My thesis provides a comparative analysis of early cilivilisations through archaeological sources. The two selected cases are Mycenaean Greece and the Late Preclassic lowland Maya. Specifically the... Show moreMy thesis provides a comparative analysis of early cilivilisations through archaeological sources. The two selected cases are Mycenaean Greece and the Late Preclassic lowland Maya. Specifically the study focuses on art and its role in social life of the two cases. Major methodological reflections are included. Show less
“Xbalanque’s Marriage” examines the Sun and Moon myth of the Q’eqchi’ Mayas from the perspective of marriage alliance and hunting ideology. On the negative side, the relationship between a tapir... Show more“Xbalanque’s Marriage” examines the Sun and Moon myth of the Q’eqchi’ Mayas from the perspective of marriage alliance and hunting ideology. On the negative side, the relationship between a tapir and the old adoptive mother of Xbalanque and his older brother can be read as the denial of alliance, with the tapir symbolizing antisocial behavior and the old woman incestuous reproduction and paedophiliac cannibalism. The older brother’s abjuration of women has the effect of substituting the transient male brotherhood of hunting bands for a lasting marriage alliance. By contrast, the narrative’s core consists of a tale in which the war chief Xbalanque becomes a hummingbird lover to abduct and marry the daughter of the paramount mountain deity. A central concern of this ‘Hummingbird tale’, and of its many versions elsewhere in Guatemala and Belize, is the ritual alliance to the earth and the acquisition of its products, as personified by the mountain’s daughter. The Q’eqchi’ narrative shows how the dissolution of this alliance sets free the forces of destruction, whereas its reestablishment asserts alliance as a life-giving, cosmic force. Show less
