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67-469: The core of the site immediately abuts the bay and consists of several relatively large structures and stepped pyramids , an acropolis complex, and two ballcourts . Bounding the southern side of the site is a crescent -shaped canal network that encloses the central portion of the site and encloses several raised-fields. Residential structures continue outside of the canal, generally radiating southwest and southeast; raised-fields are also present outside of

134-582: A Fellow in pre-Columbian Studies at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., in 1975. Alongside Peter Mathews; David Kelley; and one of her longtime mentors, Floyd Lounsbury, she participated in a series of miniconferences at Dumbarton Oaks which pushed further developing and refining of the Palenque series and also opened new epigraphic frontiers. She focused on the study of word ordering in Maya inscriptions for

201-415: A flux between a plethora of Mesoamerican cultures, somewhere between 1150 BCE and 850 BCE, in which a continued diffusion of culture occurred . This evidence suggests multidirectional influence in regards to the dissemination of pyramid architecture amongst Mesoamerican civilizations. Linda Schele Linda Schele (October 30, 1942 – April 18, 1998) was an American Mesoamerican archaeologist who

268-477: A great urban renewal program, burying their homes to make way for a group of temples and plazas. The first of the new constructions was the Structure 5C-2nd, which has become the most famous piece of architecture at the site. Aligned with its back at the edge of Chetumal Bay, it marked the northernmost point of the sacred north–south axis of the site, which was complemented by a ballcourt (Str. 50) which lies at

335-508: A great variety of forms and functions, bounded by regional and periodical differences. The Olmecs were an ancient group of indigenous peoples that occupied territory in Mesoamerica stretching from Veracruz to Tabasco around 1300-400 BCE. The Olmec Great Pyramid of La Venta is argued to be one of the earliest and most complex settlement and ceremonial sites that can be found amongst Mesoamerican civilizations. The Tarascan state

402-598: A major figure in the Maya studies, not only of art and history, but also of dirt archaeology and epigraphy, and her work stimulated several later discoveries, by herself and others. In 1975, Schele was invited to the Second International Archaeoastronomy Conference at Colgate to present an exploratory paper on Palenque hierophanies and their link to emblem and skull variant glyphs, which she later published in 1977. A strong supporter of collaborative scholarship, Schele became

469-471: A people of southern Mexico and northern Central America ( Guatemala , Belize , western Honduras , and El Salvador ). Archaeological evidence shows that by the Preclassic Maya (1000 B.C., approximately 3,000 years ago) they were building pyramidal-plaza ceremonial architecture. The earliest monuments consisted of simple burial mounds , the precursors to the spectacular stepped pyramids from

536-541: A related series called the Copán Notes , reports on epigraphy and iconography, which were aimed at rapid dissemination of information amongst Maya scholars. In 1986, Schele co-curated a ground breaking exhibition and catalog of Maya art, "The Blood of Kings: A New Interpretation of Maya Art", with Mary Miller , a project initiated by InterCultura and the Kimbell Art Museum , where it opened in 1986, and

603-475: A segment in ongoing cultural diffusion in Mesoamerica. Further progression of the debate has evolved into costly signaling theory which argues that Mesoamerican cultures were influenced by prestigious displays which manifested, amongst other things, in their architecture. Another key facet of the debate questioned the application of the term "Mother culture" and argues that contemporary Mesoamerican civilizations were functional without Olmec influence and describing

670-755: A symposium of research papers by major scholars and the Forum on Hieroglyphic Writing. By this time in her life, Schele realized her destiny as a Mayanist ; she enrolled as a graduate student in Latin American Studies at the University of Texas shortly before resigning from her position at South Alabama. She was awarded a Doctorate in Latin American studies by the University of Texas in 1980. She continued her teaching career there, in

737-513: A variety of white shell disks. Assorted smashed termination offerings were also found at Structures 2A and 5C-2nd. Much of the site remains unexcavated. It is now possible to travel to Cerros over a gravel road from Corozal Town . There is an archaeological information officer on site. Access to the collection excavated in the 1970s is available through a digital catalogue compiled by the Florida Museum of Natural History with funding from

