Landscapes of the Itza: Archaeology and Art History at Chichen Itza and Neighboring Sites
Linnea Wren, Cynthia Kristan-Graham, Travis Nygard, and Kaylee Spencer
Abstract
Designated a World Heritage site in 1998 by UNESCO, Chichen Itza in Yucatan, Mexico, has fascinated explorers, scholars, and visitors for nearly 500 years. Yet, despite Chichen Itza’s extensive written corpus, fundamental questions remain regarding the occupants, rulers, ritual and religious nature, political economy, and even chronology of this late Maya capital. This volume presents new archaeological, epigraphic, ceramic, and art historical data and contemporary interpretations regarding Chichen Itza both in terms of its internal dynamics and in terms of its relationships with smaller sites ... More
Designated a World Heritage site in 1998 by UNESCO, Chichen Itza in Yucatan, Mexico, has fascinated explorers, scholars, and visitors for nearly 500 years. Yet, despite Chichen Itza’s extensive written corpus, fundamental questions remain regarding the occupants, rulers, ritual and religious nature, political economy, and even chronology of this late Maya capital. This volume presents new archaeological, epigraphic, ceramic, and art historical data and contemporary interpretations regarding Chichen Itza both in terms of its internal dynamics and in terms of its relationships with smaller sites in the surrounding area. Utilizing concepts of landscape as both geographic and ideological milieus, some chapters explore the ways that the presence of Chichen Itza was felt in regional sites, including Popola, Ichmul de Morley, and Ek Balam, and how boundaries operated between such sites. Other chapters analyze visual culture through the lenses of iconography, political geography, ritual, and gender to examine the hieroglyphic texts, sculpture, painting and buildings at Chichen Itza, including the Castillo, the Osario, and the Mercado. The volume presents new avenues to understand Chichen Itza and its environs.
Keywords:
Iconography,
Yucatan,
Chichen Itza,
Maya
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2017 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780813054964 |
| Published to Florida Scholarship Online: September 2018 |
DOI:10.5744/florida/9780813054964.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Linnea Wren, editor
Gustavus Adolphus College
Cynthia Kristan-Graham, editor
Auburn University
Travis Nygard, editor
Ripon College
Kaylee Spencer, editor
University of Wisconsin-River Falls
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