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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Contact Period Of Central Peten, Guatemala In Color, Timothy W. Pugh, Leslie G. Cecil
The Contact Period Of Central Peten, Guatemala In Color, Timothy W. Pugh, Leslie G. Cecil
Faculty Publications
When Bernal Díaz del Castillo passed by Nojpeten with Hernán Cortés in 1525, he remarked upon the Itza capital’s brilliant whiteness, even from a great distance (Jones 1998:69). However had he stood in the central plaza, he would have discerned that the sun’s reflection eclipsed artifacts and architecture of a variety of colors. The archaeological record is frequently similarly whitewashed by our focus upon form, weight, and distribution. Nevertheless, color helped imbue the Contact period (AD 1525-1697) world of the Maya of the Petén lakes region of Guatemala with significance. This paper investigates the colors of ritual paraphernalia encountered in …
Astronomical Implications For The Mound Of The Cross At Paquimé, Chihuahua, Mexico, Michael T. Searcy, David Derrick
Astronomical Implications For The Mound Of The Cross At Paquimé, Chihuahua, Mexico, Michael T. Searcy, David Derrick
Faculty Publications
The fourteenth-century site of Paquimé represents the apogee of the Casas Grandes cultural tradition. Monumental architecture such as effigy mounds and ball courts contrast sharply with other sites in the U.S. Southwest/Northwest Mexico. In particular, the Mound of the Cross, a cardinally aligned mound structure, suggests that those at Paquimé were aware of and may have tracked celestial bodies as part of a seasonal round. Findings also suggest that the alignment of the cross can be attributed to solar patterns that are different than today’s due to earth’s precessional cycle.