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804-448: Is 70 km/40 mi northwest of modern day Mexico City. When the city of Tula was in its prime it had around 40,000 people living in it and the city flourished from 900 to 1100. The city of Tula had a main plaza surrounded by 2 pyramids and a ritual ball court. The most popular pyramid on this site (pyramid b) is the pyramid of Quetzalcoatl which is a five-tiered pyramid with four giant carved pillars on top. The pyramid of Quetzalcoatl

871-408: Is adorned with carvings of jaguar heads. The sides of the two remaining temples display long-snouted masks. According to Schele and Freidel, Structure 29C was probably meant to be a war monument and was clearly associated with the north (Str. 61) and south (Str. 50) ballcourts. Erected around AD 100, this structure is considered to be the final temple at the site of Cerros, and is probably the last of

938-404: Is considered to be an open ended ballcourt with a raised alley flanked by two parallel buildings (Structure 61B, which faces the west and Structure 61C, which faces east). Both buildings have broad, low, inclined benches which overlook the raised playing field and rest upon a low substructure (Str. 61A). Unlike most ballcourts, there is no upper playing wall on either building, so it is likely that

1005-466: Is represented in her book Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path published in 1993 with David Freidel and Joy Parker. On April 18, 1998, she died of pancreatic cancer , aged fifty-five. Upon being diagnosed with this disease, Schele planned ahead knowing she would not have long to live and resumed her lectures until a few days before her passing. Just before her death, she established

1072-651: The Chalchihuites culture or that of the neighboring Malpaso culture. Modern archaeological scholarly thinking has been revising the concept of the Olmecs as diffusing the majority of cultural influence in regards to architectural similarities between various Mesoamerican pyramids . The origin of the term mother culture , in regards to Mesoamerica , entered into the Mesoamerican historiographical lexicon in 1942 from archaeologist Alfonso Caso denoting that

1139-562: The National Science Foundation . The original team completed their excavations in 1981. In the 1990s, Debra Walker and a team of archaeologists began a series of new excavations to investigate the site's demise at the end of the Late Preclassic Era. In addition to the research done at the site, Walker's team also did radiocarbon dating on newly found artifacts. They also recalibrated several dates from

1206-460: The OImecs were the " cultura madre". The mother culture model argues that there was one defining culture, the Olmecs, from where therein coexisting Mesoamerican societies derived a significant portion of fundamental societal and cultural facets. The sister culture model argues that the Olmecs were not the sole undeviating source of cultural diffusion for other Mesoamerican civilizations , but rather

1273-542: The Terminal Pre-classic period and beyond. Mayan temples have a pyramid-like structure. These pyramids relied on intricate carved stone in order to create a stair-stepped design. Many of these structures featured a top platform upon which a smaller dedicatory building was constructed, associated with a particular Maya deity . Maya pyramid-like structures were also erected to serve as a place of interment for powerful rulers. Maya pyramidal structures occur in

1340-637: The Cerro Maya Project and member of the board of the Cerro Maya Foundation, and hired archaeologist David Freidel to supervise the excavations. Abrams also made initial arrangements with Joseph Palacio , the Archaeology Commissioner of British Honduras, for a permit to excavate the site, and hired workers from the nearby Xaibe village to work at the site. When plans for the proposed resort later fell through,

1407-474: The Late Preclassic long-distance trade contacts with volcanic areas were in existence as evidenced by the recovery of numerous pieces of jade and crystalline hematite and also visible in the monumental art of Cerros. For raw materials readily available in northern Belize, Cerros may have functioned as a redistribution conjuncture as well as a transshipment point for products to be shipped inland by way of

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1474-842: The Linda Schele Precolumbian Endowment, which provides financial support for the Linda and David Schele Chair in Mesoamerican Art and Writing at UT Austin. Her doctoral dissertation, "Maya Glyphs: the Verbs" was published in 1982 and won "The Most Creative and Innovative Project in Professional and Scholarly Publication" an award given by the Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers . The Blood of Kings

1541-472: The Maya in that part of what was then the colony of British Honduras (it was renamed Belize in June 1973 and became an independent country in 1981). Abrams worked with President of Metroplex, John Love, and their employee, John Favro, and local arts patron, Stanley Marcus, to create the Cerro Maya Foundation to fund excavations and the partial restoration of the site. To accomplish this, Abrams became director of

1608-530: The National Endowment for the Humanities. Mesoamerican pyramids Mesoamerican pyramids form a prominent part of ancient Mesoamerican architecture . Although similar in some ways to Egyptian pyramids , these New World structures have flat tops (many with temples on the top) and stairs ascending their faces, more similar to ancient Mesopotamian Ziggurats . The largest pyramid in

1675-593: The New River. With the cease of construction at Cerros and no new structures of any consequence dating to the Classic Period there, the population began to decline dramatically and no jade or crystalline hematite artifacts have been recovered from any of the Classic Period deposits uncovered at Cerros. A 1979 excavation of burial groups throughout the site uncovered 26 individuals in 20 interments. The archaeologists found that both sexes were represented and that

1742-402: The Olmecs as the "mother culture" robs the Olmecs and the other civilizations of their agency. In 2013, archaeological research done on the ancient Mayan city of Ceibal have hypothesized that the Olmecs had significantly lesser prominence in regards to shared architectural characteristics. This is supported by evidence, in the form of radiocarbon dating , that was found at Ceibal pointing to

1809-431: The age of the individuals ranged from infancy to mature adulthood. Also included in these burials were pottery vessels, metate fragments and chert tools. A variety of artifacts were found within caches throughout the site. Structure 6B contained a dedicatory cache with a large number of offerings, including 28 jade artifacts, a few ceramic vessels, spondylus shells , mirror fragments made from specular hematite and

1876-490: The architect David Schele in 1968, and started teaching Studio Art at the University of South Alabama , remaining there till 1980, by which time she was Professor. In 1970 she traveled with her husband, David Schele, to photograph Mesoamerican monuments in Yucatán on behalf of the University. An obligatory visit to Palenque the next summer turned into a 12-day stay spent drawing and studying Maya architecture. Fascinated by

1943-419: The art, Schele decided to investigate the culture and history of the ancient people who had created the city. Mentored by Merle Greene Robertson , Schele worked with Peter Mathews and Floyd Loundsbury to decipher a major section of the list of Palenque kings, presenting her work in the 1973 conference Mesa Redonda de Palenque , organized by Robertson. This meeting established the previously unknown Linda as

2010-432: The bench area was considered to be within fair play. The sloped vertical faces of the benches functioned to encourage the ball to bounce upwards off of them. The Structure 50 ballcourt is considered to be identical to Structure 61 with a few exceptions: By 1991, various areas and mounds throughout the site had been excavated; however, there were still many more that had not. The number of excavated residential areas inside

2077-430: The canal system. From the time of its inception in the Late Preclassic Era, around 400BC, the site of Cerros was a small village of farmers, fishermen and traders. They made use of its fertile soils and easy access to the sea, while producing and trading product amongst the other Maya in the area. Around 50 BC, as their economy grew and they began to experiment with the idea of kingship, the inhabitants of Cerros initiated

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2144-412: The core was 18 and the number of mounds, 20. The number of excavations outside of the core area were fewer, with only 6 areas and 12 mounds. There were a total of 157 presumed areas and mounds inside and outside the core that were left untouched. Cerros has evidence of investments in water management which included the encircling canal where the Maya made use of several raised and channeled fields around

2211-522: The department of Art/Art History. At the time of her death, she was the John D. Murchison Regents Professor of Art in the department. Schele joined the Copán Mosaics Project in the mid 1980s, working with David Stuart , Barbara Fash, and Nikolai Grube on the texts of that site. In 1986, Schele and Stuart identified Copan 's dynastic founder, K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo’. Shortly after, she began

2278-494: The dry season, the canal and its branches were most likely ponded and used for pot irrigation. During the wet season, they were used along with drainage ditches to irrigate the crops. It is unclear whether the motivation behind construction and use of the canals was due to communal enterprise, by elite-directed labor, or both. The "typical triad" of crops (maize, beans and squash) was grown at the site. According to Crane, maize cupules and/or kernels were present in approximately 75% of

