SCULPTURE AND SOCIAL DYNAMICS IN PRECLASSIC MESOAMERICA by Julia Guernsey ( 9780511998256 )

Item Details

Title:

SCULPTURE AND SOCIAL DYNAMICS IN PRECLASSIC MESOAMERICA

By:

Format:

Electronic book text

List price:	£102.00
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ISBN 10:

0511998252

ISBN 13:

9780511998256

Publisher:

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

5 August, 2012

Description:

This book examines the functions of sculpture during the Preclassic period in Mesoamerica and its significance in statements of social identity.

Synopsis:

This book examines the functions of sculpture during the Preclassic period in Mesoamerica and its significance in statements of social identity. Julia Guernsey situates the origins and evolution of monumental stone sculpture within a broader social and political context and demonstrates the role that such sculpture played in creating and institutionalizing social hierarchies. This book focuses specifically on an enigmatic type of public, monumental sculpture known as the 'potbelly' that traces its antecedents to earlier, small domestic ritual objects and ceramic figurines. The cessation of domestic rituals involving ceramic figurines along the Pacific slope coincided not only with the creation of the first monumental potbelly sculptures, but with the rise of the first state-level societies in Mesoamerica by the advent of the Late Preclassic period. The potbellies became central to the physical representation of new forms of social identity and expressions of political authority during this time of dramatic change.

Illustrations:

125 b/w illus. 2 maps 1 table

Publication:

Imprint:

Cambridge University Press (Virtual Publishing)

Returns:

Non-returnable

Some other items by this author:

HUMAN FIGURATION AND FRAGMENTATION IN PRECLASSIC MESOAMERICA (HB)

RITUAL AND POWER IN STONE (PB)

SCULPTURE AND SOCIAL DYNAMICS IN PRECLASSIC MESOAMERICA (HB)

THE PLACE OF STONE MONUMENTS (HB)