Maya Potters Indigenous Knowledge

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Maya Potters' Indigenous Knowledge

Author : Dean E. Arnold
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
ISBN 13 : 1607326566
Total Pages : 295 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (73 download)

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Book Synopsis Maya Potters' Indigenous Knowledge by : Dean E. Arnold

Download or read book Maya Potters' Indigenous Knowledge written by Dean E. Arnold and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2018-02-07 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on fieldwork and reflection over a period of almost fifty years, Maya Potters’ Indigenous Knowledge utilizes engagement theory to describe the indigenous knowledge of traditional Maya potters in Ticul, Yucatán, Mexico. In this heavily illustrated narrative account, Dean E. Arnold examines craftspeople’s knowledge and skills, their engagement with their natural and social environments, the raw materials they use for their craft, and their process for making pottery. Following Lambros Malafouris, Tim Ingold, and Colin Renfrew, Arnold argues that potters’ indigenous knowledge is not just in their minds but extends to their engagement with the environment, raw materials, and the pottery-making process itself and is recursively affected by visual and tactile feedback. Pottery is not just an expression of a mental template but also involves the interaction of cognitive categories, embodied muscular patterns, and the engagement of those categories and skills with the production process. Indigenous knowledge is thus a product of the interaction of mind and material, of mental categories and action, and of cognition and sensory engagement—the interaction of both human and material agency. Engagement theory has become an important theoretical approach and “indigenous knowledge” (as cultural heritage) is the focus of much current research in anthropology, archaeology, and cultural resource management. While Dean Arnold’s previous work has been significant in ceramic ethnoarchaeology, Maya Potters' Indigenous Knowledge goes further, providing new evidence and opening up different concepts and approaches to understanding practical processes. It will be of interest to a wide variety of researchers in Maya studies, material culture, material sciences, ceramic ecology, and ethnoarchaeology.

The Maya World

Author : Scott R. Hutson
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351029568
Total Pages : 995 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis The Maya World by : Scott R. Hutson

Download or read book The Maya World written by Scott R. Hutson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-06-17 with total page 995 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Maya World brings together over 60 authors, representing the fields of archaeology, art history, epigraphy, geography, and ethnography, who explore cutting-edge research on every major facet of the ancient Maya and all sub-regions within the Maya world. The Maya world, which covers Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador, contains over a hundred ancient sites that are open to tourism, eight of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and many thousands more that have been dug or await investigation. In addition to captivating the lay public, the ancient Maya have attracted scores of major interdisciplinary research expeditions and hundreds of smaller projects going back to the 19th century, making them one of the best-known ancient cultures. The Maya World explores their renowned writing system, towering stone pyramids, exquisitely painted murals, and elaborate funerary tombs as well as their creative agricultural strategies, complex social, economic, and political relationships, widespread interactions with other societies, and remarkable cultural resilience in the face of historical ruptures. This is an invaluable reference volume for scholars of the ancient Maya, including archaeologists, historians, and anthropologists.

Tarascan Pottery Production in Michoacán, Mexico

Author : Eduardo Williams
Publisher : Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN 13 : 1784916749
Total Pages : 182 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (849 download)

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Book Synopsis Tarascan Pottery Production in Michoacán, Mexico by : Eduardo Williams

Download or read book Tarascan Pottery Production in Michoacán, Mexico written by Eduardo Williams and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2017-08-31 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines a contemporary pottery tradition in Mesoamerica, but also looks back to the earliest examples of cultural development in this area. By means of ethnographic analogy and ceramic ecology, this study seeks to shed light on a modern indigenous community and on the theory, method and practice of ethnoarchaeology.

