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Informationen zum Autor By Carolyn E. Tate Klappentext This groundbreaking study of gestational imagery on ancient Olmec monuments and objects brings to light Mesoamerica's earliest creation narrative and traces its evolution into one of the enduring themes of Mesoamerican ritual life and art. Zusammenfassung This groundbreaking study of gestational imagery on ancient Olmec monuments and objects brings to light Mesoamerica’s earliest creation narrative and traces its evolution into one of the enduring themes of Mesoamerican ritual life and art. Inhaltsverzeichnis PrefaceAcknowledgmentsChapter 1. Rediscovering Women and Gestation in Olmec Visual Culture A Cradle of CivilizationMesoamerica and Its Visual CultureEarly Interpretations of the First Known Olmec SculpturesNew Questions in Olmec StudiesIs Gender or Gestation the Compelling Issue?How the Book Develops: Content and MethodologiesChapter 2. The Tale of the Were-Jaguar The Birth of the Were-JaguarOne Were-Jaguar or Many Deities?The First Attempt to Slay the Were-JaguarThe Were-Jaguar as a Shamanic Alter EgoMonstrous Congenital AnomaliesPantheons of Deities or Symbols of Vital Forces?Shamanism in an Ecological ContextThe Rebirth of the Maize DeitySigns of LifeChapter 3. The Sowing and Dawning of the Human-Maize Seed Images of the UnbornThe Formative Mesoamerican Embryo and Its Matrix of AssociationsEthnographic AnalogiesHollow BabiesA Contemporary Baby in a Boat: NiñopaConclusions about Embryos, Fetuses, and BabiesChapter 4. Tracking Gender, Gestation, and Narrativity Through the Early Formative The Archaic Period, 10,000 to 2000 BC: The Beginning of Visual SymbolsThe Initial Formative, circa 1900 to 1400 BC Maize Technology I: FermentationMaize Technology II: NixtamalizationThe Early Formative, 1400–900 BCFluctuations in Visual Culture During the Initial and Early Formative PeriodsChapter 5. La Venta's Buried Offerings: Women and Other Revelations Topography and Sources of StoneDiscovery, Excavation, and Chronology of La VentaSurveying La Venta's Visual Culture Through TimeWomen and the Unborn Return to ProminenceChapter 6. 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 EntitiesLa Venta's Mosaic PavementsOfferings Inseminating the Flowering EarthMassive Offerings: Contained WaterMixe Healers, Midwives, and Rituals, and Their Olmec AntecedentsFemale ShamansThe Mosaic Pavements as Conventionalized SymbolsPolitics, Protection, and HealingChapter 7. A Processional Visual Narrative at La Venta Previous Investigations of Olmec Creation NarrativesPatterns for the Distribution of Monumental SculpturesA Processional Visual NarrativeChapter 8. La Venta's Creation and Origins Narrative An Approach to Visual Narratives from Preliterate SocietiesThe Narrative StationsStation One: A Womb with Three FetusesStation Two: A Quincunx of ThronesStation Three: The Dawning of Human-MaizeStation Four: The Female Sources of Life: Earth and WaterStation Five: The Bodiless HeadsStation Six: The Phallic ColumnInserting Politics into the Creation and Origins NarrativeAlternative Reading OrdersConclusions and QuestionsChapter 9. A Scattering of Seeds Assessing Arguments for Some Major PointsModes of CommunicationWhere Did Olmec Ideas Go?Asking and Answering the Fundamental QuestionsAppendix 1. La Venta Monuments by FormatAppendix 2. Comparison of Mesoamerican Creation and Origins NarrativesAppendix 3. Shape-Shifters and Werewolves to Were-Jaguars: A Brief ChronologyNotesBibliographyIndex...
