Mesoamerican Figurines: the Cholula Perspective
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Ancient Tollan: the Sacred Precinct
100 RES 38 AUTUMN 2000 Figure 12. Upper section of Pillar 3: Personage with attributes of Tezcatlipoca. Photograph: Humberto Hiera. Ancient Toi Ian The sacred precinct ALBAGUADALUPE MASTACHE and ROBERTH. COBEAN Tula, along with Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan, was to level the area for the plaza and to construct platforms one most of the important cities inMexico's Central that functioned as bases for buildings. Highlands. During Tula's apogee between a.d. 900-1150, It is evident that at Tula the placement of the area the city covered nearly 16 square kilometers. Its of monumental center is strategic, not only because it over an influence extended much of Central Mexico along occupies easily defended place but also because of its with other regions of Mesoamerica, including areas of central setting at a dominant point that had great visual the Baj?o, the Huasteca, the Gulf Coast, the Yucatan impact, being visible to inhabitants in every part of the city peninsula, and such distant places as the Soconusco, on and within view of many rural sites. Lefebvre observes that the Pacific Coast of Chiapas and Guatemala, and El a city's habitational zone ismade on a human scale, a Salvador. From cultural and ethnic perspective, Tula whereas the monumental zone has a superhuman scale, a constituted synthesis of principally two different which goes beyond human beings?overwhelming them, traditions: the preceding urban culture from Teotihuacan dazzling them. The monumental buildings' scale is the in the Basin of Mexico, and another tradition from the scale of divinity, of a divine ruler, of abstract institutions northern Mesoamerican periphery, especially the Baj?o that dominate human society (Lefebvre 1982:84). -
Memorias De Piedra Verde: Miradas Simbólicas De Las Reliquias Toltecas
Memorias de piedra verde: miradas simbólicas de las reliquias toltecas Stephen Castillo Bernal* Museo Nacional de Antropología, INAH RESUMEN: Las placas de piedra verde son características del periodo Epiclásico (650-900 d.C.), en ellas se encuentran plasmadas las memorias de los guerreros, dignatarios y sacerdotes. Me- diante este texto se realiza un análisis simbólico y contextual de diversas placas recuperadas en los sitios de Xochicalco (650-900 d.C.) y de Tula (900-1200 d.C.), fundamentado en los significados simbólicos y anímicos que los toltecas le asignaron a esta clase de objetos. Al abrigo de la teoría del ritual de Victor Turner [1980, 1988], se avanza en una interpretación alterna de estos objetos, pues se ha asumido que ellos aluden a sacerdotes en estado de trance. Se postula también que los sujetos son representaciones de muertos, depositados como reliquias cargadas de meta-mensajes de tiempos pasados y que aparecen en contextos posteriores, como Tula o Tenochtitlan. PALABRAS CLAVE: Toltecas, piedra verde, reliquias, ancestros, muerte. Memories of green stone: A symbolic look at some Toltec relics ABSTRACT: Green stone slabs are characteristic of the Epiclassic period (650-900 A.D.). On them, warriors, dignitaries and priests were embodied. This paper provides a symbolic and contextual analysis of several of the said plates —in this case— recovered at the sites of Xochicalco (650-900 AD) and Tula (900-1200 AD), focusing specifically on the symbolic and emotional meanings that the Toltecs assigned to this class of object. From the ritual theory of Victor Turner [1980, 1988], an alternative interpretation of these objects is proposed, since it has been assumed that they allude to priests in a state of trance. -
Megaliths and the Early Mezcala Urban Tradition of Mexico
ICDIGITAL Separata 44-45/5 ALMOGAREN 44-45/2013-2014MM131 ICDIGITAL Eine PDF-Serie des Institutum Canarium herausgegeben von Hans-Joachim Ulbrich Technische Hinweise für den Leser: Die vorliegende Datei ist die digitale Version eines im Jahrbuch "Almogaren" ge- druckten Aufsatzes. Aus technischen Gründen konnte – nur bei Aufsätzen vor 1990 – der originale Zeilenfall nicht beibehalten werden. Das bedeutet, dass Zeilen- nummern hier nicht unbedingt jenen im Original entsprechen. Nach wie vor un- verändert ist jedoch der Text pro Seite, so dass Zitate von Textstellen in der ge- druckten wie in der digitalen Version identisch sind, d.h. gleiche Seitenzahlen (Pa- ginierung) aufweisen. Der