Mesoamerican Ethnohistory

Daily life in a Mayan kingdom was a complex, multi-faceted -- and often times difficult -- way of life.  Their geographic area encompassed a portion of Mesoamerica, from Southeastern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula down into Northern Central America.  Mayan territory included Pacific coastline, mountainous highlands, and forested lowlands.  Scholars today believe the total area covered approximately 125,000 square miles.  Each area had its own unique challenges, from the fertile Pacific side, with warm, tropical conditions, to the highlands, with cooler, more temperate-like zones.  Volcanoes, rivers, mountains and forests fill Mayan Mesoamerica, each with its own sub-zone and micro climate.  Unlike North American tribal societies, where large animals were followed seasonally, the food sources of the Maya -- fish, small animals, deer, and birds -- remained mostly stationary, permitting earlier members of Mayan society to establish deep roots in particular locales.

Between the clearly defined male and female gender identities recorded for pre-Conquest Mexico there existed a range of intermediate identities. Some, such as hunchbacks and dwarfs, were considered gender ambiguous; others (e.g., homosexuals and harlots) were sexually "deviant", diverging from normative male or female identities. This paper explores some of the alternative identities documented in the ethnohistoric sources, with special attention to the participation of these groups in social and ideological structures.

In this essay I explore the cultural adaptations that allowed the Maya to thrive in their environment.  The aquatic lifeway as known in all of Mesoamerica consisted of fishing, hunting, gathering and manufacture activities. Intensive agriculture was also present in the Maya area.

An inquiry into the ethnic and linguistic composition of the Late Postclassic and Colonial peoples of the Cotzumalhuapa region of the Pacific Coast of Guatemala. Documentary and archeological research provides a basis to locate Colonial towns in the area, and to identify their inhabitants as Pipil and Kaqchikel speakers. The latter were politically dominant, and their presence derived from the Late Postclassic expansion of the highland kingdom centered at Iximche, seeking the valuable cacao-producing territories of the Pacific piedmont. Excavations at a household compound near the site of Bilbao allow a preliminary glimpse at the Postclassic peoples of the area.

Examen del cambio y la continuidad tecnológica en materia hidráulica, de Mesoamérica la Nueva España. Análisis del cambio en materia de energía, herramientas, organización laboral, dispositivos y estructura hidráulicas. Se exponen los casos de nuevas máquinas y obras hidráulicas: los bimbaletes, las galerías filtrantes y las norias (poleas, ruedas hidráulicas y de tiro y tornos).

Columbian epoch as well as the early colonial times. Both periods are presented together because even though we have abundant of the colonial examples to the pre-Columbian epoch. The second part of the article presents a comparison of Mayan human temporal, social or geographical distance separating them. modus operandi 1 universitarios en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

On Wednesday, Dec. 21, nations in the Northern Hemisphere will mark the winter solstice – the shortest day and longest night of the year. For thousands of years people have marked this event with rituals and celebrations to signal the rebirth of the sun and its victory over darkness.

At hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of missions stretching from northern California to Peru, the winter solstice sun triggers an extraordinarily rare and fascinating event – something that I discovered by accident and first documented in one California church nearly 20 years ago.  See article at On Wednesday, Dec. 21, nations in the Northern Hemisphere will mark the winter solstice – the shortest day and longest night of the year. For thousands of years people have marked this event with rituals and celebrations to signal the rebirth of the sun and its victory over darkness. See link to online magazine at https://theconversation.com/a-sacred-light-in-the-darkness-winter-solstice-illuminations-at-spanish-missions-70250

In 2007 I conducted fieldwork among the present-day Maya People of the Yucatan Peninsula in South Mexico. For six month I stayed in Loldzonot 1 , a small village of about 1.500 inhabitants in the district of Chemax. The purpose of this fieldwork was to investigate the notion of so called wáay-beings. In Yucatec Maya Society, the wáay is believed to be a person, who posesses the ability to transform himself into an animal at will.

En este artículo se sostiene que el nombre original del Nevado de Toluca es Chicnauhtécatl, el autor lo sustenta presentado un estudio etnohistórico y arqueológico. Chicnauhtécatl, es un vocablo náhuatl que se traduce al español como "Señor Nueve", lo cual lo asocia a complejos simbolismo mesoamericanos.

