Cortes Map of Tenochtitlan (1524). Image source: Newberry Library.
Did the first century of contact and exchange between the Americas and the Old World bring about the end of the Holocene epoch? In their recent publication in the journal Nature (released 3-12-2015), University College London’s Simon Lewis and Mark Maslin argue that it very well may have. According to the authors, the New-Old World Collision “contributed to a swift, ongoing, radical reorganization of life on Earth without geological precedent” (2015: 174) and may have introduced a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene.
Multiple views of the carved jadeite artifact. Arroyo Pesquero. Olmec-style. Formative Period. From LiveScience.
This month, LiveScience announced the analysis of an unusual artifact from the underwater archaeological site of Arroyo Pesquero in Veracruz.
As an important nexus of Olmec culture, the Arroyo Pesquero region flourished in 900-400 BCE, about ten kilometers away from La Venta. According to the original journal article from Ancient Mesoamerica, Arroyo Pesquero is best known for its underwater offerings of Olmec masks, celts, and other sculptures:
When describing the Arroyo Pesquero artifacts in the Museo de la Universidad de Veracruz, Medellín (1971:19) noted that “[t]he muddy river bottom in which these masks were found yielded more than 2,000 crude stone axes, fragments of pyrite mirrors, anthropomorphic figurines with Colossal Head traits, three other functional masks…” (Quoted in Wendt et al. 310).
A view of La Mosquito. From NPR, Courtesy of UTL Productions.
This past week, tensions arose within the archaeological community over the “discovery” of two ancient urban centers in La Mosquitia rainforest region of Honduras.
Effigy vase, Guatemala, Maya, Late Classic, A.D. 700–900, ceramic, Dallas Museum of Art, The Roberta Coke Camp Fund.
The Dallas Museum of Art has announced the purchase of a Late Classic Maya effigy vessel from a Bonhams auction earlier this year. The vessel comes from the November 2014 auction of the holdings of the St. Louis Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America, which acquired the vase in 1912. Archaeologists funded by the St. Louis Chapter unearthed this effigy vase in Temple 2 during the Third Quirigua Expedition of 1910-1911. The object is surprisingly small, at seven inches in height.
Monte Alto Potbelly, on display in La Democracia plaza. From Wikimedia Commons.
The University of Texas-affiliated podcast “15 Minute History” has released a new episode featuring Dr. Julia Guernsey. In “Episode 64: Monumental Sculpture of Preclassic Mesoamerica”, Dr. Guernsey discusses the basic narratives surrounding the potbellies while providing insight into her art historical and archaeological research methods.
Guernsey offered further conclusions about the role of potbellies in the Preclassic in her presentation “The Body Writ Large: Potbelly Monuments and the Physicality of Authority in Late Preclassic Mesoamerica” earlier this year at the Maya Meetings. In this talk, she discussed how the potbellies revealed “themes of ancestry, the advent of state formation, references to ancient patterns of domestic ritual, and an iconography of breath and vitality” (Symposium Program, 2015).
These works are extensions of her most recent publication, Sculpture and Social Dynamics in Preclassic Mesoamerica (2012), which won the grand prize for the 2013 Hamilton Book Awards.
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The link to the program and the written interview can be found here.
Illustration by Heather Hurst (2014). Image from ScienceNow.
This month, Science News published an article describing the discoveries by Franco Rossi et al. in “Maya Codex Book Production and the Politics of Expertise: Archaeology of a Classic Period Household at Xultun, Guatemala” from American Anthropologist.
Franco Rossi presented on these discoveries in “Taaj: Ritual Implement, Ritual Title” at the Maya Meetings this past January, where he discussed the complexities of the taaj title and its relationship with ritual practice.
UT Press recently released several new books that cover a range of cultures and time periods in Mesoamerican art history and archaeology.
