Jades from the Cenote of Sacrifice, Chichen Itza, Yucatan

Jades from the Cenote of Sacrifice, Chichen Itza, Yucatan PDF Author: Tatiana Proskouriakoff
Publisher: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Publications Department
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Jades from the Cenote of Sacrifice, Chichen Itza, Yucatan

Jades from the Cenote of Sacrifice, Chichen Itza, Yucatan PDF Author: Tatiana Proskouriakoff
Publisher: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Publications Department
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Cenote of Sacrifice

Cenote of Sacrifice PDF Author: Clemency Chase Coggins
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 1477302735
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
Chichén Itzá ("mouth of the well of the Itza") was one of the great centers of civilization in prehistoric America, serving between the eighth and twelfth centuries A.D. as a religious, economic, social, and political capital on the Yucatán Peninsula. Within the ancient city there were many natural wells or cenotes. One, within the ceremonial heart of the city, is an impressive natural feature with vertical limestone walls enclosing a deep pool of jade green water some eighty feet below ground level. This cenote, which gave the city its name, became a sacred shrine of Maya pilgrimage, described by one post-Conquest observer as similar to Jerusalem and Rome. Here, during the city's ascendancy and for centuries after its decline, the peoples of Yucatán consulted their gods and made ritual offerings of precious objects and living victims who were thought to receive prophecies. Although the well was described by Bishop Diego de Landa in the late sixteenth century, its contents were not known until the early 1900s when revealed by the work of Edward H. Thompson. Conducting excavations for the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, Thompson recovered almost thirty thousand artifacts, most ceremonially broken and many beautifully preserved by burial in the deep silt at the bottom of the well. The materials were sent to the Peabody Museum, where they remained, unexhibited, for over seventy years. In 1984, for the first time, nearly three hundred objects of gold, jade, copper, pottery, wood, copal, textile, and other materials from the collection were gathered into a traveling interpretive exhibition. No other archaeological exhibition had previously given this glimpse into Maya ritual life because no other collection had objects such as those found in the Sacred Cenote. Moreover, the objects from the Cenote come from throughout Mesoamerica and lower Central America, representing many artistic traditions. The exhibit and this, its accompanying catalog, marked the first time all of the different kinds of offerings have ever been displayed together, and the first time many have been published. Essays by Gordon R. Willey and Linnea H. Wren place the Cenote of Sacrifice and the great Maya city of Chichén Itzá within the larger context of Maya archaeology and history. The catalog entries, written by Clemency Chase Coggins, describe the objects displayed in the traveling exhibition. Some entries are brief descriptive statements; others develop short scholarly themes bearing on the function and interpretation of specific objects. Coggins' introductory essay describes how the objects were collected by Thompson and how the exhibition collection has been studied to reveal the periods of Cenote ritual and the changing practices of offering to the Sacred Cenote.

New Perspectives on Human Sacrifice and Ritual Body Treatments in Ancient Maya Society

New Perspectives on Human Sacrifice and Ritual Body Treatments in Ancient Maya Society PDF Author: Vera Tiesler
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387488715
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
This book examines Maya sacrifice and related posthumous body manipulation. The editors bring together an international group of contributors from the area studied: archaeologists as well as anthropologists, forensic anthropologists, art historians and bioarchaeologists. This interdisciplinary approach provides a comprehensive perspective on these sites as well as the material culture and biological evidence found there

The Jade Kingdom

The Jade Kingdom PDF Author: J. Desautels
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1468465724
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Landscapes of the Itza

Landscapes of the Itza PDF Author: Linnea Wren
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813052033
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
"An insightful collection, rich in new data and insights; at once the harvest of a generation of fieldwork and the foundation for work to come."--Mary E. Miller, coauthor of The Spectacle of the Late Maya Court: Reflections on the Murals of Bonampak "Reminds us that there are always new things to learn about iconic places like Chichen Itza and that we can fall in love with them all over again."--Jennifer P. Mathews, coeditor of Lifeways in the Northern Maya Lowlands: New Approaches to Archaeology in the Yucatan Peninsula "Long overdue. Brings together new data and interpretations about Chichen Itza through a refreshing mix of art history and archaeology, particularistic interpretation, and cross-cultural modeling."--Scott R. Hutson, author of The Ancient Urban Maya: Neighborhoods, Inequality, and Built Form Chichen Itza, the legendary capital and trading hub of the late Maya civilization, continues to fascinate visitors and researchers with unanswered questions about its people, rulers, rituals, economics, religion, politics, and even chronology. Addressing many of these current debates, contributors to Landscapes of the Itza question when the city's construction was completed, what the purposes of its famous pyramid and other buildings were, whether the city maintained strict territorial borders, and how the city's influence was felt in smaller neighboring settlements such as Popola, Ichmul de Morley, and Ek Balam. Special attention is given to the site's visual culture, including its architecture, epigraphy, ceramics, sculptures, and murals. This volume is a much-needed update on recent archaeological and art historical work being done at Chichen Itza, offering new ways of understanding the site and its role in the Yucatan landscape.

The Monuments and Inscriptions of Tikal--The Carved Monuments

The Monuments and Inscriptions of Tikal--The Carved Monuments PDF Author: Nicholas Jones
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 1934536377
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
This study treats the entire corpus of stone and wood monuments from the Maya site of Tikal and lesser periphery locations. Each description includes details of provenience and condition. Every carved surface is illustrated by a standardized scale drawing, supplemented in almost every case by photographs.

Aztec, Incan and Mayan Art

Aztec, Incan and Mayan Art PDF Author: Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art, American
Languages : en
Pages : 122

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Book Description


Art of Mesoamerica: From Olmec to Aztec (Sixth) (World of Art)

Art of Mesoamerica: From Olmec to Aztec (Sixth) (World of Art) PDF Author: Mary Ellen Miller
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 0500775036
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
Mary Ellen Miller’s rich visual and scholarly survey of pre-Hispanic art and architecture, including the most recent archaeological finds. Expanded and revised in its sixth edition, The Art of Mesoamerica surveys the artistic achievements of the high pre-Hispanic civilizations of Central America—Olmec, Maya, Teotihuacan, Toltec, and Aztec—as well as those of their lesser-known contemporaries. Providing an in-depth examination of central works, this book guides readers through the most iconic palaces, pyramids, sculptures, and paintings. From the Olmec colossal head 5 recovered from San Lorenzo to the Aztec calendar stone found in Mexico City’s Zocalo in 1790, this book reveals the complexity and innovation behind the art and architecture produced in pre-Hispanic civilizations. This new edition incorporates fifty new lavish color images and extensive updates based on the latest research and dozens of recent discoveries, particularly in Maya art, where excavations at Teotihuacan, the largest city of Mesoamerica, and Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztecs, have yielded new sculptures.

Encyclopaedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology

Encyclopaedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology PDF Author: James P. Delgado
Publisher: London : British Museum Press
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
The theory and practice of underwater archaeology includes nearly every archaeological discipline from prehistoric archaeology to the modern era.

Golden Kingdoms

Golden Kingdoms PDF Author: Joanne Pillsbury
Publisher: Getty Publications
ISBN: 1606065483
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 331

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Book Description
This volume accompanies a major international loan exhibition featuring more than three hundred works of art, many rarely or never before seen in the United States. It traces the development of gold working and other luxury arts in the Americas from antiquity until the arrival of Europeans in the early sixteenth century. Presenting spectacular works from recent excavations in Peru, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico, this exhibition focuses on specific places and times—crucibles of innovation—where artistic exchange, rivalry, and creativity led to the production of some of the greatest works of art known from the ancient Americas. The book and exhibition explore not only artistic practices but also the historical, cultural, social, and political conditions in which luxury arts were produced and circulated, alongside their religious meanings and ritual functions. Golden Kingdoms creates new understandings of ancient American art through a thematic exploration of indigenous ideas of value and luxury. Central to the book is the idea of the exchange of materials and ideas across regions and across time: works of great value would often be transported over long distances, or passed down over generations, in both cases attracting new audiences and inspiring new artists. The idea of exchange is at the intellectual heart of this volume, researched and written by twenty scholars based in the United States and Latin America.