[Aztlan] MAYA SOCIETY OF MINNESOTA ANNOUNCES ITS 2007-2008 LECTURES

[michael ruggeri]

FALL 2007 LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS:
FRIDAY, October 5, 2007, Lecture – The Rise of Classic Mesoamerican  
Civilization and the Veracruz Jungle, by Dr. Rex Koontz. 7:30 p.m.,  
Drew Science Building, Room 118, Hamline University. Free to members,  
students, and Hamline faculty and staff. $5 general public..


Rex Koontz is Associate Professor in the School of Art, University of  
Houston. He is the editor or author of several books and articles on  
Ancient Mesoamerica, including Mexico (5th edition) with Michael Coe  
and a chapter on Classic Veracruz iconography in the upcoming  
Dumbarton Oaks volume on Classic Veracruz.

The Gulf Coast of Veracruz has long been known as the home of the  
precocious Olmec civilization. Little discussed but equally complex  
were the later Classic Veracruz cultures that inhabited this same  
lowland area and regions north. Dr. Koontz will discuss the relation  
of Classic Veracruz to Teotihuacan and other Classic period cultures  
across Mesoamerica. He will present several monuments recently  
discovered in Veracruz and discuss their symbolism and style in  
relation to Teotihuacan and the Maya area. Our guiding questions will  
be: could as yet little-known Veracruz groups have played a prominent  
role in the development and dissemination of urban culture during the  
Classic period? Did these groups have a direct connection with  
Teotihuacan, much like several of the Maya cities?

The relation between the great Central Mexican metropolis of  
Teotihuacan and the Maya area has been the topic of much recent  
scholarly debate. There is now good evidence that another lowland  
jungle culture, that of Classic Veracruz had significant ties to the  
metropolis and may have played a prominent role in the apogee of the  
largest Mesoamerican city of the time.?  (Drawing on right shows a  
Teotihuacan figure from Soyaltepec, Veracruz)

Supplemental readings suggested by Rex Koontz include the following:

Wilkerson, Jeffrey
1999   Classic Veracruz Architecture: Cultural Symbolism in Time and  
Space. In Mesoamerican Architecture as a Cultural Symbol. Edited by  
Jeff Karl Kowalski, Pp. 110-139. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Koontz, Rex.
ND     Iconographic Interaction Between El Tajín and Southern  
Veracruz. In Classic-Period Cultural Currents in Southern and Central  
Veracruz. Edited by Philip Arnold III and Christopher Pool. Harvard  
University Press, (Note – Publication of this book is suggested for  
February 2008. See the Harvard University Press web description at:  
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/ARNCLA.html)

There will be a September Board Meeting held at 6:00 pm preceding the  
lecture.

SATURDAY, October 6, 2007, Saturday Workshop – The American  
Mediterranean: The Veracruz Gulf Coast and Mesoamerican Civilization
9:00 a.m -- 12 noon (9 a.m. gathering for coffee), Giddens Learning  
Center 6s (the Anthropology Lab), Hamline University. Free to  
members, students, and Hamline faculty and staff. $5 general public.

Dr. Rex Koontz
The Olmec civilization of the Mexican Gulf Coast has long held pride  
of place in lowland jungle cultures from this area, but it is now  
clear that later Veracruz cultures played a more significant role in  
Mesoamerican civilization than was previously believed. Using a  
heavily illustrated virtual "tour" of the Classic Gulf Coast sites  
and the new installations in the Museo de Antropología in Xalapa, Dr.  
Koontz will present the new discoveries and analyses of monuments  
from El Tajín to Soyoltepec that give us a fuller picture of the role  
these civilizations played in the Mesoamerican Classic. (Drawing on  
right shows a Stela fragment from Soyoltepec, Veracruz)

Supplemental readings suggested by Rex Koontz include the following:

Wilkerson, Jeffrey
1999   Classic Veracruz Architecture: Cultural Symbolism in Time and  
Space. In Mesoamerican Architecture as a Cultural Symbol. Edited by  
Jeff Karl Kowalski, Pp. 110-139. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Koontz, Rex
ND   Iconographic Interaction Between El Tajín and Southern Veracruz.  
In Classic-Period Cultural Currents in Southern and Central Veracruz.  
Edited by Philip Arnold III and Christopher Pool. Harvard University  
Press, (Note – Publication of this book is suggested for February  
2008. See the Harvard University Press web description at: http:// 
www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/ARNCLA.html)


FRIDAY, November 9, 2007, Lecture –Warrior Queens Among the Ancient  
Maya. Kathryn Reese-Taylor. 7:30p.m., Drew Science Building, Room  
118, Hamline University. Free to members, students, and Hamline  
faculty and staff. $5 general public.
Dr. Kathryn Reese-Taylor is Associate Professor in the Department of  
Archaeology, University of Calgary, Canada, Director of the Naachtun  
Archaeological Project and Fellow of the Latin American Research Centre.