Ceramics of Ancient America

Author : Yumi Park Huntington
Publisher : University Press of Florida
ISBN 13 : 0813052416
Total Pages : 385 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis Ceramics of Ancient America by : Yumi Park Huntington

Download or read book Ceramics of Ancient America written by Yumi Park Huntington and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2018-09-12 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first volume to bring together archaeology, anthropology, and art history in the analysis of pre-Columbian pottery. While previous research on ceramic artifacts has been divided by these three disciplines, this volume shows how integrating these approaches provides new understandings of many different aspects of Ancient American societies. Contributors from a variety of backgrounds in these fields explore what ceramics can reveal about ancient social dynamics, trade, ritual, politics, innovation, iconography, and regional styles. Essays identify supernatural and humanistic beliefs through formal analysis of Lower Mississippi Valley "Great Serpent" effigy vessels and Ecuadorian depictions of the human figure. They discuss the cultural identity conveyed by imagery such as Andean head motifs, and they analyze symmetry in designs from locations including the American Southwest. Chapters also take diachronic approaches—methods that track change over time—to ceramics from Mexico’s Tarascan State and the Valley of Oaxaca, as well as from Maya and Toltec societies. This volume provides a much-needed multidisciplinary synthesis of current scholarship on Ancient American ceramics. It is a model of how different research perspectives can together illuminate the relationship between these material artifacts and their broader human culture. Contributors: | Dean Arnold | George J. Bey III | Michael Carrasco | David Dye | James Farmer | Gary Feinman | Amy Hirshman | Yumi Park Huntington | Johanna Minich | Shelia Pozorski and Thomas Pozorski | Jeff Price | Sarahh Scher | Dorothy Washburn | Robert F. Wald

Picture Worlds

Author : David Saunders
Publisher : Getty Publications
ISBN 13 : 1606069055
Total Pages : 212 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (6 download)

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Book Synopsis Picture Worlds by : David Saunders

Download or read book Picture Worlds written by David Saunders and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 2024-04-30 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This abundantly illustrated volume is the first to explore the painted pottery of the ancient Greek, Moche, and Maya cultures side by side. Satyrs and sphinxes, violent legumes, and a dancing maize deity figure in the stories painted on the pottery produced by the ancient Greek, Moche, and Maya cultures, respectively. Picture Worlds is the first book to examine the elaborately decorated terracotta vessels of these three distinct civilizations. Although the cultures were separated by space and time, they all employed pottery as a way to tell stories, explain the world, and illustrate core myths and beliefs. Each of these painted pots is a picture world. But why did these communities reach for pottery as a primary method of visual communication? How were the vessels produced and used? In this book, experts offer introductions to the civilizations, exploring these foundational questions and examining the painted imagery. Readers will be rewarded with a better understanding of each of these ancient societies, fascinating insights into their cultural commonalities and differences, and fresh perspectives on image making and storytelling, practices that remain vibrant to this day.

Ecotheology

Author : Levente Hufnagel
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 1803554355
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (35 download)

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Book Synopsis Ecotheology by : Levente Hufnagel

Download or read book Ecotheology written by Levente Hufnagel and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2023-01-11 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ecotheology - Sustainability and Religions of the World gives a very interesting overview of the frontiers of scientific research in this important multi- and transdisciplinary area. Its chapters use ecotheological approaches to discuss the multiple aspects of an environmental crisis from almost every segment of our planet. This book will be very useful for everyone – researchers, teachers, students, or others interested in the field – who would like to gain some insights into this aspect of our culture.

Pots, Pans, and People: Material Culture and Nature in Mesoamerican Ceramics

Author : Eduardo Williams
Publisher : Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN 13 : 1803278102
Total Pages : 492 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (32 download)

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Book Synopsis Pots, Pans, and People: Material Culture and Nature in Mesoamerican Ceramics by : Eduardo Williams

Download or read book Pots, Pans, and People: Material Culture and Nature in Mesoamerican Ceramics written by Eduardo Williams and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2024-07-19 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores material culture and human adaptations to nature over time, with a focus on ceramics. The author also explores the role of ethnoarchaeology and ethnohistory as key elements of a broad research strategy that seeks to understand human interaction with nature over time.

