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.
In the first comprehensive treatment of Classic Maya patron deity veneration, Joanne P. Baron demonstrates the central importance of patron deity cults in political relationships between both rulers and their subjects and among different Maya kingdoms. Weaving together evidence from inscriptions, images, and artifacts, Patron Gods and Patron Lords provides new insights into how the Classic Maya polity was organized and maintained. Using semiotic theory, Baron draws on three bodies of evidence: ethnographies and manuscripts from Postclassic, Colonial, and modern Maya communities that connect patron saints to pre-Columbian patron gods; hieroglyphic texts from the Classic period that discuss patron deity veneration; and excavations from four patron deity temples at the site of La Corona, Guatemala. She shows how the Classic Maya used patron deity effigies, temples, and acts of devotion to negotiate group membership, social entitlements, and obligations between individuals and communities. She also explores the wider role of these processes in politics, arguing that rituals and discourses related to patron deities ultimately formulated Maya rulership as a locally oriented institution, which limited the ability of powerful kingdoms to create wider religious communities. Applying a new theoretical approach for the archaeological study of ideology and power dynamics, Patron Gods and Patron Lords reveals an overlooked aspect of the belief system of Maya communities.
A landmark work on the iconography of one of the world’s great civilizations This book presents foundational work on Maya iconography from leading practitioners in fields ranging from archaeology, anthropology, and art history to linguistics, astronomy, photography, and medicine. The period discussed runs from the last centuries B.C. through the great Maya Classic period, with some discussion of later eras and of regions outside the Maya area. Featuring an incisive introduction by Elizabeth Benson and Gillett Griffin, Maya Iconography demonstrates how Maya beliefs developed over time and makes important connections between Preclassic and Classic iconography. The contributors are John Carlson, Michael Coe, David Freidel, Donald Hales, Norman Hammond, Nicholas Hellmuth, John Justeson, Barbara Kerr, Justin Kerr, Mary Ellen Miller, William Norman, Lee Parsons, Francis Robicsek, Linda Schele, David Stuart, and Karl Taube.
This highly informative tour of a lost civilization discusses Mayan history and culture and focuses on seven sites that exemplify the Mayan tradition of using public places to record their history and belief system. Maps, drawings & photos.
This book is a series of essays that offers a framework for the study of lowland Maya settlement patterns, surveying the range of interpretive ideas about ancient Maya remains.--Publisher's description.
