MAYA ART AND ARCHITECTURE

ARH 347M

Spring 2004 

Dr. Julia Guernsey Kappelman

Class: Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:30-2:00 PM  DFA 2.204

Office and hours: DFA 2.130  Tuesdays 2:00-3:00 or by appointment

email: juliakappelman@mail.utexas.edu

Course Description

This course surveys the art and architecture of the ancient Maya and other cultures, such as the Olmec, with whom their cultural history is intertwined. Analysis and interpretation of the art will be based primarily on its role as a transmitter of cultural information and worldview.  We will focus primarily on the shared ideologies that characterize Mesoamerican, and particularly Maya, civilizations from the 2nd millennium BC until the arrival of the Spanish at the time of the Conquest.  Several class periods will be devoted to familiarizing the student with the workings of the Mesoamerican calendrical and hieroglyphic systems. 

Required text:

David Freidel, Linda Schele, and Joy Parker, Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman’s Path.  1993: William Morrow & Co., Inc., New York. (abbreviated in schedule below as Cosmos)

This text is available for purchase in the bookstore, and is also on reserve in the Benson Latin American Collection.  Assigned readings for each week are listed on the schedule below.  Also, the schedule contains a list of suggested readings from books that have been placed on reserve in the Benson Latin American Collection (the complete citations for these suggested texts appear on the last page of the syllabus). These are designed to supplement the information presented in class lectures. The suggested readings are not mandatory, but may provide useful review information and images.  Occasionally, I will suggest a reading that is not on reserve, but may be of interest to some students; it is not mandatory, but only a suggested resource.

There is also a website that will be of interest to the students.  Although the website is designed to accommodate a different class (ARH 347L The Art of Mesoamerica), many of its components, including an interactive map and timeline of Mesoamerica, are pertinent to this course.  The address is http://www.utexas.edu/ftp/cofa/a_ah/dir/precol/index.html. 

Exams: There will be two exams, each worth 30% of your final grade.  The exams will consist of fill-in-the-blank and short answer questions, image identifications and comparisons, and essays.  There will be no makeup exams; if a student misses an exam, a zero will be given unless a valid medical excuse is provided. 

Assignment: There will be two assignments.  The first is worth 15% of your final grade, and will consist of an iconographic analysis of a Maya monument. The second assignment is worth 25% of your final grade, and will consist of a 3-5 page essay that discusses the role of kings and the institution of kingship in Classic Maya civilization. 

Attendance and Class Participation:  As exam material will be drawn primarily from class lectures, in addition to the required texts, it is important to attend all lectures if you intend to fare well in this class.

Schedule of lectures, exams, and assignments:

January 15: Introduction

January 17: What is Mesoamerica?

            Assigned readings: Cosmos: 29-58

            Suggested readings: Blood of Kings: 9-40

January 22: Early and Middle Preclassic Period: The Olmec “Mother Culture”

            Assigned readings: Cosmos: 132-137

            Suggested readings: The Olmec World: 11-45; catalogue images and entries

January 24: Olmec, continued

January 29: Late Preclassic Period: Izapa

            Assigned readings: see Cosmos: fig. 2:24

January 31: Izapa and La Mojarra

            Suggested reading (not on reserve): Justeson, John S. and Terrence Kaufman. A Decipherment of                      Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing.  Science 259: 1703-1711.

February 5: Late Preclassic sculpture from the Pacific Coast; Introduction to the Maya heartland

            Assigned readings: Cosmos: 138-143; 247-251

February 7: The Maya heartland, continued; Cerros

            Suggested readings: Forest of Kings: 96-129

February 12: Late Preclassic Kingship: the symbols and vocabulary of power

            Assigned readings: Cosmos: 99-107

            Suggested readings: Blood of Kings: 63-102; 107-121; 127-130

            ASSIGNMENT ONE HANDED OUT AND DISCUSSED

February 14: Classic Period: Introduction to the Calendar and Counting

            Suggested readings: Blood of Kings: 317-321

February 19 and 21: Introduction to Hieroglyphic Writing with guest speakers

Suggested reading: Blood of Kings: 323-327; Michael D. Coe, Breaking the Maya Code. 1992: Thames and Hudson, New York (not on reserve)