The Evolution of Ceramic Production Organization in a Maya Community

Author : Dean E. Arnold
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
ISBN 13 : 1607323141
Total Pages : 358 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (73 download)

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Book Synopsis The Evolution of Ceramic Production Organization in a Maya Community by : Dean E. Arnold

Download or read book The Evolution of Ceramic Production Organization in a Maya Community written by Dean E. Arnold and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2015-02-15 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Evolution of Ceramic Production Organization in a Maya Community, Dean E. Arnold continues his unique approach to ceramic ethnoarchaeology, tracing the history of potters in Ticul, Yucatán, and their production space over a period of more than four decades. This follow-up to his 2008 work Social Change and the Evolution of Ceramic Production and Distribution uses narrative to trace the changes in production personnel and their spatial organization through the changes in production organization in Ticul. Although several kinds of production units developed, households were the most persistent units of production in spite of massive social change and the reorientation of pottery production to the tourist market. Entrepreneurial workshops, government-sponsored workshops, and workshops attached to tourist hotels developed more recently but were short-lived, whereas pottery-making households extended deep into the nineteenth century. Through this continuity and change, intermittent crafting, multi-crafting, and potters' increased management of economic risk also factored into the development of the production organization in Ticul. Illustrated with more than 100 images of production units, The Evolution of Ceramic Production Organization in a Maya Community is an important contribution to the understanding of ceramic production. Scholars with interests in craft specialization, craft production, and demography, as well as specialists in Mesoamerican archaeology, anthropology, history, and economy, will find this volume especially useful.

Earth Politics and Intangible Heritage

Author : Jessica Joyce Christie
Publisher : University Press of Florida
ISBN 13 : 0813057841
Total Pages : 271 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis Earth Politics and Intangible Heritage by : Jessica Joyce Christie

Download or read book Earth Politics and Intangible Heritage written by Jessica Joyce Christie and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2021-07-13 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on three communities in North, Central, and South America, Earth Politics and Intangible Heritage layers archaeological research with local knowledge in its interpretations of these cultural landscapes. Using the perspective of Earth Politics, Christie demonstrates a way of reconciling the tension between Western scientific approaches to history and the more intangible heritage derived from Indigenous oral narratives and social memories. Jessica Christie presents case studies from Canyon de Chelly National Monument on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, United States; the Yucatec Maya village of Coba in Quintana Roo, Mexico; and the Aymara town of Copacabana on Lake Titicaca, Bolivia. Each of these places is home to a longstanding community located near ancient archaeological sites, and in each case residents relate to the ruins and the land in ways that anchor their histories, memories, identities, and daily lives. Christie’s dual approach shows how these ancestral groups have confronted colonial power structures over time, as well as how the Christian religion has impacted traditional lifeways at each site. Based on extensive field experiences, Christie’s discussions offer productive strategies for scientific and Indigenous wisdoms to work in parallel directions rather than in conflict. The insights in this book will serve as building blocks for shaping a regenerative future—not only for these important heritage sites but also for many others across the globe. A volume in the series Cultural Heritage Studies, edited by Paul A. Shackel

Innovative Approaches and Explorations in Ceramic Studies

Author : Sandra L. López Varela
Publisher : Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN 13 : 1784917370
Total Pages : 150 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (849 download)

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Book Synopsis Innovative Approaches and Explorations in Ceramic Studies by : Sandra L. López Varela

Download or read book Innovative Approaches and Explorations in Ceramic Studies written by Sandra L. López Varela and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2017-12-31 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book celebrates thirty years of Ceramic Ecology, an international symposium initiated at the 1986 American Anthropological Association. Contributions explore the application of instrumental techniques and experimental studies to analyze ceramics and follow innovative approaches to evaluate methods and theories.

Tijeras Pueblo at the Crossroads

Author : Sandra Arazi-Coambs
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000987361
Total Pages : 137 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Tijeras Pueblo at the Crossroads by : Sandra Arazi-Coambs

Download or read book Tijeras Pueblo at the Crossroads written by Sandra Arazi-Coambs and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-10-24 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tijeras Pueblo (LA 581) is a late precontact Ancestral Pueblo site, located just east of the modern city of Albuquerque, USA. Research using archaeological collections from the site has been generated over the past 40 years, illuminating the significance of Tijeras Pueblo as a cultural crossroad associated with dynamic social changes typical of the Pueblo IV Period in the American Southwest. In its modern context, this site continues to function as a bridge between cultures, the past, and the present. This book highlights a cross section of diverse perspectives and interests involved in understanding, interpreting, and preserving Tijeras Pueblo, including a summary of recent research on the site, the use of the site and its collections as a source for public education, a discussion of management challenges related to its location on a Forest Service administrative complex, and how interpretation and research have benefited from continued collaboration with descendant communities such as Isleta Pueblo. This book will appeal to a broad and diverse readership, including academics and vocationalists interested in late precontact Ancestral Pueblo archaeology and those with regional and global interests in cultural heritage management, curation of legacy collections, site preservation, and public education. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Kiva: The Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History.

The Bell Beaker Culture in All Its Forms

Author : Claudine Abegg
Publisher : Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN 13 : 180327364X
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (32 download)

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Book Synopsis The Bell Beaker Culture in All Its Forms by : Claudine Abegg

Download or read book The Bell Beaker Culture in All Its Forms written by Claudine Abegg and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2022-09-22 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Proceedings of the 22nd meeting of the ‘Archéologie et Gobelets’ Association which took place in Geneva, Switzerland in January 2021. The book is structured in three parts: Archaeological Material, Funerary Archaeology and Anthropology, and Reconstructing Bell Beaker Society.

Life in a Mississippian Warscape

Author : Meghan E. Buchanan
Publisher : University of Alabama Press
ISBN 13 : 0817321381
Total Pages : 193 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (173 download)

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Book Synopsis Life in a Mississippian Warscape by : Meghan E. Buchanan

Download or read book Life in a Mississippian Warscape written by Meghan E. Buchanan and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2022-10-04 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Meghan Buchanan, following anthropologist Carolyn Nordstrom, posits that, to understand the big histories of warfare, political fragmentation, and resilience in the past, archaeologists must also analyze and interpret the microscale actions of the past: the daily activities of people before, during, and after historical events. Within warscapes, battles take place in peoples' front yards, family members die, and the impacts of violence in near and distant places are experienced on a daily basis. "Life in a Mississippian Warscape" explores the microscale of daily lives of people living at the Common Field site during the period of Cahokia's abandonment and the spread of violence and warfare throughout the Southeast. Common Field was a large, palisaded Mississippian mound center founded circa 1250 and burned in a catastrophic event shortly before Cahokia's abandonment. Linking together ethnographic, historic, and archaeological sources, Buchanan proposes a multiscalar approach to an archaeology of daily life in wartime. She draws on analysis of museum collections as well as the results from her field excavations. She discusses the evidence that the people of Common Field engaged in novel and hybrid practices during this period of escalating warfare. At the microscale, they erected a substantial palisade with specially prepared deposits, adopted new ceramic tempering techniques, produced large numbers of serving vessels decorated with warfare-related imagery, and adapted their food practices. The overall picture that emerges from the daily practices at Common Field is of a people who engaged in risk-averse practices that minimized their exposure to outside of the palisade and attempted to seek intercession from the supernatural realm through public ceremonies involving warfare-related iconography. Chapter 1 introduces the concept of warscapes, highlighting ethnographic and historic accounts of cultural creativity and social experiences during wartime around the world, especially in Native American societies. Buchanan links the materiality of daily life, technological production, creativity, and hybridity during periods of war and shows where the impacts of warfare on daily practices may be visible archaeologically. Chapter 2 explores the theoretical orientations and archaeological approaches to warfare in the southeastern United States and the evidence for violence and warfare in the precontact past. Chapter 3 introduces the Common Field site and outlines some of the research that has been conducted at the site and other Mississippian Period sites in the region. Buchanan proposes a culture history for region, highlighting important sites, material practices, and historical trends. Chapter 4 presents the results of analyses conducted on ceramics and fauna related to daily practices and explores how lives inside the palisade walls were impacted by external threats of violence. The analyses show that the people living at Common Field were engaged in risk-averse practices that mitigated exposure outside of palisade walls. In chapter 5, the results of the research conducted at Common Field are interpreted within the warscape lens. Particular focus considers the effects of regional warfare on the ceramic practices, foodways, and spatial organization of the people. Chapter 6 tacks between the small-scale effects of warfare, as seen at Common Field, and the larger-scale, historical impacts of Mississippian Period violence. Drawing on the idea of "big histories," Buchanan argues that the small details of peoples' lives have ramifications for larger regional and historical phenomena such as the abandonment and migration out of the Cahokia area and the cascade effects of violence elsewhere in the Southeast"--

