Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-sjtt6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T00:54:05.751Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Classic Maya Mortuary Anniversaries at Piedras Negras, Guatemala

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

James L. Fitzsimmons
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, II Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Abstract

In her studies of Maya hieroglyphs at the site of Piedras Negras, Guatemala, Tatiana Proskouriakoff (1960) observed that Maya rulers often celebrated the anniversary of their accession. She recognized that a number of repeated dates were not associated with accession, but could offer no explanation for them. Recent study of the inscriptions associated with these dates has revealed a wealth of ritual information: the rulers of Piedras Negras commemorated the anniversaries of births, deaths, and mortuary activities with a number of ceremonies. This report addresses those ceremonies at Piedras Negras and examines the hieroglyphic and archaeological evidence for similar events at other Classic Maya sites.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bricker, Victoria R. 1986 A Grammar of Mayan Hieroglyphs. Publication No. 56. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA.Google Scholar
Bunzel, Ruth 1952 Chichicastenango: A Guatemalan Village. Publication No. 22. American Ethnological Society. University of Washington Press, Seattle.Google Scholar
Chase, Diane Z., and Chase, Arlen F. 1996 Maya Multiples: Individuals, Entries, and Tombs in Structure A34 of Caracol, Belize. Latin American Antiquity 7:6179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coe, William R. 1959 Piedras Negras Archaeology: Artifacts, Caches, and Burials. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania Monographs, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Colby, Benjamin N. 1976 The Anomalous Ixil—Bypassed by the Postclassic? American Antiquity 41:7480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, Ian 1996 Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions, Volume 7. Part I: Seibal. Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Grube, Nikolai 1992 Classic Maya Dance: Evidence from Hieroglyphs and Iconography. Ancient Mesoamerica 3:201218.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen 1983 On Ruler “6” at Piedras Negras, Guatemala. Mexicon 5:8486.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen, and Stuart, David 1996 Of Gods, Glyphs, and Kings: Divinity and Rulership Among the Classic Maya. Antiquity 70:289312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnston, Kevin 1984 A Commentary on the Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of Piedras Negras, Guatemala. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Mayer, Karl Herbert 1989 Maya Monuments and Sculptures of Unknown Provenance, Supplement 2. Verlag Von Fleming, Graz, Austria.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A. 1995 Living with the Ancestors: Kinship and Kingship in Ancient Maya Society. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Morley, Sylvanus G. 19371938 The Inscriptions of Peten, Volume 5. Publication No. 437. Carnegie Institute of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Proskouriakoff, Tatiana 1960 Historical Implications of a Pattern of Dates at Piedras Negras, Guatemala. American Antiquity 25:454475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ringle, William M. 1988 Of Mice and Monkeys: The Value and Meaning of T1016, the God C Hieroglyph. Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing No. 18. Center for Maya Research, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Schele, Linda 1982 Maya Glyphs: The Verbs. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Schele, Linda 1991 Notebook for the XVth Maya Hieroglyphic Workshop at Texas. Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Schele, Linda 1992 Notebook for the XVIth Maya Hieroglyphic Workshop at Texas. Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Stuart, David 1990 Hieroglyphic Miscellanea. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Schele, Linda 1994 The Texts of Temple 26: Analysis of a Classic Maya Dynastic Shrine at Copan. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Schele, Linda 1998 The Fire Enters His House. In Function and Meaning in Maya Architecture. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl A. 1992 The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatan. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology No. 32. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Tedlock, Barbara 1982 Time and the Highland Maya. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. Eric S. 1960 Maya Hieroglyphic Writing: An Introduction. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar