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NEGOTIATING NARRATIVE DOMAINS: IZAPA'S PLACE IN THE DISCOURSE ON EARLY HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2019

Stephanie M. Strauss
Stephanie M. Strauss*
Affiliation:
The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Art and Art History, 2301 San Jacinto Boulevard, Stop D1300, Austin, Texas 78712-1421
*
E-mail correspondence to: stephanie.strauss@aya.yale.edu
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Abstract

This paper aims to situate the Late Formative urban center of Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico into the greater discussion of early Mesoamerican writing systems. The elites of Izapa produced elaborate carved stone monuments in an era that bore witness to the fluorescence of three great hieroglyphic programs—the Zapotec, the Epi-Olmec, and the Maya—and, yet, only a handful of glyphs appear in Izapa's monumental corpus. In a discussion that includes Izapan iconoglyphs, possible nominal phrases, and the calendrical inscriptions on Izapa Stela 27, Stela 9, and Miscellaneous Monument 60, this study juxtaposes Izapan visual culture with representational systems to the east and west, and ultimately explores the narrative domains of greatest salience to Izapa's elite: image and cyclical time.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 29 , Special Issue 2: Recent Research on Izapa Archaeology and Iconography , Fall 2018 , pp. 347 - 359
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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