[Aztlan] MORE APRIL ANCIENT AMERICA LECTURES

[michael ruggeri]

April 18, 8:00-9:30 PM
Institute of Maya Studies Lecture
“Sacred Space, Sacred Time: Ritual and Procession in Postclassic Maya
Codices and Murals”
One of the primary themes of the art and texts produced during the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in the northern Maya lowlands  
involves
rituals that delimit sacred space – the four world directions plus the
center, or features of the natural and built environment that represent
stopping points during ritual circuits of the landscape. The passage  
of time
is also a key feature of these images and texts that is often expressed
metaphorically by references to walking along a road or the stopping  
of the
traveler’s footsteps at significant moments during the journey. In this
presentation, Gabrielle Vail examines a selection of almanacs from  
the Maya
codices and scenes from murals painted at Tulum and Santa Rita that
exemplify conceptions of time and space within the context of  
Postclassic
Maya cosmology and worldview.
Dr. Gabrielle Vail received her B.A. from New College of Florida and her
M.A. and Ph.D. from Tulane University. She has research appointments  
at New
College of Florida in Sarasota and the Middle American Research  
Institute at
Tulane and is director of the Florida Institute for Hieroglyphic  
Research in
Palmetto, FL. Her research focuses on the Maya codices, with an  
emphasis on
their ritual content and hieroglyphic texts. With funding from NEH,  
she and
Christine Hernández are completing a database and commentary of the Maya
codices, available on-line at www.mayacodices.org.

Vail is the co-editor of four volumes, including The Madrid Codex: New
Approaches to Understanding an Ancient Maya Manuscript (with Anthony  
Aveni;
UP of Colorado, 2004) and The Bricker Almanac:  A Festschrift in  
Honor of
Harvey and Victoria Bricker (published by Human Mosaic, Tulane  
University,
2006). She has published over twenty articles and book chapters on  
the Maya
codices and a monograph entitled The Archaeology of Coastal Belize  
(British
Archaeological Reports, Oxford, 1988).  She leads a glyph study group  
at New
College and has taught hieroglyphic workshops since 1992.
Miami Museum of Science,
3280 South Miami Avenue,
across from Vizcaya,
Maya Hotline: 305-235-1192
http://mayastudies.org

_____

April 25, 8:00-9:30 PM
Institute of Maya Studies Lecture
“A Overview of the Maya and a Visit to Tulum”
with narration by Jim Reed.
Recently, Jim Reed, was program leader and guide on a Carnival Cruise  
to the
Yucatán. He prepared this educational video to show onboard to help  
prepare
the 52 folks who eventually made their way to the Maya site of Tulum.  
Come
and view this informative video, shown for the first time – not in
international waters!
Jim Reed is an avid Maya aficionado, current editor of the Institute  
of Maya
Studies newsletter and past president of the Institute (2000). Among his
other endeavors and interests, he also leads group tours to the  
Mayalands.
To join in on a Maya adventure to Copan and the Guatemalan Highlands,  
July
28 to August 5, along with John Major Jenkins, author of Maya  
Cosmogenisis
2012, call 404-680-1644 for more details.
Miami Museum of Science,
3280 South Miami Avenue,
across from Vizcaya,
Maya Hotline: 305-235-1192
http://mayastudies.org


Mike Ruggeri's Ancient America Museum Exhibitions, Conferences and  
Lectures
http://community-2.webtv.net/Topiltzin-2091/AncientAmerica/index.html