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Artist: Period/Style: Patron: Material/Technique: Form
TITLE: Apollo 11 Stones LOCATION: Namibia DATE: 25,500-25,300 BCE ARTIST: PERIOD/STYLE: Mesolithic Stone Age PATRON: MATERIAL/TECHNIQUE: FORM: The Apollo 11 stones are a collection of grey-brown quartzite slabs that feature drawings of animals painted with charcoal, clay, and kaolin FUNCTION: These slabs may have had a more social function. CONTENT: Drawings of animals that could be found in nature. On the cleavage face of what was once a complete slab, an unidentified animal form was drawn resembling a feline in appearance but with human hind legs that were probably added later. Barely visible on the head of the animal are two slightly-curved horns likely belonging to an Oryx, a large grazing antelope; on the animal’s underbelly, possibly the sexual organ of a bovid. CONTEXT: Inside the cave, above and below the layer where the Apollo 11 cave stones were found, archaeologists unearthed a sequence of cultural layers representing over 100,000 years of human occupation. In these layers stone artifacts, typical of the Middle Stone Age period—such as blades, pointed flakes, and scraper—were found in raw materials not native to the region, signaling stone tool technology transported over long distances.Among the remnants of hearths, ostrich eggshell fragments bearing traces of red color were also found—either remnants of ornamental painting or evidence that the eggshells were used as containers for pigment. Approximately 25,000 years ago, in a rock shelter in the Huns Mountains of Namibia on the southwest coast of Africa (today part of the Ai-Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park), an animal was drawn in charcoal on a hand-sized slab of stone. -
Determination of Late Postclassic Kaqchikel Maya Diet, Disease, and Cause of Death Through Analysis of Skeletons from Iximché, Guatemala
FAMSI © 1999: Stephen L. Whittington Determination of Late Postclassic Kaqchikel Maya Diet, Disease, and Cause of Death through Analysis of Skeletons from Iximché, Guatemala Research Year : 1995 Culture : Maya Chronology : Late Postclassic Location : Guatemala Site : Iximché Table of Contents Introduction Fieldwork Analysis List of Figures Sources Cited Introduction Iximché was the capital of the Kaqchikel realm, founded by refugees from the Quiché kingdom in the 1470s or 1480s ( Figure 1 ). The Quiché attacked and tried to conquer the city at least once. This attempt met with failure and the Kaqchikel captured many Quiché warriors. Spaniards under Pedro de Alvarado arrived in the highlands in 1524. With the Kaqchikel as allies, they conquered the Guatemalan polities which had been enemies of Iximché. On July 25, Alvarado founded the first colonial capital of Guatemala near Iximché. This action led to the outbreak of hostilities between the Kaqchikel and the Spanish and the ultimate destruction and abandonment of Iximché in 1526. George Guillemin, a Swiss archaeologist, excavated Iximché between the late 1950s and the early 1970s. His main interest was architecture, and his crews uncovered large expanses of the site, exposing and then restoring plazas, palaces, altars, and temples. Unfortunately, Guillemin was much less interested in analyzing the large amounts of materials that came from the digging. His excavation notes, archived at the Centro de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamerica (CIRMA) in Antigua, do not mention the location, associated artifacts, or basic layout of some complete skeletons. Even worse, for years the excavated materials were stored in what was essentially a chicken coop. Bags broke open, artifacts and bones from various contexts became mixed together, and tags with provenience information rotted away or became separated from their bags. -
2006 “Agricultural Intensification, Water, and Political Power in The
AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION, WATER, AND POLITICAL POWER IN THE SOUTHERN MAYA LOWLANDS LISA J. LUCERO ncient tropical societies, such as the Maya, are often relegated to the Aunknown or mysterious or, worse yet, are seen as a result of outside influ- ences because of the traditional bias in anthropology of largely focusing on civilizations in temperate areas. Wittfogel, for example, in his classic Oriental Despotism (1957), argued that complex societies are underwritten by an agri- cultural base supported by irrigation. Because the Maya are not known to have built large-scale irrigation systems, he claimed that the Maya were a “marginal agrarian” (Wittfogel 1957:182) despotic society since the karstic topography of the Maya lowlands is “unsuitable for irrigation agriculture” (Wittfogel 1957:184). In another classic piece, Meggers (1954) presented a model of envi- ronmental determinism in which she categorized tropical zones as not suitable to support civilizations because of poor agricultural soils. Meggers based this assumption on her studies in the Amazon jungle, where many areas of tropical forests are poorly suited for intensive agriculture (though recent scholarship indicates otherwise; see Erickson 2003). Consequently, Maya civilization arose as the result of outside influences and “did not last” but witnessed “700 years of decline” (Meggers 1954:819) because conditions were not suitable to support a complex society. As recently as 1998, Meggers was still “struck by the seeming contradiction between the complexity of Maya culture and the relatively low agricultural potential of their environment” (Meggers 1998: xii). In fact, the southern Maya lowlands have a high percentage of mollisols, which are “considered by agronomists to be among the world’s most important, naturally productive soils, with yields unsurpassed by other unirrigated areas” (Fedick 1988:106). -
