Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nr4z6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-01T05:57:50.227Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

CAPTIVE REPRESENTATIONS AND SOCIAL DISCOURSE AT IZAPA AND IN LATE FORMATIVE SOUTHEASTERN MESOAMERICA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2019

Julia Guernsey
Julia Guernsey*
Affiliation:
Department of Art and Art History, University of Texas at Austin, 2301 San Jacinto Blvd. D1300, Austin, TX 78712
*
j.guernsey@austin.utexas.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper takes Izapa Stela 21, with its vivid portrayal of captive sacrifice, as the point of departure for an analysis of the ways in which acts of aggression were portrayed in Late Formative monuments from a region that includes the Pacific slope and adjacent highlands of Mexico and Guatemala. It considers the social significance of themes of captive sacrifice and violence, and their role within a larger iconographic system designed to accommodate the mutually reinforcing ideas of ideology and coercive power. While clearly laden with implications of political control, subjugation, deference, and fealty, the imagery also alludes to agricultural fertility, the arrival of rain, and broader notions of social order.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 29 , Special Issue 2: Recent Research on Izapa Archaeology and Iconography , Fall 2018 , pp. 333 - 346
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Agrinier, Pierre 1960 The Carved Human Femurs from Tomb 1, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeology Foundation, No. 6. New World Archaeological Foundation, Orinda.Google Scholar
Baudez, Claude F., and Mathews, Peter 1979 Capture and Sacrifice at Palenque. In Tercera mesa redonda de Palenque, edited by Robertson, Merle Greene and Jeffers, Donnan Call, pp. 31–40. Pre-Columbian Art Research Center, Monterey.Google Scholar
Berryman, Carrie Anne 2007 Captive Sacrifice and Trophy Taking Among the Ancient Maya: An Evaluation of the Bioarchaeological Evidence and Its Sociopolitical Implications. In The Taking and Displaying of Human Body Parts as Trophies by Amerindians, edited by Chacon, Richard J. and Dye, David H., pp. 377–399. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Blomster, Jeffrey P. 2011 Bodies, Bones and Burials: Corporeal Constructs and Enduring Relationships in Oaxaca, Mexico. In Living with the Dead: Mortuary Ritual in Mesoamerica, edited by Fitzsimmons, James and Shimada, Izumi, pp. 102–160. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Boone, Elizabeth H. (editor) 1984 Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Brown, M. Kathryn, and Stanton, Travis W. (editors) 2003 Ancient Mesoamerican Warfare. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek.Google Scholar
Carneiro, Robert L. 1970 A Theory of the Origin of the State. Science 169:733–738.Google Scholar
Carrasco, Davíd 1999 City of Sacrifice: The Aztec Empire and the Role of Violence in Civilization. Beacon Press, Boston.Google Scholar
Chacon, Richard J., and Mendoza, Rubén G. (editors) 2007 Latin American Indigenous Warfare and Ritual Violence. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Chase, Arlen F., and Chase, Diane Z. 1989 The Investigation of Classic Period Maya Warfare at Caracol, Belice. Mayab 5:5–18.Google Scholar
Clancy, Flora Simmons 2002 Shield Jaguar's Monuments: Esthetics and Art History. RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 42:24–33.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Moreno, Ayax 2007 Redrawing the Izapa Monuments. In Archaeology, Art, and Ethnogenesis in Mesoamerican Prehistory: Papers in Honor of Gareth W. Lowe, edited by Lowe, Lynneth S. and Pye, Mary E., pp. 277–319. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 86. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., Guernsey, Julia, and Arroyo, Barbara 2010 Stone Monuments and Preclassic Civilization. In The Place of Sculpture in Mesoamerica's Preclassic Transition: Context, Use, and Meaning, edited by Guernsey, Julia, Clark, John, and Arroyo, Bárbara, pp. 1–26. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D. 1995 The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership. Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton.Google Scholar
