Mesoamerican Architecture as a Cultural SymbolJeff Karl Kowalski In this collection, prominent scholars provide new interpretations and useful syntheses of many of the most significant Mesoamerican architectural traditions from the Preclassic to the Postclassic periods. The essays examine the built environment as a carrier of cultural meanings. The many pyramid-temples, palaces, and ballcourts comprising Mesoamerican centers were constructed in the context of hierarchical societies, and provided monumental expressions of elite authority. The design of individual buildings, as well as the layout of site plans, often embodied Mesoamerican beliefs about the structure of the cosmos, natural forces, or the numinous power of landscape forms, thus providing sanction for the sociopolitical order. |
Contents
The Ritual | 14 |
The Architecture of the Teuchitlán Tradition of Mexicos | 40 |
1350 B C A D 500 | 58 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
Acropolis adobe architecture associated Aztec Ballcourt ballgame buildings carved cenote central Mexico ceremonial Chaak Chac Chel Chac Mool Chichén Itzá Classic Maya Classic period Classic Veracruz Codex codices Colonnade columns complex construction Copan Court cultural deity depicted doorway Early Classic east El Tajín elite Epiclassic evidence excavated Fash figure floor Freidel Group headdress iconography interpretation jaguar Kubler La Venta Late Classic located Lord masks masonry Mesoamerican meters Mexica-Aztecs Millon Mitla Mixtec Monte Albán monumental motif Mound niches Nunnery Quadrangle Oaxaca Olmec painted palaces Pasztory patio phase platform plaza political Postclassic precinct Preclassic Puuc Pyramid Quetzalcoatl redrawn region ritual rulers sacred San José Mogote Schele sculpture serpent skull rack stairway Stela stone Structure 16 stucco suggests symbol tablero Tajín talud-tablero Temple Templo Mayor Tenochtitlan Teotihuacan terraces Teuchitlán tion tomb Tula Tulum tzompantli Uxmal Venta wall Warriors Wilkerson Xochicalco Yaxuná Yucatán Zapotec