MESOAMERICAN ART ARH 347L Unique #20590/LAS 327 Unique #40780 Fall 2013

Dr. Julia Guernsey (email: [email protected]) Class: Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30-2:00 DFA 2.204 Office, phone, and hours: DFA 2.514 (or ART 1.302F); 471-5850; Thursdays 11:00 AM-12:15 PM or by appointment

Course Description and Goals: This course surveys the art and architecture of the ancient civilizations of Precolumbian , from the time of the Olmec through that of the . Analysis and interpretation of the art will be based primarily on its role as a transmitter of cultural information and worldview. We will focus particularly on the continuities and shared ideologies that characterize and unite Mesoamerican civilizations, from the 2nd millennium BC until the arrival of the Spanish at the time of the Conquest. The goal of this course is to provide students with a general knowledge of the chronology, traditions, major works, primary messages and functions of Mesoamerican artistic and cultural production.

PREREQUISITE: FOR ART HISTORY MAJORS, ART HISTORY 302; FOR VISUAL ART STUDIES MAJORS, ART HISTORY 302 AND 303; FOR OTHERS, AT LEAST ONE OF THE FOLLOWING IS ADVISABLE BUT NOT REQUIRED: ART HISTORY 301, 302, 303.

Required text: Michael D. Coe and Rex Koontz, : From the to the Aztecs, 6th ed. This text is available for purchase in the bookstore and is also on reserve in the Benson Latin American Collection. Assigned readings for each week are listed on the schedule below. Also, the schedule contains a list of suggested readings from books that have been placed on reserve in the Benson Latin American Collection (the complete citations for these suggested texts appear on the last page of the syllabus). These are designed to supplement the information presented in class lectures. The suggested readings are not mandatory, but may provide useful review information and images.

Class website: A class website exists for this class, and it is highly recommended that students take advantage of it for review and study purposes. It contains an interactive map of Mesoamerica, an interactive timeline of the periods covered in class, and summaries of the major sites and monuments discussed. The website also contains a more extensive bibliography for each site and time period, a list of key Mesoamerican web links, the class syllabus, and an email link to the professor. The address is: http://www.utexas.edu/cofa/art/347/index.html.

Blackboard: I will post several assigned readings, necessary for class lectures and the assignments, to the Blackboard site for this class. These are noted on the schedule below. I will also post a few additional images, not found in your text or on the class website, for a couple of lectures; these are noted below in the schedule.

Assessment: Assessment of a student’s progress within this course will be accomplished through two exams and two assignments that require the student to 1) recognize and demonstrate an understanding of the various objects of art covered in class through discussion, comparison, and contrast; 2) go beyond memorization and synthesize ideas presented in class and drawn from assigned readings; 3) clearly and effectively discuss the attitudes, ideas, and messages encoded in the art and imagery of ancient Mesoamerica; and 4) discuss how objects of art reveal insight into the ways in which ancient Mesoamericans structured and ordered their ancient communities. Exams: There will be two exams, each worth 30% of your final grade. The exams will consist of fill-in-the- blank and short answer questions, image identifications and comparisons, and essays. Objective components of the exam are designed to test a student’s knowledge of the key artistic works and their primary messages; short answers and essays are designed to give students the opportunity to move beyond memorization, demonstrate an understanding of concepts, and synthesize ideas drawn from class lectures and assigned readings. There will be no makeup exams; if a student misses an exam, a zero will be given unless a valid medical excuse is provided. Assignments: There will be two assignments, each worth 20% of your grade; each involves a 3-5 page essay that discusses a major monument, theme, or motif in Mesoamerican art, or the scholarship concerning these monuments and themes. The assignments are designed to allow students to develop critical thinking skills, hone their writing skills, and develop the abilities to effectively synthesize ideas presented in class with those drawn from assigned readings into well-constructed and well-argued essays.

Grading: Plus/minus grades will be used for determining the final grade in this course.

1

Attendance and Class Participation: Attendance will not be taken, but since exam material will be drawn primarily from class lectures it is very important to attend all lectures if you intend to fare well in this class.

