Western Mesoamerican Calendars and Writing Systems
Proceedings of the Copenhagen Roundtable
Edited by Mikkel Bøg Clemmensen Edited by Christophe Helmke
Paperback (Published)
(June 2023)
ISBN: 9781803274850
8.07 x 11.42 inches
Price: $54.00
In stock
Mesoamerica is one of the few places to witness the independent invention of writing. Bringing together new research, papers discuss the writing systems of Teotihuacan, Mixteca Baja, the Epiclassic period and Aztec writing of the Postclassic. These writing systems represent more than a millennium of written records and literacy in Me
Western Mesoamerican Calendars and Writing Systems draws together studies by some of the world’s leading experts presented at a conference held in December 2020, ‘The Origins and Developments of Central Mexican Calendars and Writing Systems’. Mesoamerica is one of the few places to witness the independent invention of writing. From the earliest attestations of this intellectual feat in the Late Preclassic period (c. 900 bc-ad 150), writing spread throughout Mesoamerica, developing and diversifying into a series of distinct and independent scripts. With the exception of the celebrated phonetic decipherments of Maya and Aztec writing, which are now well-documented and can be fully read, most Mesoamerican writing systems remain little studied and undeciphered. This is particularly true of the writing systems of Western Mesoamerica, the topic of this volume. Bringing together new research on Western Mesoamerican writing systems, some contributions focus on specific features of a given writing system, whereas others offer state-of-the-art syntheses of whole writing systems. Two contributions focus on the calendar in particular, and associated notations, as integral parts of writing systems. Chapters are included on the writing system of Teotihuacan, the Nuine writing of the Mixteca Baja and adjoining areas, the writing system of the Epiclassic period and Aztec writing of the Postclassic. These writing systems represent more than a millennium of written records and literacy in Mesoamerica, spanning from the Early Classic to the Late Postclassic (from the 2nd to the sixteenth centuries ad). Aztec writing even continued in use for several decades after the Spanish invasion of Mexico (ad 1519-1521), which saw the introduction of the Latin alphabet and the gradual obsolescence of Mesoamerican logophonetic writing systems.
A Few Words on the Copenhagen Roundtable and its Proceedings - Christophe Helmke and Mikkel Bog Clemmensen Chapter 1: The Writing System of Teotihuacan: An Overview - Davide Domenici Chapter 2: The Writing System of Western Oaxaca: The Nuine Style in a Regional Context - Angel Ivan Rivera Guzman Chapter 3: The Writing System of Epiclassic Central Mexico - Christophe Helmke and Jesper Nielsen Chapter 4: What happened to TLATOANI and tlahtohkeh? Three classes of signs and two types of spellings in Nahuatl hieroglyphic writing - Albert Davletshin Chapter 5: The Lienzos de Tlaxcala & Quauhquechollan: The Conquest of Guatemala and Sixteenth Century Nahuatl Hieroglyphic Writing - Margarita Cossich Vielman Chapter 6: Precolumbian Precursors to the Central Mexican Colonial Calendar Wheels - Mikkel Bog Clemmensen Chapter 7: The Nahua Year Revisited: Translating Temporal Conceptions - Ana Diaz Resumenes Author Biographies, A Few Words on the Copenhagen Roundtable and its Proceedings – Christophe Helmke and Mikkel Bøg Clemmensen Chapter 1: The Writing System of Teotihuacan: An Overview – Davide Domenici Chapter 2: The Writing System of Western Oaxaca: The Ñuiñe Style in a Regional Context – Ángel Iván Rivera Guzmán Chapter 3: The Writing System of Epiclassic Central Mexico – Christophe Helmke and Jesper Nielsen Chapter 4: What happened to TLATOANI and tlăhtŏhkĕh? Three classes of signs and two types of spellings in Nahuatl hieroglyphic writing – Albert Davletshin Chapter 5: The Lienzos de Tlaxcala & Quauhquechollan: The Conquest of Guatemala and Sixteenth Century Nahuatl Hieroglyphic Writing – Margarita Cossich Vielman Chapter 6: Precolumbian Precursors to the Central Mexican Colonial Calendar Wheels – Mikkel Bøg Clemmensen Chapter 7: The Nahua Year Revisited: Translating Temporal Conceptions – Ana Díaz Resúmenes ;
Author Biographies
- Edited by Mikkel Bøg Clemmensen
- Edited by Christophe Helmke
‘The present volume cannot address all of these issues, but it does make a first break toward a better understanding of these structurally similar writing systems. The scripts of western Mesoamerica are of great importance for the study of writing systems in general, precisely because of their distinctive interplay between script and image, lack of linearity, and flexibility in the arrangement of hieroglyphic signs. In this respect, the volume is also highly recommended reading for scholars concerned with the evolution and structure of writing systems from a theoretical and comparative perspective.’ – Nikolai Grube (2023): Antiquity Vol. 97
—
Other Titles in this Series
Obsidian Across the Americas
Compositional Studies Conducted in the Elemental Analysis Facility at the Field Museum of Natural History
Metallurgy in Ancient Ecuador
A Study of the Collection of Archaeological Metallurgy of the Ministry of Culture, Ecuador
Archaeological Paleography
A Proposal for Tracing the Role of Interaction in Mayan Script Innovation via Material Remains
Wari Women from Huarmey
Bioarchaeological Interpretation of Human Remains from the Wari Elite Mausoleum at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru
Similar Books
Patrimonio antes del patrimonio
Una genealogía del pensamiento patrimonialista y la arqueología mexicana en un amplio siglo XIX
From Sedentarisation to the Complex Society
Settlement, Economy, Environment, Cult. Proceedings of the workshops in Lisbon, Tehran and Lima (2016 - 2019)
Volume 21
Toro Muerto, vol. I
A Catalogue of Iconographic Motifs in Rock Art / Un catálogo de motivos iconográficos del arte rupestre
Volume 20
Adolescente de Jalpan
Primer estudio iconográfico y esbozo de interpretación iconológica sobre una escultura huasteca en la Sierra Gorda del Noreste de México
Archaeological Investigations in Guadalupe, Northeast Honduras
Interaction Networks during the Late Pre-Hispanic Period (AD 900-1525)
Volume 19
Flower World – Mundo Florido
Music Archaeology of the Americas - Arqueomusicologia de las Americas
Volume 7
Obsidian Across the Americas
Compositional Studies Conducted in the Elemental Analysis Facility at the Field Museum of Natural History
La fábrica del prestigio en Mesoamérica
Interacciones y alteridad en el Altiplano central durante el período epiclásico (600-900 d.C.)
El Palacio: Historiography and new perspectives on a pre-Tarascan city of northern Michoacán, Mexico
Essai bibliographique sur l’archéologie francophone de la Mésoamérique
Bibliographical essay upon the French-speaking contributions to Mesoamerican archaeology; Ensayo bibliográfico sobre la arqueología francófona de Mesoamérica
Sea Shells in the Mountains and Llamas on the Coast
The Economy of the Paracas Culture (800 to 200 BC) in Southern Peru
Volume 16
Wari Women from Huarmey
Bioarchaeological Interpretation of Human Remains from the Wari Elite Mausoleum at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru
Flower World – Mundo Florido
Music Archaeology of the Americas - Arqueomusicologia de las Americas
Volume 6
Paisajes en un sector de la Quebrada de Humahuaca durante la Etapa Agroalfarera
Arqueología de Tumbaya (Jujuy, Argentina)
Peintures et gravures rupestres des Amériques: Empreintes culturelles et territoriales
Proceedings of the XVIII UISPP World Congress (4-9 June 2018, Paris, France) Volume 2, Session XXV-3
