Mesoamerican iconography Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Daily life in a Mayan kingdom was a complex, multi-faceted -- and often times difficult -- way of life. Their geographic area encompassed a portion of Mesoamerica, from Southeastern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula down into Northern Central America. Mayan territory included Pacific coastline, mountainous highlands, and forested lowlands. Scholars today believe the total area covered approximately 125,000 square miles. Each area had its own unique challenges, from the fertile Pacific side, with warm, tropical conditions, to the highlands, with cooler, more temperate-like zones. Volcanoes, rivers, mountains and forests fill Mayan Mesoamerica, each with its own sub-zone and micro climate. Unlike North American tribal societies, where large animals were followed seasonally, the food sources of the Maya -- fish, small animals, deer, and birds -- remained mostly stationary, permitting earlier members of Mayan society to establish deep roots in particular locales.

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- Maya Archaeology, Maya History, Mesoamerica (Anthropology), Mesoamerican Ethnohistory

En este artículo se sostiene que el nombre original del Nevado de Toluca es Chicnauhtécatl, el autor lo sustenta presentado un estudio etnohistórico y arqueológico. Chicnauhtécatl, es un vocablo náhuatl que se traduce al español como... more

- by Serhii Kupriienko
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- Aztecs, History of Mesoamerica, Aztec Art, Aztec History
- by Fernando Pesce
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- Iconography, Mesoamerican Archaeology, History of Art, Maya Art
- by John B Carlson
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- Religion, Native American Religions, Comparative Religion, Sociology

Los murales de Teotihuacan constituyen un lenguaje plástico cuyo contenido genera multiples lecturas, muchas de ellas aún no descifradas para nosotros. La pintura de la ciudad describe acontecimientos, relatos, pasajes históricos o hechos míticos. Escenas y diseños encuentran sus claves profundas en la combinación de colores, el tipo de emblema y el espacio donde se encuentran situados.

- by Jorge Angulo Villaseñor
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- Iconography, Mesoamerican Archaeology, Teotihuacan, Mesoamerica
- by John M.D. Pohl
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- Aztec Art, Mesoamerican iconography, Códices Mixtecos, Mesoamerican codices

Nota importante: se recomienda revisar la versión original, titulada "Deidades Mesoamericanas de los Mantenimientos en la Cultura Bolaños (Norte de Jalisco)" pues el texto publicado en el libro fue modificado, alterando sensiblemente los planteamientos originalmente propuestos.
En un texto publicado en el año 2016 por la doctora María Teresa Cabrero García se realiza un estudio breve acerca de figurillas descubiertas en la cultura Bolaños de la región norte de Jalisco. Estas piezas de carácter antropomorfo destacan por su abstracción y simpleza y, además, por la ausencia de elementos visuales que permitan clasificarlas detalladamente. Ante esta situación, Cabrero (2016) repara en otros atributos como los materiales de los que están hechos y señala, además, que su uso fue generalizado entre los distintos niveles sociales, tanto en el Piñón, como en Pochotitán y la Mezquitera (p. 97). No obstante, en sus tablas de distribución se nota que las figurillas elaboradas en roca tienen una distribución preferencial en contextos religiosos (p. 98).
El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar si estas figuras pudieran denotar
el culto específico a una deidad, con base en los mínimos detalles glíficos que presentan y considerando un modelo teórico metodológico ya desarrollado y contrastado para el análisis de la imagen en sociedades prehispánicas mesoamericanas, en el cual son considerados aspectos no solo sociales e históricos, sino en relación con el bricoleur, en los cuales se conjugan muchos aspectos que permiten explicar la diversidad de formas y variantes de
determinados glifos (Márquez 2009, 2012a, 2012b, 2014, 2015a, 2015b, 2015c, 2017, 2019a, 2019b, 2019c, 2020).

TEOTIHUACAN ASPECTOS DE LA CULTURA A TRAVES DE SU EXPRESION PICTORICA

- by Jorge Angulo Villaseñor
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- Iconography, Mexican Studies, Mesoamerican Archaeology, Teotihuacan

The almanacs on pages 27 and 28 of the Borgia Codex are rare examples in the highland Mexican Borgia Group that record dates in the 52-year calendar. In this paper, I propose a historical dating model for both almanacs using astronomical imagery that aligns their shared rain and maize iconography with the beginning and end of the maize planting season in central Mexico.

- by John B Carlson
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- Religion, Comparative Religion, Mythology And Folklore, Ancient History

Straddling maritime, lowlands, and highland environments, the neighboring Chontal and Huave ethnic groups occupy one of the most diverse landscapes in southern Mexico. For over five centuries this resource-rich territory served as a junction for Indigenous and European colonial encounters, where interethnic and intercontinental political alliances and conflicts came forcefully into play. In addition to leaving material remains scattered throughout the landscape, this political history was encoded in ritualized performances still practiced today in these coastal communities, as well as in their oral traditions and territorial-narratives. Our interdisciplinary research project in the region demonstrates that mountains, caves, lagoons, and the ocean itself served as portals for both animal and human agents, moving and operating in between the physical and spiritual realms. In turn, these animated palimpsests serve as mnemonic devices to recount and reshape social relations and ancestral memory.

