| Description |
1 online resource (xvii, 339 pages) : illustrations, plans |
| Series |
The William and Bettye Nowlin series in art, history, and culture of the western hemisphere |
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William & Bettye Nowlin series in art, history, and culture of the Western Hemisphere.
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| Contents |
Rediscovering women and gestation in Olmec visual culture. A cradle of civilization ; Mesoamerica and its visual culture ; Early interpretations of the first known Olmec sculptures ; New questions in Olmec studies ; Is gender or gestation the compelling issue? ; How the book develops : content and methodologies -- The tale of the were-jaguar. The birth of the were-jaguar ; One were-jaguar or many deities? ; The first attempt to slay the were-jaguar ; The were-jaguar as a shamanic alter ego ; Monstrous congenital anomalies ; Pantheons of deities or symbols of vital forces? ; Shamanism in an ecological context ; The rebirth of the maize deity ; Signs of life -- The sowing and dawning of the human-maize seed. Images of the unborn ; The formative Mesoamerican embryo and its matrix of associations ; Ethnographic analogies ; Hollow babies ; A contemporary baby in a boat : Niñopa ; Conclusions about embryos, fetuses, and babies -- Tracking gender, gestation, and narrativity through the early formative. The archaic period, 10,000 to 2000 BC : the beginning of visual symbols ; The initial formative, circa 1900 to 1400 BC ; The early formative, circa 1400-900 BC ; Fluctuations in visual culture during the initial and early formative periods ; Discussion : Maize technology. 1, Fermentation ; Discussion : Maize technology. 2, Nixtamalization -- La Venta's buried offerings : women and other revelations. Topography and sources of stone ; Discovery, excavation, and chronology of La Venta ; Surveying La Venta's visual culture through time ; Women and the unborn return to prominence -- Female water and earth supernaturals : the massive offerings, mosaic pavements, and Mixe "work of the earth". Why construct massive offerings? ; Mixe beliefs in earth, water, and thunder supernormal entities ; La Venta's mosaic pavements ; Offerings inseminating the flowering earth ; Massive offerings : contained water ; Mixe healers, midwives, and rituals, and their Olmec antecedents ; Female shamans ; The mosaic pavements as conventionalized symbols ; Politics, protection, and healing -- A processional visual narrative at La Venta. Previous investigations of Olmec creation narratives ; Patterns for the distribution of monumental sculptures ; A processional visual narrative -- La Venta's creation and origins narrative. An approach to visual narratives from preliterate societies ; The narrative stations (Station one: A womb with three fetuses ; Station two: A quincunx of thrones ; Station three: The dawning of human-maize ; Station four: The female sources of life : earth and water ; Station five: The bodiless heads ; Station six: The phallic column) ; Inserting politics into the creation and origins narrative ; Alternative reading orders ; Conclusions and questions -- A scattering of seeds. Assessing arguments for some major points ; Modes of communication ; Where did Olmec ideas go? ; Asking and answering the fundamental questions -- Appendix 1. La Venta monuments by format -- Appendix 2. Comparison of Mesoamerican creation and origins narratives -- Appendix 3. Shape-shifters and werewolves to were-jaguars : a brief chronology |
| Summary |
Annotation Recently, scholars of Olmec visual culture have identified symbols for umbilical cords, bundles, and cave-wombs, as well as a significant number of women portrayed on monuments and as figurines. In this study, Carolyn Tate demonstrates that these subjects were part of a major emphasis on gestational imagery in Formative Period Mesoamerica |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
English |
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Print version record |
| Subject |
Olmec art.
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Olmec sculpture.
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Olmec mythology.
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Indian women in art.
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ART -- American -- General.
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SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Archaeology.
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Indian women in art
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Olmec art
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Olmec mythology
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Olmec sculpture
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| SUBJECT |
La Venta Site (Mexico) http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh96003773
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| Subject |
Mexico -- La Venta Site
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| LC no. |
2011021407 |
| ISBN |
9780292735491 |
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0292735499 |
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