February 26: Creation and Cosmology among the Maya

            Assigned readings: Cosmos: 59-113

            Suggested reading: Tedlock, The Popol Vuh

            ASSIGNMENT ONE DUE AT BEGINNING OF CLASS

February 28: Classic Maya vase painting

            Assigned readings: Cosmos: 257-276

            Suggested readings: Reents-Budet, Painting the Maya Universe

MARCH 5: EXAM ONE

MARCH 7: CLASS CANCELLED....THE ANNUAL MAYA MEETINGS AT TEXAS

MARCH 11-16: SPRING BREAK

March 19: Palenque: The Temple of Inscriptions

            Assigned readings: Cosmos: 144-146; 276-286

            Suggested readings: Code of Kings: 95-132

March 21: Palenque: The Cross Group and the Palace

            Assigned readings: Cosmos 305-307

            Suggested readings: Forest of Kings: 216-261

March 26: Yaxchilan, Bonampak, and Piedras Negras

            Assigned readings: Cosmos: 79-82; 173-230; 236-239; 303-304; 308

            Suggested readings: Blood of Kings: 134-137; 148; 157-158; 175-208; 209-240

Forest of Kings: 262-305

            ASSIGNMENT TWO HANDED OUT AND DISCUSSED

March 28: Copan

            Assigned readings: Cosmos: 146-155

            Suggested readings: Fash, Scribes, Warriors, and Kings

April 2: Tikal

            Assigned readings: Cosmos: 73-74; 244-246; 263; 310-317

            Suggested readings: Harrison, The Lords of Tikal: 53-61; 65-69; 73-78; 119-146

April 4: The Classic Maya political landscape and collapse

Sug readings: Martin and Grube, Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: 14-21; 226-230

April 9: The Central Mexican site of Teotihuacan and the symbolism of warfare

            Suggested reading (not on reserve): Sugiyama, Saburo. Iconographic Interpretation of the                               Temple of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacan.  Mexicon 11 (4): 68-74.

ASSIGNMENT TWO DUE AT BEGINNING OF CLASS

April 11: Teotihuacan warfare symbolism among the Classic Maya: Tikal, Waxaktun

            Assigned readings: Cosmos: 296-303; 323-324

            Suggested readings: For one theory on the nature of the relationship between Teotihuacan and the Maya region, see Forest of Kings: 130-164; for an alternative theory see David Stuart’s article “The Arrival of Strangers” in Carrasco’s Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage

April 16: The Mesoamerican Ballgame

            Assigned readings: Cosmos: 337-374

            Suggested readings: Blood of Kings: 241-264

April 18: Video: Edgewalker

April 23: Terminal and Postclassic Periods: Puuc sites; Chichen Itza

Assigned readings: Cosmos: 34-36; 155-160; 324-327; 374-391

            Suggested readings: Code of Kings: 197-256; 257-290

April 25: Chichen Itza, continued

April 30: Maya Codices and post-Conquest continuities; In-class evaluations

            Assigned readings: Cosmos 29-34; 113-131; 165-172; 231-235; 251-256; 286-292; 327-336; 393-403

            Suggested readings: Code of Kings: 291-317

MAY 2: EXAM TWO

________________________________________________________________________

List of books for suggested reading on reserve in the Benson Latin American Collection:

Carrasco, David, editor. Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Great Aztec Temple.

Fash, William.  Scribes, Warriors, and Kings: The City of Copán and the Ancient Maya. 1991.

Harrison, Peter D. The Lords of Tikal: Rulers of an Ancient Maya City.  1999.

Martin, Simon and Nikolai Grube. Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya.  London: Thames and Hudson. 2000.

Reents-Budet, Dorie.  Painting the Maya Universe: Royal Ceramics of the Classic Period. 1994.

Schele, Linda and David Freidel.  A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya. 1993.

Schele, Linda and Peter Mathews. The Code of Kings: The Language of Seven Sacred Maya Temples and Tombs. 1998.

Schele, Linda and Mary Ellen Miller.  The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art.  Fort Worth: Kimbell Museum. 1986.

Dennis Tedlock, The Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings.  1985: Simon and Schuster, New York.

The Art Museum, Princeton University, exhibition catalogue.  The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership.

1995.