Aztec Religion and Art of Writing : Investigating Embodied Meaning, Indigenous Semiotics, and the Nahua Sense of Reality /
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In her groundbreaking investigation from the perspective of the aesthetics of religion, Isabel Laack explores the religion and art of writing of the pre-Hispanic Aztecs of Mexico. Inspired by postcolonial approaches, she reveals Eurocentric biases in academic representations of Aztec cosmovision, ontology, epistemology, ritual, aesthetics, and the writing system to provide a powerful interpretation of the Nahua sense of reality. Laack transcends the concept of "sacred scripture" traditionally employed in religions studies in order to reconstruct the Indigenous semiotic theory and to reveal how Aztec pictography can express complex aspects of embodied meaning. Her study offers an innovative approach to nonphonographic semiotic systems, as created in many world cultures, and expands our understanding of human recorded visual communication. This book will be essential reading for scholars and readers interested in the history of religions, Mesoamerican studies, and the ancient civilizations of the Americas. 'This excellent book, written with intellectual courage and critical self-awareness, is a brilliant, multilayered thought experiment into the images and stories that made up the Nahua sense of reality as woven into their sensational ritual performances and colorful symbolic writing system.' - Davíd Carrasco, Harvard University
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004392014 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The frontier mission and social transformation in western Honduras : the Order of Our Lady of Mercy, 1525-1773 /
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The Frontier Mission and Social Transformation in Western Honduras deals with the interaction between Mercedarian missionaries and the indigenous Lenca Indian population of western Honduras during the early sixteenth to mid-eighteenth centuries. Using an anthropological perspective, it relies heavily on previously neglected ecclesiastical archival material in conjunction with preliminary archaeological evidence as an integral source of data. A fine-grained description of the local processes of missionization in a frontier region examines the organization, operation and goals of the Mercedarian mission province located in the colonial Audiencia of Guatemala. Summary data concerning aspects of Lenca society and physical environment relevant to investigation of mission activities are provided. The importance of this study lies in its ability to explain mission development in frontier settings as well as to trace transformations within a mission order over almost a 250-year period.
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1 online resource (xii, 194 pages) : maps. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 168-189) and index. :
9789004319950 :
0924-9389 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Crosscurrents in indigenous spirituality : interface of Maya, Catholic, and Protestant worldviews /
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The resurgence of indigenous cultures and the reappearance of their ancient spiritualities, during the 1990s, is of great interest to social scientists. Several such cultures are featured in this book. The indigenous populations of struggling multi-ethnic \'democracies\' in Latin America are demanding to be integrated into the national mainstream, together with their holistic values of family, economics and ecology. Institutional Christianity is being challenged by indigenous theologies that are critical of both traditional Christianity and liberation theology. While some see here a danger of syncretism, these developments can be experienced as a breath of fresh air. \'Much has been said about the Mayas, but they have not been allowed to speak for themselves\' (anthropologist Rafael Girardi, 1962). This book is an attempt to allow religious spokespersons from a very ancient and creative civilization to share their faith, which has remained hidden for five centuries.
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1 online resource (xvi, 329 pages) : illustrations, map. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 327-329) and index. :
9789004319981 :
0924-9389 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
1982 uncovered : the Falklands War Mapping Project /
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War and its legacy are traumatic to individuals, communities, and landscapes. The impacts last long beyond the events themselves and shape lives and generations. Archaeology has a part to play in the recording of, and recovery from, such trauma. This volume delivers the first intensive archaeological survey of the battlefields of the Falklands War.
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Also issued in print: 2022. :
1 online resource (xv, 278 pages) : illustrations (black and white, and colour), maps (colour) :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781803273839 (PDF ebook) : :
Open access.
The archaeology of Yucatán : new directions and data /
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This volume was conceived to provide a forum for Mexican and foreign scholars to publish new data and interpretations on the archaeology of the northern Maya lowlands, specifically the State of Yucatán.