One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. This article is an excerpt of pages 98-99 from the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson with a numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depicting the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Mural photograph: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

En 1584, el cacique de Tepexi de la Seda, don Joaquín de San Francisco, solicitó a la corona la exención de tributos por los méritos que don Gonzalo Mazatzin Moctezuma, su abuelo, había prestado al rey de España. Avalado por más de treinta testigos, don Joaquín relata que cuando Hernán Cortés se encontraba en Tlaxcala, su abuelo le envió embajadores para aliársele, jurando fidelidad al rey. Mientras Cortés partió al norte a someter Tenochtitlán, el nahua don Gonzalo Mazatzin, nombrado capitán, se dirigió al sur de Mesoamérica, y poco antes de que la ciudad mexica cayera, conquistó sin ayuda europea una veintena de pueblos de la Mixteca en nombre del rey de España.

La Malinche, the female consort of Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, is one of the most reviled (and misunderstood) individuals in history. Combining art historical, ethnohistorical, and archaeological arguments this paper will re-conceptualize Malintzin, the native princess, within her indigenous context. In a society where women held prominent political and religious offices, Malintzin was trained for precisely the kinds of courtly intrigues and alliance building that resulted in the overthrow of the Aztec empire. I argue that Malintzin was not only an active participant in the Conquest, but to a considerable extent she was the brains behind the successful campaign.

Analyzing and understanding the Aztec view of the cosmos is critical to extracting meaning from their texts, symbols, and belief system.  The entire Aztec world view is constructed from that foundation, with myriad variations and overlapping concepts.  The fullness and intricacy of Mexica spirituality linked the world of heaven to the success (or failure) of mankind; it could "web the space between the mundane and the supramundane, lacing the world of ritual to the world of the everyday, and each to the sacred."  Religious symbolism, published to the population of the Central Valley of Mexico through art, literature, and ceremony, was an attempt to unify the people behind the central authority.

The Grolier Codex is discussed in the context of the archaeoastronomy of the ancient Americas on pages 98-99 of the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson. One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. A numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depictes the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Other photos: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

Una mujer de Maxcanú Yucatán se transforma ritualmente en hombre para poder ejercer como j-men. Este artículo narra su proceso de iluminación chamánica. Por otro lado cuestiona las aproximaciones de los investigadores con las personas y la relación que establecen con estas.

El tiburón conocido en el área maya como ah xok e identificado como Carcharhinus leucas jugó un papel importante en la mitología y cosmovisión de los habitantes de gran parte de la antigua Mesoamérica. El presente artículo pretende buscar el significado de este animal acuático en el área maya desde los tiempos preclásicos hasta los tiempos coloniales y desde la costa del Golfo de México hasta la Selva Lacandona de Chiapas donde todavía podemos encontrar su influencia mitológica. Verificando su origen olmeca y atravesado el mundo maya clásico encontramos al final un mito lacandón en que podemos identificar algunos elementos importantes para completar nuestros conocimientos sobre el papel extraordinario de sus atributos. Sobre la base de los elementos identificados se propone una hipótesis sobre el sol nocturno y el inframundo acuático donde el dios-tiburón originalmente habitó, su evolución en uno de los atributos del dios solar y su transformación final en la mujer-pez de las lagunas lacandonas contemporáneas.