Cyphers, Ann 2004 Escultura Olmeca de San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan. Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A. 1997 War, Peace, and the Collapse of a Native American Civilization: Lessons for Contemporary Systems of Conflict. In A Natural History of Peace, edited by Gregor, Thomas A., pp. 215–248. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A. 2013 Ideological Pathways to Economic Exchange: Religion, Economy, and Legitimation at the Classic Maya Royal Capital of Cancuén. Latin American Antiquity 24:371–402.Google Scholar
Doering, Travis F., and Collins, Lori D. 2010 Revisiting Kaminaljuyu Monument 65 in Three-Dimensional High Definition. In The Place of Sculpture in Mesoamerica's Preclassic Transition: Context, Use, and Meaning, edited by Guernsey, Julia, Clark, John, and Arroyo, Bárbara, pp. 259–282. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Fahsen, Federico 2002 Who are the Prisoners in Kaminaljuyú Monuments? In Incidents of Archaeology in Central America and Yucatán: Studies in Honor of Edwin M. Shook, edited by Love, Michael W., de Hatch, Marion Popenoe, and Escobedo, Héctor L., pp. 360–374. University Press of America, Lanham.Google Scholar
Fields, Virginia M., and Reents-Budet, Dorie (editors) 2005 Lords of Creation: The Origins of Sacred Maya Kingship. Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Scala Publishers, London and New York.Google Scholar
Fitzsimmons, James L. 2009 Death and the Classic Maya Kings. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Fitzsimmons, James L. 2011 Perspectives on Death and Transformation in Ancient Maya Society: Human Remains as a Means to an End. In Living with the Dead: Mortuary Ritual in Mesoamerica, edited by Fitzsimmons, James L. and Shimada, Izumi, pp. 53–77. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Freidel, David A. 1986 Maya Warfare: An Example of Peer Polity Interaction. In Peer Polity Interaction and Socio-Political Change, edited by Renfrew, Colin and Cherry, John F., pp. 93–108. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York.Google Scholar
Geller, Pamela L. 2004 Transforming Bodies, Transforming Identities: A Consideration of Pre-Columbian Maya Corporeal Beliefs and Practices. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Gilman, Antonio 1996 Comments on Elizabeth DeMarrais, Luis Jaime Castillo, and Timothy Earle's Ideology, Materialization, and Power Strategies. Current Anthropology 37:56–57.Google Scholar
Graham, John A. 1980 Abaj Takalik Sculpture Inventory. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Northridge.Google Scholar
Guernsey, Julia 2006 Ritual and Power in Stone: The Performance of Rulership in Mesoamerican Izapan Style Art. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Guernsey, Julia 2010a A Consideration of Preclassic Sculptural Themes and Forms from the Pacific Piedmont and Coast of Mesoamerica. In The Place of Sculpture in Mesoamerica's Preclassic Transition: Context, Use, and Meaning, edited by Guernsey, Julia, Clark, John, and Arroyo, Bárbara, pp. 207–230. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Guernsey, Julia 2010b A Consideration of the Quatrefoil Motif in Preclassic Mesoamerica. RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 57/58:75–96.Google Scholar
Guernsey, Julia 2012a Preclassic Sculpture and the Popol Vuh. Paper presented at Popol Vuh: A Symposium Celebrating the Ancient Maya Creation Myth in Literature, Iconography, Epigraphy, Ethnohistory, and Archaeology, University of California, Merced.Google Scholar
Guernsey, Julia 2012b Sculpture and Social Dynamics in Preclassic Mesoamerica. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York.Google Scholar
Guernsey, Julia 2016 Water, Maize, Salt, and Canoes: An Iconography of Economics at Late Preclassic Izapa. Latin American Antiquity 27:340–356.Google Scholar
Guernsey, Julia, and Strauss, Stephanie 2015 Art, Urbanism, and the Late Preclassic Pacific Slope of Mesoamerica. Paper presented at the Early Mesoamerican Urbanism Conference, Casa Herrera, Antigua, Guatemala.Google Scholar
