Looking Beyond Teotihuacan in the Art and Architecture of Early Classic Kaminaljuyu

Summary

This paper examines the foreign connections evidenced by the material record of Early Classic Kaminaljuyu. The author discusses the ways in which public art, architecture, and elite funerary contexts evolved at Kaminaljuyu during this time, evaluating how these changing styles may have tied into evolving relationships with distant sites and regions such as Teotihuacan, Veracruz, and the Maya lowlands. The Early Classic relationship between Kaminaljuyu and Teotihuacan has, in many ways, eclipsed the myriad other relationships evidenced by Kaminaljuyu’s material record during this time. The singular scholarly focus on the interaction between these two sites has created the impression that Early Classic Kaminaljuyu had a single, monolithic approach to foreign style and a single, primary foreign relationship. Stepping back to consider this time period more holistically, however, a pattern emerges instead of diachronic change and synchronic variation, with Kaminaljuyu laying claim to evolving sets of relationships with numerous foreign powers through time. In sum, this paper seeks to both dig deeper into the nature of the Early Classic relationship between Kaminaljuyu and Teotihuacan as well as give a stronger voice to other connections encountered in the art and architecture of Early Classic Kaminaljuyu.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20565