Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-45l2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T08:57:10.870Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Myth and History Reconsidered: Archaeological Implications of Tzotzil-Maya Mythology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

J. M. Levi
J. M. Levi*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper traces changing perspectives in archaeology and ethnology regarding the historical content of myth and demonstrates a method whereby mythological data are used to generate hypotheses amenable to falsification when integrated with other data sets. Based on a myth collected among the Tzotzil of San Pablo Chalchihuitan, Chiapas, Mexico, the presentation offers predictions regarding the location, contents, interpretation, and age of an unreported prehistoric burial site. It also sheds light on some currently unexplained aspects of an associated site in a neighboring community, and amplifies other ethnohistorical discussions relating archaeology to contemporary Indian mythology elsewhere in Mesoamerica. By showing how a modern Maya myth reveals significant information about an ancient Maya site, the study illustrates the complementarity of archaeology and ethnography through a suggested relation between myth and history.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , July 1988 , pp. 605 - 619
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1988

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 Cited

Appadurai, A. 1981 The Past as a Scarce Resource. Man 16 : 201–219.Google Scholar
Ascher, R. 1961 Analogy in Archaeological Interpretation. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 17 : 317–325.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P. 1977 Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Braukaemper, U. 1973 The Correlation of Oral Traditions and Historical Records in Southern Ethiopia : A Case Study of the Hadiya Sidamo Past. Journal of Ethiopian Studies 11 : 29–50.Google Scholar
Bricker, V. R. 1977a Historical Dramas in Chiapas, Mexico. Journal of Latin American Lore 3(2) : 249–278.Google Scholar
Bricker, V. R. 1977b The Caste War of Yucatan : The History of a Myth and the Myth of History. In Anthropology and History in Yucatan, edited by Jones, G. D., pp. 251–58. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Bricker, V. R. 1981 The Indian Christ, The Indian King : The Historical Substrate of Maya Myth and Ritual. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Carmack, R. M., and Weeks, J. M. 1981 The Archaeology and Ethnohistory of Utatlan : A Conjunctive Approach. American Antiquity 46 : 323–340.Google Scholar
Chang, K. C. 1967 Major Aspects of the Interrelationship of Archaeology and Ethnology. Current Anthropology 8 : 227–234.Google Scholar
Childe, V. G. 1956 Piecing Together the Past. Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Clark, J. G. D. 1953 Archaeological Theories and Interpretations : Old World. In Anthropology Today, edited by Kroeber, A. L., pp. 343–360. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Duran, F. D. 1971 Book of the Gods and Rites of the Ancient Calendar. Translated and edited by Horcasitas, F. and Heyden, D.. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Feeley-Harnik, G. 1978 Divine Kingship and the Meaning of History Among the Sakalava of Madagascar. Man 13 : 402–417.Google Scholar
Godelier, M. 1971 Myth and History. New Left Review 69 : 93–112.Google Scholar
Goody, J. 1977 The Domestication of the Savage Mind. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gossen, G. H. 1974 Chamulas in the World of the Sun : Time and Space in a Maya Oral Tradition. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gossen, G. H. 1977 Translating Cuscat's War : Understanding Maya Oral History. Journal of Latin American Lore 3(2) : 227–248.Google Scholar
Hawkes, C. 1954 Archaeological Theory and Method : Some Suggestions from the Old World. American Anthropologist 56 : 155–168.Google Scholar
Henige, D. 1982 Truths Yet Unborn? Oral Tradition as a Casualty of Culture Contact. Journal of African History 23(3) : 395–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holland, W. 1964 Conceptos cosmologicos Tzotziles como una base para interpretar la civilizacion maya prehispanica. America Indigena 24 : 11–28.Google Scholar
Hunt, E. 1977 The Transformation of the Hummingbird : Cultural Roots of a Zinacantecan Mythical Poem. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York.Google Scholar
Jones, G. D., Rice, D. S., and Rice, P. M. 1981 The Location of Tayasal : A Reconsideration in Light of Peten Maya Ethnohistory and Archaeology. American Antiquity 46 : 530–546.Google Scholar
Kaufman, T. S. 1964 Materiales linguisticos para el estudio de las relaciones internas y externas de la familia de idiomas mayanos. In Desarollo Cultural de los Mayas, edited by Vogt, E. Z. and Ruz, A. L., pp. 81–136. Seminario de la Cultura Maya, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Knudson, S. J. 1978 Culture in Retrospect : An Introduction to Archaeology. Rand McNally College, Chicago.Google Scholar