Harmanşah, Ömür 2013 The Cattlepen and the Sheepfold: Cities, Temples, and Pastoral Power in Ancient Mesopotamia. In Heaven on Earth: Temples, Ritual, and Cosmic Symbolism in the Ancient World, edited by Ragavan, Deena, pp. 373–394. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago.Google Scholar
Harrison, Peter 1999 The Lords of Tikal: Rulers of an Ancient Maya City. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
Hassig, Ross 1992 War and Society in Ancient Mesoamerica. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Henderson, Lucia Ross 2013 Bodies Politic, Bodies in Stone: Imagery of the Human and the Divine in the Sculpture of Late Preclassic Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Art and Art History, University of Texas at Austin, Austin.Google Scholar
Hirth, Kenneth G. 1992 Interregional Exchange as Elite Behavior: An Evolutionary Perspective. In Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment, edited by Chase, Diane Z. and Chase, Arlen F., pp. 18–29. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen D. 2001 Decorous Bodies and Disordered Passions: Representations of Emotion among the Classic Maya. World Archaeology 33:206–219.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen, Stuart, David, and Taube, Karl 2006 The Memory of Bones: Body, Being and Experience among the Classic Maya. The University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, and Henderson, Lucia R. 2016 Time Tested: Re-Thinking Chronology and Sculptural Traditions in Preclassic Southern Mesoamerica. Antiquity 90:456–471.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, Ortiz, Raúl, Arroyo, Bárbara, and Robinson, Eugenia J. 2014 Chronological Revision of Preclassic Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala: Implications for Social Processes in the Southern Maya Area. Latin American Antiquity 25:377–408.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Jonathan 2000 Monument 65: A Great Emblatic Depiction of Throned Rule and Royal Sacrifice at Late Preclassic Kaminaljuyú. Ancient Mesoamerica 11:185–198.Google Scholar
Kidder, Alfred B. 1959 Art of the Ancient Maya. Thomas Y. Crowell, New York.Google Scholar
Koontz, Rex 2009 Investiture and Violence at El Tajín and Cacaxtla. In Blood and Beauty: Organized Violence in the Art and Archaeology of Mesoamerica and Central America, edited by Orr, Heather and Koontz, Rex, pp. 73–95. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Lacadena García-Gallo, Alfonso 2002 The Glyphic Corpus from Ek’ Balam, Yucatán, México. Report submitted to FAMSI. Electronic document, http://www.famsi.org/reports/01057/01057LacadenaGarciaGallo01.pdf, accessed April 9, 2016.Google Scholar
López Luján, Leonardo, and Olivier, Guilhem (editors) 2010 El sacrificio humano en la tradición religiosa mesoamericana. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Love, Michael W. 2011 Cities, States and City-state Culture in the Late Preclassic Southern Maya Region. In The Southern Maya in the Late Preclassic: The Rise and Fall of an Early Mesoamerican Civilization, edited by Love, Michael and Kaplan, Jonathan, pp. 47–75. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W., Ekhom, Susanna M., and Clark, John E. 2013 Middle and Late Preclassic Izapa: Ceramic Complexes and History. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 73. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W., Lee, Thomas A. Jr., and Espinosa, Eduardo Martínez 1982 Izapa: An Introduction to the Ruins and Monuments. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 31. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A. 2010 Ancestral Maya Economies in Archaeological Perspective. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A. 2011 Towards a Hermeneutics of Death: Commentary on Seven Essays Written for Living with the Dead. In Living with the Dead: Mortuary Ritual in Mesoamerica, edited by Fitzsimmons, James L. and Shimada, Izumi, pp. 231–239. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Macías, José Luis, Arce, José Luis, Capra, Lucia, Saucedo, Ricardo, and Sánchez-Núñez, Juan Manual 2018 Late Formative Flooding of Izapa after an Eruption of Tacaná Volcano. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:361–371.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1974 The Iconography of Power among the Classic Maya. World Archaeology 6:83–94.Google Scholar
