Globalized Antiquity: Uses and Perceptions of the Past in India, Mesoamerica, and Europe (Ute Schüren, Daniel Marc Segesser, Thomas Späth, eds.), 2015
Discussion of pre-Columbian concepts of time and antiquity in Mesoamerica, which have survived ... more Discussion of pre-Columbian concepts of time and antiquity in Mesoamerica, which have survived from different cultures and time periods. These concepts show marked similarities, for example, in their systems of time reckoning, their ideas about the creation of mankind, and the related founding of dynasties or the representation of important rulers. Mixtec, Zapotec, and Aztec ruling elites of the Postclassic (c. 900–1521 CE) refer to earlier cultures and reuse the remains of their abandoned cities such as Monte Albán and Teotihuacan in order to back their legitimacy by association with these sacred places and their ancient histories and symbolic power. Focus on the use of symbolically charged images and narratives of Mixtec culture. Studying a variety of sources can be very fruitful for understanding Mixtec historiography because the information given can often be interrelated. Taking as a starting point the puzzling appearance of Postclassic Mixtec artifacts in a much earlier Zapotec tomb, this contribution offers a stimulating interpretation of the interrelatedness of the reuse of abandoned Classic sites, the creation concept, and the self-representation and legitimization of ruling elites. Such references provide royal lineages with a temporal depth reaching back into primordial moments or indicate new eras. The text points to the importance of ruptures and disjunctions as watersheds in the ordering of historical memory. Interestingly, some ideas in the historiography of the contemporary Mixtec population basically conform to this scheme.
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This preprint may be used together with a facsimile, drawings or photographs of the codex.
See for example the high resolution photos that are accessible through the website of the British Museum [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1902-0308-1] or the online edition of the publication of drawings with introduction by Zelia Nuttall in 1902 [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001445538].
[ For high quality open access of each chapter > https://brill.com/view/title/34471 ]
[For high quality open access of each chapter > https://brill.com/view/title/15090 ]
See for the individual chapters also: http://hdl.handle.net/1887/31933
This book contains a general introduction to ancient Mixtec pictography, which discusses the history of the manuscript, its cultural-historical context and indicates how to read the manuscript, as well as a full page-by-page reading of both the obverse part of the codex (dealing with the dynasty of Tilantongo) and of the reverse part of the codex (dealing with the dynasty of Tlaxiaco).
This preprint may be used together with a facsimile, drawings or photographs of the codex.
See for example the high resolution photos that are accessible through the website of the British Museum [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1902-0308-1] or the online edition of the publication of drawings with introduction by Zelia Nuttall in 1902 [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001445538].
[ For high quality open access of each chapter > https://brill.com/view/title/34471 ]
[For high quality open access of each chapter > https://brill.com/view/title/15090 ]
See for the individual chapters also: http://hdl.handle.net/1887/31933
This book contains a general introduction to ancient Mixtec pictography, which discusses the history of the manuscript, its cultural-historical context and indicates how to read the manuscript, as well as a full page-by-page reading of both the obverse part of the codex (dealing with the dynasty of Tilantongo) and of the reverse part of the codex (dealing with the dynasty of Tlaxiaco).
Senator Prof. Dr. Bas de Gaay Fortman accepted the presidency of the foundation; among the executive board members were Indigenous representatives Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez (Ñuu Sau / Mixtec) and Frans Malajuwara (Kaliña / Carib). Archaeologist Dr. Maarten E.R.G.N. Jansen (Leiden University) was the scholarly coordinator of the initiative. Lee de Jong was the foundation's executive secretary, assisted by students Reina and Jaap de Vries as well as many other volunteers.
During a week-long symposium ‘La Visión India’ the invited speakers presented their analyses of a wide rage of topics, concentrating on issues of land, culture, language and human rights. This publication brings together the presentations of that symposium, published locally in Leiden (1989).
In addition the foundation Musiro created a lot of media attention for the event and also made it possible for the invited Indigenous representatives to visit support organisations In Holland and neighbouring countries and to participate in the session of the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples at the U.N. in Geneva that same year.
Actually, clear archaeological and historical evidence for a religious custom of killing people with the specific aim of sacrificing them to the gods is conspicuously lacking. The early colonial sources do not contain credible eye-witness accounts but are rather the product of hear-say and imagination. It is quite obvious that the reports of the Spanish conquistadors were superficial, biased and primarily motivated by a desire to justify their own brutal invasion. The Spanish missionaries have added many details, but they arrived several years after the conquest, did their research decades later, and wrote their works as part of a “crusade against demons”. A critical analysis of the early colonial texts provokes serious doubts about their veracity. The allegation of “human sacrifice (in connection with cannibalism)” was part of creating an image of sanguinary and irrational idolatry. Alternative interpretations for supposed references to human sacrifice in pre-colonial visual art and archaeological data should therefore be explored seriously. Executions of enemy warriors or criminals are not to be classified as “sacrifices”, nor the (ceremonial) killing of family members, servants and others who had to accompany an important dead person to the Hereafter.
In general, it is time for a re-examination of such engrained stereotypes, not only to gain a better understanding of the indigenous cultural heritage, but also to assess how western ideas about other peoples in general are still under the spell of colonial propaganda.
It is likely that the feast cycle of the 18 “months” (“ceremonial year”) was counted from a specific astronomical observation during the year (such as the winter solstice, the vernal equinox, and/or the first zenith passage of the sun). This must have resulted in occasional modifications to the length of a feast period, and therefore to the length of the “ceremonial year”, by adding an additional day (an average of one leap day every four years or of 13 leap days per 52 years). Consequently, the months / feasts would, more or less, conserve their position vis-à-vis the astronomical year and (and therefore vis-à-vis the Julian/Gregorian calendar). In other words there were no leap days in the cycles of 365 days, named after the year-bearer. But leap days were introduced in the duration of the months (feast periods). This reconstruction makes it possible to correlate Mixtec days and years with dates in the Julian/Gregorian calendar.
The birthdate of Lord 8 Deer ‘Jaguar Claw’, day 8 Deer of year 12 Reed, can so be calculated as 15 June 1064 (Julian) / 21 June 1064 (Gregorian), 18th day of the month Huico Dzavui (Aztec: Etzalcualiztli), i.e. coinciding with the summer solstice.
2. Reflections on Archaeology and Indigenous Rights in Ñuu Savi, the Mixtec Region (Liana Ivette Jiménez Osorio & Emmanuel Posselt Santoyo)
3. Implementación de los derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas en Ñuu Savi, la región mixteca (Omar Aguilar Sánchez)
4. Maya Peoples vs Mexico-Monsanto: A case study on the effects of transnational corporatism in the implementation of the UNDRIP (Manuel May Castillo & Nora Salomé Tzec Caamal & Álvaro Mena Fuentes)
5. Indigenous Communal Guards on the Nahua Michoacan Coast: the case of Santa María Ostula (Osiris Sinuhé González Romero)
This is the author's manuscript of the review. For the published version please refer to Bulletin of Latin American Research 39 (3): 415-416.