Incoherent internationalism: Mayoid elements in the art of South-Central Veracruz

Summary

During the Epiclassic period, several discrete iconographic motifs and technical qualities were adopted by peoples of South-Central Veracruz that have close affinities to art of the greater Maya area. For example, some Rio Blanco modelled-carved bowls mimic the iconography of Tiquisate wares of Escuintla, Guatemala. Nopiloa figurines bare well-known ties to figurines from Campeche, Mexico. Apparently indicating an alternate direction of artistic influence, decorative motifs common on polychrome plates from the Las Tuxtlas region of Veracruz were incorporated into plates of Maya manufacture. It will be shown that such artistic relationships are not indices of some unified, emergent world religion (Ringle, Gallareta Negrón, and Bey 1998) nor components of a broadly-shared, political-ideological system (López Austin and López Luján 2000). Instead, they seem intensely local and particular. This paper will posit that such cases of apparently disjunctive, long-distance copying or emulation must also be taken into account when considering the nature of multi-culturalism and interaction during the Epiclassic period.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Reconsidering the "Epic" in the Mesoamerican Epiclassic Period Part 2: Interregional Interactions   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

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