrying the Badge. Other iconographic associations of the Badge revealed strong ties with the Maize God and the cyclical nature of agriculture. For the continuation of the maize cycle and renewal of universal forces, sacrifice was required; the completion of ritual sacrifice was demonstrated through the depiction of the Quadripartite Badge. This one expression of power simultaneously validated earthly and otherworldy authority, ensuring the continuation of the cosmos and the perpetuation of the sun and maize cycles. -
The PARI Journal
ThePARIJournal A quarterly publication of the Ancient Cultures Institute Volume XV, No. 3, Winter 2015 In This Issue: The Dedication of Tikal TempleVI: The Dedication of Tikal Temple VI: A A Revised Chronology Revised Chronology by SIMON MARTIN University of Pennsylvania Museum Simon Martin PAGES 1-10 • The long hieroglyphic text that adorns distinctive features (Figure 1). It offers an the back and sides of Tikal Temple VI—a unusually detailed statement of relations A Skyband with building known more descriptively as between an ancestral ruler-deity and Constellations: the Temple of Inscriptions and more both contemporary and deep-time local Revisiting the Monjas East Wing prosaically as Structure 6F-27—has some monarchs. It also has a distinctive physical at Chichen Itza by Bruce Love PAGES 11-14 • In the Realm of the Witz’: Animate Rivers and Rulership among the Classic Maya by Jeremy D.Coltman PAGES 15-30 • The Further Adventures of Merle (continued) by Merle Greene Robertson PAGES 31-32 Joel Skidmore Editor Marc Zender Associate Editor The PARI Journal 202 Edgewood Avenue San Francisco, CA 94117 415-664-8889 [email protected] Electronic version available at: www.precolumbia.org/ pari/journal/1503 Figure 1. The rear façade of Tikal Temple VI (Structure 6F-27). Photograph by Jorge ISSN 1531-5398 Pérez de Lara. The PARI Journal 15(3):1-10 © 2015 Ancient Cultures Institute 1 Martin character since, with constituent blocks measuring as BCE), and 9.4.0.0.0 (514 CE), before damage robs us of much as 85 cm across, it boasts the largest hieroglyphs in reliable or legible dates until firm ground returns in the the Maya world. -
Cumorah Messenger the Gospel Pathway at Izapa Continued Site of Takalik Abaj About 40 Miles Straight
Volume 10, Issue 2 The Gospel Pathway at Izapa June 15, 2016 By David B. Brown © 2016 Our recent Spring Expedition took and large altar, each of them made us to the Chiapas site of Izapa located from a single piece of carved stone. just outside the city of Tapachula and These features are clearly Olmec and just a few kilometers from Mexico’s testify to the influence of the northern southernmost border with Guatemala. culture in this region. Here we found an archaeological site Through the years we have identified with a long history and very unique certain ancient cities as locations for art styles. It appears that this site was Book of Mormon stories. Izapa has located on a merchant route that been identified as connected Teotihuacán with cit- the Lamanite city of ies in Guatemala and El Salva- Shimnilon that is dor. Being a site with such strong listed as one of the connections to the north, it dis- seven cities con- plays Olmec artisan influence by verted by the sons its use of very large stones. For of Mosiah. Ammon example, a large toad head, a is clearly responsi- large snake head, a large bowl ble for the conversion of King Lamoni and the peo- ple in the city of Ishmael. We have identified Ishmael as Tazumal in Chalchuapa, El Salvador. Aaron is said to have been held in prison in Middoni, which we have identified as the Guatemala Continues on Page 2 Mayan Burial Rituals by Terry Scott © 2016 We know very little about the Tomás (Chichicastenango) in Guate- early Maya’s burial practices. -
Archaeology of the Guatemala Pacific Coast
FAMSI © 2002: Frederick J. Bove Archaeology of the Guatemala Pacific Coast Research Year : 1999 Culture : Teotihuacán Chronology : Pre-Classic, Early Classic and Late Post Classic Location : Pacific Coast, Guatemala (this report includes several abstracts involving Oaxaca, the Gulf Coast, and Petén) Site : Escuintla Table of Contents Abstract Publishable Manuscripts Relational Database Ceramic and Other Artifact Analysis and Illustration Design and Implementation of the Regional GIS Future Goal Abstract Funding provided by FAMSI was utilized in four broad categories. These were (a) in the preparation of publishable manuscripts, (b) the design, implementation, and completion of a large relational database including sites, stratigraphic data from excavations, ceramics, obsidian, and other artifacts, (c) completion of all ceramic analysis and illustrations of key ceramic types and groups as well as other significant