SPRING 2010 AA RCHAEORCHAEOMM AYAAYA the Newsletter of Maya Exploration Center
MAYA EXPLORATION CENTER SPRING 2010 AA RCHAEORCHAEOMM AYAAYA The Newsletter of Maya Exploration Center www.mayaexploration.org In This Issue: MEC Partners with AIA for Site Preservation • MEC ‘s partnership On April 28, the Archaeologi- with AIA cal Institute of America held a gala dinner in New York City • New howler monkey on behalf of its Site Preserva- research in Tabasco tion Program. The evening featured a grand Peruvian • Teotihuacan’s ties feast and live auction in sup- with Tikal affirmed port of preservation efforts around the world. MEC do- • Albright College in nated a trip for two to the Chiapas and Peten auction and Dr. Kirk French represented MEC as an hon- • New fashions in ored guest of Archaeology, Maya weaving AIA’s superb popular maga- zine. • Three day seminar on AIA is the oldest and largest MEC’s Kirk French and Laurel Pearson at the AIA Charity Gala in NYC Maya Mathematics archaeological organization in North America, with over 200,000 mem- eruption of Chichonal in 1986, and since then, • A big change at Chichen Itza bers in the United States, Canada, and the stones are eroding under the steady fall of overseas who are devoted to archaeology acid rain. Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras are • Summer tours and to fostering a deeper public under- threatened by a proposed hydroelectric dam, standing of ancient cultures and civiliza- which will flood these and dozens of “lost On The Horizon: tions around the world. Through its in- cities” along the Usumacinta River. Other ternational research centers, the non- Maya sites suffer the perils of tourist hype. -
Chwa Nima Ab'aj ( Mixco Viejo)
1 2 Chwa Nima Ab’aj ( Mixco Viejo) “Recordación Florida”, o, “Historia del Reyno de Goathemala”, es una obra escrita por el Capitán Francisco Fuentes y Guzmán en 1690, o sea unos 165 años después de que fuerzas invasoras españolas ocuparan el territorio de la actual Guatemala. A Fuentes y Guzmán se le considera el primer historiador criollo guatemalteco, ya que en esta obra narra lo que se acredita como la primera historia general del país. Por los cargos ocupados: Cronista de Ciudad nombrado por el Rey, Regidor Perpetuo del Ayuntamiento y Alcalde Mayor tuvo acceso a numerosos documentos (muchos desaparecidos) que le permitió hacer esa monumental obra. Hoy día, con la aparición de otros antiguos documentos con narraciones tanto de indígenas, como de españoles y mestizos, algunos de los datos y hechos consignados en la famosa “Recordación Florida” han sido refutados, negados o impugnados, sin que por esos casos se ponga en cuestión la trascendencia de la obra del “Cronista de la Ciudad”. Esta obra es de capital importancia pues en ella se consigna por vez primera la existencia de Mixco, (Chwa Nima Ab’aj) así como los sucesos acaecidos en la batalla que finalizó con su destrucción por parte de los españoles. Sin embargo, a pesar de la autenticidad narrativa de Fuentes y Guzmán sobre la batalla librada para ocupar Mixco, el nombre que le dio a esta inigualable ciudadela ceremonial, así como los datos sobre la etnia indígena que la habitaba y defendió ante la invasión española, los Pokomames, han sido impugnados sobre la base de estudios antropológicos, arqueológicos y documentos indígenas escritos recién terminada la conquista. -
Reconstructing Slave Perspectives on the Grave Stele of Hegeso Alexis Garcia*, Art History and Cultural Anthropology
Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal 18.1 (2021) ISSN: 2160-617X (online) blogs.uoregon.edu/ourj Silent Slaves: Reconstructing Slave Perspectives on the Grave Stele of Hegeso Alexis Garcia*, Art History and Cultural Anthropology ABSTRACT The Grave Stele of Hegeso (400 BCE) depicts a ‘mistress and maid’ scene and preserves valuable insights into elite iconography. The stele also explores the experiences of wealthy Athenian women in their social roles and domestic spaces. The slave attendant, if discussed at length, primarily functions as a method of contrast and comparison to her elite master. While the comparison between elite and non-elite women is a valuable interpretation for studies of gender and class in classical Athens, more can be done in regard to examining the slave attendant on the stele, and as a result, examining slave figures in Greek art. Slaves made up a sizeable portion of classical Athenian society and were present in both elite and poor households. However, due to a lack of material and written evidence, the field of classics has not explored the concept of Greek slavery to its full extent. In addition, what little does remain to modern scholars was commissioned or written by elite voices, who were biased against slaves. The remaining elite perspective does provide insight into the role of slaves in classical Athenian households and can be reexamined to find subversive interpretations. This paper explores potential reconstructions for slave perspectives and narratives on the Grave Stele of Hegeso by drawing upon the Attic funerary practices and literary tropes of the Good Slave and Bad Slave in Athenian theater and Homeric epic. -
China's Nestorian Monument and Its Reception in the West, 1625-1916
Illustrations iii Michael Keevak Hong Kong University Press 14/F Hing Wai Centre 7 Tin Wan Praya Road Aberdeen Hong Kong © Hong Kong University Press 2008 ISBN 978-962-209-895-4 All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Secure On-line Ordering http://www.hkupress.org Printed and bound by Lammar Offset Printing Ltd., Hong Kong, China. Hong Kong University Press is honoured that Xu Bing, whose art explores the complex themes of language across cultures, has written the Press’s name in his Square Word Calligraphy. This signals our commitment to cross-cultural thinking and the distinctive nature of our English-language books published in China. “At first glance, Square Word Calligraphy appears to be nothing more unusual than Chinese characters, but in fact it is a new way of rendering English words in the format of a square so they resemble Chinese characters. Chinese viewers expect to be able to read Square Word Calligraphy but cannot. Western viewers, however are surprised to find they can read it. Delight erupts when meaning is unexpectedly revealed.” — Britta Erickson, The Art of Xu Bing Contents List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments xi Prologue The Story of a Stone 1 1 A Stone Discovered 5 2 The Century of Kircher 29 3 Eighteenth-Century Problems and Controversies 61 4 The Return of the Missionaries 89 Epilogue The Da Qin Temple 129 Notes 143 Works Cited 169 Index 187 Illustrations vii Illustrations 11. -
The Commodification of Maya Textiles of Guatemala
University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings Textile Society of America 1998 Dolls and Upholstery: The Commodification of Maya Textiles of Guatemala Margot Blum Schevill Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tsaconf Part of the Art and Design Commons Blum Schevill, Margot, "Dolls and Upholstery: The Commodification of Maya Textiles of Guatemala" (1998). Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings. 203. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tsaconf/203 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Textile Society of America at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Dolls and Upholstery: The Commodification of Maya Textiles of Guatemala by Margot Blum Schevill San Francisco Airport Museums, Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology Introduction Maya weavers of Guatemala are well known for their beautiful backs trap and treadle-loomed cloth, which they create for clothing and related garments and for sale, both within and outside Guatemala. Backstrap weaving, mainly a woman's occupation done in the home, has an ancient history~ver two millennia, although there are few extant examples of the weavings of the ancient Maya due to climatic conditions (Figure 1). The process, however, was documented in ceramic art, and the tradition of handwoven clothing can be seen in monumental stone carvings, murals, and also in ceramic art. Today weavers purchase the yarn called mish already spun and dyed in nearby shops. -
A Study of Two Maya Tenons from Corozal
A Study of two Maya Tenons from Corozal By Ben Ward Anthropology 281 (Seeds of Divinity), Spring 2019 This paper concerns two Maya tenons that reside in the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA). One, with accession number 1870.1.1 shows an anthropomorphic face with a peaked headdress, while the other, 1870.1.2., sports a zoomorphic face with humanoid head emerging from its jaws. These two sculptures were collected by Williams students during a trip to Honduras and Belize in 1870-1871, sponsored by the Williams Lyceum. Beyond this, very little is known about these sculptures due to the same reason that they are in the museum’s possession. While these students were in Central America two of the students went on a short trip to the small agricultural town of Corozal where they acQuired these two stone tenons and brought them back to Williams College. The detail we are given on the acQuisition of these pieces is both frustratingly vague and very telling for the times: Among the collections from Corozal were two stone heads, or images, exhumed near that town. They exhibit great antiQuity, and are evidently of the same origin as the sculptures found amid the ruins of the ancient temples and cities scattered throughout Central America, and are viewed with such intense interest by all travelers to this seat of fallen civilization.1 The only real useful information we get from this passage is that these tenons come from a Maya site near the town of Corozal.2 There seems to have been no interest in the sculptures’ true origin point and it is not even stated whether these statues were bought in Corozal or taken by these students directly from a site. -
Ancient Monetization: the Case of Classic Maya Textiles T Joanne P
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 49 (2018) 100–113 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Anthropological Archaeology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaa Ancient monetization: The case of Classic Maya textiles T Joanne P. Baron Bard Early Colleges, BHSEC Newark, 321 Bergen Street, Newark, NJ 07103, United States ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: The role played by individuals, markets, and state institutions in the origins of money have been debated by Money economists, historians, and anthropologists. Two dominant models have emerged: those who see money’s Currency function arising out of exchange, and those who see it arising out of the operation of state institutions. Curiously, Economy archaeology has played only a minor role in this debate, with most scholars focused instead on written records Mesoamerica and ethnographic parallels to recent non-capitalist societies. Scholarship on monetization has also focused Maya primarily on Eurasian currency and the roots of modern capitalism. In this article, I argue that much can be Textiles gained by examining a different context: the origins of textile money in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, particu- larly among the Late Classic Maya. During this period, textiles underwent a process of monetization that saw them take on the roles of exchange medium, measure of value, means of payment, and store of wealth. I argue that neither of the dominant models of monetization is sufficient to describe this process. Instead, elements of both models operated simultaneously, as households and state institutions negotiated differing economic stra- tegies. 1. Introduction Finally, it serves as a store of wealth or hoard that is kept by those who receive payment, whether in market exchange or outside of it. -
Curriculum Vitae
MacLellan 1 Curriculum Vitae Jessica MacLellan, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Anthropology, University of California Los Angeles [email protected] Education Ph.D., Anthropology University of Arizona 2019 M.A., Anthropology University of Arizona 2011 B.A., summa cum laude, Archaeology Boston University 2009 Dissertation: Households, Ritual, and the Origins of Social Complexity: Excavations at the Karinel Group, Ceibal, Guatemala Appointments 2020-2021 Postdoctoral Fellow, Anthropology UCLA 2019-2020 Visiting Assistant Professor, Anthropology University of Pittsburgh Jan.-May 2019 Adjunct Instructor, Anthropology University of Arizona Jan.-May 2019 Adjunct Instructor, Anthropology Pima Community College External Fellowships and Grants 2021-2022 Smithsonian Institution Postdoctoral Fellowship (STRI, Panama) 2021 King Grant for Precolumbian Archaeology ($15,000), Society for American Archaeology 2020-2021 American Council of Learned Societies Emerging Voices Fellowship 2016-2017 Junior Fellowship, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection 2015 Dissertation Improvement Award BCS-1518794 ($25,200), National Science Foundation 2009-2013 Jacob K. Javits Fellowship, U.S. Department of Education Internal Honors, Awards, Fellowships, and Grants 2018 Haury Dissertation Fellowship, Anthropology ($7500) University of Arizona 2018 Dozier Award, best student paper, Anthropology ($500) University of Arizona 2009-2018 School of Anthropology scholarships ($8813) University of Arizona 2017 Science and Arts Communication Fellow, UAMA University -
Wayeb Notes No. 37
f No. 37, 2011 WAYEB NOTES ISSN 1379-8286 A LOOK AT THE ENIGMATIC "GI TITLE" ASSOCIATED WITH THE MAYA WOMEN Boguchwała Tuszyńska Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland Many different titles used by the ancient Maya kings and nobles still remain poorly understood. Even if epigraphers are able to transliterate and transcribe some of them, their exact meaning and significance is not clear to us. It seems still more complicated in the case of titles that have not been fully deciphered, though at times it is possible to establish for what reason a specific title was held by a specific person. Such is the case with the so-called “vase title” (Proskouriakoff 1961). Even without an exact reading we know that this title was associated with Goddess O and was used by the Maya to designate married women, able to give birth (Colas 2004: xxiii). In the case of Maya women we have another enigmatic “godly title” found only in a few Classic period texts, known as the “GI title”. The title consists of three signs: 1) the undeciphered sign T217d, 2) the logogram T4 NAH and 3) the glyph representing the head of GI. The title is found in a few Early Classic texts (Boot 2001, Stuart 2005: 121) and Linda Schele considered it one of the name phrases of GI (Schele 1994). There are some glyphic variations of the title (Figure 1). The “hand” sign and the glyph NAH are sometimes accompanied only by the so-called “dotted” ajaw. In another example the “hand” sign and the logogram NAH are accompanied by the ajaw sign and the head of GI, and finally we have the “hand” sign attached to the logogram NAH and the head of GI.