Nota importante: se recomienda revisar la versión original, titulada "Deidades  Mesoamericanas  de  los  Mantenimientos  en  la  Cultura  Bolaños (Norte  de  Jalisco)" pues el texto publicado en el libro fue modificado, alterando sensiblemente los planteamientos originalmente propuestos.
En un texto publicado en el año 2016 por la doctora María Teresa Cabrero García se realiza un estudio breve acerca de figurillas descubiertas en la cultura Bolaños de la región norte de Jalisco. Estas piezas de carácter antropomorfo destacan por su abstracción y simpleza y, además, por la ausencia de elementos visuales que permitan clasificarlas detalladamente. Ante esta situación, Cabrero (2016) repara en otros atributos como los materiales de los que están hechos y señala, además, que su uso fue generalizado entre los distintos niveles sociales, tanto en el Piñón, como en Pochotitán y la Mezquitera (p. 97). No obstante, en sus tablas de distribución se nota que las figurillas elaboradas en roca tienen una distribución preferencial en contextos religiosos (p. 98).
El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar si estas figuras pudieran denotar
el culto específico a una deidad, con base en los mínimos detalles glíficos que presentan y considerando un modelo teórico metodológico ya desarrollado y contrastado para el análisis de la imagen en sociedades prehispánicas mesoamericanas, en el cual son considerados aspectos no solo sociales e históricos, sino en relación con el bricoleur, en los cuales se conjugan muchos aspectos que permiten explicar la diversidad de formas y variantes de
determinados glifos (Márquez 2009, 2012a, 2012b, 2014, 2015a, 2015b, 2015c, 2017, 2019a, 2019b, 2019c, 2020).

The Grolier Codex (Codice Maya de Mexico, CMM) is discussed in the context of the archaeoastronomy of the ancient Americas on pages 98-99 of the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson. One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. A numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depictes the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Other photos: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

Antu es el nombre de la lider de la realeza Lenca taulepa al timepo de la incursion de castellanos, segun la narrativa oral de la etnia. Esta lider fue muy celebrarad entre su clan, pero los reportes castellanos a la corona, nunca la incluyeron, debido a que en esos siglos, la batalla contra una mujer no se concideraba honorable . Para atraer admiracion y galardones como heroes, los castellanos mayormente reportaban batallas con lideres del sexo masculino. Aqui, damos a conocer la narrativa basica de los Lencas taulepas sobre su reina. Esto contribuye a la inclusion de geenro desde un punto de vista descolonizante. Esta es una narrativa de fuente primaria.

The 'Castle' pyramid (El Castillo) in Chichén Itzá constitutes a magnificent example of the genius and skill of the erudite Maya, who imbued the structure with their astronomical and calendric knowledge, and mastery of geometry. This exceptional construction reveals a highly sophisticated civilization that thrived throughout the southeastern region of Mexico. Recent studies demonstrate that the apex of the pyramid in the northeast direction points to the Templo de Mesas (Temple of Tables); and, to the west, the western stairway extends the pyramid's diagonal symmetrical axis to the cenote of Hotline, which lies at a distance of 2.5 kilometres. On days when the Sun reaches is zenith over Chichén Itzá, these alignments signal prominent directions at sunrise and sunset. As such, the building is aligned to the Sun's zenith.

Moreover, the pyramid rises as the axis of a delicate line on which alignments intersect that unite with three other cenotes. We have then, one cenote for each cardinal point, highlighting the goal of the city planners to make their idyllic model of the world implicit.

Its entire composition and architectural intention is quite elaborate, and the builders took pains to exhibit the mathematics of their calendar in the design of steps, stairways, tiers and panels. This being the case, they also included their interpretation of the cosmos in the form of the pyramid, using whole numbers in the measurements of angles and lengths, where factors, products, dividends, divisors and quotients reveal the metaphorical harmony of space and time.

Abstract

There are many similarities amongst Mesoamerican religious practices that cannot be overlooked. This paper seeks to establish the commonalities between the origin stories and religious practices of three Mesoamerican cultures. In this manner, one can begin to better understand the extent to which these similarities were within the pre-Columbian Maya, Inca, and the Aztec.

Ceremonial practices and the use of entheogenic plants to achieve a desired altered state has been well established through archaeological finds throughout what is now known as Central/South America. Many of the same entheogens have been recorded in use amongst pre-Columbian cultures. Practices that would seem unimaginable to most people living in the current day were carried out with zeal with the desired result well documented through several available sources. The use of said plants in ritual (and medical) occasions is shrouded with mystery and intrigue, however great strides have been made in our current understanding of pre-Columbian ethnobotanical rituals. Historians, ethnobotanist, biologists, anthropologists, mystics and even a few “kooks” have contributed greatly to our understanding of their use, yet little is known regarding how widely spread these acts (uses) were.