Accommodations for religious holidays: By UT Austin policy, you must notify me of your pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, a work assignment, or a project in order to observe a religious holy day, you will be given an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence.

Students with disabilities may request appropriate academic accommodations from the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259, http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/

Schedule of lectures, assigned readings, exams, and assignments:

August 29: Introduction

September 3: What is Mesoamerica? Assigned reading: Coe 9-17, 26-38

September 5: EARLY PRECLASSIC: 1500-900 BC The appearance of the Olmec at the site of San Lorenzo; Olmec sculpture, celts and concepts of rulership/ Assigned reading: Coe 59-72 Suggested reading: The Olmec World: 11-45

September 10: MIDDLE PRECLASSIC: 900-300 BC The Olmec site of : construction of sacred space; underpinnings for divine kingship Assigned reading: Coe 72-76 Suggested reading: Maya Cosmos: 132-137

September 12: The Middle Preclassic sites of , Oxtotitlán, Teopantecuanitlán Suggested reading: Coe 79-91; David Grove, “Faces of the Earth at Chalcatzingo, Mexico: Serpents, Caves, and Mountains in Middle Formative Period Iconography, in Olmec Art and in Mesoamerica, eds. John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye, pp. 277-295 (a PDF of this essay is on Blackboard) ASSIGNMENT ONE HANDED OUT: reading and assignment posted on Blackboard

September 17: The Middle Preclassic site of La Blanca, Suggested reading: Michael Love and Julia Guernsey, “Monument 3 from La Blanca, Guatemala: A Middle Preclassic earthen sculpture and its ritual associations,” Antiquity 81 (2007): 920-932 (a PDF of this essay is on Blackboard as well as several images from La Blanca for study/review purposes, as this site is not on the class website). Also suggested: Report on 2005 excavations at La Blanca by Love and Guernsey at http://www.famsi.org/reports/05051/index.html

September 19: LATE PRECLASSIC: 300 BC - 250 AD The organization of sacred space at Assigned reading: Coe 98-100 Suggested reading: Guernsey, Ritual and Power in Stone, chapters 4 and 5; also Guernsey, “Sacred Geography at Izapa and the Performance of Rulership,” in Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica, pp. 81-111.

September 24: Izapa and performance Suggested reading: Guernsey, Ritual and Power in Stone, chapters 4, 5, and 6

September 26: West Mexico Assigned reading: Coe 54-58; Suggested reading: Ancient West Mexico ASSIGNMENT ONE DUE

2 October 1: The Valley of and the Zapotecs: Monte Albán and Dainzú Assigned reading: Coe 43-44, 91-97 (Several images for study/review purposes of related rituals from are posted to Blackboard as they do not appear on the class website) Suggested reading: The Cloud People; Orr, “Procession Rituals and Shrine Sites: The Politics of Sacred Space in the Late Formative Valley of Oaxaca,” in Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica, pp. 55-79.

October 3: Review for first exam

October 8: EXAM ONE

October 10: THE CLASSIC PERIOD 250-900 AD: THE VALLEY OF MEXICO &: Teotihuacan architecture and sacred space Assigned reading: Coe 44-53, 101-121 Suggested reading: Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the Gods: 16-43; catalogue entries

October 15: Teotihuacan: the Temple of the Feathered Serpent and the iconography of warfare Suggested reading: Saburo Sugiyama, “Rulership, Warfare, and at the Ciudadela” in Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan: 205-230

October 17: Teotihuacan and its relationship to the Zapotec region Suggested reading: Michael Spence, “Tlailotlacan, a Zapotec Enclave in Teotihuacan” in Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan: 59-88; also see the following in Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the Gods: cat. no. 175 on p. 152, and cat. entries 174 and 175 on pages 270-271; also The Cloud People: 175-181.

October 22: Teotihuacan and its relationship to the Maya region Suggested reading: David Stuart, “The Arrival of Strangers: Teotihuacan and Tollan in Classic Maya History” in Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Great Aztec Temple.

