Mesoamerica's topics - tribe.net

Apocalypto

Hoopes — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 02:57:15 GMT

Well, the trailer for Mel Gibson's upcoming movie about the ancient Maya is now in theaters and on TV:

http://progressive.playstream.com/screenplay/progressive/262/e26204_b27.mov

I suspect it will replay some of Mel's tried-and-true formulae from "Mad Max," "Braveheart," "Patriot," etc. with themes of abuse and revenge. The big question, hinted at by the film's title and the image of an eclipse in the trailer, is whether he'll be weaving in references to the Maya calendar and 2012. I'm also curious whether his experience with "The Passion" will lead him to include any Maya messianism along with the possible Maya millenarianism.

posted in Mesoamerica - 8 replies

LEO GARZA: Cartoonist at the San Antonio Express-News

Frozenstars — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 04:54:08 GMT

http://www.cagle.com/news/LeoGarza/main.asp

posted in Mesoamerica - 0 replies

Another Aztec Discovery!

sarita75 — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 13:49:13 GMT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/mexico_aztecs_dc

posted in Mesoamerica - 0 replies

New Discovery: Chachapoyan

sarita75 — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 03:47:16 GMT

Wow,...first the Aztec discovery, now this .... http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061005/sc_nm/peru_mummies_dc

posted in Mesoamerica - 1 reply

Mesoamerican Ballgame

Ramzy — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 10:36:05 GMT

In order to respond to John's question, I give here the principal conclusions of my PhD.

There are almost 4 different ballgames in all Mesoamerica :
Maya central Lowlands :
Very big ball (see Zender, 2004 : Handspan and Strike), rich iconography. Completely disappeared at the time of the Conquest.

Maya Highlands and all Highlands along the Pacific Coast until Guerrero :
the tenons are the main sculptures used during the game, mainly representing serpents, "monsters vision" and "earth monster". These sculptures are lines indicators.

Maya upper Lowlands :
At the end of the Classic, rings appeared in that area. But they weren't goals ! they were just central line indicators.

Mexican central highlands :
The ring came to that part of Mexico later. And there it becomes RARELY goals (usually, rings are too small to be able to contain the ball).

About the game itself :
it wasn't a kind of basketball, but a variant of volleyball or tennis.
Each team had to hit the ball in order to make it bounce in the other camp. The player cannot win a point if his opponent doesn't make a fault (like tennis or volleyball).

About the ritual aspect of the game, the ballgame was the opposition between underworld and upperworld (see Barrois and Tokovinine, 2005 : inframundo contra el mundo celeste en el juego de pelota). Each team has a camp. I am not sure for the moment what were the criteria for the choice of a camp, but it might be a ligneage question.

In Teotihuacan, we had the presence of several ballgames (see Tepantitla fresco) but no ballcourt was found.
In Dainzu, the "ballplayers" are not playing the ball. This activity is more a fighting activity.

all the references are on the web, just google the title of the article.

posted in Mesoamerica - 5 replies

Teotihuacan

Hoopes — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 08:09:06 GMT

The best website for the ancient city:

http://archaeology.la.asu.edu/teo/

A beautiful, hi-res image of Teo is now Space Imaging's "Image of the Week":

http://www.spaceimaging.com/gallery/ioweek/archive/05-12-11/index.htm

It was also part of their spectacular "Ancient Observatories" compilation for Earth Day 2005:

http://www.spaceimaging.com/newsroom/2005_ancientObservatories.htm

posted in Mesoamerica - 1 reply

Lords of Creation: The Origins of Sacred Maya Kingship

Hoopes — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 08:13:54 GMT

This exhibit premiered at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on September 10 and will be there for only a couple of weeks more. Has anyone seen it?

http://www.lacma.org/info/press/Maya2005.htm

The exhibition website:

http://www.lacma.org/lords/

posted in Mesoamerica - 1 reply

Naachtun: A Lost City of the Maya

Hoopes — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 08:04:42 GMT

Here's a nice article by PI Kathryn Reese-Taylor & Co.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/archaeology/maya_naachtun_01.shtml

Some recent links in the news about powerful Maya women in the 4th century:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1208_051208_maya_woman.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/12/051206084430.htm

And the project website:

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~naachtun/

posted in Mesoamerica - 0 replies

Nasal Motifs in Maya Iconography

Hoopes — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 07:59:58 GMT

Harri Kettunen is defending his dissertation in Helsinki today. It is an amazing piece of scholarship!

http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisut/hum/renva/vk/kettunen/

posted in Mesoamerica - 0 replies

Late Preclassic Murals and Royal Burial at San Bartolo

Hoopes — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 07:58:44 GMT

The most spectacular discovery of Maya art in the 21st century:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1213_051213_maya_mural.html

http://www.mesoweb.com/reports/SanBartoloWest.html

http://www.newsroom.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/display.cgi?id=1207

http://www.sanbartolo.org/

posted in Mesoamerica - 0 replies

Welcome!

Hoopes — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 05:31:08 GMT

Instead of wondering why this tribe didn't already exist, I decided to create it! Please feel free to start any related thread you like.

posted in Mesoamerica - 0 replies