Like their regal counterparts in societies around the globe, ancient Maya rulers departed this world with elaborate burial ceremonies and lavish grave goods, which often included ceramics, red pigments, earflares, stingray spines, jades, pearls, obsidian blades, and mosaics. Archaeological investigation of these burials, as well as the decipherment of inscriptions that record Maya rulers' funerary rites, have opened a fascinating window on how the ancient Maya envisaged the ruler's passage from the world of the living to the realm of the ancestors.
Focusing on the Classic Period (AD 250-900), James Fitzsimmons examines and compares textual and archaeological evidence for rites of death and burial in the Maya lowlands, from which he creates models of royal Maya funerary behavior. Exploring ancient Maya attitudes toward death expressed at well-known sites such as Tikal, Guatemala, and Copan, Honduras, as well as less-explored archaeological locations, Fitzsimmons reconstructs royal mortuary rites and expands our understanding of key Maya concepts including the afterlife and ancestor veneration.

lgli/P:\Bibliotheca Alexandrina\3. Middle Ages\Medieval Kingdoms\Pre-Columbian Civilizations\Maya\James L. Fitzsimmons - Death and the Classic Maya Kings (Linda Schele Series in Maya and Pre-Columbian Studies).pdf

lgli/3. Middle Ages\Medieval Kingdoms\Pre-Columbian Civilizations\Maya\James L. Fitzsimmons - Death and the Classic Maya Kings (Linda Schele Series in Maya and Pre-Columbian Studies).pdf

zlib/History/Archaeology/James L. Fitzsimmons/Death and the Classic Maya Kings_25745431.pdf

Fitzsimmons, James L.

The Linda Schele series in Maya and Pre-Columbian studies, Austin, Tex., Chesham, 2009

1st edition The Linda Schele Series in Maya and Pre-Columbian Studies, PS, 2009

Linda Schele series in Maya and Pre-Columbian studies, 2008

University of Texas Press, Austin, 2009

United States, United States of America

Illustrated, 2009

producers:
Acrobat Distiller 7.0.5 for Macintosh

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents 8
List of Figures and Tables 12
A Note on Orthography 16
Acknowledgments 18
One. Celebrations for the Dead 24
Anthropology and Death Rituals 26
The Classic Maya Case 30
Methodological Concerns 33
Kingship and the Ancestors 38
Two. Death and the Afterlife in the Lowlands 40
Earth 41
Maize 45
Mortality 47
Writing Death 48
The Self and the Soul 62
Breaths of Life and Death 65
WAY 67
To the Afterlife 71
Celestial Bodies and Maize Gods 75
Three. Royal Funerals 84
Waiting for Interment 84
Gravemakers 87
Tombs as Underworld Surfaces 91
Tombs as Caves 94
Tombs as Houses 95
Timing and the Ritual Process 95
Embalming and Processing 97
Dressing and Bundling the Corpse 99
Painting 104
Arranging the Body, Arranging the Furniture 106
Textiles and Other Layering 107
Wooden or Stone Platforms 108
Ceramics 108
Jades and Celts 110
Bloodletting Artifacts 111
Shells and Other Marine Artifacts 113
Bowl Coverings and Masks 115
Multiple Interments 116
Faunal Remains 119
Mirrors, Pyrite, and Hematite 119
Burial Sequences 120
Sealing the Tomb 124
Four. Death and Landscape 128
K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo’ 130
Lowland Founders and Local Variations 135
Cults of Personality 140
Bird Jaguar IV 143
Gods and Orchards at Palenque 146
Souls within Buildings 153
Ancestor Shrines 157
Five. Entering the Tombs of the Classic Maya Kings 165
Patterns of Reentry at Piedras Negras 168
COLOR SECTION 178
Fire in the Motmot Burial 187
Fire and History at Tonina 191
Family Affairs 192
False Reentry 193
Painting, Drilling, and Bone Peeling 195
The Portable Dead 197
Six. The Dead King and the Body Politic 201
Royal Funerals: Public or Private? 209
Bodies and Monuments 211
Corpses, Souls, and Mourners in Transition 212
Guide to Appendixes 216
Appendix 1. Burial Structures and Contexts 216
Appendix 2. Body Preparations and Funerary Activities 216
Appendix 3. Grave Goods 217
Appendix 1. Burial Structures and Contexts 219
Appendix 2. Body Preparations and Funerary Activities 225
Appendix 3. Grave Goods 233
Notes 240
References 258
Index 292

Like their regal counterparts in societies around the globe, ancient Maya rulers departed this world with elaborate burial ceremonies and lavish grave goods, which often included ceramics, red pigments, earflares, stingray spines, jades, pearls, obsidian blades, and mosaics. Archaeological investigation of these burials, as well as the decipherment of inscriptions that record Maya rulers' funerary rites, have opened a fascinating window on how the ancient Maya envisaged the ruler's passage from the world of the living to the realm of the ancestors. Focusing on the Classic Period (AD 250-900), James Fitzsimmons examines and compares textual and archaeological evidence for rites of death and burial in the Maya lowlands, from which he creates models of royal Maya funerary behavior. Exploring ancient Maya attitudes toward death expressed at well-known sites such as Tikal, Guatemala, and Copan, Honduras, as well as less-explored archaeological locations, Fitzsimmons reconstructs royal mortuary rites and expands our understanding of key Maya concepts including the afterlife and ancestor veneration. -- Amazon.com

The first comprehensive study of ancient Maya death rites in twenty years.

2022-03-08