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MESOAMERICAN ART ARH 347L 18790 (LAS 327) Fall 2002 Dr.
Julia Guernsey Kappelman Class:
Tuesdays/Thursdays Office
and hours: ART 3.404; Tuesdays and Thursdays Email:
juliakappelman@mail.utexas.edu Course Description This
course surveys the art and architecture of the ancient civilizations
of Precolumbian Mesoamerica, from the time of the Olmec through that
of the Aztecs. Analysis and interpretation
of the art will be based primarily on its role as a transmitter of cultural
information and worldview. We
will focus particularly on the continuities and shared ideologies that
characterize and unite Mesoamerican civilizations, from the 2nd millennium
BC until the arrival of the Spanish at the time of the Conquest.
This course will provide students with a general knowledge of
the artistic traditions and chronology of Precolumbian Mesoamerica. Required text: Mary Miller, The Art of Mesoamerica from Olmec to Aztec, 3rd edition. 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 reference. Class website: A class website exists for this class, and it
is highly recommended that the student take advantage of it for review
and study purposes. It contains
an interactive map of http://www.utexas.edu/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 will involve the iconographic analysis of a work of
art, and will be worth 15% of your final grade.
The second assignment will be a 3-5 page essay that discusses
a major theme from the corpus of Mesoamerican art.
Your discussion will have to incorporate material learned in
class and apply it to specific images that we have discussed.
This second assignment will be worth 25% of your final grade. Attendance and Class Participation: As
exam material will be drawn primarily from class lectures, in addition
to the required text, it is important to attend all lectures if you
intend to fare well in this class. The
____________________________________________________________ August
29: Introduction September
3: What is Mesoamerica? Assigned
reading: Miller: 9-16 September
5: EARLY PRECLASSIC: 1500-900
BC The
appearance of the Olmec at the site of San Lorenzo; Olmec sculpture,
celts and concepts of rulership/maize Assigned
reading: Miller: 17-24 Suggested
reading: The Olmec World: 11-45 September
10: MIDDLE PRECLASSIC: 900-300
BC The
Olmec site of La Venta: the construction of
sacred space; the shamanic underpinnings for divine kingship Assigned
reading: Miller 24-32 Suggested
reading: Maya Cosmos: 132-137 September
12: The Middle Preclassic sites of Chalcatzingo, Oxtotitlán, Teopantecuanitlán Assigned
reading: Miller 32-37 September
17: The Valley of Oaxaca and the Zapotecs:
Monte Albán and Dainzuú Assigned
reading: Miller 48-54 Suggested
reading: The Cloud People September
19: LATE PRECLASSIC: 300 BC -
250 AD The
organization of sacred space at Izapa Assigned
reading: Miller: 38-48; 59-65 September
24: Izapa, La Mojarra and shamanic transformation;
the astronomical symbolism of creation Suggested reading (not on reserve):
Justeson, John S. and Terrence Kaufman. A Decipherment
of Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing.
Science 259: 1703-1711. ASSIGNMENT ONE HANDED OUT September
26: West Mexico Assigned reading: Miller: 54-58 Suggested
reading: Ancient West Mexico October
1: THE VALLEY OF MEXICO: CLASSIC
TEOTIHUACAN: 200-750 AD Teotihuacan architecture and sacred space Assigned
reading: Miller: 67-81 Suggested
reading: Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the Gods: 16-43;
catalogue entries October
3: Teotihuacan: the Temple of the Feathered
Serpent and the iconography of warfare October
8: Teotihuacan and its relationship to the
Zapotec region Assigned
reading: Miller: 83-87 October
10: Teotihuacan and its relationship to the
Maya region Assigned
reading: Miller: 119-120 October
15: EXAM ONE October
17: The Mesoamerican ballgame Assigned
reading: Miller: fig. 117 Suggested
reading: Blood of Kings: 241-264; Maya Cosmos: 337-374 October
22: The Valley of Oaxaca in the Classic and Post-Classic periods: Monte
Albán, Mitla and Cerro de la Campana Assigned
reading: Miller: 87-91; 167-169 Suggested
reading: The Cloud People October
24: TERMINAL CLASSIC PERIOD 800-900
AD ChichÈn Itzá Assigned
reading: Miller: 176-188 Suggested
reading: Code of Kings: 197-256 ASSIGNMENT TWO HANDED OUT October
29: ChichÈn Itzá
continued October 31: POSTCLASSIC
PERIOD: 1000-1521 AD
Tula; Día de los Muertos
presentation Assigned
reading: Miller: 170-176 November 5: Cacaxtla, Xochicalco, El TajínAssigned
reading: Miller: 91-99; 162-163; 165-167 November
7: The Aztecs: Tenochtitlan and the Templo Mayor Assigned
reading: Miller: 197-223 November
12: ASSIGNMENT TWO DUE; The
Aztecs: sculpture; Malinalco, Mt. Tlaloc,
Tetzcotzingo Suggested
reading: The Aztecs: especially pp. 101-104; 132-144 November
14: Aztec codices; Mesoamerican
writing Assigned
reading: Miller: 223-231 November
19: The Conquest Suggested
reading: The Aztecs: 35-42 November
21: CLASS CANCELLED: American Anthropological Association Meetings November
26: Edgewalker
video and evaluations November
28: THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY December
3: Mesoamerica in perspective: continuities December
5: EXAM TWO ______________________________________________________________________ List of books for suggested
reading on reserve in the Benson Latin American Collection: Berlo, Janet Catherine, editor. Art, Ideology, and the City
of Teotihuacan. Dumbarton
Oaks. 1992. Berrin, Kathleen, and Esther Pasztory. Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the Gods. 1993. Boone,
Elizabeth Hill. Stories in Red and Black: pictorial histories of the Aztecs and Mixtecs. Flannery,
Kent V. and Joyce Marcus. The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the
Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations. 1983. Freidel,
David, Linda Schele, and Joy Parker. Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman’s
Path. 1993. Schele, Linda
and Peter Mathews. The Code of Kings: The Language of Seven Sacred Schele, Linda and Mary Ellen Miller. The
Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. 1986. Stone, Andrea. Disconnection,
Foreign Insignia, and Political Expansion: The Warrior Stelae of Piedras
Negras. In Mesoamerica after the Decline of Teotihuacan,
edited by Richard A. Diehl and Janet Catherine Berlo:
153-172. Dumbarton Oaks. Stuart, David. “The Arrival of Strangers: The Art Museum,
Townsend,
Richard F. The
Aztecs. 1992. Townsend, Richard F., editor.
Ancient
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