Ritual and Power in Stone
Subtitle: The Performance of Rulership in Mesoamerican Izapan Style Art
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: December 1, 2006
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 229
ISBN-13: 9780292713239
Subjects: History of art: BCE to c 500 CE, ancient & classical world; Sculpture & other three-dimensional art forms; Maya art; Art; Archaeology / Anthropology; Soconusco Region; Latin America - Mexico; Maya sculpture; Archaeology; Social Science / Archaeology; History - General; Antiquities; Mayas; Mexico
Description: "In this book, Julia Guernsey offers an art historical analysis of the Izapan style monuments and their integral role in developing and communicating the institution of divine kingship. She looks specifically at how rulers expressed political authority by erecting monuments that recorded their performance of rituals in which they communicated with the supernatural realm in the persona of the avian deity. She also considers how rulers used the monuments to structure their built environment and create spaces for ritual and politically charged performances. Setting her discussion in a broader context, Guernsey also considers how the Izapan style monuments helped to motivate and structure some of the dramatic, pan-regional developments of the Late Preclassic period, including the forging of a codified language of divine kingship. This investigation, which links monumental art to the matrices of political, economic, and supernatural exchange, offers an important new understanding of a region, time period, and group of monuments that played a key role in the history of Mesoamerica and continue to intrigue scholars within the field of Mesoamerican studies." --Book Jacket.