Mesoamerica Research Articles

THE MAYA SITE OF CALAKMUL: IN SITU PRESERVATION OF WALL PAINTINGS AND LIMESTONE USING NANOTECHNOLOGY

Mexican cultural heritage, one of the richest in the world, is an essential source of iconographic and historical information about Mesoamerican civilizations. The influence of European schools of conservation is undeniable in the formation of Mexican conservation, which 'imported' most of the European conventional technologies, such as acrylic and vinyl polymers as organic consolidants, for the conservators of cultural heritage. Unfortunately, the unfavourable Mexican climate increased the rates of polymer degradation, and dramatic degradation effects, such as the severe flaking of surfaces and paint detachment, became apparent in a very short time. One possible conservation option used by some Mexican conservators was detachment of the paintings. A different approach, the subject of this contribution, is the use, instead of polymers, of physico-chemically compatible materials for conservation treatments, which ensure durable results. The paper highlights innovative methods based on nanotechnologies that have been tested for the in situ consolidation of paintings and limestone in La Antigua Ciudad Maya de Calakmul in Campeche, Mexico, designated a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Site since 2002.

NAHUA LOAN WORDS FROM THE EARLY CLASSIC PERIOD: Words for cacao preparation on a Río Azul ceramic vessel

The discovery of words in a Nahua language on a Maya ceramic vessel provides evidence of Nahua influence in the Maya region as early asa.d.480, centuries earlier than previously believed. The words are spelled in syllabic Maya signs painted on a pot known to have contained chocolate (Hall et al. 1990). The words occur within the context of the primary standard sequence, a well-known Maya formula, and describe the chocolate drink that among the later Mexica (Aztec) was reserved for “rulers and esteemed noblewomen.” This new reading supports the Uto-Aztecan etymology ofcacaoproposed by Karin Dakin and Søren Wichmann (2000) and their assertion that an economically and militarily powerful Nahua-speaking people were responsible for the spread of the wordcacaointo southern Mesoamerica. More broadly, these findings have implications for the role of Uto-Aztecan speakers in the formation and spread of Mesoamerican civilization.

Olmec Pottery Production and Export in Ancient Mexico Determined Through Elemental Analysis

The first Mesoamerican civilization, the Gulf Coast Olmec, is associated with hierarchical society, monumental art, and an internally consistent ideology, expressed in a distinct style and salient iconography. Whether the Olmec style arose in just one area or emerged from interactions among scattered contemporaneous societies remains controversial. Using elemental analysis, we determined the regional clay sources of 725 archaeological ceramic samples from across Mesoamerica. Exported Olmec-style ceramics originated from the San Lorenzo region of the Gulf Coast, supporting Olmec priority in the creation and spread of the first unified style and iconographic system in Mesoamerica.

Pensando as sociedades pré-hispânicas. Um estudo sobre a sociedade mexica e a conquista espanhola

Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar o complexo ritual do derramamento de sangue no mundo mesoamericano, atendo-se às décadas imediatamente anteriores e posteriores à conquista. Seu objetivo, em primeiro lugar, é estabelecer as conexões entre os rituais ligados ao sangue, considerando principalmente o sangue humano, e a construção e expansão do estado asteca. Num segundo momento, o artigo analisa diferentes textos históricos que mencionam ou estudam os sacrifícios.

Scenes of Cognition: Performance and Conquest

Scenes of Cognition: Performance and Conquest explores how Mesoamerican pre-Conquest practices trouble some basic givens about the terms theatre and performance and ask us, not necessarily to replace them, but to rethink them again. This essay is as much about examining our own epistemic grids as about pre-Conquest theatre and performance.

Tiempo histórico y tiempo mítico entre los mayas del Periodo Clásico (ss. II-X d.C.)

