Ancient Mesoamerica
Ancient Mesoamerica

Author: Richard E. Blanton

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1993-04-30

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 9780521446068

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In this revised and updated 1993 edition the authors synthesize recent research to provide a comprehensive survey of Mesoamerica.

Lost Cities and Ancient Temples of Mesoamerica
Lost Cities and Ancient Temples of Mesoamerica

Author: LEARN ALCHEMICAL

Publisher: DTTV PUBLICATIONS

Published:

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13:

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The Mayan civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization founded by the Maya peoples. It was noted for its hieroglyphic script—the only known fully developed writing system of the pre-Columbian Americas—and its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical design. Since the 1990s, what were once considered mysterious ruins in Mexico have been reconstructed by Archaeologist Winslow Bradford. The complex structures were made of lime-plastered mud bricks with an internal wood framework supporting heavy loads and a stone foundation below. Mayan temples were a place for playing games, holding feasts, and rituals involving human sacrifice. The Maya people-built pyramids as places to worship their gods. These pyramids usually had several smaller temples on top to honor their gods. Worshippers would climb the steep steps up to the temple at the top of the pyramid to leave gifts and pray. Some pyramids also had "sacred stairways" or ramps leading up to them. You might be interested to learn that the Mayan civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization established by the Maya peoples and renowned for its hieroglyphic script—the only known fully developed language system of the pre-Columbian Americas—as well as for its architectural design, engineering, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical design. Mayans were a Mesoamerican civilization living in what is now Guatemala, Honduras, and parts of Mexico. They are believed to have had some contact with the Olmecs who preceded them in Mexico. Their culture ultimately became more complex than other nearby civilizations such as Teotihuacan (in today's Mexico City), Zapotec (in today's Oaxaca), or Tula (in today's Hidalgo). The rise and fall of these three kingdoms left behind massive monuments still standing today that had survived centuries without being covered by new civilizations coming in on top of them. Like happened at many other sites around Mexico & Central America, where older buildings were simply built over when newer ones came along later on top of them...

The Maya and Teotihuacan
The Maya and Teotihuacan

Author: Geoffrey E. Braswell

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2009-07-21

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13: 0292783264

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The contributors to this volume present extensive new evidence from archaeology, iconography, and epigraphy to offer a more nuanced understanding of the interaction between the Early Classic Maya and Teotihuacan. Winner, Choice Outstanding Academic Book, 2005 Since the 1930s, archaeologists have uncovered startling evidence of interaction between the Early Classic Maya and the great empire of Teotihuacan in Central Mexico. Yet the exact nature of the relationship between these two ancient Mesoamerican civilizations remains to be fully deciphered. Many scholars have assumed that Teotihuacan colonized the Maya region and dominated the political or economic systems of certain key centers—perhaps even giving rise to state-level political organizations. Others argue that Early Classic rulers merely traded with Teotihuacan and skillfully manipulated its imported exotic goods and symbol sets to increase their prestige. Moving beyond these traditional assumptions, the contributors to this volume present extensive new evidence from archaeology, iconography, and epigraphy to offer a more nuanced understanding of the interaction between the Early Classic Maya and Teotihuacan. Investigating a range of Maya sites, including Kaminaljuyu, Copán, Tikal, Altun Ha, and Oxkintok, they demonstrate that the influence of Teotihuacan on the Maya varied in nature and duration from site to site, requiring a range of models to explain the patterns of interaction. Moreover, they show that the interaction was bidirectional and discuss how the Maya in turn influenced Teotihuacan.

Migrations in Late Mesoamerica
Migrations in Late Mesoamerica

Author: Christopher S. Beekman

Publisher: University Press of Florida

Published: 2019-10-14

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 081305723X

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Bringing the often-neglected topic of migration to the forefront of ancient Mesoamerican studies, this volume uses an illuminating multidisciplinary approach to address the role of population movements in Mexico and Central America from AD 500 to 1500, the tumultuous centuries before European contact. Clarifying what has to date been chiefly speculation, researchers from the fields of archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistics, ethnohistory, and art history delve deeply into the causes and impacts of prehistoric migration in the region. They draw on evidence including records of the Nahuatl language, murals painted at the Cacaxtla polity, ceramics in the style known as Coyotlatelco, skeletal samples from multiple sites, and conquest-era accounts of the origins of the Chichén Itzá Maya from both Native and Spanish scribes. The diverse datasets in this volume help reveal the choices and priorities of migrants during times of political, economic, and social changes that unmoored populations from ancestral lands. Migrations in Late Mesoamerica shows how migration patterns are vitally important to study due to their connection to environmental and political disruption in both ancient societies and today’s world. A volume in the series Maya Studies, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase

Teotihuacan and Early Classic Mesoamerica
Teotihuacan and Early Classic Mesoamerica

Author: Claudia García-Des Lauriers

Publisher: University Press of Colorado

Published: 2022-02-14

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 164642221X

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The Early Classic period in Mesoamerica has been characterized by the appearance of Teotihuacan-related material culture throughout the region. Teotihuacan, known for its monumental architecture and dense settlement, became an urban center around 100 BC and a regional state over the next few centuries, dominating much of the Basin of Mexico and beyond until its collapse around AD 650. Teotihuacan and Early Classic Mesoamerica explores the complex nature of Teotihuacan’s interactions with other regions from both central and peripheral vantage points. The volume offers a multiscalar view of power and identity, showing that the spread of Teotihuacan-related material culture may have resulted from direct and indirect state administration, colonization, emulation by local groups, economic transactions, single-event elite interactions, and various kinds of social and political alliances. The contributors explore questions concerning who interacted with whom; what kinds of materials and ideas were exchanged; what role interregional interactions played in the creation, transformation, and contestation of power and identity within the city and among local polities; and how interactions on different scales were articulated. The answers to these questions reveal an Early Classic Mesoamerican world engaged in complex economic exchanges, multidirectional movements of goods and ideas, and a range of material patterns that require local, regional, and macroregional contextualization. Focusing on the intersecting themes of identity and power, Teotihuacan and Early Classic Mesoamerica makes a strong contribution to the understanding of the role of this important metropolis in the Early Classic history of the region. The volume will be of interest to scholars and graduate students of Mesoamerican archaeology, the archaeology of interaction, and the archaeology of identity. Contributors: Sarah C. Clayton, Fiorella Fenoglio Limón, Agapi Filini, Julie Gazzola, Sergio Gómez-Chávez, Haley Holt Mehta, Carmen Pérez, Patricia Plunket, Juan Carlos Saint Charles Zetina, Yoko Sugiura, Gabriela Uruñuela, Gustavo Jaimes Vences

Mesoamerican Plazas
Mesoamerican Plazas

Author: Kenichiro Tsukamoto

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2014-04-10

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0816598797

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Until now, archaeological and historical studies of Mesoamerican plazas have been scarce compared to studies of the surrounding monumental architecture such as pyramidal temples and palaces. Many scholars have assumed that ancient Mesoamericans invested their labor, wealth, and symbolic value in pyramids and other prominent buildings, viewing plazas as by-products of these buildings. Even when researchers have recognized the potential significance of plazas, they have thought that plazas as vacant spaces could offer few clues about their cultural and political roles. Mesoamerican Plazas challenges both of these assumptions. The primary question that has motivated the contributors is how Mesoamerican plazas became arenas for the creation and negotiation of social relations and values in a community. The thirteen contributions stress the significance of interplay between power relations and embodied practices set in specific historical and material settings, as outlined by practice theory and performance theory. This approach allows the contributors to explore broader anthropological issues, such as the negotiation of power relations, community making, and the constitution of political authorities. Overall, the contributions establish that physical interactions among people in communal events were not the outcomes of political machinations held behind the scenes, but were the actual political processes through which people created, negotiated, and subverted social realities. If so, spacious plazas that were arguably designed for interactions among a large number of individuals must have also provided critical arenas for the constitution and transformation of society.

The Mesoamerican World System, 200–1200 CE
The Mesoamerican World System, 200–1200 CE

Author: Peter F. Jimenez

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-08-27

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1108574858

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Between 200 and 1200 CE Central Mexico was the setting for the formation and disintegration of two states, Teotihuacan and Tula. At their peaks, both urban centers established distant ties throughout Mesoamerica. The nature of their relations has been the focus of analysis and debate for decades. In this study, Peter Jimenez uses the latest advances in world-systems analysis to study interaction networks in West Mexico from the early Classic to Post-classic period. He demonstrates how the archaeological record contains empirical evidence for the impact of global processes on local developments, in detail, in realms, and at spatial scales, which are revealed here for the first time. His examination of West Mexico's relations to the core states of Central Mexico also underscores the critical role that the semi-periphery played in overall world-system configuration and operation in ancient Mesoamerica.

Res
Res

Author: Editor of Res and Associate of Middle American Ethnology Francesco Pellizzi

Publisher: Peabody Museum Press

Published: 2012-01-09

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 0873658620

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RES 59/60 includes “The making of architectural types” by Joseph Rykwert; “Traces of the sun and Inka kinetics” by Tom Cummins and Bruce Mannheim; “Inka water management and display fountains” by Carolyn Dean; “Guaman Poma’s pictures of huacas” by Lisa Trever; “Peruvian nature up close” by Daniela Bleichmar; and other papers.