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1 online resource : illustrations (black and white). :
Specialized. :
9781784910099 (PDF ebook) :
Stone trees transplanted? : Central Mexican stelae of the epiclassic and early postclassic and the question of Maya 'influence' /
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Stelae dating to the Epiclassic (650-900 CE) and Early Postclassic (950-1150 CE) from Tula, Xochicalco, and other sites in Central Mexico have been presented in the archaeological and art historical literature of the last four decades, when they have been addressed at all, as evidence of classic Maya 'influence' on Central Mexican art during these periods. This book re-evaluates these claims via detailed comparative analysis of the Central Mexican stelae and their claimed Maya counterparts.
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1 online resource : illustrations (black and white). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781784910112 (PDF ebook) :
Cultural dynamics and production activities in ancient western Mexico : papers from a symposium held in the Center for Archaeological Research, El Colegio de Michoacán 18-19 Septem...
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This title presents a collection of papers from the Symposium on Cultural Dynamics and Production Activities in Ancient Western Mexico, held at the Center for Archaeological Research of the Colegio de Michoacán on September 18-19, 2014. While these thought-provoking essays on key topics in Western Mexican archaeology will spark debate among scholars interested in this cultural area, they will also be of interest to students of ancient Mesoamerica as a whole. The time is ripe for insightful discussions and new syntheses of archaeological research in Western Mesoamerica, and this volume represents, undoubtedly, a valuable contribution to this urgent task.
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Previously issued in print: 2016.
Selected conference papers. :
1 online resource :
Specialized. :
9781784913564 (ebook) :
Mesoamerican religions and archaeology : essays in pre-Columbian civilizations /
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The main goal of this work is to produce a methodologically sound and ethically valid interdisciplinary introduction into the exciting world of ancient Mesoamerica.
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Previously issued in print: 2017. :
1 online resource : illustrations (black and white, and colour). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9781784915032 (ebook) :
Tarascan pottery production in Michoacán, Mexico : an ethnoarchaeological perspective /
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This work examines a contemporary pottery tradition in Mesoamerica, but also looks back to the earliest examples of cultural development in this area. By means of ethnographic analogy and ceramic ecology, this study seeks to shed light on a modern indigenous community and on the theory, method and practice of ethnoarchaeology.
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Previously issued in print: 2017. :
1 online resource (xii, 170 pages) : illustrations (black and white) :
Specialized. :
9781784916749 (ebook) :
Palaces and courtly culture in ancient Mesoamerica /
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Mesoamerica is one of the cradles of early civilizations in the ancient world, featuring a wide diversity of cultures exhibiting a high degree of social inequality and stratification. At the pinnacle of the society was the ruler, the court and the high elite. This social segment was responsible for the creation and consumption of the hallmarks of civilizations, including monumental architecture, great monolithic monuments and a wide array of highly decorated, exotic and exceptional material culture. As such royal courts defined the very tastes and styles that characterise entire civilizations. This volume collects eight recent and innovative studies on the subject rulership, palatial compounds and courtly culture by staff and students of the American Indian Languages and Culture studies programme at Department of Cross-cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
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1 online resource : illustrations (black and white, and colour). :
Specialized. :
9781784910518 (PDF ebook) :
Recent investigations in the Puuc region of Yucatán /
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The papers here focus on the history of the Puuc region, Yucatán, incorporating archaeological, architectural, epigraphic, and iconographic studies.
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1 online resource : illustrations (black and white). :
Specialized. :
9781784915452 (ebook) :
Sig y análisis espacial en la arqueología de cazadores recolectores de Magallania (extremo sur de Sudamérica) /
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Magallania defines the region between the Santa Cruz river basin to the north and the Fuegian expression of the Andes to the south. It is one of the southernmost spaces in the world and the last to be occupied by humans, a process that occurred at least at the end of the Pleistocene (11,000 to 9,000 AP) and before the complete formation of the Strait of Magellan (ca. 8000 AP). Thereafter, the Strait functioned as a biogeographic barrier, creating conditions for divergent cultural evolution between the populations of the mainland and Tierra del Fuego. For this reason, the archeology of Magallania offers a unique possibility to inquire about the relationship between the environmental dynamics and the spatial organization of populations of hunter-gatherers settled on both sides of the Strait of Magellan.
