Chacs and Chiefs


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The Life Within


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Beautifully written and illustrated, The Life Within is the first full study of the vitality and materiality of Classic Maya art and writing and the quest for transcendence and immortality.




Essays in Maya Archaeology


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Oshla Tubbee


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President Andrew Jackson double-crossed the Choctaw Tribe who helped him win the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama and the Battle of New Orleans in 1816 to end the War of 1812.




Four Masterworks of American Indian Literature


Book Description

"Bierhorst offers access to more than primary texts here: he maps a way of reading and the necessary apparatus for that reading (including pronunciation guides, reminding us they are oral performances)." —World Literature Today "This comparative application of the epic poetry tradition to Amerind literature is a scholarly success.... this book is a most noteworthy item in the field of American Indian studies, and is not to be missed by any serious devotee." --Library Journal "Biehorst's introductions and notes are brilliant, thorough, and an important contribution to the scholarship on these works. His new translation of the Quetzalcoatl is also excellent." --Choice




The Sacred Maya Smoking Shell


Book Description

This is a story of the great Maya city of Lamanai [circa 650 A. D.] its ruins are located in present day southern Orange Walk District, Belize. The story of its ruler who was determined to help defend its sister city Chac'temal from invading armies of the Far North cities at all cost necessary.......... Also of a young peasant boy whose name was Box Belam [Bosh Blam] he was born and raised in the magnificent Maya City of Lamanai in the west banks of a beautiful lagoon. By the age of fourteen, he had his mind well made up. He would become a member of the famous widely loved Lamanai's Royal Pok-A-Tok team. [Ball game] Nothing or nobody would stop him. After the sacred ceremony that initiated him into manhood ro better prepare him in becoming a soldier and a member of lamanai's royal ball team, he was sent on a mission that almost caused him his life........ Box's friends and mentor had been killed in an ambush attack by spies of the Far North cities, near the city of Altun-Ha. Having been inflicted with the sever wound, Box had fled into the inhospitable and dangerous rainforest but... it was only his refuge. He had been wandering lost, sick, and weak in the jungle for days but his determination to survive and return to his beloved city of Lamanai, his people and the girl he had fallen in love with, was great........... Moreover, he was also determined to survive so that one day he could find and eliminate the people responsible for the death of his friends and mentor. For many days he walked through the rainforest, looking out for the enemy, and surviving on wild fruits when he came across two men who.... A story of adventure, war, courage, treachery, love and rise to greatness in an ancient civilization.




Bulletin


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Sources of the Grail


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Still stands the destined Knight, aloof in his passionate patience, His hand over his eyes? Is he doomed to fulfil or fail? Shall he dare the hells and the heavens of the strange illuminations, Initiate at last of the dread mysterious Graal? The editor, John Matthews, tells us that, at the beginning of the twelfth century, the poet Crétien de Troyes composed a poem he called Il Conte del Graal ("The Story of the Grail"). It told the story of a search taken up by a simple young man who was brought up away from the ways of ordinary people. His search was for a mysterious object known as the "Graal," but Crétien left the poem unfinished, dying before he could complete it, thus creating a mystery that has stirred the imagination of countless seekers ever since. The Grail may be almost anything--or it may be something that has no form at all or even exist in our world. The important thing is that it provides an object for personal search, for growth and human development. We are dealing here with high things, with a Mystery that is almost too much for us. But we can learn and grow from studying it and by sharing the adventure of the Quest. Sources of the Grail is the most complete anthology of Grail texts available. Organized into three parts, the first deals with the Celtic sources; the second presents the medieval quest; and part three continues the search and represents some of the most far-reaching and deepest contemporary Grail seekers. Anyone interested in Western spiritual traditions will find this a valuable, thought-provoking resource.




Ceramics of Ancient America


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This is the first volume to bring together archaeology, anthropology, and art history in the analysis of pre-Columbian pottery. While previous research on ceramic artifacts has been divided by these three disciplines, this volume shows how integrating these approaches provides new understandings of many different aspects of Ancient American societies. Contributors from a variety of backgrounds in these fields explore what ceramics can reveal about ancient social dynamics, trade, ritual, politics, innovation, iconography, and regional styles. Essays identify supernatural and humanistic beliefs through formal analysis of Lower Mississippi Valley "Great Serpent" effigy vessels and Ecuadorian depictions of the human figure. They discuss the cultural identity conveyed by imagery such as Andean head motifs, and they analyze symmetry in designs from locations including the American Southwest. Chapters also take diachronic approaches—methods that track change over time—to ceramics from Mexico’s Tarascan State and the Valley of Oaxaca, as well as from Maya and Toltec societies. This volume provides a much-needed multidisciplinary synthesis of current scholarship on Ancient American ceramics. It is a model of how different research perspectives can together illuminate the relationship between these material artifacts and their broader human culture. Contributors: | Dean Arnold | George J. Bey III | Michael Carrasco | David Dye | James Farmer | Gary Feinman | Amy Hirshman | Yumi Park Huntington | Johanna Minich | Shelia Pozorski and Thomas Pozorski | Jeff Price | Sarahh Scher | Dorothy Washburn | Robert F. Wald