2345-648: The earliest Mesoamerican cultures and held sway over the Valley of Oaxaca region from the early first millennium BCE to about the 14th century. Historians divide the Lenca chronology into two, the Preclassic Proto-Lencas and the later Lencas as we known today. The following site is from the modern-day state of Zacatecas , built by cultures whose ethnic affiliations are unknown: A great quantity of buildings were constructed on artificial terraces upon

2412-514: The elite, varied widely. Meats were more accessible to the elites of Cerros. Various forms of animal procurement took place in and around the site. Marine faunal procurement was most likely the primary focus and took place in a variety of habitats. Dogs were bred for meat and were probably eaten during the winter "nortes," and during the months in which a great amount of agricultural work was done. Deer and other animals, such as peccary, pumas, jaguars and smaller mammals were hunted as well. During

2479-404: The first temple stood alone, the second temple forms part of a triadic pattern followed by its successors at Cerros. This triadic pattern was elevated on a large platform and consisted of a main temple, flanked by two smaller buildings. Construction of this structure began somewhere around 50BC and all additional modifications were completed somewhere between 50 and 60 years later. At 16 meters above

2546-446: The level of the surrounding surface, its height allowed the king more privacy to hold ceremonies, which could only be viewed by a select few. Schele and Freidel postulate that the existence of such a pyramid, with its differentiated viewing spaces, indicates a high degree of social stratification among the people of Cerros. This triadic plan was a hallmark at major Preclassic centers and it appears that by emulating this architectural plan,

2613-519: The masks. He now feels that the lower panels represent the bundled bones and funerary masks of the Maize God and his twin brother. Also in this new interpretation, the upper masks are meant to represent the gods Itzamnaaj , the God of Creation and Chaak , the God of Human Sacrifice. Together, they killed and destroyed the Maize God. It was these gods that the king impersonated when he would perform atop

2680-465: The most influential book on the Maya published in the past half-century." She also began taking an interest in the culture of the contemporary Maya. For a decade beginning 1988, she organized 13 workshops, along with Nikolai Grube and Frederico Fahsen , on hieroglyphic writing for them in Guatemala and Mexico . Michael D. Coe claims that "Linda's most important contribution to Maya scholarship"

2747-628: The next two years there. Still attending graduate school, Schele founded the Maya Hieroglyphic Workshop in Texas in 1977 which consisted of 21 consecutive seminars concerning Maya hieroglyphic writing and introduced more people intrigued by the Maya field than many other books from that time that were considered "popular". Twenty years later, the workshop expanded into what is known as the Maya Meetings at Texas, and includes

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2814-427: The original research, in order to establish a tighter chronological sequence. The northernmost structural complex, located at the edge of Chetumal Bay, is referred to as Structure 5C-2nd, which contains a modest size temple. Estimated to have been built around 50BC, the two-tiered south facing platform pyramid had wall stubs atop it for what would have been a perishable superstructure. Having the entire settlement facing

2881-637: The platform's stepped walls which flank either side of the stairway depicting the forces of the cosmos. Linda Schele and David Freidel have identified the two lower masks as representations of The Hero Twins of the Popol Vuh . The four masks have been interpreted as follows: Their positions are meant to represent the path that the Sun and Venus follow throughout the sky. In 2005, in his piece The Creation Mountains: Structure 5C-2nd and Late Preclassic Kingship, David Freidel offers yet another interpretation of

2948-443: The rulers of Cerros had embraced a further means of reinforcing a basic cosmological principle underlying their power. This temple was probably constructed upon the accession of a new king. This theory is supported by the excavation of a burial cache beneath the structure 6B, which held objects believed to have belonged to the former ruler, including his Jester God diadem . Taking its present form somewhere around AD 1, Structure 4