- by Darren Longman and +3
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- Mesoamerican Archaeology, Pre-Columbian Art, Oaxaca (Anthropology), Oaxaca (Archaeology)

Hydrographic features dominate the Olmec heartland. Fishing, travel, transport, and trade via watercraft were essential parts of daily life. This chapter synthesizes archaeofaunal, iconographic, and biological data about human–animal relationships during the Formative period in the Gulf Coastal lowlands of Veracruz, Mexico. Aquatic environments were reliable sources of physical sustenance for the Olmec and Epi-Olmec, and fresh-water fish, turtles, and local and migratory water birds made up the daily diet. Animals found in marine environments were elevated to a sacred status and venerated in iconography, and jade and ceramic effigies and pendants became important parts of spiritual sustenance.

- by Tanya M Peres
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- Zooarchaeology, Mesoamerican Archaeology, Olmec archaeology, Formative Mesoamerica

This handbook is an educational resource designed for the Department of Education of the National Gallery of Victoria. It intends to facilitate the teaching and understanding of the NGV collection of Mesoamerican art. It comprises the main Mesoamerican socio-cultural topics depicted in the artworks of this collection. In addition, it recommends optional sources of information as a complement to this manual.

- by Ximena Jordan
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- Museum learning, Mesoamerican Archaeology, Museum Education, Museum Anthropology

Ponencia presentada en el 1° Congreso Centroamericano de Arqueología (San Salvador, 26-28 de octubre de 2005)

- by Sébastien Perrot-Minnot and +1
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- Rock Art (Archaeology), Mesoamerican Archaeology, El Salvador, Arte Rupestre

""One of the centrepieces of the Central and South American gallery of the National Museum of Ethnology (NME) in Leiden, the Netherlands is a Mesoamerican human skull decorated with turquoise mosaic. This mosaic skull is thought to have been created by Mixtec artisans in the Late Postclassic period (AD 1300-1521). Since the skull was acquired on the art market, nothing is known about its provenance prior to 1962. As a result, some have questioned its pre-Columbian origin. Similar questions have been raised about unprovenanced mosaic skulls in other museum collections.
This article presents the findings of research carried out at the NME and at the Centre des Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF), Paris in 2011 and 2012, with a view to determining whether the Leiden mosaic skull is an authentic pre-Columbian artefact, an entirely modern creation, or a modern combination of authentic elements. The article also explores the
reasons for the skull’s acquisition in the 1960s, in the absence of any background information, and discusses the significance of these research findings for the presentation and perception of this particular artefact.""

- by Martin E Berger
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- Museum Studies, Mesoamerican Archaeology, Authenticity, Representation of Others

The cadejo is a contemporary myth about an evil and vicious dog who attacks stragglers in the night. Recent analysis of Pataky Polychrome pottery from Mi Museo in Granada has found similarities to creatures tentatively identified as... more

In a 1992 article, V. Bricker and H. Bricker detail their historical approach to dating and decoding codical almanacs in the Maya codices that lack explicit Long Count dates. Astronomical and seasonal imagery are the key to their methodology. In honor of their work, I apply their method to an almanac in the highland Mexican Borgia Codex. After a discussion of Venus iconography identified in the Maya and Borgia Group codices, I discuss how similar astronomical imagery in the almanac on Borgia 49a-52a, 53b can be used to propose a model that situates the instrument in real time.

PhD dissertation (Leiden University): interpretive study of the precolonial Mixtec Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus 1 (Codex Yuta Tnoho), dealing with the origin of Mixtec dynasties.
Apéndices: (1) Fray Gergorio García’s text on the origin of the Mixtec world, (2) Colonial documents on indigenous healing in Chalcatongo, (3) Resettlement of Chalcatongo in the colonial period, (4) Legends from Apoala told by don Macario López, (5) Customs of Apoala told by doña Otilia Alavarado.
Detailed endnotes to the book. Accompanying illustrations. Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus 1 in line drawings.
See for the individual chapters also: http://www.cedla.uva.nl/50_publications/archive_CLAS.html

- by John B Carlson
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- Archaeology, Ethnoarchaeology, Cosmology (Anthropology), Mesoamerican Archaeology

The volume provides new data, analysis, and ideas that will be a welcome addition to the literature. There is currently nothing comparable out there." -Robert M. Rosenswig, associate professor of anthropology, University at Albany-SUNY "This volume finally brings the discussion of identity within the context of 21st-century anthropology with the support of hard evidence resulting from decades of sound scientific research. As such, this book will be a solid starting point for all readers interested in the art, architecture and ethnohistory of the people of southern Mesoamerica." -Francisco Estrada-Belli, Tulane University 288 pp., 7 x 10 50 illustrations, 19 maps Cloth 978-1-60781-504-4 $60.00 TO ORDER: phone 800-621-2736 fax 800-621-8476

This is an undergraduate independent research paper in art history submitted to George Kubler at Yale College in May 1980.