Fate of Earthly Things: Aztec Gods and God-Bodies by Molley Basset (February 2015)
“…In The Fate of Earthly Things, Molly Bassett draws on ethnographic fieldwork, linguistic analyses, visual culture, and ritual studies to explore what ritual practices such as human sacrifice and the manufacture of deity embodiments (including humans who became gods), material effigies, and sacred bundles meant to the Aztecs. She analyzes the Aztec belief that wearing the flayed skin of a sacrificial victim during a sacred rite could transform a priest into an embodiment of a god or goddess, as well as how figurines and sacred bundles could become localized embodiments of gods. Without arguing for unbroken continuity between the Aztecs and modern speakers of Nahuatl, Bassett also describes contemporary rituals in which indigenous Mexicans who preserve costumbres (traditions) incorporate totiotzin (gods) made from paper into their daily lives. This research allows us to understand a religious imagination that found life in death and believed that deity embodiments became animate through the ritual binding of blood, skin, and bone.” – UT Press
The Murals of Cacaxtla: The Power of Painting in Ancient Central Mexico by Claudia Brittenham (January 2015)
“…Presenting the first cohesive, art historical study of the entire painting corpus, The Murals of Cacaxtla demonstrates that these magnificent works of art constitute a sustained and local painting tradition, treasured by generations of patrons and painters. Exhaustive chapters on each of the mural programs make it possible to see how the Cacaxtla painting tradition developed over time, responding to political and artistic challenges. Lavishly illustrated, The Murals of Cacaxtla illuminates the agency of ancient artists and the dynamics of artistic synthesis in a Mesoamerican context, offering a valuable counterpoint to studies of colonial and modern art operating at the intersection of cultural traditions.” – UT Press
The Casa del Deán: New World Imagery in a Sixteenth-Century Mexican Mural Cycle by Penny C. Morrill (December 2014)
“…Extensively illustrated with new color photographs of the murals, The Casa del Deán presents a thorough iconographic analysis of the paintings and an enlightening discussion of the relationship between Tomás de la Plaza and the indigenous artists whom he commissioned. Penny Morrill skillfully traces how native painters, trained by the Franciscans, used images from Classical mythology found in Flemish and Italian prints and illustrated books from France—as well as animal images and glyphic traditions with pre-Columbian origins—to create murals that are reflective of Don Tomás’s erudition and his role in evangelizing among the Amerindians. She demonstrates how the importance given to rhetoric by both the Spaniards and the Nahuas became a bridge of communication between these two distinct and highly evolved cultures. This pioneering study of the Casa del Deán mural cycle adds an important new chapter to the study of colonial Latin American art, as it increases our understanding of the process by which imagery in the New World took on Christian meaning.” – UT Press
This past January, several graduate students from the University of Texas at Austin presented at the symposium “Body and Sacrifice: New Interpretations in Maya Archaeology and Religion”. This latest iteration of the Maya Meetings provided a diverse list of speakers to explore current thoughts on sacrifice, violence, and the body in Classic Maya discourse.
Among these speakers, Meghan Rubenstein, Stephanie Strauss, and Dr. Caitlin Earley all spoke on various facets of Classic Maya sacrificial practices. The Mesoamerican Center hopes to publish these the proceedings of the 2015 Maya Meetings.
Reproduction of the front of a pyrite mirror. Image from Arizona Museum of Natural History.
A recent repatriation project has traced the origins of over fifty pyrite-encrusted mirrors found in the Hohokam site of Snaketown back to the Mesoamerican region. Aside from other archaeological areas within Mesoamerica such as Zaceleu and Nebaj, this site in Arizona has the largest number of pyrite mirrors outside of central Mexico. After looking at the materials and techniques, INAH postulates that the mirrors originate from Central Mexico c. 650-950 CE. The mirrors likely entered into the area through far-flung trade networks facilitated by nomadic groups.
Welcome to New Fire, a blog produced by The Mesoamerica Center at the University of Texas at Austin!
With this blog, we intend to create a space to announce breaking archaeological news, share publications and projects by graduate students and professors at UT-Austin, and connect our readers with current projects currently undertaken at the Mesoamerican Center. This blog will also provide a platform for researchers to access rarely-seen study collections and photos, read about new UT Press publications, and reach other websites devoted to Mesoamerican research.
Look to the “About Page” for more information and connections to other Mesoamerica Center-related material.
New Fire 