Women in Archaeology

Author : Sandra L. López Varela
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031276507
Total Pages : 618 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (312 download)

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Book Synopsis Women in Archaeology by : Sandra L. López Varela

Download or read book Women in Archaeology written by Sandra L. López Varela and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-07-12 with total page 618 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tells the story of women in archaeology worldwide and their dedication to advancing knowledge and human understanding. In their own voices, they present themselves as archaeologists working in academia or the private and public sector across 33 countries. The chapters in this volume reconstruct the history of archaeology while honoring those female scholars and their pivotal research who are no longer with us. Many scholars in this volume fiercely explore non-traditional research areas in archaeology. The chapters bear witness to their valuable and unique contributions to reconstructing the past through innovative theoretical and methodological approaches. In doing so, they share the inherent difficulties of practicing archaeology, not only because they, too, are mothers, sisters, and wives but also because of the context in which they are writing. This volume may interest researchers in archaeology, history of science, gender studies, and feminist theory. Chapter 11 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Lacandón Maya in the Twenty-First Century

Author : James D. Nations
Publisher : University Press of Florida
ISBN 13 : 081307293X
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis Lacandón Maya in the Twenty-First Century by : James D. Nations

Download or read book Lacandón Maya in the Twenty-First Century written by James D. Nations and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2023-09-12 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the ancient traditions of the Lacandón Maya comes an Indigenous model for a sustainable future Having lived for centuries isolated within Mexico’s largest remaining tropical rainforest, the Indigenous Lacandón Maya now live at the nexus of two worlds—ancient and modern. While previous research has focused on documenting Lacandón oral traditions and religious practices in order to preserve them, this book tells the story of how Lacandón families have adapted to the contemporary world while applying their ancestral knowledge to create an ecologically sustainable future. Drawing on his 49 years of studying and learning from the Lacandón Maya, James Nations discusses how in the midst of external pressures such as technological changes, missionary influences, and logging ventures, Lacandón communities are building an economic system of agroforestry and ecotourism that produces income for their families while protecting biodiversity and cultural resources. Nations describes methods they use to plant and harvest without harming the forest, illustrating that despite drastic changes in lifestyle, respect for the environment continues to connect Lacandón families across generations. By helping with these tasks and inheriting the fables and myths that reinforce this worldview, Lacandón children continue to learn about the plants, animals, and spiritual deities that coexist in their land. Indigenous peoples such as the Lacandón Maya control one-third of the intact forest landscapes left on Earth, and Indigenous knowledge and practices are increasingly recognized as key elements in the survival of the planet’s biological diversity. The story of the Lacandón Maya serves as a model for Indigenous-controlled environmental conservation, and it will inform anyone interested in supporting sustainable Indigenous futures. A volume in the series Maya Studies, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase

Magic and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World

Author : Radcliffe G. Edmonds III
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000989275
Total Pages : 406 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Magic and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World by : Radcliffe G. Edmonds III