artifact classes such as obsidian, and (d) the design and implementation of a large GIS database encompassing all of the data collected. Each of these categories is more fully described below. Publishable Manuscripts One of the great advantages of the FAMSI funding was to provide precious time to analyze and reflect on the results of the various projects conducted over the past years. While work continued on the large ceramic, obsidian, and other artifact databases as well as the concurrent GIS project, the opportunity to initiate regional questions of potentially sweeping magnitude instead of the usual site limited reports was immensely rewarding. The assistance provided by FAMSI enabled me to take fresh looks at our data with striking results. One concerned a Teotihuacán military takeover and colonization of a great deal of the central Escuintla, Guatemala coast. -
The Defeat of the Great Bird in Myth and Royal Pageantry: a Mesoamerican Myth in a Comparative Perspective
Christophe Helmke & Jesper Nielsen: The Defeat of the Great Bird 23 The Defeat of the Great Bird in Myth and Royal Pageantry: A Mesoamerican Myth in a Comparative Perspective CHRISTOPHE HELMKE & JESPER NIELSEN Institute of Cross-cultural & Regional Studies University of Copenhagen, Denmark Abstract Mythic narratives occupy a privileged position in human cultures, and relate not only the creation of the world, plants, animals and people, but also the origin of social values, rituals and institutions. The pre-eminence given to myths and their explanatory value, means that these narratives are much more than the recollection of fantastic events in the deep past. The study of myths have relied on a wide range of approaches, variously stipulating that these are the product of the social unconscious, the fabricated fantasies of the rulers to bolster their claims to power, or the indistinct recollections of actual events in the distant past — beyond the reaches of orally-transmitted extra-social memory. Here we present a particular mythic motif, involving the defeat of a giant celestial bird, with solar attributes, at the hands of a culture hero or heroic twins. While we will focus on this motif and its distribution across Mesoamerican cultures, it bears remarking that similar motifs occur among Amerindian cultures in both North and South America. Together this collection of myths can be ascribed to a series of mythic cycles, wherein culture heroes set out to vanquish monsters and make the world a place suitable for the creation of humanity. Surprisingly, several Old World myths also exhibit such remarkable structural and substantial similarities, that these point to distant, yet common prehistoric origins and widespread diffusion, rather than independent and coincident convergence. -
Izapa Chiapas
IZAPA CHIAPAS CONSIDERATIONS AND ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL FOR THE ENCROACHMENT ON THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE BY THE TAPACHULA-TALISMÁN HIGHWAY COMISIÓN DE DEFENSA DEL PATRIMONIO CULTURAL Delegación Sindical D-II-IA 1 Profesores de Investigación Científica y Docencia Centro INAH Chiapas April 2007 2007 Mesoweb: www.mesoweb.com/reports/Izapa.pdf. Introduction The archaeological site of Izapa was the most important as well as one of the largest of the prehispanic settlements of southern Chiapas, the Pacific coast, and a considerable part of Central America during the Preclassic or Formative Period. The various material expressions present at Izapa manifest great cultural ad- vancement and social complexity, in the absence of which it would be impossible to envision the beginnings, characteristics, and development of the many peoples and societies that constitute prehispanic Mesoamerica. The origins of Izapa circa 1500 B.C. remained buried and forgotten for many centuries after its abandonment somewhere around A.D. 1200. Nevertheless, at this site you can recognize elements that permit you to infer, if not the origins, at least one of the earliest manifestations of one of the cosmogonic and creation myths that gave unity and cultural identity to the peoples of southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. In some of the extraordinary sculptured monuments discovered at Izapa, scholars have identified elements and characters from the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Quiche Maya of Guatemala. The archaeological wealth of Izapa is evident in the massive pyramidal struc- tures scattered across the site, the great platforms built of packed earth veneered with stone, the dozens of sculptural elements such as stelae, thrones, and altars, all of which can be enjoyed by the visitor and appreciated as but a small sample of the importance of the site.