- by Justin Felts
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- Mesoamerican Religion, Mesoamerican iconography

Reseña de Rocío García Valgañón del libro Las mujeres en Mesoamérica prehispánica, de María J. Rodríguez-Shadow, coord. México, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, 2007, 284 pp. Publicado en la Revista Española de Antropología... more

In 'Time and the Ancestors: Aztec and Mixtec Ritual Art', Maarten Jansen and Aurora Pérez present new interpretations of enigmatic masterpieces from ancient Mexico. Combining iconographical analysis with the study of archaeological contexts, historical sources and living cultural traditions, they shed light on central symbols and values of the religious heritage of indigenous peoples, paying special attention to precolonial perceptions of time and the importance of ancestor worship. They decipher the meaning of the treasure deposited in Tomb 7 at Monte Albán (Oaxaca) and of artworks such as the Roll of the New Fire (Selden Roll), the Aztec religious sculptures and, last but not least, the mysterious chapter of temple scenes from the Book of Night and Wind (Codex Borgia).
[ For high quality open access of each chapter > https://brill.com/view/title/34471 ]

The study of music from the earliest past draws upon iconography and archaeology, and any attempt to understand the earliest acoustic ecologies requires some level of approximation based on material artefacts. Participants are invited to offer embodied, experiential, phenomenological, creative, practice-based and practice-led research that explores the sonic contexts of prehistory and antiquity. These explorations may consider the examination of sound-producing objects and musical instruments, acoustics of performance spaces, or role of sound in rituals, ceremonies and everyday events. Research is welcomed that uses digital technologies in (re)constructions of ancient soundscapes, and explorations of sonic textures drawing upon iconographic, archaeological and literary sources. Also considered may be performances or other artistic content, whether focused on musical, sonic, performance or visual arts. They should provide information about the source material which has created the basis of the work, but subsequently freely engage with performative explorations.

- by Jeremy Coltman and +1
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- Mesoamerican Archaeology, Aztecs, Classic Maya (Archaeology), Aztec Art
- by Travis Doering
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- Mesoamerica, Formative Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican iconography

Il rinvenimento nella penisola di Nicoya (Costarica) di un pendente in giadeite datato al 500 a.C. e la scoperta di giadeite “olmec blue” nella valle di Motagua hanno rafforzato l’ipotesi che ci siano stati contatti tra gli Olmechi e la Gran Nicoya.
Anche l’analisi iconografica dei pendenti in giadeite e pietra verde prodotti da queste due culture rafforza questa ipotesi.

- by Giancarlo Sette
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- Mesoamerican Archaeology, Costa Rica, Olmec archaeology, Mesoamerica

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and... more

- by John B Carlson
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- Ethnohistory, Archaeology, Ethnoarchaeology, Chinese Studies

Codex Bodley (Codex Ñuu Tnoo - Ndisi Nuu) is a precolonial Mexican pictorial manuscript, stemming from the Mixtec region (Ñuu Dzaui). It tells the history and genealogy of the rulers of the Mixtec city-states Tilantongo (Ñuu Tnoo) and Tlaxiaco (Ndisi Nuu) during the five centuries before the Spanish conquest (1521).
This book contains a general introduction to ancient Mixtec pictography, which discusses the history of the manuscript, its cultural-historical context and indicates how to read the manuscript, as well as a full page-by-page reading of both the obverse part of the codex (dealing with the dynasty of Tilantongo) and of the reverse part of the codex (dealing with the dynasty of Tlaxiaco).

- by John B Carlson
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- Religion, Ancient Egyptian Religion, New Religious Movements, Comparative Religion
- by Serhii Kupriienko
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- Aztecs, Mesopotamia History, History of Mesoamerica, Aztec History

The work is one of the final drafts of a study about the Nahua system of writing employed in the Codex Xolotl and published as Chapter 13 the homage to Karen Dakin. Chapter 13 compares the Nahuatl of the folio that Thouvenot classified as X.010 to posit that a portion of this segment was included in Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl's Historia de la Nación Chichimeca. It also argues that this folio contains two Nahuatl graphemes: a logogram standing for polihui and a new phonogram for Tollan.

- by Ricardo M Garcia
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- Anthropology, Art History, Indigenous Studies, Writing Systems & Decipherment