Download or read book Magic and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World written by Radcliffe G. Edmonds III and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-11-15 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores aspects of ancient magic and religion in the ancient Mediterranean, specifically ways in which religious and mythical ideas, including the knowledge and practice of magic, were transmitted and adapted through time and across Greco-Roman, Near Eastern, and Egyptian cultures. Offering an original and innovative combination of case studies on the material aspects and cross-cultural transfers of magic and religion, this book brings together a range of contributions that cross and connect sub-fields with a pan-Mediterranean, comparative scope. Section I investigates the material aspects of magical practices, including first editions and original studies on papyri, gems, lamellae containing binding curses and protective texts, and other textual media in ancient book culture. Several chapters feature the Greco-Egyptian Magical Papyri, the compilation of magical recipes in the formularies, and the role of physical book-forms in the transmission of magical knowledge. Section II explores magic and religion as nodes of cultural exchange in the ancient Mediterranean. Case studies range from Egypt to Anatolia and from Syria-Phoenicia to Sicily, with Greco-Roman religion and myth integrated in a diverse and interconnected Mediterranean landscape. Readers encounter studies featuring charismatic figures of Magi and itinerant begging priests, the multiple understandings of deities such as Hekate, Herakles, or Aphrodite, or the perceived exotic origin of cult statues, mummies, amulets, and cursing formulae, which bring to light the rich intercultural networks of the ancient Mediterranean, and the crucial role of magic and religion in the process of cross-cultural adaptation and innovation. Magic and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World appeals to both specialized and non-specialized audiences, with expert contributions written in an accessible way. This is a fascinating resource for students and scholars working on magic, religion, and mythology in the ancient Mediterranean.

The Value of Things

Author : Jennifer P. Mathews
Publisher : University of Arizona Press
ISBN 13 : 0816536325
Total Pages : 316 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (165 download)

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Book Synopsis The Value of Things by : Jennifer P. Mathews

Download or read book The Value of Things written by Jennifer P. Mathews and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2017-04-11 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jade, stone tools, honey and wax, ceramics, rum, land. What gave these commodities value in the Maya world, and how were those values determined? What factors influenced the rise and fall of a commodity’s value? The Value of Things examines the social and ritual value of commodities in Mesoamerica, providing a new and dynamic temporal view of the roles of trade of commodities and elite goods from the prehistoric Maya to the present. Editors Jennifer P. Mathews and Thomas H. Guderjan begin the volume with a review of the theoretical literature related to the “value of things.” Throughout the volume, well-known scholars offer chapters that examine the value of specific commodities in a broad time frame—from prehistoric, colonial, and historic times to the present. Using cases from the Maya world on both the local level and the macro-regional, contributors look at jade, agricultural products (ancient and contemporary), stone tools, salt, cacao (chocolate), honey and wax, henequen, sugarcane and rum, land, ceramic (ancient and contemporary), and contemporary tourist handicrafts. Each chapter author looks into what made their specific commodity valuable to ancient, historic, and contemporary peoples in the Maya region. Often a commodity’s worth goes far beyond its financial value; indeed, in some cases, it may not even be viewed as something that can be sold. Other themes include the rise and fall in commodity values based on perceived need, rarity or overproduction, and change in available raw materials; the domestic labor side of commodities, including daily life of the laborers; and relationships between elites and nonelites in production. Examining, explaining, and theorizing how people ascribe value to what they trade, this scholarly volume provides a rich look at local and regional Maya case studies through centuries of time. Contributors: Rani T. Alexander Dean E. Arnold Timothy Beach Briana Bianco Steven Bozarth Tiffany C. Cain Scott L. Fedick Thomas H. Guderjan John Gust Eleanor Harrison-Buck Brigitte Kovacevich Samantha Krause Joshua J. Kwoka Richard M. Leventhal Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach Jennifer P. Mathews Heather McKillop Allan D. Meyers Gary Rayson Mary Katherine Scott E. Cory Sills