Night and Darkness in Ancient Mesoamerica

Nancy Gonlin, David Millard Reed, Nancy Gonlin, David Millard Reed

• Publisher: University Press of Colorado
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781646421008
• eBook ISBN: 9781646421879
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

Night and Darkness in Ancient Mesoamerica is the first volume to explicitly incorporate how nocturnal aspects of the natural world were imbued with deep cultural meanings and expressed by different peoples from various time periods in Mexico and Central America. Material culture, iconography, epigraphy, art history, ethnohistory, ethnographies, and anthropological theory are deftly used to illuminate dimensions of darkness and the night that are often neglected in reconstructions of the past.
 
The anthropological study of night and darkness enriches and strengthens the understanding of human behavior, power, economy, and the supernatural. In eleven case studies featuring the residents of Teotihuacan, the Classic period Maya, inhabitants of Rio Ulúa, and the Aztecs, the authors challenge archaeologists to consider the influence of the ignored dimension of the night and the role and expression of darkness on ancient behavior. Chapters examine the significance of eclipses, burials, tombs, and natural phenomena considered to be portals to the underworld; animals hunted at twilight; the use and ritual meaning of blindfolds; night-blooming plants; nocturnal foodways; fuel sources and lighting technology; and other connected practices.
 
Night and Darkness in Ancient Mesoamerica expands the scope of published research and media on the archaeology of the night. The book will be of interest to those who study the humanistic, anthropological, and archaeological aspects of the Aztec, Maya, Teotihuacanos, and southeastern Mesoamericans, as well as sensory archaeology, art history, material culture studies, anthropological archaeology, paleonutrition, socioeconomics, sociopolitics, epigraphy, mortuary studies, volcanology, and paleoethnobotany.
 
Contributors: Jeremy Coltman, Christine Dixon, Rachel Egan, Kirby Farah, Carolyn Freiwald, Nancy Gonlin, Julia Hendon, Cecelia Klein, Jeanne Lopiparo, Brian McKee, Jan Marie Olson, David M. Reed, Payson Sheets, Venicia Slotten, Michael Thomason, Randolph Widmer, W. Scott Zeleznik
 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Preface
• Introduction to Night and Darkness in Ancient Mesoamerica
• 1. Classic Maya Social Distinctions and Political Power: Inserting a Nocturnal Dimension into the Hierarchy of Consumption
• 2. Mesoamerican Plants of the Night: Ethnographic and Paleoethnobotanical Perspectives
• 3. Extending the Notion of Night and Darkness: Volcanic Eruptions in Ancient Mesoamerica
• 4. Illuminating Darkness in the Ancient Maya World: Nocturnal Case Studies from Copan, Honduras, and Joya de Cerén, El Salvador
• 5. Teotihuacan at Night: A Classic Period Urban Nocturnal Landscape in the Basin of Mexico
• 6. The Sounds in the Dark of the Temazcal at Cerén, El Salvador
• 7. The Heat of the Night: Duality in Aztec Health and Nocturnal Healing Activities with a Focus on the Temazcal
• 8. The Cave and the Skirt: A Consideration of Classic Maya Ch’een Symbolism
• 9. Night and the Underworld in the Classic Period Ulúa Valley, Honduras
• 10. The Light Burned Brightly: Postclassic New Fire Ceremonies of the Aztec and at Xaltocan in the Basin of Mexico
• 11. Under Cover of Darkness: Blindfolds and the Eternal Return in Late Postclassic Mexican Art
• 12. Nighttime and Darkness: Activities, Practices, Customs, and Beliefs
• Index
• Contributors