Mesoamerican architecture as a cultural symbol.
Editorial OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Mainland Spain
- Publisher OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
- ISBN13 9780195079616
- ISBN10 0195079612
- Type BOOK
- Pages 416
- Published 1999
- Bookbinding Cloth
Mesoamerican architecture as a cultural symbol.
Editorial OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Mainland Spain
Book details
In this collection, prominent scholars provide new interpretations and useful syntheses of many of the most significant Mesoamerican architectural traditions from the Preclassic to the Postclassic periods. The essays examine the built environment as a carrier of cultural meanings. The many pyramid-temples, palaces, and ballcourts comprising Mesoamerican centers were constructed in the context of hierarchical societies, and provided monumental expressions of elite authority. The design of individual buildings, as well as the layout of site plans, often embodied Mesoamerican beliefs about the structure of the cosmos, natural forces, or the numinous power of landscape forms, thus providing sanction for the sociopolitical order.