Marquina, Ignacio 1939 Atlas arqueológico de la República Mexicana. Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia, Publication No. 41. Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Martin, Simon 1996 Tikal's “Star War” Against Naranjo. In Eighth Palenque Round Table, 1993, edited by Macri, Martha J. and McHargue, Jan, pp. 223–236. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Martin, Simon, and Grube, Nikolai 2000 Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
Mendelsohn, Rebecca R. 2018 The Formative to Classic Period Transition at Izapa: Updates from the Izapa Household Archaeology Project. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:309–331.Google Scholar
Meskell, Lynn A., and Joyce, Rosemary A. 2003 Embodied Lives: Figuring Ancient Maya and Egyptian Experience. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Miles, Suzanne W. 1965 Sculpture of the Guatemala-Chiapas Highlands and Pacific Slopes and Associated Hieroglyphs. In Handbook of Middle American Indians Volume 2/3: Archaeology of Southern Mesoamerica, edited by Willey, Gordon R., pp. 237–275. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Miller, Mary E. 1986 The Murals of Bonampak. Princeton University Press, Princeton.Google Scholar
Miller, Mary, and Martin, Simon 2004 Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya. Thames and Hudson and Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, New York and San Francisco.Google Scholar
Miller, Virginia E. 1983 A Reexamination of Maya Gestures of Submission. Journal of Latin American Lore 9:17–38.Google Scholar
Miller, Virginia E. 2003 Representaciones de sacrificio en Chichén Itzá. In Antropología de la eternidad: La muerte en la cultura Maya, edited by Ruiz, Andrés Ciudad, Sosa, Mario Humberto Ruz, and Ponce de León, Josefía Iglesias, pp. 383–404. Sociedad Española de Estudios Mayas, Publication No. 7. Universidad Complutense, Madrid.Google Scholar
Morley, Frances R., and Morley, Sylvanus G. 1938 The Age and Provenance of the Leyden Plate. Contributions to American Anthropology and History, No. 24. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Neer, Richard 2013 Cosmos and Discipline. In Heaven on Earth: Temples, Ritual, and Cosmic Symbolism in the Ancient World, edited by Ragavan, Deena, pp. 457–463. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago.Google Scholar
Norman, V. Garth 1973 Izapa Sculpture, Part I: Album. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 30. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Norman, V. Garth 1976 Izapa Sculpture, Part 2: Text. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 30. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Orr, Heather, and Koontz, Rex (editors) 2009 Blood and Beauty: Organized Violence in the Art and Archaeology of Mesoamerica and Central America. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Orrego Corzo, Miguel 1990 Investigaciones arqueológicas en Abaj Takalik, Reporte No. 1. Proyecto Nacional Abaj Takalik, Institute de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala, and the Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, Guatemala.Google Scholar
Parsons, Lee A. 1986 The Origins of Maya Art: Monumental Stone Sculpture of Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala, and the Southern Pacific Coast. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Reyna, Stephen P., and Downs, Richard E. (editors) 1994 Studying War: Anthropological Perspectives, Vol. 2. Gordon and Breach Science Publishers and Overseas Publishers Association, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M., Culleton, Brendan, Kennett, Douglas, Lieske, Rosemary, Mendelsohn, Rebecca, and Núñez-Cortés, Yahaira 2018 The Early Izapa Kingdom: Recent Excavations, New Dating, and Middle Formative Ceramic Analyses. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:373–393.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M., López-Torrijos, Ricardo, Antonelli, Caroline E., and Mendelsohn, Rebecca R. 2013 Lidar Mapping and Surface Survey of the Izapa State on the Tropical Piedmont of Chiapas, Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science 40:1493–1507.Google Scholar
