The Carnegie Maya IV

The Carnegie Maya IV: Carnegie Institution of Washington Theoretical Approaches to Problems, 1941-1947

COMPILED AND WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY John M. Weeks
Copyright Date: 2012
Published by: University Press of Colorado
Pages: 83
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt4cgm0b
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  • Book Info
    The Carnegie Maya IV
    Book Description:

    The Carnegie Maya IVis the fourth in a series of volumes that make available the primary data and interpretive studies originally produced by archaeologists and anthropologists in the Maya region under the umbrella of the Carnegie Institute of Washington's Division of Historical Research. Collected together here are theTheoretical Approaches to Problemspapers, a series that published preliminary conclusions to advance thought processes and stimulate debate. Although two of the three theories published in these reports have since been proven wrong, the theories themselves remain significant because of their impact on the direction of archaeology.

    Only a few sets of these three contributions to theTheoretical Approaches to Problemsseries are known to have survived, makingThe Carnegie Maya IVan essential reference and research resource.

    The corresponding ebook, for individual download, contains the complete set ofThe Carnegie Maya,The Carnegie Maya II,The Carnegie Maya IIIandThe Carnegie Maya IV, thus making hundreds of documents from the Carnegie Institution's Maya program available in one source.

    eISBN: 978-1-60732-159-0
    Subjects: Sociology, Archaeology

Table of Contents

  1. Front Matter
    (pp. I-IV)
  2. Table of Contents
    (pp. V-VI)
  3. List of Figures
    (pp. VII-VIII)
  4. Introduction
    (pp. IX-XIV)

    Theoretical Approaches to Problemsis the fourth volume in the Carnegie Maya series, a publishing initiative by the University Press of Colorado to reissue the results of archaeological and anthropological investigations by the Division of Historical Research, Carnegie Institution of Washington, in southern Mesoamerica. Titles previously published in the series include excerpts summarizing the annual reports of the Division of Historical Research from 1913 through 1957 (Carnegie Maya I), theCurrent Reportsthat summarize the results originally published from 1952 to 1957 of the final CIW excavation program at Mayapan in northern Yucatan, Mexico (Carnegie Maya II), andNotes on...

  5. General Preface
    (pp. 1-2)
    J. Eric S. Thompson
  6. Dating of Certain Inscriptions of Non-Maya Origin
    (pp. 3-52)
    J. Eric S. Thompson

    Recently there have been brought to light in southern Veracruz several stelae which utilize in peculiar fashion glyphs with numerical coefficients, and numbers, expressed by bars and dots but unattached to glyphs. Their discovery has raised a number of chronological problems but, at the same time, has sensibly augmented data for segregating inscriptions that do not conform to the Maya patterns of date recording.

    The aims of this paper are:

    1. To separate these unorthodox inscriptions into two groups, Maya and presumably non-Maya.

    2. To show that all inscriptions of the second group are related in method of epigraphic presentation.

    3. To produce...

  7. The Fish as a Maya Symbol for Counting and Further Discussion of Directional Glyphs
    (pp. 53-64)
    J. Eric S. Thompson

    In a previous paper (Thompson 1943) I reported the two glyphs, both head and normal forms, commonly used to indicate the starting and ending points of a count. For convenience these glyphs were temporarily labeled “A” and “B.” In general usage they might be termed respectively “posterior date indicator” and “anterior date indicator,” for, apart from whether the distance number is to be counted forward or backward, the former always indicates the later in time of a pair of dates; the latter the earlier. Nevertheless, it should be remembered that these terms do not translate the Maya expressions, for the...

  8. Cultures and Peoples of the Southeastern Maya Frontier
    (pp. 65-72)
    John M. Longyear III

    Most linguistic maps of Central America attempt to represent the range and boundaries of peoples at, or shortly after, the Spanish conquest. This is only natural, since most of the information on which the maps are based has been gleaned from accounts written by itinerant Spanish soldiers and priests during the sixteenth century. When these accounts fail us, archaeological remains are commonly used to fix boundaries. This practice, of course, necessitates the assumption that major linguistic groups also form distinct archaeological complexes, an assumption which, I think, we are justified in making, at least in our present state of knowledge....

  9. References
    (pp. 73-80)
  10. Index
    (pp. 81-83)