Gordon R. Willey and American Archaeology

Gordon R. Willey and American Archaeology
Author: Jeremy A. Sabloff
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2007
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780806138053

Gauging the impact of one scholar's contributions to modern archaeology

The Ancient Maya

The Ancient Maya
Author: Heather McKillop
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 472
Release: 2004-08-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1576076970

Thanks to powerful innovations in archaeology and other types of historical research, we now have a picture of everyday life in the Mayan empire that turns the long-accepted conventional wisdom on its head. Ranging from the end of the Ice Age to the flourishing of Mayan culture in the first millennium to the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, The Ancient Maya takes a fresh look at a culture that has long held the public's imagination. Originally thought to be peaceful and spiritual, the Mayans are now also known to have been worldly, bureaucratic, and violent. Debates and unanswered questions linger. Mayan expert Heather McKillop shows our current understanding of the Maya, explaining how interpretations of "dirt archaeology," hieroglyphic inscriptions, and pictorial pottery are used to reconstruct the lives of royalty, artisans, priests, and common folk. She also describes the innovative focus on the interplay of the people with their environments that has helped further unravel the mystery of the Mayans' rise and fall.

River of Gold--Precolumbian Treasures from Sitio Conte

River of Gold--Precolumbian Treasures from Sitio Conte
Author: Pamela Hearne
Publisher: UPenn Museum of Archaeology
Total Pages: 154
Release: 1992
Genre: Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN: 9780934718912

In 1940 the Museum sponsored excavations at the necropolis of Sitio Conte on the Pacific coastal plain 100 miles southwest of Panama City. The cemetery had been used by the local elite and their subordinates for over seven hundred years, until its abandonment during the tenth to twelfth centuries A.D. The focus is on Burial 11, whose main occupant was buried with fantastic gold objects. Included are essays on the excavations, the goldworking techniques, and the significance of the decorative motifs, as well as a catalogue of the gold objects. Illustrations include many color photographs along with archival photographs of the original excavations.

Maya Palaces and Elite Residences

Maya Palaces and Elite Residences
Author: Jessica Joyce Christie
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2003-06-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0292712448

Maya "palaces" have intrigued students of this ancient Mesoamerican culture since the early twentieth century, when scholars first applied the term "palace" to multi-room, gallery-like buildings set on low platforms in the centers of Maya cities. Who lived in these palaces? What types of ceremonial and residential activities took place there? How do the physical forms and spatial arrangement of the buildings embody Maya concepts of social organization and cosmology? This book brings together state-of-the-art data and analysis regarding the occupants, ritual and residential uses, and social and cosmological meanings of Maya palaces and elite residences. A multidisciplinary team of senior researchers reports on sites in Belize (Blue Creek), Western Honduras (Copan), the Peten (Tikal, Dos Pilas, Aguateca), and the Yucatan (Uxmal, Chichen-Itza, Dzibilchaltun, Yaxuna). Archaeologist contributors discuss the form of palace buildings and associated artifacts, their location within the city, and how some palaces related to landscape features. Their approach is complemented by art historical analyses of architectural sculpture, epigraphy, and ethnography. Jessica Joyce Christie concludes the volume by identifying patterns and commonalties that apply not only to the cited examples, but also to Maya architecture in general.

Trees of Paradise and Pillars of the World

Trees of Paradise and Pillars of the World
Author: Elizabeth A. Newsome
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2001-09-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780292755727

"Based on a thorough analysis of the imagery and inscriptions of seven stelae erected in the Great Plaza at Copan, Honduras, by the Classic Period ruler 18-Rabbit-God K, this study argues that stelae were erected not only to support a ruler's temporal claims to power but more importantly to express the fundamental connection in Maya worldview between rulership and the cosmology inherent in their vision of cyclical time. After an overview of the archaeology and history of Copan and the reign and monuments of 18-Rabbit-God K, Elizabeth Newsome interprets the iconography and inscriptions on the stelae, illustrating the way they fulfilled a coordinated vision of the king's ceremonial role in Copan's period-ending rites. She also links their imagery to key Maya concepts about the origin of the universe, expressed in the cosmologies and mythic lore of ancient and living Maya peoples." "Because previous scholarship has never assigned all seven monuments to a single period or the patronage of one ruler, the uniqueness of Newsome's study lies in the way it explicates the overall meaning and function of the stela series with respect to the long-term activities and agendas of one king."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved