Religion and Human Agency in Ancient Maya History: Tales from the Hieroglyphic Stairway

Originally presented as the twelfth McDonald Lecture, the following seeks to contribute to the field of cognitive archaeology by exploring how both process and agency contributed to the creation of enduring symbols in a Classic Maya kingdom. Through the examination of material remains from excavated contexts at the site of Copán, Honduras, it is proposed that the religious ideology of its rulers can be shown to have undergone four transformations. These can be framed as local responses to larger, regional processes, wherein human agency was critical in adapting to changing historical and economic circumstances. The proposed transformations were: 1) the establishment of a new charter; 2) the deification of the most powerful royal ancestor; 3) a retreat to shared religious values and social ideals; 4) an attempt to create a transcendent ideology.Anthropolog

History and Characteristics of Settlement in the Copan Valley, and Some Comparisons with Quirigua

Archaeologists are continually faced with a pervasive problem: how can cultures, and the interactions among cultures, be differentiated in the archaeological record? This issue is especially difficult in peripheral areas, such as El Salvador, Honduras, and southern Guatemala in the New World. Encompassing zones that are clearly Mayan in language and culture, especially during the Classic period, this area also includes zones that seem to be non-Mayan. The Southeast Maya Periphery examines both aspects of this territory. For the Maya, emphasis is on two sites: Quirigua, Guatemala, and Copan, Honduras. For the non-Maya zone, information is presented on a variety of sites and subregions—the Lower Motagua Valley in Guatemala; the Naco, Sula, and Comayagua valleys and the site of Playa de los Muertos in Honduras; and the Zapotitan Valley and the sites of Cihuatan and Santa Leticia in El Salvador. Spanning over two thousand years of prehistory, from the Middle Preclassic through the Classic and the poorly understood Postclassic, the essays in this volume address such topics as epigraphy and iconography, architecture, site planning, settlement patterns, and ceramics and include basic information on chronology. Copan and Quirigua are treated both individually and in comparative perspective. This significant study was the first to attempt to deal with the Periphery as a coherent unit. Unique in its comparative presentation of Copan and Quirigua and in the breadth of information on non-Maya sites in the area, The Southeast Maya Periphery consists largely of previously unpublished data. Offering a variety of approaches to both old and new problems, this volume attempts, among other things, to reassess the relationships between Copan and Quirigua and between Highland and Lowland ceramic traditions, to analyze ceramics by neutron activation, and to define the nature of the apparently non-Mayan cultures in the region. This book will be of major interest not only to Mayanists and Mesoamerican archaeologists but also to others interested in the processes of ethnic group boundary formation and maintenance

Student Study Guide to the Ancient American World

The Student Study Guides are important and unique components that are available for each of the books in The World in Ancient Times series. Each of the Student Study Guides is designed to be used with the main text at school or sent home for homework assignments. The activities in the Student Study guide will help students get the most out of their history books. Each student study guide includes a chapter-by-chapter two-page lesson that uses a variety of interesting activities to help a student master history and develop important reading and study skills.Intro -- Contents -- How to Use the Student Study Guides to The World in Ancient Times -- Graphic Organizers -- Important Vocabulary Words -- Chapter 1 People of Maize: Early Farmers in the Valley of Oaxaca -- Chapter 2 Land of Rubber: The Olmec Civilization -- Chapter 3 Conquests and Captives: The First Mesoamerican Cities -- Chapter 4 Pyramids, Paintings, and Pottery: Teotihuacan, City of the Gods -- Chapter 5 K'uk' Mo' Takes a Hike: Written History Takes a Leap -- Chapter 6 The Boy-King of Bone: An Explosion of Maya Hieroglyphs -- Chapter 7 Fear and Fire: The Fall of Maya Kingdoms -- Chapter 8 Cotton, Copper, and Canoes: The Rise of the Putún Maya at Chichén Itzá -- Chapter 9 The Feathered Serpent Rides Again: The City of Tula -- Chapter 10 Triple Whammy: Forging the Aztec Empire -- Chapter 11 Flowers and Song: The Lives of Aztec Families -- Chapter 12 War of the Worlds: The Aztec Encounter the Spaniards -- Chapter 13 War of the Worlds, Continued: The Inca and the Spaniards in South America -- Chapter 14 Roller-Coaster Roads: Up and Down the Andean World -- Chapter 15 A Tale of Two Cities: The Oldest Towns in the Americas -- Chapter 16 The Thunderous Temple: Andean People Connect -- Chapter 17 On Top of the World: Highland Empires in the Andes -- Chapter 18 The Man with the Gold Earrings: Moche Artists in Coastal Peru -- Chapter 19 Chan Chan: Capital City of the Andean Kingdom of Chimor -- Chapter 20 Cuzco Rules: The Inca in the Land of the Four Quarters -- Chapter 21 Chosen Girls and Breechcloth Boys: Life in the Inca Empire -- Reports and Special Projects -- Library/Media Center Research LogThe Student Study Guides are important and unique components that are available for each of the books in The World in Ancient Times series. Each of the Student Study Guides is designed to be used with the main text at school or sent home for homework assignments. The activities in the Student Study guide will help students get the most out of their history books. Each student study guide includes a chapter-by-chapter two-page lesson that uses a variety of interesting activities to help a student master history and develop important reading and study skills.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries

Jaguar and puma captivity and trade among the Maya: Stable isotope data from Copan, Honduras.

From Moctezuma's zoo to animals kept in captivity at Teotihuacan, there is increasing evidence that Mesoamericans managed wild animals for a myriad of purposes. The present study situates ritualized animal management of highly symbolic fauna in the broader context of Classic Mesoamerica by examining another core site, the Maya center of Copan, Honduras (A.D. 426-822). In this study, we identify two animal populations among the faunal remains from public and private rituals spanning the Copan dynasty. One population, with diets heavily composed of atypically sourced C4 inputs indicative of artificial feeding, corresponds with the felids interred in Altar Q and Motmot caches. The second population is composed of felids and felid products bearing a predominance of C3 signatures indicative of a more natural dietary regime. As with Copan deer, species-specific δ18O variations within these felid populations further substantiates the postulation that an expansive faunal trade network operated throughout the greater Copan Valley and beyond. Animals routed from sites of capture into the mesh of this network would have been processed into pelts, venison and other secondary goods or delivered alive to centers of state power for ritual usage and display. Our data reveal that at Copan, wild animals were routinely brought into intimate contact with human settlements to be managed and physically manipulated in a variety of ways in order to fulfill ritual and symbolic purposes