im Aufsatzkopf erwähnte Erscheinungsort kann vom Sitz der Gesellschaft abweichen, wenn die Publikation nicht im Selbstverlag er- schienen ist (z.B. Vereinssitz = Hallein, Verlagsort = Graz wie bei Almogaren III). Die deutsche Rechtschreibung wurde – mit Ausnahme von Literaturzitaten – den aktuellen Regeln angepasst. Englischsprachige Keywords wurden zum Teil nach- träglich ergänzt. PDF-Dokumente des IC lassen sich mit dem kostenlosen Adobe Acrobat Reader (Version 7.0 oder höher) lesen. Für den Inhalt der Aufsätze sind allein die Autoren verantwortlich. Dunkelrot gefärbter Text kennzeichnet spätere Einfügungen der Redaktion. Alle Vervielfältigungs- und Medien-Rechte dieses Beitrags liegen beim Institutum Canarium Hauslabgasse 31/6 A-1050 Wien IC-Separatas werden für den privaten bzw. wissenschaftlichen Bereich kostenlos zur Verfügung gestellt. Digitale oder gedruckte Kopien von diesen PDFs herzu- stellen und gegen Gebühr zu verbreiten, ist jedoch strengstens untersagt und be- deutet eine schwerwiegende Verletzung der Urheberrechte. Weitere Informationen und Kontaktmöglichkeiten: institutum-canarium.org almogaren.org Abbildung Titelseite: Original-Umschlag des gedruckten Jahrbuches. -
Bibliography
Bibliography Many books were read and researched in the compilation of Binford, L. R, 1983, Working at Archaeology. Academic Press, The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology: New York. Binford, L. R, and Binford, S. R (eds.), 1968, New Perspectives in American Museum of Natural History, 1993, The First Humans. Archaeology. Aldine, Chicago. HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco. Braidwood, R 1.,1960, Archaeologists and What They Do. Franklin American Museum of Natural History, 1993, People of the Stone Watts, New York. Age. HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco. Branigan, Keith (ed.), 1982, The Atlas ofArchaeology. St. Martin's, American Museum of Natural History, 1994, New World and Pacific New York. Civilizations. HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco. Bray, w., and Tump, D., 1972, Penguin Dictionary ofArchaeology. American Museum of Natural History, 1994, Old World Civiliza Penguin, New York. tions. HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco. Brennan, L., 1973, Beginner's Guide to Archaeology. Stackpole Ashmore, w., and Sharer, R. J., 1988, Discovering Our Past: A Brief Books, Harrisburg, PA. Introduction to Archaeology. Mayfield, Mountain View, CA. Broderick, M., and Morton, A. A., 1924, A Concise Dictionary of Atkinson, R J. C., 1985, Field Archaeology, 2d ed. Hyperion, New Egyptian Archaeology. Ares Publishers, Chicago. York. Brothwell, D., 1963, Digging Up Bones: The Excavation, Treatment Bacon, E. (ed.), 1976, The Great Archaeologists. Bobbs-Merrill, and Study ofHuman Skeletal Remains. British Museum, London. New York. Brothwell, D., and Higgs, E. (eds.), 1969, Science in Archaeology, Bahn, P., 1993, Collins Dictionary of Archaeology. ABC-CLIO, 2d ed. Thames and Hudson, London. Santa Barbara, CA. Budge, E. A. Wallis, 1929, The Rosetta Stone. Dover, New York. Bahn, P. -
"Comments on the Historicity of Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, Tollan, and the Toltecs" by Michael E
31 COMMENTARY "Comments on the Historicity of Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, Tollan, and the Toltecs" by Michael E. Smith University at Albany, State University of New York Can we believe Aztec historical accounts about Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, Tollan, and other Toltec phenomena? The fascinating and important recent exchange in the Nahua Newsletter between H. B. Nicholson and Michel Graulich focused on this question. Stimulated partly by this debate and partly by a recent invitation to contribute an essay to an edited volume on Tula and Chichén Itzá (Smith n.d.), I have taken a new look at Aztec and Maya native historical traditions within the context of comparative oral histories from around the world. This exercise suggests that conquest-period native historical accounts are unlikely to preserve reliable information about events from the Early Postclassic period. Surviving accounts of the Toltecs, the Itzas (prior to Mayapan), Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, Tula, and Chichén Itzá all belong more to the realm of myth than history. In the spirit of encouraging discussion and debate, I offer a summary here of my views on early Aztec native history; a more complete version of which, including discussion of the Maya Chilam Balam accounts, will be published in Smith (n.d.). I have long thought that Mesoamericanists have been far too credulous in their acceptance of native historical sources; this is an example of what historian David Fischer (1970:58-61) calls "the fallacy of misplaced literalism." Aztec native history was an oral genre that employed painted books as mnemonic devices to aid the historian or scribe in their recitation (Calnek 1978; Nicholson 1971). -
