The Place of Stone Monuments: Context, Use, and Meaning in Mesoamerica's Preclassic Transition

by Julia Guernsey (Editor), John E. Clark (Editor), Barbara Arroyo (Editor)

Overview

This volume considers the significance of stone monuments in Preclassic Mesoamerica, focusing on the period following the precocious appearance of monumental sculpture at the Olmec site of San Lorenzo and preceding the rise of the Classic polities in the Maya region and Central Mexico.

By quite literally “placing” sculptures in their cultural, historical, social, political, religious, and cognitive contexts, the seventeen contributors utilize archaeological and art historical methods to understand the origins, growth, and spread of civilization in Middle America. They present abundant new data and new ways of thinking about sculpture and society in Preclassic Mesoamerica, and call into question the traditional dividing line between Preclassic and Classic cultures. They offer not only a fruitful way of rethinking the beginnings of civilization in Mesoamerica, but provide a series of detailed discussions concerning how these beginnings were dynamically visualized through sculptural programming during the Preclassic period.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780884023647
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	10/15/2010
Series:	Dumbarton Oaks Pre-Columbian Symposia and Colloquia , #25
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 11.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Julia Guernsey is in the Department of Art and Art history at the University of Texas, Austin.

John E. Clark is Professor of Anthropology at Brigham Young University.

Barbara Arroyo is a Research Associate at the Museo Popol Vuh, Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala City.