Astronomers, Scribes, and Priests : Intellectual Interchange Between the Northern Maya Lowlands and Highland Mexico in the Late Postclassic Period

by Vail, Gabrielle

• ISBN13: 9780884023463
• ISBN10: 088402346X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-05-31
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

Astronomers, Scribes, and Priests examines evidence for cultural interchange among the intellectual powerbrokers in Postclassic Mesoamerica, specifically those centered in the northern Maya lowlands and the central Mexican highlands. Contributors to the volumers"s thirteen chapters bring an interdisciplinary perspective to understanding the interactions that led to shared content in hieroglyphic codices and mural art. The authors address similarities in artifacts, architectural styles, and building alignments-often produced in regions separated by hundreds of miles-based on their analyses of iconographic, archaeological, linguistic, and epigraphic material. The volume includes a wealth of new data and interpretive frameworks in this comprehensive discussion of a critical time period in the Mesoamerican past.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Abbreviations	p. xi
Astronomers, Scribes, and Priests: An Introduction	p. 1
Archaeological Evidence
Introduction	p. 17
Interaction between Central and Eastern Mesoamerica before and during the Culhua Mexica Expansion	p. 37
Evidence for Maya-Mexican Interaction in the Archaeological Record of Mayapán	p. 77
Cosmology and Cultural Landscape: The Late Postclassic Maya of North Yucatán	p. 115
Texts, Language, and Imagery
Introduction	p. 135
At Dawn's Edge: Tulúm, Santa Rita, and Floral Symbolism in the International Style of Late Postclassic Mesoamerica	p. 145
Scribal Interaction in Postclassic Mesoamerica	p. 193
Linguistic Evidence for Historical Contacts between Nahuas and Northern Lowland Mayan Speakers	p. 217
Nahua Vocables in a Maya Song of the Fall of Chichén Itzá: Music and Social Memory in the Construction of Yucatecan Ethnicities	p. 241
Archaeoastronomy, Codices, and Cosmologies
Introduction	p. 263
Solar-Based Cartographic Traditions of the Mexica and the Yucatec Maya	p. 279
A Comparison of Venus Instruments in the Borgia and Madrid Codices	p. 309
A Case for Scribal Interaction: Evidence from the Madrid and Borgia Group Codices	p. 333
Commentaries
Travelers in the Night: A Discussion of the Archaeological Visibility of Trade Enclaves, Ethnicity, and Ideology	p. 369
Highland Mexican and Maya Intellectual Exchange in the Late Postclassic: Some Thoughts on the Origin of Shared Elements and Methods of Interaction	p. 383
Glossary	p. 407
Contributors	p. 411
Index	p. 415
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