Toltec.Html Toltec
Text and pictures adapted from http://www.crystalinks.com/toltec.html Toltec The Atlantes are columns in the form of Toltec warriors in Tula The word Toltec in Mesoamerican studies has been used in different ways by different scholars to refer to actual populations and polities of pre-Columbian central Mexico or to the mythical ancestors mentioned in the mythical/historical narratives of the Aztecs. It is an ongoing debate whether the Toltecs can be understood to have formed an actual ethnic group at any point in Mesoamerican history or if they are mostly or only a product of Aztec myth. The scholars who have understood the Toltecs to have been an actual ethnic group often connect them to the archeological site of Tula, Hidalgo which is then supposed to have been the Tollan of Aztec myth. This tradition assumes the "Toltec empire" to have dominated much of central Mexico between the 10th and 12th century AD. Other Mexican cities such as Teotihuacán have also been proposed to have been the historical Tollan "Place of Reeds", the city from which the name Tolteca "inhabitant of Tollan" is derived in the Nahuatl language. The term Toltec has also been associated with the arrival of certain Central Mexican cultural traits into the Mayan sphere of dominance that took place in the late classic and early postclassic periods, and the Postclassic Mayan civilizations of Chichén Itzá, Mayapán and the Guatemalan highlands have been referred to as "toltecized" or "mexicanized" Mayas. For example the striking similarities between the city of Tula, Hidalgo and Chichen Itza have often been cited as direct evidence for Toltec dominance of the Postclassic Maya. -
Changes and Continuities in Ritual Practice at Chechem Ha Cave, Belize
FAMSI © 2008: Fernando Báez Urincho Building Four: a Palace in Tula Grande, the Lodging of the Toltec King Research Year: 2007 Culture: Toltec Chronology: Early Postclassic Location: Tula de Allende, Hidalgo State, Mexico Site: Tula Archaeological Zone Table of Contents Abstract Resumen Introduction Building Four and Tula Grande's Sacred Precinct The Shape of Building Four Building Four's construction System Building Four and its Occupation Processes The Toltec Occupation Abandonment Recovery Filling and Leveling Mexica Occupation Conclusions: Building Four and its Function Acknowledgments List of Figures Sources Cited 1 Abstract During the field seasons of 2002, 2003, and 2004, we had the opportunity of excavating the northeast sector (known as “Building 4”) in the main precinct of Tula’s Archaeological Zone. A series of architectonic elements were uncovered, with a spatial distribution which represents the importance and meaning that a palace complex had for Toltec society. These excavations confirmed the existence of this palace as originally was proposed by the archaeologist Jorge R. Acosta during his first investigations. Thanks to the support of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, we were able to achieve a better and greater knowledge concerning the area which we explored. These contributions, which form part of my thesis investigations, will help us to understand the cultural and social dynamics that took place in this building complex, thus relating these processes to other sectors of the precinct during different times of its occupation. This study also presents for the first time detailed information concerning an Early Postclassic palace complex in the Basin of Mexico. -
Changes and Continuities in Ritual Practice at Chechem Ha Cave, Belize
FAMSI © 2010: Esperanza Elizabeth Jiménez García Sculptural-Iconographic Catalogue of Tula, Hidalgo: The Stone Figures Research Year: 2007 Culture : Toltec Chronology : Post-Classic Location : México, Hidalgo Site : Tula Table of Contents Abstract Resumen Introduction The Tula Archaeological Zone The Settlement Tula's Sculpture 1 The Conformation of the Catalogue Recording the Materials The Formal-architectural Classification Architectural Elements The Catalogue Proposed Chronological Periods Period 1 Period 2 Period 3 Acknowledgments List of Figures Sources Cited Abstract The goal of this study was to make a catalogue of sculptures integrated by archaeological materials made of stone from the Prehispanic city of Tula, in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. A total of 971 pieces or fragments were recorded, as well as 17 panels or sections pertaining to projecting panels and banquettes found in situ . Because of the great amount of pieces we found, as well as the variety of designs we detected both in whole pieces and in fragments, it was necessary to perform their recording and classification as well. As a result of this study we were able to define the sculptural and iconographic characteristics of this metropolis, which had a great political, religious, and ideological importance throughout Mesoamerica. The study of these materials allowed us to have a better knowledge of the figures represented, therefore in this study we offer a tentative periodic scheme which may reflect several historical stages through which the city's sculptural and architectural development went between AD 700-1200. Resumen El objetivo de este trabajo, fue la realización de un catálogo escultórico integrado por materiales arqueológicos de piedra que procedieran de la ciudad prehispánica de Tula, en el estado de Hidalgo, México. -
Rethinking the Conquest : an Exploration of the Similarities Between Pre-Contact Spanish and Mexica Society, Culture, and Royalty
University of Northern Iowa UNI ScholarWorks Dissertations and Theses @ UNI Student Work 2015 Rethinking the Conquest : an exploration of the similarities between pre-contact Spanish and Mexica society, culture, and royalty Samantha Billing University of Northern Iowa Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy Copyright ©2015 Samantha Billing Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd Part of the Latin American History Commons Recommended Citation Billing, Samantha, "Rethinking the Conquest : an exploration of the similarities between pre-contact Spanish and Mexica society, culture, and royalty" (2015). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 155. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/155 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses @ UNI by an authorized administrator of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Copyright by SAMANTHA BILLING 2015 All Rights Reserved RETHINKING THE CONQUEST: AN EXPLORATION OF THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN PRE‐CONTACT SPANISH AND MEXICA SOCIETY, CULTURE, AND ROYALTY An Abstract of a Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts Samantha Billing University of Northern Iowa May 2015 ABSTRACT The Spanish Conquest has been historically marked by the year 1521 and is popularly thought of as an absolute and complete process of indigenous subjugation in the New World. Alongside this idea comes the widespread narrative that describes a barbaric, uncivilized group of indigenous people being conquered and subjugated by a more sophisticated and superior group of Europeans. -
Substantive Degree Program Proposal
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Proposal for a Doctoral Program Directions: This form requires signatures of (1) the Chief Executive Officer, certifying adequacy of funding for the new program; (2) the Chief Executive Officer, acknowledging agreement to reimburse consultants’ costs; (3) a member of the Board of Regents (or designee), certifying Board of Regents approval for Coordinating Board consideration; or, if applicable, (4) a member of the Board of Regents (or designee), certifying that criteria have been met for Commissioner consideration. Additional information and instructions are available in the Guidelines for Institutions Submitting Proposals for New Doctoral Programs found on the Coordinating Board web site, www.thecb.state.tx.us/newprogramscertificates. Institution officials should also refer to Texas Administrative Code (TAC) 5.46, Criteria for New Doctoral Programs. Note: Institutions should first notify the Coordinating Board of their intent to request the proposed doctoral program before submitting a proposal. Notification may consist of a letter sent to the Assistant Commissioner