3015-477: The samples that were taken at the site. A small number of remains of beans and squash pollen were also found. Arboriculture was another important part of the Maya diet. Nance tree ( Byrsonima crassifolia ) seeds were found in about 40% of the samples taken. Cocoyol palm ( Acrocomia mexicana ) fruit seeds, Ziricote ( Cordia dodecandra ) and Huano ( Sabal spp.) seeds were common as well. A substantial amount of faunal remains have been recovered throughout

3082-463: The site was turned over to the government of Belize as promised. In 1974 Freidel and his team uncovered evidence which suggested that the site was of the Late Preclassic period. In 1975, when a dedicatory offering cache was uncovered at Structure 6, further evidence was provided that Cerros was indeed a Late Preclassic site. Throughout the 1970s, research was allowed to continue, funded by

3149-461: The site, including various types of marine life, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals (both wild and domesticated). The location of the bones of these animals points to the social stratification that was present among the inhabitants of the site. In the areas attributed as residential places for commoners, faunal remains were few, and were almost uniformly of smaller animals. Conversely, the quantity and size of animal remains, in areas attributed to

3216-698: The site. Archaeological work at Cerros first began around 1973 when the site was purchased by the Metroplex Corporation of Dallas , who intended to build a tourist resort around the ancient Maya ceremonial center, and to eventually donate the archaeological site to the government of Belize to create a national park. They contacted Ira R. Abrams, who was teaching in Dallas in the Anthropology Department of Southern Methodist University (SMU), and had extensive experience working with

3283-405: The site. It is thought that these canals were used to store water and irrigate nearby field systems during the dry season. One such field lies west of the Structure 50 ballcourt and was located just inside the boundary of the main canal, which surrounded the community. Inhabitants made use of the main canal, which was constructed during the C'oh Phase (200-50 BC) for crop irrigation year round. During

3350-586: The slopes of a La Quemada . The materials used here include stone slab and clay. The most important structures are: The Hall of Columns, The Ball Court, The Votive Pyramid, and The Palace and the Barracks. On the most elevated part of the hill is The Fortress. This is composed of a small pyramid and a platform, encircled by a wall that is more than 800m long and up to six feet high. La Quemada was occupied from 800 to 1200. Their founders and occupants have not been identified with certainty but probably belonged to either

3417-425: The south allowed the whole community the ability to witness rituals on its staircase. In Maya cosmology, north is associated with the direction of the sky, where the celestial gods hold domain, while the south is the direction of the underworld. This placement associated the primary temple both physically and symbolically with the celestial domain. Of importance are four huge painted plaster mask reliefs placed against

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3484-511: The southernmost point. As kings died, others came along and new temples were constructed in their honor. The last of the substantial constructions at the site (Str. 3A-1st) occurred around AD 100, and many of the other structures appear to have been abandoned before then. During the Protoclassic, Cerros ceased to function as a locus of elitist activity but continued as a location for mundane domestic activity. From then on, any new construction

3551-476: The state of Mexico is one of the best preserved five-tier pyramids in Mesoamerican civilization. The ground plan of the site has two pyramids, Pyramid B and Pyramid C. The Toltec empire lasted from around 700 to 1100. Although the origin of the Toltec Empire is a mystery, they are said to have migrated Mexico's northern plateau until they set up their empire's capital in central Mexico, called Tula, which

3618-480: The structure. The structure also contains four large postholes, which once were used for the placing of sacred trees, which were called world trees. The king utilized the rear area of the temple to perform private ceremonies such as fasting, bloodletting and genital perforation. The second temple known as Structure 6 is larger and located in front of Structure 5C-2nd on the west side of the north–south axis. Like Structure 5C-2nd, Structure 6 faces south however while

3685-430: The substantial constructions. This structure was built directly south of Structure 4, returning to the original sacred north–south axis and earlier south-facing orientation. This temple was carelessly constructed and did not contain a burial cache signaling a decline in power of the rulers at Cerros. Structure 3A was most likely commissioned by the last of the rulers at Cerros during the Late Preclassic period. Structure 61