October 24: The Valley of Oaxaca in the Classic and Post-Classic periods: Monte Albán, Mitla and Cerro de la Campana Assigned reading: Coe 125-131, 147-148, 175-177 Suggested reading: The Cloud People

October 29: The Suggested reading: Blood of Kings: 241-264; Maya Cosmos: 337-374; essays by Filloy Nadal, Miller, and Matos Moctezuma in Whittington’s The Sport of Life and Death, pp. 21-31, 79-95

October 31: Día de los Muertos (La Ofrenda VIDCASS 2636) ASSIGNMENT TWO HANDED OUT: readings and assignment posted on Blackboard

November 5: TERMINAL CLASSIC PERIOD 800-900 AD Chichén Itzá Assigned reading: Coe 150, 172-174 Suggested reading: Code of Kings: 197-256

November 7: Chichén Itzá continued

November 12: POSTCLASSIC PERIOD: 900-1521 AD Tula and Tajín Assigned reading: Coe 123-124, 141-145, 151-174

November 14: The Aztecs: and the Assigned reading: Coe 185-224

November 19: The Aztecs: sculpture; Malinalco Suggested reading: The Aztecs: especially pp. 101-104; 132-144 ASSIGNMENT TWO DUE

November 21: The Conquest

3 Assigned reading: Coe 225-230 Suggested reading: The Aztecs: 35-42

November 26: Course summary; Edgewalker video and evaluations

November 28: Thanksgiving Holiday; no class

December 3: Review for 2nd exam

December 5: EXAM TWO

List of books for suggested reading on reserve in the Benson Latin American Collection:

Berlo, Janet Catherine, editor. 1992. Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan. Washington, DC: . F 1219.1 t27 A73 1992

Berrin, Kathleen, and Esther Pasztory, editors. 1993. Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the Gods. London: Thames and Hudson. F 1219.1 T27 T463 1993

Clark, John E. and Mary E. Pye, eds. 2000. Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. N 386 U5 A3 V.58 2000

Coe, Michael D. and Rex Koontz, Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs, 5th edition. London: Thames and Hudson. (Only the 5th edition was available for reserve, so page numbers will not match exactly with those listed for the 6th edition, which is used in this course and available at the bookstore). F 1219.7 C63 2002

Flannery, Kent V. and Joyce Marcus. 1983. The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Civilizations. New York: Academic Press. F1219.8 Z37 C56 1983

Freidel, David, , and Joy Parker. 1993. Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman’s Path. New York: William Morrow. F1435.3 R3 F74 1993

Guernsey, Julia. 2006. Ritual and Power in Stone: The Performance of Rulership in Mesoamerican Izapan Style Art. Austin: University of Texas Press. F 1435.1 I93 G84 2006

Koontz, Rex, Kathryn Reese-Taylor, and Annabeth Headrick, editors. 2001. Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica. Boulder: Westview Press. F1219.3 A6 L36 2001

Schele, Linda and Peter Mathews. 1998. The Code of Kings: The Language of Seven Sacred Maya Temples and Tombs. New York: Scribner. F1435.3 A6 S34 1998

Schele, Linda and Mary Ellen Miller. 1986. The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. Fort Worth: Kimbell Art Museum. F1435.3 A7 S34 1986B

Stuart, David. 2000. “The Arrival of Strangers: Teotihuacan and Tollan in Classic Maya History.” In Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Great Aztec Temple, edited by David Carrasco. Boulder: University of Colorado Press. F 1219.1 T27 M46 2000

The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership. 1995. Exhibition catalogue. Princeton: The Art Museum, Princeton University. F 1219.8 O56 O55 1995

Townsend, Richard F. 1992. The Aztecs. London: Thames and Hudson. F 1219.73 T68 1992

Townsend, Richard F., editor. 1998. Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past. London and Chicago: Thames and Hudson and the Art Institute of Chicago. F 1219 A7 A53 1998

Whittington, E. Michael, editor. 2001. The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame. New York: Thames and Hudson. F1219.3 G3 S66 2001

4