Maya Cosmos

Maya Cosmos PDF Author: David Freidel
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
ISBN: 9780688140694
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
A Masterful blend of archaeology, anthropology, astronomy, and lively personal reportage, Maya Comos tells a constellation of stories, from the historical to the mythological, and envokes the awesome power of one of the richest civilizations ever to grace the earth.

Maya Cosmos

Maya Cosmos PDF Author: David Freidel
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
ISBN: 9780688140694
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 544

Get Book Here

Book Description
A Masterful blend of archaeology, anthropology, astronomy, and lively personal reportage, Maya Comos tells a constellation of stories, from the historical to the mythological, and envokes the awesome power of one of the richest civilizations ever to grace the earth.

Maya Political Science

Maya Political Science PDF Author: Prudence M. Rice
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292757840
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
How did the ancient Maya rule their world? Despite more than a century of archaeological investigation and glyphic decipherment, the nature of Maya political organization and political geography has remained an open question. Many debates have raged over models of centralization versus decentralization, superordinate and subordinate status—with far-flung analogies to emerging states in Europe, Asia, and Africa. But Prudence Rice asserts that neither the model of two giant "superpowers" nor that which postulates scores of small, weakly independent polities fits the accumulating body of material and cultural evidence. In this groundbreaking book, Rice builds a new model of Classic lowland Maya (AD 179-948) political organization and political geography. Using the method of direct historical analogy, she integrates ethnohistoric and ethnographic knowledge of the Colonial-period and modern Maya with archaeological, epigraphic, and iconographic data from the ancient Maya. On this basis of cultural continuity, she constructs a convincing case that the fundamental ordering principles of Classic Maya geopolitical organization were the calendar (specifically a 256-year cycle of time known as the may) and the concept of quadripartition, or the division of the cosmos into four cardinal directions. Rice also examines this new model of geopolitical organization in the Preclassic and Postclassic periods and demonstrates that it offers fresh insights into the nature of rulership, ballgame ritual, and warfare among the Classic lowland Maya.

Maya Cosmos

Maya Cosmos PDF Author: David A. Freidel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Maya philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 543

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Book Description


The Cosmos of the Yucatec Maya

The Cosmos of the Yucatec Maya PDF Author: Merideth Paxton
Publisher: UNM Press
ISBN: 9780826322920
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
Traces implications of a previously unrecognized image of the solar year in the Madrid Codex to find new meanings in the Dresden Codex and the Maya calendar system and a regional settlement organization in Yucatan.

Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos

Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos PDF Author: Prudence M. Rice
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
ISBN: 1607328895
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos explores the sociocultural significance of more than three hundred Middle Preclassic Maya figurines uncovered at the site of Nixtun-Ch'ich' on Lake Petén Itzá in northern Guatemala. In this careful, holistic, and detailed analysis of the Petén lakes figurines—hand-modeled, terracotta anthropomorphic fragments, animal figures, and musical instruments such as whistles and ocarinas—Prudence M. Rice engages with a broad swath of theory and comparative data on Maya ritual practice. Presenting original data, Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos offers insight into the synchronous appearance of fired-clay figurines with the emergence of societal complexity in and beyond Mesoamerica. Rice situates these Preclassic Maya figurines in the broader context of Mesoamerican human figural representation, identifies possible connections between anthropomorphic figurine heads and the origins of calendrics and other writing in Mesoamerica, and examines the role of anthropomorphic figurines and zoomorphic musical instruments in Preclassic Maya ritual. The volume shows how community rituals involving the figurines helped to mitigate the uncertainties of societal transitions, including the beginnings of settled agricultural life, the emergence of social differentiation and inequalities, and the centralization of political power and decision-making in the Petén lowlands. Literature on Maya ritual, cosmology, and specialized artifacts has traditionally focused on the Classic period, with little research centering on the very beginnings of Maya sociopolitical organization and ideological beliefs in the Middle Preclassic. Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos is a welcome contribution to the understanding of the earliest Maya and will be significant to Mayanists and Mesoamericanists as well as nonspecialists with interest in these early figurines

Exploring Maya Ritual Caves

Exploring Maya Ritual Caves PDF Author: Stanislav Chládek
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
ISBN: 0759119872
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Exploring Maya Ritual Caves offers a rare survey and explication of most of the known ancient Maya ritual caves in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. The caves were the Maya underworld, where rituals, including animal and human sacrifice, were carried out. The Maya cave cult and mythology, construction and modification of the caves, and cult art and artifacts are discussed. Chládek, an intrepid explorer, then describes important caves that he has recently visited and provides photos of their wonders.