3752-503: The two co-authored the catalog to the exhibition, which was published under the title "The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art". The exhibition spoke of an obsession with royal descent, of incessant warfare, and of bloody sacrifice and self-mutilation which was inconsistent with the models proposed by previous generations of Mayanists. According to Michael D. Coe , the catalog presented by Schele and Miller "might as well stand as

3819-443: The walls, and on the sculptures contained within. The Aztecs dominated central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Their capital was Tenochtitlan on the shore of Lake Texcoco – the site of modern-day Mexico City . They were related to the preceding cultures in the basin of Mexico such as the culture of Teotihuacan whose building style they adopted and adapted. Sites involving Aztec pyramids include: The Maya are

3886-524: The world by volume is the Great Pyramid of Cholula , in the east-central Mexican state of Puebla . The builders of certain classic Mesoamerican pyramids have decorated them copiously with stories about the Hero Twins , the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl , Mesoamerican creation myths , ritualistic sacrifice, etc. written in the form of Maya script on the rises of the steps of the pyramids, on

3953-486: Was a pre-columbian culture located in the modern day Mexican state of Michoacán . The region is currently inhabited by the modern descendants of the Purépecha . Purépechan architecture is noted for T-shaped step pyramids known as yácatas . The Teotihuacan civilization, which flourished from around 300 BCE to 500 CE, at its greatest extent included most of Mesoamerica. Teotihuacano culture collapsed around 550 and

4020-628: Was active in historic preservation at Historic Rock Castle in the 1980s. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Linda Schele began taking commercial art courses at the University of Cincinnati in 1960 and graduated in Education and Art in 1964. With an increasing interest in literature, she spent another four years in Cincinnati's graduate program and obtained her master's degree in Art in 1968. She married

4087-505: Was an expert in the field of Maya epigraphy and iconography . She played a central role in the decoding of much of the Maya script . She produced a massive volume of drawings of stelae and inscriptions , which, following her wishes, are free for use to scholars . In 1978, she founded the annual Maya Meetings at The University of Texas at Austin . She was from Hendersonville, TN , a northern suburb of Nashville. Her mother Ruby Richmond

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4154-753: Was awarded the Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award of the College Art Association for the best exhibition catalogue of 1986. She was awarded diplomas of recognition of the Museo Popol Vuh and the Universidad Francisco Marroquin by the government of Guatemala in March 1998. The Texas Notes were informal reports produced by Linda Schele and others between 1990 and 1997 to allow for the quick dissemination of results in

4221-422: Was built by the same ruler as Structure 6 and was located opposite the second temple on the east side of the newly established east–west axis at Cerros. This temple was to become the largest at Cerros. The change of orientation with this new temple, facing east, signaled an additional association between temple and ruler, the reborn rising sun. This structure was also meant to be the king's funerary shrine, however it

4288-521: Was followed by several large city-states such as Xochicalco (whose inhabitants were probably of Matlatzinca ethnicity), Cholula (whose inhabitants were probably Oto-Manguean ), and later the ceremonial site of Tula (which has traditionally been claimed to have been built by Toltecs but which now is thought to have been founded by the Huastec culture). The site called Tula , the Toltec capital, in

4355-590: Was named after a story of a legendary priest, also named Quetzalcoatl who was exiled from Tula around the year 1000. He is said to have ended warfare between Mayan city states and after that the Toltecs started worshiping Quetzalcoatl. The best known Classic Veracruz pyramid, the Pyramid of Niches in El Tajín , is smaller than those of their neighbors and successors but more intricate. The Zapotecs were one of

4422-485: Was never used for reasons unknown as the chamber was empty upon excavation. This great temple marks another change as it faces westward and was built to the south of the original north precinct. It is a triadic structure with three separate temple platforms on top of a greater pyramid and considered one of the clearest expressions of the Preclassic triadic plan at Cerros. The small, central platform, which faces west,

4489-465: Was probably limited to the outer residential area, as the population began to decline severely. Apart from a small occupation at the end of the Late Classic period as a village community, Cerros has been abandoned since AD 400. This once glorious site was left for ruin and remained virtually unnoticed until Thomas Gann made reference to "lookout" mounds along the coast in 1900, drawing interest to

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