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Previously issued in print: 2017. :
1 online resource : illustrations (black and white, and colour), maps (black and white, and colour). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781784916077 (ebook) :
Wari women from Huarmey : bioarchaeological interpretation of human remains from the Wari Elite Mausoleum at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru /
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Excavations at the Castillo de Huarmey archaeological site brought to light the first intact burial of female high-elite members of the Wari culture. It was found beneath a large adobe mausoleum, a landmark and focal point of the lower Huarmey Valley. Abundant grave goods, among which were precious metal artefacts, luxurious pottery, beautifully decorated bone and wooden objects, as well as spinning and weaving utensils, leave no doubt about the social status of individuals buried within the main chamber. The very unique character of the find was additionally emphasised by the fact that all of the buried individuals were women, accompanied by two grave guardians, and the remains of ancestors. This book presents the results of bioarchaeological analyses performed to date, and focuses on reconstructing the funeral rite and social status of the deceased.
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Previously issued in print: 2019. :
1 online resource (vi, 152 pages) : illustrations (black and white, and colour). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781789691856 (ebook) :
Metallurgy in ancient Ecuador : a study of the collection of archaeological metallurgy of the Ministry of Culture, Ecuador /
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Metallurgical activity was present in Ecuador from at least 1500 BC; by around the beginning of the Common Era metallurgical manufacture and use had extended to most of the Costa and Sierra. Regional styles soon evolved giving rise to high levels of technical craftsmanship and to shaping particular iconographic and decorative patterns. Copper, gold, silver and platinum were mined, processed and converted into thousands of ornaments, offerings, tools and weapons extensively used both by elites and by the common people. This work discusses this topic.
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1 online resource : illustrations (colour). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781784911614 (PDF ebook) :
Archaeological paleography : a proposal for tracing the role of interaction in Mayan script innovation via material remains /
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This volume explores the development of the Maya writing system in Middle-Late Formative and Early Classic period (700 BC-AD 450) Mesoamerica.
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1 online resource : illustrations (black and white). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781784912406 (PDF ebook) :
Ancient engineering : selective ceramic processing in the Middle Balsas region of Guerrero, Mexico /
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This volume has two main objectives: establishing a chronology of the Middle Balsas and detailing the region's pottery production methods. The author posits that pottery intended for different functions was often deliberately made and/or decorated in ways that were chosen to make the vessels more appropriate for their intended functions.
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Previously issued in print: 2017. :
1 online resource (xiv, 352 pages) : illustrations (black and white, and colour). :
Specialized. :
9781784916510 (ebook) :
The population of Tikal : implications for Maya demography /
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A demographic evaluation of an ancient Mayan citadel which helps to resolve debates about how the Maya made a living, the nature of their socio-political systems, how they created an impressive built environment, and places them in plausible comparative context with what is known about other ancient complex societies.
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Previously issued in print: 2018. :
1 online resource (vi, 152 pages) : illustrations. :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781784918460 (ebook) :
Ancient West Mexico in the Mesoamerican ecumene /
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This volume presents a long-overdue synthesis and update on West Mexican archaeology. Ancient West Mexico has often been portrayed as a 'marginal' or 'underdeveloped' area of Mesoamerica. This book shows that the opposite is true and that it played a critical role in the cultural and historical development of the Mesoamerican ecumene.
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1 online resource (400 pages) : illustrations. :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9781789693546 (PDF ebook) :
El Palacio : historiography and new perspectives on a pre-Tarascan city of northern Michoacán, Mexico /
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11 contributions consider legacy and archive data (1896-1995) and results derived from recent archaeological investigations (2012-2017) to present a review and analysis of the chrono-stratigraphy, material culture, urbanism, and economic and ritual practices at El Palacio, northern Michoacán, Mexico, between A.D. 850 and 1521.
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Also issued in print: 2020. :
1 online resource (xii, 297 pages) : illustrations (black and white, and colour), maps (black and white). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781789697971 (PDF ebook) : :
Open access.
Searching for the 17th century on Nevis : the survey and excavation of two early plantation sites /
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A monograph dedicated to the archaeological investigation of the landscape, buildings and artefacts of the Eastern Caribbean by the Nevis Heritage Project. It presents the results of documentary research and excavation on two sugar plantation sites on the island of Nevis.
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Also issued in print: 2021. :
1 online resource (224 pages) : illustrations (black and white, and colour), maps (black and white). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9781789698879 (PDF ebook) : :
Open access.