In a few Classic Maya texts we find records of coming-of-age ceremonies involving royal children, where bloodleting seems a dominant theme. These ritual events haven’t yet been collectively discussed or analyzed in the literature (at least as far as I know) so I hope this brief post might help point the way for further thought, [...]
Archive for March, 2008
A Childhood Ritual on The Hauberg Stela
Posted in Artifacts, Caracol, Preclassic, Rituals, Tikal on March 27, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Bonampak’s Place Name
Posted in Bonampak, Emblems & Toponyms on March 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In late 2006 I circulated this brief proposal for the decipherment of Bonampak’s ancient place name as Us(ij) Witz, “Vulture Hill.” As one can see in the photo, the site’s acropolis is was built upon the face of a steep promontory, presumably once of the very same name.
Here’s the pdf of the short note: [...]
Cracking the Maya Code coming to PBS TV – April 8, 2008
Posted in Uncategorized on March 11, 2008 | 8 Comments »
Mark the calendars — David LeBrun’s magnificent new documentary Cracking the Maya Code is set for broadcast on PBS’s Nova series this coming April 8 at 8 PM EST. The film, produced by Night Fire Films, is based on Mike Coe’s vivid book on the history of Maya glyph decipherment, Breaking the Maya [...]
Palenque’s Two of a Kind?
Posted in Palenque, Uncategorized on March 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Some years ago I came across an obscure publication on the shelf of my old office in the Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions, cataloging some of the holdings in storage at the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City (Cardós de Méndez 1987). In it I was suprised to find a photo of an eroded [...]
A Classic Maya Bailiff?
Posted in History of Research, Linguistics, Painting, Tonina on March 10, 2008 | 3 Comments »
by Stephen Houston
Epigraphers have long puzzled over a title in Classic inscriptions. This is the ba-te’, usually spelled ba-TE’ but sometimes, as at Dos Pilas and Yaxchilan, BAAH-TE’. Historically minded readers of this blog will remember the late, great Heinrich Berlin. A person of great insight, he posited a similar reading for what we [...]