2000 Years of Mayan Literature

2000 Years of Mayan Literature PDF Author: Dennis Tedlock
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520271378
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 481

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Book Description
A chronological survey of Mayan literature, covering two thousand years, from the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions to later works using the Roman alphabet.

Heart of Creation

Heart of Creation PDF Author: Andrea Joyce Stone
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
ISBN: 0817311386
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
This accessible, state-of-the-art review of Mayan hieroglyphics and cosmology also serves as a tribute to one of the field's most noted pioneers. The core of this book focuses on the current study of Mayan hieroglyphics as inspired by the recently deceased Mayanist Linda Schele. As author or coauthor of more than 200 books or articles on the Maya, Schele served as the chief disseminator of knowledge to the general public about this ancient Mesoamerican culture, similar to the way in which Margaret Mead introduced anthropology and the people of Borneo to the English-speaking world. Twenty-five contributors offer scholarly writings on subjects ranging from the ritual function of public space at the Olmec site and the gardens of the Great Goddess at Teotihuacan to the understanding of Jupiter in Maya astronomy and the meaning of the water throne of Quirigua Zoomorph P. The workshops on Maya history and writing that Schele conducted in Guatemala and Mexico for the highland people, modern descendants of the Mayan civilization, are thoroughly addressed as is the phenomenon termed "Maya mania"—the explosive growth of interest in Maya epigraphy, iconography, astronomy, and cosmology that Schele stimulated. An appendix provides a bibliography of Schele's publications and a collection of Scheleana, written memories of "the Rabbit Woman" by some of her colleagues and students. Of interest to professionals as well as generalists, this collection will stand as a marker of the state of Mayan studies at the turn of the 21st century and as a tribute to the remarkable personality who guided a large part of that archaeological research for more than two decades.

Maya Pilgrimage

Maya Pilgrimage PDF Author: Paul John Wigowsky
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1449089321
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
It is said that travel broadens one's horizons. A pilgrimage, on the other hand, expands one's consciousness. The end result of a pilgrimage is the capacity to see the sacredness in the places that are visited. One such sacred place is the vast territory of the Maya world, where thousands of pyramid-temples form a network or web of interconnected sites. These sites - like Tikal in Guatemala and Copan in Honduras - are remnants of a complex and highly-advanced civilization that existed on the continent of the Americas, forming what was known as the Land of the Plumed Serpent. This mysterious and awe-inspiring Land of the Plumed Serpent is the subject of this book. Travel with the author on a pilgrimage of this land and explore the heart and soul of the Americas in Guatemala, where the Maya people to this day have preserved the ancient customs, traditions, and religion of their ancestors. Learn about Xibalba (the Maya underworld), the Popol Vuh (Maya Bible), 2012 (calendar cycle), Maximon (the ancient Mam of Maya mythology), the Milky Way (the double-headed serpent Kukulcan), and much more. Wander the streets of colonial Antigua, the ancient capital of the Spanish Empire. Sail the waters of Lake Atitlan, the heart center of the planet, and see the numerous indigenous Maya groups in their colorful traje (clothing). Walk on the black volcanic sand beaches of Monterrico, where the turtles reenact their eternal drama of survival. Climb the active volcano Pacaya and stand next to a flowing river of lava. Shop at the incomparable market of Chichicastenango in the Guatemala highlands. After reading this book, you will marvel at the beauty of the Maya world, and you will realize that the Maya consciousness is still alive and thrives in the Land of the Plumed Serpent.

Maya Cosmos, Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path

Maya Cosmos, Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path PDF Author: David Freidel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description