Maya Imagery, Architecture, and Activity: Space and Spatial Analysis in Art History

442 Pages·2015·35.378 MB·English

by  Maline D. Werness-Rude, Kaylee R. Spencer

Art | History | Latin America M Maya Imagery,
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M aya Imagery, Architecture, and Activity privileges art historical y
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perspectives in addressing the ways the ancient Maya organized,
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manipulated, created, interacted with, and conceived of the world m Architecture, and Activity
around them. The Maya provide a particularly strong example of the ways in which
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the built and imaged environment are intentionally oriented relative to political, g
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religious, economic, and other spatial constructs.
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space and spatial analysis in art history
In examining space, the contributors of this volume demonstrate the core y
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interrelationships inherent in a wide variety of places and spaces, both concrete
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and abstract. They explore the links between spatial order and cosmic order and the
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possibility that such connections have sociopolitical consequences. This book will c
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prove useful not just to Mayanists but to art historians in other fields and scholars
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from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, geography, and e
landscape architecture. c
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“In this brilliantly edited and focused book, space becomes a lens to create an e
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integrated view of the Maya. Maya Imagery, Architecture, and Activity looks at a
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space from the scale of object to landscape, from god to temple through a holistic
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approach that combines archaeology, art history, anthropology, and epigraphy.
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With particular emphasis on how space was and continues to be sacralized,
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experienced, and used by the Maya, the book is full of new ideas and rethinking t
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of older ones. The authors bring a wide range of theoretical approaches to the v
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study of space. So one learns a lot about not just how the Maya used space but t
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also about how we can study it.”
—george j. bey iii, Chisholm Foundation Chair in Arts and Sciences,
Millsaps College W
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“This volume brings together the best recent work on Mesoamerican space and n
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leavens it with some of the most sophisticated, productive theories of spatial s
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analysis from across the humanities and social sciences.” R
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—rex koontz, author of Lightning Gods and Feathered Serpents: d
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The Public Sculpture of El Tajín
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maline d. werness-rude is an assistant professor of art history at Eastern Connecticut S
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State University. kaylee r. spencer is an associate professor of art history and the chair
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of the art department at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls. n
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e Maline D. Werness-Rude and Kaylee R. Spencer
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isbn 978-0-8263-5579-9
University of New Mexico Press
90000
unmpress.com | 800-249-7737
9 780826 355799
Maya Imagery, Architecture, and Activity
werness-rude_mayaim_txtfnl_sp15.indd 1 3/16/15 9:42 AM
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Maya Imagery, Architecture,
and Activity
Space and Spatial Analysis in Art History
edited by maline d. werness-rude and
kaylee r. spencer
University of New Mexico Press | Albuquerque
werness-rude_mayaim_txtfnl_sp15.indd 3 3/16/15 9:42 AM
© 2015 by the University of New Mexico Press
All rights reserved. Published 2015
Printed in the United States of America
20 19 18 17 16 15 1 2 3 4 5 6
library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Maya imagery, architecture, and activity : space and spatial analysis in art history /
edited by Maline D. Werness-Rude and Kaylee R. Spencer.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8263-5579-9 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn 978-0-8263-5580-5
(electronic)
1. Mayas—Antiquities. 2. Maya art. 3. Maya architecture. 4. Spatial analysis
(Statistics) in archaeology. I. Werness-Rude, Maline D., 1977– II. Spencer, Kaylee R.,
1975–
F1435.M375 2015
972.81’01—dc23
2014026615
Cover photograph: From captive presentation scene, © Justin Kerr, provided in honor
of Barbara Kerr
Designed by Lila Sanchez
Composed in Sabon and Syntax
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To all our mentors, past and present
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Contents
Illustrations viii
Acknowledgments xiii
Chapter 1
Imagery, Architecture, and Activity in the Maya World:
An Introduction
maline d. werness-rude and kaylee r. spencer 1
Chapter 2
Aligning the Jester God: The Implications of Horizontality and Verticality
in the Iconography of a Classic Maya Emblem
penny steinbach 106
Chapter 3
Redefining God L: The Spatial Realm of a Maya “Earth Lord”
michele m. bernatz 140
Chapter 4
Space Men Carving Out a Sense of Place in the Chocholá Style
maline d. werness-rude 178
Chapter 5
Public Spaces in the Ancient Maya City: A History
flora simmons clancy 210
Chapter 6
Locating Palenque’s Captive Portraits: Space, Identity, and Spectatorship
in Classic Maya Art
kaylee r. spencer 229
vi
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Contents vii
Chapter 7
Spaces of Transformation at Temple 1, Tikal, Guatemala
elizabeth drake olton 271
Chapter 8
The Shifting Spatial Nexus of an Urban Maya Landscape: A Case Study of
Architecture, Sculpture, and Ceramics at Yo’okop
linnea wren, travis nygard, and justine m. shaw 306
Chapter 9
The Ideal and the Symbolic: The Use of Shared Orientational Space in
Contemporary Highland Maya Performance
rhonda taube 344
Epilogue: Portals, Turtles, and Mythic Places
michael d. carrasco 374
Contributors 413
Index 419
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Illustrations
1.1 Map of the Maya world 6
1.2 Old God, waterlilies, and a Monkey Scribe, Chocholá Style
Vessel, Puuc region, Yucatán, Mexico 10
1.3 -il, logographic verb designating sight, La Corona (?) Panel,
Petén, Guatemala 17
1.4 Arch, Labná, Yucatán, Mexico 22
1.5 Cross section of the Acropolis, Tikal, Petén, Guatemala 24
1.6 Vaulted entrance to the Court of the Birds and the Pyramid of
the Magician, Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico 26
1.7 Ballcourts and surrounding buildings, Chichén Itzá, Yucatán,
Mexico, and Tikal, Petén, Guatemala 29
1.8 “Ballcourt” logograph and a Ballcourt ring from Chichén Itzá,
Yucatán, Mexico 30
1.9 Ballcourt relief showing a sacrifice scene, Chichén Itzá, Yucatán,
Mexico 32
1.10 Palace, Kabah, Yucatán, Mexico 35
1.11. Captive presentation scene, polychrome ceramic vessel, Petén,
Guatemala 36
1.12 Sacbeob from Labná and Oxkintok, Yucatán, Mexico 40
1.13 Disembodied deity heads, polychrome ceramic vessel, Petén,
Guatemala 48
1.14 Murals, Room 1, Temple 1, Bonampak, Petén, Guatemala 55
1.15 Water Trough Lintel, Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico 59
1.16 T’abaay, dedicatory logograph 61
1.17 K’inich Janab Pakal’s Sarcophagus Lid, Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico 64
1.18 Stela 11, Yaxchilan, Chiapas, Mexico 69
2.1 The Jester God jewel on the ajaw vulture’s headband 107
2.2 The anthropomorphic Jester God and relevant motifs 108
2.3 The piscine Jester God and relevant motifs 110
2.4 The avian Jester God and relevant motifs 112
viii
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Illustrations ix
2.5 PreClassic precursors to the avian Jester God and differing ficus
leaves 114
2.6 The blending of Jester God variants into composite forms 117
2.7 The Cosmic Plate, ceramic vessel 119
2.8 The World Tree, the Jade Hearth, and relevant motifs 121
2.9 Differing Jester Gods arranged vertically, matching Jester Gods
arranged horizontally 123
2.10 The Principal Bird Deity Trophy and relevant motifs 125
2.11 The carved shell ornament, serpents with square snouts, and the
yax logogram 127
2.12 The Principal Bird Deity and God D 129
3.1 The Vase of Seven Gods, rollout view of polychrome ceramic vessel 142
3.2 Organization of the Maya cosmos 145
3.3 Levels of the universe, Codex Vaticanus A 149
3.4 Fivefold images 151
3.5 God L, Red Temple, Cacaxtla, Tlaxcala, Mexico 155
3.6 Sweatbath shrine, Temple of the Cross, Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico 156
3.7 Flood Scene, Dresden Codex 158
3.8 Rabbit Vase, rollout view of polychrome ceramic vessel 159
3.9 God L and K’awiil, rollout view of polychrome ceramic vessel 160
4.1 Isolated Bust Scene, Chocholá Style Vessel, Puuc region, Yucatán,
Mexico 179
4.2 Palace/Ceremonial Scene with traces of red pigment, Chocholá
Style Vessel, reputedly from Jaina Island, Campeche, Mexico 179
4.3 Isolated Bust Scene, Chocholá Style Vessel, Puuc region, Yucatán,
Mexico 180
4.4 Isolated Bust Scene, calendrical cartouche, Chocholá Style Vessel,
Puuc region, Yucatán, Mexico 181
4.5 Isolated Bust Scene, Chocholá Style Vessel, Puuc region, Yucatán,
Mexico 182
4.6 Lone Lord, Chocholá Style Vessel, Puuc region, Yucatán, Mexico 184
4.7 Isolated Bust Scene, calendrical cartouche, Chocholá Style Vessel,
Puuc region, Yucatán, Mexico 185
4.8 Isolated Bust Scene, Chocholá Style Vessel, Puuc region, Yucatán,
Mexico 190
4.9 Supernatural Bust, Chocholá Style Vessel, Puuc region, Yucatán,
Mexico 192
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