Rubenstein Dankenbring, Meghan L. 2015 Animate Architecture at Kabah: Terminal Classic Art and Politics in the Puuc Region of Yucatán, Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Art and Art History, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Saturno, William A., Taube, Karl A., and Stuart, David 2005 The Murals of San Bartolo, El Petén, Guatemala Part I: The North Wall. Ancient America 7:1–56.Google Scholar
Schele, Linda 1984 Human Sacrifice among the Classic Maya. In Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica, edited Boone, Elizabeth H., pp. 6–45. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Schele, Linda, and Miller, Mary Ellen 1986 The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth.Google Scholar
Scherer, Andrew K. 2015 Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Scherer, Andrew K., and Verano, John W. (editors) 2014 Embattled Bodies, Embattled Places: War in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and the Andes. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Schieber de Lavarreda, Christa, and Corzo, Miguel Orrego 2010 Preclassic Olmec and Maya Monuments and Architecture at Takalik Abaj. In The Place of Stone Monuments: Context, Use, and Meaning in Mesoamerica's Preclassic Transition, edited by Guernsey, Julia, Clark, John E., and Arroyo, Barbara, pp. 177–205. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Shook, Edwin M. 1947 Guatemala Highlands. Carnegie Institution of Washington Year Book 46:179–184.Google Scholar
Stirling, Matthew W. 1941 Expedition Unearths Buried Masterpieces of Carved Jade. National Geographic Magazine 80:277–302.Google Scholar
Strathern, Andrew, and Stewart, Pamela J. 2006 Introduction: Terror, the Imagination, and Cosmology. In Terror and Violence: Imagination and the Unimaginable, edited by Strathern, Andrew, Stewart, Pamela J., and Whitehead, Neil L., pp. 1–39. Pluto Press, London.Google Scholar
Strathern, Andrew, Stewart, Pamela J., and Whitehead, Neil L. (editors) 2006 Terror and Violence: Imagination and the Unimaginable. Pluto Press, London.Google Scholar
Strauss, Stephanie 2018 Negotiating Narrative Domains: Izapa's Place in the Discourse on Early Hieroglyphic Writing. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:347–359.Google Scholar
Stuart, David 2007 The Captives on Piedras Negras, Panel 12. Maya Decipherment blog. Electronic document, https://decipherment.wordpress.com/2007/08/18/the-captives-on-piedras-negras-panel-12, accessed April 9, 2016.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl 1995 The Rainmakers: The Olmec and their Contribution to Mesoamerican Belief and Ritual. In The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, by Coe, Michael D., pp. 83–103. Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. Eric S. 1943 Some Sculptures from Southeastern Quezaltenango, Guatemala. Notes on Middle American Archaeology and Ethnology 17:100–112.Google Scholar
Tiesler, Vera, and Cucina, Andrea (editors) 2007 New Perspectives on Human Sacrifice and Ritual Body Treatments in Ancient Maya Society. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Vail, Gabrielle, and Hernández, Christine 2007 Human Sacrifice in Late Postclassic Maya Iconography and Texts. In New Perspectives on Human Sacrifice and Ritual Body Treatments in Ancient Maya Society, edited by Tiesler, Vera and Cucina, Andrea, pp. 120–164. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Webster, David L. 1975 Warfare and the Evolution of the State. American Antiquity 40:464–470.Google Scholar
Whitehead, Neil L. 2004 Violence. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Whitley, David S., and Beaudry, Marilyn P. 1991 Chiefs on the Coast: Developing Chiefdoms in the Tiquisate Region in Ethnographic Perspective. In The Formation of Complex Society in Southeastern Mesoamerica, edited by Fowler, William R. Jr., pp. 101–119. CRC Press, Boca Raton.Google Scholar
Yoffee, Norman 2005 Myths of the Archaic State: Evolution of the Earliest Cities, States, and Civilizations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar