Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya

2015-11-15 Social Science

Author : Andrew K. Scherer
Release : 2015-11-15
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 511/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya by : Andrew K. Scherer

Download or read book Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya written by Andrew K. Scherer. This book was released on 2015-11-15. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the tombs of the elite to the graves of commoners, mortuary remains offer rich insights into Classic Maya society. In Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya: Rituals of Body and Soul, the anthropological archaeologist and bioarchaeologist Andrew K. Scherer explores the broad range of burial practices among the Maya of the Classic period (AD 250–900), integrating information gleaned from his own fieldwork with insights from the fields of iconography, epigraphy, and ethnography to illuminate this society’s rich funerary traditions. Scherer’s study of burials along the Usumacinta River at the Mexican-Guatemalan border and in the Central Petén region of Guatemala—areas that include Piedras Negras, El Kinel, Tecolote, El Zotz, and Yaxha—reveals commonalities and differences among royal, elite, and commoner mortuary practices. By analyzing skeletons containing dental and cranial modifications, as well as the adornments of interred bodies, Scherer probes Classic Maya conceptions of body, wellness, and the afterlife. Scherer also moves beyond the body to look at the spatial orientation of the burials and their integration into the architecture of Maya communities. Taking a unique interdisciplinary approach, the author examines how Classic Maya deathways can expand our understanding of this society’s beliefs and traditions, making Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya an important step forward in Mesoamerican archeology.

Living with the Dead

2020-03-13 Social Science

Author : James L. Fitzsimmons
Release : 2020-03-13
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 507/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Living with the Dead by : James L. Fitzsimmons

Download or read book Living with the Dead written by James L. Fitzsimmons. This book was released on 2020-03-13. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholars have recently achieved new insights into the many ways in which the dead and the living interacted from the Late Preclassic to the Conquest in Mesoamerica. The eight essays in this useful volume were written by well-known scholars who offer cross-disciplinary and synergistic insights into the varied articulations between the dead and those who survived them. From physically opening the tomb of their ancestors and carrying out ancestral heirlooms to periodic feasts, sacrifices, and other lavish ceremonies, heirs revisited death on a regular basis. The activities attributable to the dead, moreover, range from passively defining territorial boundaries to more active exploits, such as “dancing” at weddings and “witnessing” royal accessions. The dead were—and continued to be—a vital part of everyday life in Mesoamerican cultures. This book results from a symposium organized by the editors for an annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The contributors employ historical sources, comparative art history, anthropology, and sociology, as well as archaeology and anthropology, to uncover surprising commonalities across cultures, including the manner in which the dead were politicized, the perceptions of reciprocity between the dead and the living, and the ways that the dead were used by the living to create, define, and renew social as well as family ties. In exploring larger issues of a “good death” and the transition from death to ancestry, the contributors demonstrate that across Mesoamerica death was almost never accompanied by the extinction of a persona; it was more often the beginning of a social process than a conclusion.

Archaeology at El Perú-Waka'

2015-08-15 Social Science

Author : Olivia C. Navarro-Farr
Release : 2015-08-15
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 419/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Archaeology at El Perú-Waka' by : Olivia C. Navarro-Farr

Download or read book Archaeology at El Perú-Waka' written by Olivia C. Navarro-Farr. This book was released on 2015-08-15. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Archaeology at El Perú-Waka’ is the first book to summarize long-term research at this major Maya site. The results of fieldwork and subsequent analyses conducted by members of the El Perú-Waka’ Regional Archaeological Project are coupled with theoretical approaches treating the topics of ritual, memory, and power as deciphered through material remains discovered at Waka’. The book is site-centered, yet the fifteen wide-ranging contributions offer readers greater insight to the richness and complexity of Classic-period Maya culture, as well as to the ways in which archaeologists believe ancient peoples negotiated their ritual lives and comprehended their own pasts. El Perú-Waka’ is an ancient Maya city located in present-day northwestern Petén, Guatemala. Rediscovered by petroleum exploration workers in the mid-1960s, it is the largest known archaeological site in the Laguna del Tigre National Park in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve. The El Perú-Waka’ Regional Archaeological Project initiated scientific investigations in 2003, and through excavation and survey, researchers established that Waka’ was a key political and economic center well integrated into Classic-period lowland Maya civilization, and reconstructed many aspects of Maya life and ritual activity in this ancient community. The research detailed in this volume provides a wealth of new, substantive, and scientifically excavated data, which contributors approach with fresh theoretical insights. In the process, they lay out sound strategies for understanding the ritual manipulation of monuments, landscapes, buildings, objects, and memories, as well as related topics encompassing the performance and negotiation of power throughout the city’s extensive sociopolitical history.

Death and the Maya

2002 Death

Author : James L. Fitzsimmons
Release : 2002
Genre : Death
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : /5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Death and the Maya by : James L. Fitzsimmons

Download or read book Death and the Maya written by James L. Fitzsimmons. This book was released on 2002. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

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