Few women are associated with warfare in Maya art, and when depicted,  
are shown most frequently in supporting roles.  However, stelae from  
Calakmul, Coba, Naachtun, and Naranjo portray queens as Warriors in  
their own right.  In these carved monuments, warrior queens stand  
atop captive assuming positions of power in compositions accentuating  
conquest.  Moreover, each of the Calakmul and Naachtun stelae is  
paired with another depicting the king in the same pose in order to  
emphasize the corresponding roles played by both queen and king.   
This paper discusses these examples of warrior queens among the  
Classic Maya and the context in which they arose. (Drawing on right  
shows a Maya queen from Waka, Guatemala)

SATURDAY, November 10, 2007, Saturday Workshop –Results of the First  
Three Years of Investigations by the Proyecto Arqueológico Naachtun.

Dr. Kathryn Reese-Taylor.  9:00 a.m – 12 noon (9 a.m. gathering for  
coffee), Giddens Learning Center 6s (the Anthropology Lab), Hamline  
University. Free to members, students, and Hamline faculty and staff.  
$5 general public.
This presentation summarizes the results of three seasons of  
investigations at the Classic Maya centre of Naachtun.  The first  
season of study involved an extensive survey of the monuments at  
Naachtun, while the second season focused on establishing a  
chronology for the site and recording and excavating the central  
reservoir, the Late Classic palace complex, and defensive  
fortifications found throughout the site.  Finally, the third season  
concentrated on documenting the earliest period of exponential growth  
at the site, the Preclassic to Early Classic transition.  In sum, our  
investigations point to Naachtun as the dominant centre in the region  
as early as 150 CE. (Drawing on right is of Naachtun stela)
·        THURSDAY, December 6, 2007, Lecture – The Ancient Maya: What  
We Thought We Knew, What We Think We Know, and What We Would Like to  
Know.

Lewis C. Messenger, Jr. (Skip) will present the December  
Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) talk on Maya.

SPRING 2008 LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS:

(Note that the following descriptions are incomplete.  Keep watching  
the Monkey Scribe on line as we get closer!)

·        FRIDAY, February 8, 2008, Lecture –

Cycles of Development from Ancient to Modern Times in the Yalahau  
Region of the Yucatan Peninsula

7:30 p.m., Drew Science Building, Room 118, Hamline University. Free  
to members, students, and Hamline faculty and staff. $5 general public.

Dr. Scott Fedick is Associate Professor in the Anthropology  
Department at the University of California - Riverside. Dr. Fedick  
will present findings from recent and ongoing archaeological and  
ecological research in northern Quintana Roo, Mexico.  Dr. Fedick is  
a Professor of Anthropology at the University of California,  
Riverside, and is Director of the Yalahau Regional Human Ecology  
Project, which has been conducting investigations ranging from  
ancient use and modification of wetlands, to regional settlement  
dynamics, climate change, and the cosmological basis of community  
planning.  The presentation will emphasize cycles of development in  
the region from the Late Formative of two thousand years ago to the  
current explosion of growth associated Cancun and the Maya Riviera
·        SATURDAY, February 9, 2008, Saturday Workshop –

Ancient Maya Agriculture and Land Management: Assessing Ancient Maya  
Sustainability

Scott Fedick. 9:00 a.m – 12 noon (9 a.m. gathering for coffee),  
Giddens Learning Center 6s (the Anthropology Lab), Hamline  
University. Free to members, students, and Hamline faculty and staff.  
$5 general public.

Dr. Fedick's research specialty is in ancient Maya cultivation  
systems, plant use, and land management.  This workshop will review  
approaches to land evaluation from the competing perspectives of   
traditional framers and government agencies in order to provide  
insights on both modern and ancient trajectories of agricultural  
sustainability.  The workshop will also provide an overview of the  
vast resources of indigenous edible plants utilized by Maya gardeners  
and gatherers.
Supplemental Readings for Scott Fedick:

Gómez-Pompa, Arturo, Michael F. Allen, Scott L. Fedick, Juan J.  
Jiménez-Osornio (Eds)
2003   Lowland Maya Area: Three Millennia at the Human-Wildland  
Interface. New York: Haworth Press.

  Fedick, Scott L.  and Bethany A. Morrison
2003   Ancient use and manipulation of landscape in the Yalahau  
region of the northern Maya lowlands. Agriculture and Human Values 21  
(2-3): 207-219.

Fedick, Scott L. (Ed.)
1996   The Managed Mosaic: Ancient Maya Agriculture and Resource Use.  
Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

Fedick, Scott L., Bethany A. Morrison, Bente Juhl Andersen, Sylviane  
Boucher, Jorge Ceja Acosta, and Jennifer P. Mathews
2000   Wetland Manipulation in the Yalahau Region of the Northern  
Maya Lowlands. Journal of Field Archaeology 27 (2): 131-152.
·        FRIDAY,  March 7, 2008, Lecture – (Title TBA -- Robert  
Thompson will be talking about phytoliths and maize studies

·        SATURDAY, March 8, 2008, Saturday Workshop – (Title TBA --  
Robert Thompson)

·        SATURDAY, April 5,2008, Saturday Workshop – (Final Title TBA  
-- Cultural Heritage/Cultural Property: A Panel Discussion)

·        SATURDAY, May 10, 2008 – (Final Title TBA -- Traveling in  
the Maya Area)

http://www.hamline.edu/mayasociety/



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