Ebook: Nasal Motifs in Maya Iconography

Publisher: CARNEGIE INSTITUTION,Academia Scientiarum Fennica
Publication date: 2006 (Second Revised Edition)
ISBN: 952-10-3383-5
Number of pages: 782In the course of the past few decades we have witnessed significant advancement and fundamental transformation in the field of ancient Maya studies. These landmark developments are especially noticeable in the field of epigraphy, which revolutionized the discipline during the latter part of the 20th century, with repercussions extending to the 21st century. During the new era of Maya studies, our understanding of the ancient Maya culture has changed considerably. This is primarily due to enhanced knowledge of the writing system, but it is also an outcome of increased and intensified cooperation between various subfields and branches of learning.
The opportunity to read what the Maya wrote themselves about the world around them provides a window into a past culture – albeit limited to a certain extent to the higher echelon of the society. The texts written by and for the Maya elite do, however, reflect fundamental concepts that are inherent in the culture as a whole. These texts, augmented with the knowledge drawn from other sources, such as Maya art, archaeological material, colonial documents, ethnographic data, and Maya languages, generate a productive union of interrelated segments of knowledge that together form a broader picture of the ancient Maya culture.