The use and development of a rather precise calendrical system enabled the Maya of the Classic Period of this Mesoamerican civilization (centuries 2 nd through 10 th A. D.) to turn time into an habitable space. For them, time was like a path leading to either the past, in the form of an historical record registered in written documents, or the future, by way of forecasts and prophecies. Compared to other archaic cultures or early civilizations, the Classic Maya has been known for years for the peculiarity of having a linear, historical concept of time, including absolute dating. Yet the decipherment of the hieroglyphic inscriptions has revealed that this historical concept of time meshed with mythical time to make up a single temporal dimension —which was at once linear and cyclical— for the actions of men as well as gods. With obsessive accuracy and recurrence, the Classic Maya used calendrical Information as mortar for the construction of an historical (especially political) and religious discourse on their monuments, full of cross references to contemporary, past and even future events in texts commemorating anniversaries in several calendarial cycles.

Coevolución de interacciones hospedante - patógeno en frijol común

La coevolución en varios patosistemas del frijol ha sido demostrada en los últimos años. Con base en diferencias morfológicas (color y tamaño del grano, hábitos de crecimiento de la planta, forma de las hojas, y forma y tamaño de las vainas), tipo de proteína en las semillas, respuestas serológicas, análisis de isoenzimas, y patrones polimórficos de bandas utilizando técnicas moleculares (RFLP, RAPD y AFLP), se han sugerido dos centros de domesticación del frijol común: Mesoamérica (América Central, Antillas y México) y la Zona de los Andes. En estas regiones, las variedades cultivadas y silvestres presentan una gran variabilidad fenotípica y genética. La amplia variabilidad genética es también una característica de la mayoría de los patógenos de plantas. En frijol, tres patógenos han mostrado una íntima asociación con el acervo genético del hospedante, estos son: Colletotrichum lindemuthianum,Phaeoisariopsis griseola y Uromyces appendiculatus. Estos hongos presentan patogenicidad específica en los hospederos del correspondiente centro de origen. Poblaciones mesoamericanas de los tres organismos son más virulentas que las respectivas andinas, y genéticamente más variables. Este comportamiento ha sugerido un proceso de coevolución del patosistema. El conocimiento de la variabilidad genética y especificidad en las poblaciones nativas es preciso para el desarrollo de programas de mejoramiento y selección de fuentes de resistencia durables y efectivos para cada país de la región (gene deployment).

Gender and Power in Prehistoric Mesoamerica.:Gender and Power in Prehistoric Mesoamerica.

Gender and Power in Prehistoric Mesoamerica. Rosemary A. Joyce. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000. 269 pp.

What Did Mesoamerican Commoners Think about “Pre‐Sunrise Things”?

What Did Mesoamerican Commoners Think about “Pre‐Sunrise Things”?

Introducción: un vistazo a la historia natural de los moluscos

The natural history of molluscs is reviewed with emphasis on recent developments and the proper use of Spanish words in malacological translation. Mesoamerican examples are used to illustrate the general trends of molluscan biology.

Weapons, temples and war: the warlike nature of Quetzalcoatl's cult in Mesoamerica.

Este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar as evidências bélicas do culto a Quetzalcóatl na Mesoamérica a partir da cultura material. Os dados que forneço provêm do estudo de várias imagens da divindade em contexto guerreiro, existentes nos templos de alguns sítios arqueológicos, principalmente Chichén Itzá. Concluo que Quetzalcóatl foi um componente ideológico de guerra durante o Clássico Final (700/950 d.C.), propondo uma revisão da concepção religiosa pré-hispânica, que, construída pelos missionários espanhóis após o período de Conquista do México no século XVI, prevalece até a contemporaneidade.

Transmission intensity and the patterns of Onchocerca volvulus infection in human communities.

We focus on possible constraints upon Onchocerca volvulus establishment in humans in relation to exposure rates to infective larvae (L3) as measured by the annual transmission potential (ATP). We use mathematical and statistical modeling of pre-control west African (savanna), Mexican, and Guatemalan data to explore two hypotheses relating human infection to transmission intensity: microfilarial (mf) loads either saturate with increasing ATP or become (asymptotically) proportional to the ATP. The estimated proportion of L3 developing into adult worms ranged from 7% to 0.3% (low and high intensity areas, respectively). Relationships between mf prevalence and both mf and transmission intensity were nonlinear and statistically similar between west Africa (Simulium damnosum s.l.) and Meso America (S. ochraceum s.l.). This similarity extended to the relationship between mf intensity and ATP. The critical biting rates for onchocerciasis introduction and persistence (which depended on vector competence and host preference), were approximately 10-fold higher in settings where onchocerciasis is transmitted by S. ochraceum than in those where the vector is S. damnosum. A role for focal vector control in Mexico and Guatemala, in addition to nodulectomy and ivermectin, is suggested.

Handbook to life in the ancient Maya world

Archaeological excavations of their ruined jungle cities and decoding of their hieroglyphs have generated increased interest in the oncemysterious Maya culture. One of the Mesoamerican civilizations that flourished in Mexico and parts of Central America, the Maya are becoming increasingly known for their contributions to science, mathematics, technology, and other aspects of life. Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya World sorts through recent groundbreaking discoveries to offer an accessible thematic presentation of the latest research on all aspects of Maya civilization, from its earliest beginnings to the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. Featuring a preface written by Peter Mathews, an influential Maya scholar and leading expert in the deciphering of Maya hieroglyphs, this volume profiles the everyday routines of the Maya with in-depth coverage of society, warfare, religion, architecture, astronomy, economy, writing, and daily life. highly accessible format makes Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya World an invaluable reference source for archaeologists, students, historians, and general readers alike. The authors of this book have done a masterful job in amassing information about Maya civilization from a wide variety of sources and from some reports that are so recent that they have not yet been published...In a field where new information emerges almost daily, and major discoveries still occur several times each year, the authors are impressively current in the information they provide...this book is an easy-to-read and most up-to-date account of ancient Maya civilization. -Peter Mathews

Mesoamerican healers

Mesoamerican healers

3rd INTERASMA Congress / Mesoamerican Chapter

3rd INTERASMA Congress / Mesoamerican Chapter

In the Language of Kings: An Anthology of Mesoamerican Literature-Pre-Columbian to the Present

In the Language of Kings: An Anthology of Mesoamerican Literature-Pre-Columbian to the Present

Inferring paradigms: Referencing Andean and Mesoamerican texts

Selon une approche a la fois semiotique et anthropologique, l'A. discute du systeme de reference mis en œuvre dans le language andin. Il s'interesse particulierement au mode de designation des substantifs structure par l'ideologie ethnique et les croyances mythologiques du peuple andin et meso-americain. Ainsi l'A. explore les emplois metaphoriques, symboliques, associatifs de certains noms qui, dans leur emploi concret, renvoient a des objets physiques du monde reel

Ancient Mesoamerican civilizations

Ancient Mesoamerican civilizations

Olmec art and archaeology in Mesoamerica

This handsome volume presents the creations of Mesoamerica's most ancient societies in their archaeological contexts. The Olmec, who are best known for a unique style of monumental stone head and jade were-jaguar, were based along the Gulf of Mexico, but evidence of their influence has been found throughout Mesoamerica. Recent spectacular finds, including wooden Olmec busts, jade celts, and rubber balls, are discussed and placed within the context of settlement patterns, religious practices, and ritual from 1800 to 500 BCE. The study provides a framework for understanding Olmec art and archaeology as well as the history of how this important and enigmatic precursor to other Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Maya and Aztec came to be uncovered.

Des rêveurs d'utopies dans l'Amérique espagnole du XVIe siècle

ABSTRACT- « The invention of America » was for Europeans the starting point of a process of interrogations and examinations of certitudes considered until then as intangible because they were based on Faith's Truth. The elaboration of Utopias, after Thomas More's one published in 1516, are some of the expressions of this intellectual swarming. Without trying to present this author as the only source of all these constructions, he nevertheless influenced many of them, specially some of those conceived by the missionaries to go with the evangelisation of Amerindian populations. The comparison of the proyects of B. de Las Casas and Vasco de Quiroga, both elaborated then executed around 1530 in Meso America, enables to determine what they borrowed from their predecessor as far as utopia goes, as well as, in the beginning, the converging points that bring them together.