Search

This article proposes an ethnographic route, based on archeology, around the artisanal replication of a Marajoara urn with great local representation and often reproduced by artisans from Icoaraci (District of Belém) and from Marajó Island. Through the studies of its iconography, its artisanal replication, and the persistence of contemporary resignifications of its image, I propose to reflect further beyond the object, considering the important relationship of this ceramic piece with the people who are affected by it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pasión del Cristo is a Maya archaeological site located in the Mexican state of Campeche, in Río Bec region. Archaeological work has been carried out since 2017, focused on archaeological survey, the elaboration of maps of the main assemblages --which have allowed the identification of different groups and isolated structures, as well as areas of exploitation and production--, and the registration of the graffiti found in one structure. This publication deals with results of these works, emphasizing the study of Group 4A1a and the painted and incised graffiti found inside its rooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective/context: This paper once again brings the iconographies of Tiwanaku (Titicaca high plateau, Bolivia) and La Aguada (Northwest of Argentina) into discussion, more than 40 years after the works of Rex González and Ponce Sanginés. It does so in an entirely different context with a decolonial emphasis. Objects, images, ethnographic information and archaeologists from both sides of a border between "nations" are assembled with the clear intention of questioning very deep underlying assumptions of archaeology. Methodology: Beginning with the paths posed by images and colors, these knots also bind humans and things, shamanic experiences and meteorological phenomena. Conclusions: After bringing La Aguada and Tiwanaku into dialogue, based on our research trajectories, the discussion leads to a reflection on the present consequences of naturalizing segmented and functionalist gazes of the animal and plant worlds in the past, which originate in the ontological underpinnings of our own modernity. Originality: The text aims to approach decolonial criticism from the study of concrete cases and to contribute to these debates on the basis of archaeological materiality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chronology of the Temple of the Owls, a construction of unusual characteristics located in the group of the Initial Series at Chichen Itza, has proved a challenge for archaeologists during long time. The importance of the building resides in its unique iconography, and especially in the presence of a hieroglyphic text with a calendar date in a painted capstone. The dating of this inscription has been crucial to explain the combination of architectural, iconographic, and ceramic traits and styles associated with it. In this contribution we will propose a new interpretation of the calendric date, which contradicts the dating of the capstone in the ninth century accepted by most scholars, placing the inscription instead in the twelfth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Located in the coastal zone of the Ancash Department and the lower valley area of Nepeña, the archaeological site of Huaca Partida is one of the area's few ceremonial centers that contain friezes as part of their iconographic-architectural remains. Seven friezes on the external walls of the ceremonial architecture, which belonged to the Cerro Blanco Period (1100-800 B. C.), were excavated over a period of three seasons. Varying in style from painted polychromatic murals to high reliefs, these Middle Formative clay friezes are embedded within the stepped architecture of the remains (featuring at least four steps). During the Middle Formative, the southern façade of Huaca Partida showcased a cosmological scene consisting of three levels or worlds. A particularly noteworthy presence is that of the shamanic character drifting between the two upper levels, as if to show the onlooker its distinguished role and mediating capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sculpture referred to as the 'Tenoned Disk', which was recovered from the Caracol building at Chichén Itzá, is a monument decorated with a bass-relief carving displaying historical figures and an accompanying hieroglyphic text located on the rim of the monument. This text makes reference to several persons named using a Maya Yucatec language. The date 8 Ajaw is also recorded on the sculpture. For some unknown reason this monument has been overlooked by scholars who have sought to reconstruct the chronology of the site. Crucially, this monument records an important moment in the history of Chichén Itzá and of Yucatán in general: the arrival of the "Mexican-Toltec" people, and the re-foundation of the city under a new social construct that included foreigners and local nobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will present some conclusions of an evaluation of the physical, spatial, functional, and social aspects of Classic Maya royal palaces taking into account archaeological and iconographic evidence. For the iconographic evaluation, the analysis examined representations of palace-like ambience on 87 cylindrical ceramic vases, while the archaeological information includes data from the better documented palace groups of the Southern Maya Lowlands, including the Palace Group M7 of Aguateca, the Palace of Palenque, Los 27 Escalones of Kohunlich, Group 10L-2 of Copan, the Central Acropolis of Tikal and the Grand Acropolis Group of Calakmul. In comparing the iconographic corpus with the archaeological evidence, one of the general objectives of this presentation is to provide an example of how the information inherent in the palace scenes can be capitalized to propose more adjusted ideas about the physical, spatial, functional, and social aspects of Late Classic Maya palace groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]