of Academic Quality and Workforce, stating the title, CIP code, and degree designation of the doctoral program, and the anticipated date of submission of the proposal. Information: Contact the Division of Academic Quality and Workforce at (512) 427-6200. Administrative Information 1. Institution Name and Accountability Group: Texas State University, Doctoral University-Higher Research Activity 2. Program Name: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) major in Applied Anthropology 3. Proposed CIP Code: CIP Code: 45020100 CIP Code Title: Anthropology CIP Code Definition: A program that focuses on the systematic study of human beings, their antecedents and related primates, and their cultural behavior and institutions, in comparative perspective. -
Tollan Y Su Gobernante Quetzalcóatl
CIUDADES PERDIDAS TOLLAN Y SU GOBERNANTE QUETZALCÓATL ALFREDO LÓPEZ AUSTIN, LEONARDO LÓPEZ LUJÁN TOMADO DE GRANADOS Y GÁLVEZ, 1984. REPRO.: M.A. PACHECO. / RAÍCES / PACHECO. M.A. REPRO.: 1984. GÁLVEZ, Y GRANADOS DE TOMADO Tollan y sus habitantes según un grabado de Tardes americanas de Joseph Joaquín Granados y Gálvez, siglo XVIII. En las fuentes documentales del Posclásico y de la Colonia temprana, ninguna ciudad portentosa alcanzó la fama de Tollan. Sin embargo, la complejidad de su naturaleza ha desafiado a los estudiosos durante siglos, pues abarca, con límites imprecisos, los ámbitos del mito, la leyenda y la historia. UNA CIUDAD, UN PERSONAJE nante eluden toda ubicación precisa, pues sus referencias no sólo aparecen en épocas muy diversas de la historia y La díada Tollan-Quetzalcóatl ha desafiado durante siglos en lugares sumamente distantes de la geografía, sino tam- a los estudiosos de la tradición que hoy llamamos meso- bién fuera del tiempo y el espacio de los mortales. Lo an- americana y, sin duda, seguirá captando su interés duran- terior obliga a estudiar la díada Tollan-Quetzalcóatl en su te mucho tiempo, en la medida en que se vayan develan- ubicuidad mesoamericana y en su muy amplia duración. do enigmas y planteando nuevas incógnitas. El problema Exige, de igual manera, enfocar el problema desde cada central de esta misteriosa díada es la multiplicidad de sus una de sus tres dimensiones: el mito, la leyenda y la his- manifestaciones: la ciudad maravillosa y su sabio gober- toria. Para ello deben distinguirse los caracteres específi- 38 / ARQUEOLOGÍA MEXICANA cos de tales dimensiones, pero sin desarticularlos, tarea ATRIBUTOS ACTUACIÓN CARACTERIZACIÓN en la que es necesario precisar los arquetipos mítico-le- gendarios y explicar los contextos históricos de orden po- extractor de la luz civilizador lítico-ideológico. -
Ritual Processions in Ancient Tollan: the Legacy in Stone
Ritual Processions in Ancient Tollan: The Legacy in Stone Elizabeth Jiménez García and Robert H. Cobean Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico Here we present a brief study eventually covering more than 16 km2 analyzing the depictions of key characters in between the Tula and Rosas Rivers, with a processions the architecture at the ceremonial center adjacent to the broad and archaeological site of Tula, located in the fast-moving Tula River. modern city of Tula (Hidalgo, México The majority of the sculptural (Figure 1). Ancient Tula was a city that representations in Tula depict richly evolved principally between CE 900-1150, costumed personages with weapons appropriate to a warrior elite. Here we focus on specific groups of individuals placed in strategic locations within the ceremonial precinct known as Tula Grande (Figure 2), who are directed or are oriented towards a point, indicating to us that these groups are processions. These individuals were portrayed on small platforms called benches, which are low constructions horizontally placed along walls, with a height between 50 and 60 centimeters. Figure 1. Location of the Archaeological Zone of Tula, State of Hidalgo, Mexico. Jiménez García and Cobean, “Ritual Processions in Ancient Tollan: The Legacy in Stone” Processions in the Ancient Americas, Penn State University Occasional Papers in Anthropology No. 33 (2016): 154 Figure 2 (above). Buildings of the ceremonial precinct known as Tula Grande. (Drawing: Alba Guadalupe Mastache and Jesús Acevedo García) Between 1940 and 1960, Jorge R. Acosta discovered several benches that were still in situ; he considered all the benches to be part of the same construction phase (Figure 3).