Kohler, U. 1977 Conibal C'ulelal : Grandformen Mesoamerikanischer Kosmologie und Religion in Einem Gebetstext auf Maya-Tzotzil. Series Geographica et Etnographica Nr. 5. Acta Humboldtiana. Frans Steiner Verlag GMBH, Wiesbaden, West Germany.Google Scholar
Laughlin, R. M. 1975 The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of San Lorenzo Zinacantan. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology 19. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Lee, T. 1972 Jmetic Lubton : Some Modern and Pre-Hispanic Maya Ceremonial Customs in the Highlands ofChia 618 pas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation No. 29. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Levi, J. M. 1978 Wii'ipay. The Living Rocks— Ethnographic Notes on Crystal Magic Among Some California Yumans. Journal of California Anthropology 5(1) : 42–52.Google Scholar
Levi-Strauss, C. 1966 The Savage Mind. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London.Google Scholar
Lowie, R. H. 1915 Oral Tradition and History. American Anthropologist 17 : 597–600.Google Scholar
Lubbock, J. 1865 Prehistoric Times as Illustrated by Ancient Remains and the Manners and Customs of Modern Savages. Williams and Norgate, London.Google Scholar
Lumholtz, C. 1902 Unknown Mexico. 2 vols. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Morley, S. G. 1915 An Introduction to the Study of Maya Hieroglyphs. Bulletin 57. Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Morley, S. G. 1946 The Ancient Maya. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Morley, S. G., and Brainerd, G. W. 1983 The Ancient Maya. 4th edition. Revised by Sharer, R. J.. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Payne, K. W., and Murray, S. O. 1983 Historical Inferences from Ethnohistorical Data : Boasian Views. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 19 : 335–340.Google Scholar
Portelli, A. 1981 The Time of My Life : Functions of Time in Oral History. International Journal of Oral History 2(3) : 162–180.Google Scholar
Price, R. 1983 First-Time : The Historical Vision of an Afro-American People. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. 1965 Structure and Function in Primitive Society. The Free Press, New York.Google Scholar
Radin, P. 1935 An Historical Legend of the Zapotecs. Ibero-Americana 9. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Sahlins, M. 1985a Historical Metaphors and Mythical Realities : Structure in the Early History of the Sandwich Islands Kingdom. Special Publications No. 1. Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Sahlins, M. 1985b Islands of History. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Schmidt, P. 1983 Cultural Meaning and History in African Myth. International Journal of Oral History 4 : 167–183.Google Scholar
Shuman, M. K. 1977 Archaeology and Ethnohistory : The Case of the Lowland Maya. Ethnohistory 24 : 1–18.Google Scholar
Smith, M. A. 1955 The Limitations of Inference in Archaeology. Archaeological Newsletter 6 : 3–7.Google Scholar
Sollas, W. J. 1911 Ancient Hunters and Their Modern Representatives. Macmillan, London.Google Scholar
Spinden, H. J. 1917 The Ancient Civilizations of Mexico and Central America. Handbook Series No. 3. American Museum of Natural History, New York.Google Scholar
Stephens, J. L. 1841 Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan. 2 vols. Harper, New York. Reprinted 1962, Dover, New York.Google Scholar
Taussig, M. T. 1980 The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.Google Scholar
Tax, S., Eiseley, L. C., Rouse, I., and Voegelin, C. F. 1953 Cultural-Social Anthropology. In An Appraisal of Anthropology Today, edited by Tax, S., Eiseley, L. C., Rouse, I., and Voegelin, C. F., pp. 218–234. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Teeple, J. E. 1926 Maya Inscriptions : The Venus Calendar and Another Correlation. American Anthropologist 28 : 402–408.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. E. S. 1950 Maya Hieroglyphic Writing : An Introduction. Publication 506. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Thompson, J. E. S. 1970 Maya History and Religion. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Vansina, J. 1985 Oral Tradition as History. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.Google Scholar
Van Noten, F. (editor) 1982 The Archaeology of Central Africa. Akademische Druck, Universitat Verlagsanstald, Graz, Austria.Google Scholar
Vogt, E. Z. 1969 Zinacantan : A Maya Community in the Highlands of Chiapas. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Vogt, E. Z. 1976 Tortillas for the Gods : A Symbolic Analysis of Zinacanteco Rituals. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Vogt, E. Z. 1986 On the Application of the Phylogenetic Model to the Maya. Ms. on file, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington.Google Scholar
Wiegand, P. 1975 Possible References to La Quemada in Huichol Mythology. Ethnohistory 22(1) : 15–20.Google Scholar
Zigmond, M. L. 1964 Archaeology and the “Patriarchal Age” of the Old Testament. In Explorations in Cultural Anthropology, edited by Goodenough, W. H., pp. 571–598. McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar