mesoamerica - Stanford Continuing Studies

ARC 33
Dr. Patrick Hunt
http://www.patrickhunt.net Stanford University CSP
Mesoamerica:
Cradles of Civilization III
Bonampak Maya Fresco Mural of Lords and Captives, 790 CE, Structure 1, Chiapas, Mexico
Course Requirements:
Students attend lectures and complete assigned readings from assigned or recommended texts,
and supplemental texts as provided. If taken for credit (as MLA or prospective students must
fulfill), a brief 10 page critical paper will be completed with topic having instructor consent.
Required Course Texts:
Mary Ellen Miller. The Art of Mesoamerica: from Olmec to Aztec. Thames & Hudson, 1991 repr.
Kim MacQuarrie. The Last Days of the Incas. Simon & Schuster, 2007.
Patrick Hunt. Ten Discoveries That Rewrote History, Penguin/Plume 2007.
(Chapter 5 on Machu Picchu – note: if you have been in the prior two quarters, you will already
have this book).
(Supplemental: Patrick Hunt, “Olmec Stone Sculpture: Selection Criteria for Basalt”,
The Archaeology of Geological Catastrophes, Geological Society of London 2000. Other readings
provided, as linked below in course sessions, including ethnographic and historic sources; e.g.,
Bartolomé de las Casas, El Inca Garcilaso, Guaman Poma)
Tezcatlipoca Mosaic Mask Skull, 15th-16th c., British Museum
Course Outline:
Week 1
Introduction and The Olmecs
Reading: Miller, 9-37, Introduction and Olmecs, chs. 1-2;
P. N. Hunt. “Olmec Stone Scupture: Selection Criteria for Basalt”
The Archaeology of Geological Catastrophes. Lyell Collection,
Geology Society of London, 2000, 345-54. (To be provided)
Week 2 Teotihuacan and its Corollaries
Reading: Miller, 38-82; Angela M. H. Schuster, “New Tomb at Teotihuacan,”
Archaeology Magazine 1998, (http://archive.archaeology.org/online/features/mexico/) ;
Week 3 Maya I: Early Classic
Reading: Miller, 103-22; Zach Zorich, “The Man Under the Jaguar Mountain”
Archaeology Magazine 62.5 (2009) (http://archive.archaeology.org/0909/maya_copan/)
Week 4
Maya II: Late Classic to Mayapan, Toltec and Chichen Itza
Reading: Miller, 123-96; Kelly Hearn, “Palenque Prized for Unlocking Maya Mysteries”,
National Geographic 2011(http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/archaeology/palenque/)
Andene Terraces of Machu Picchu
Week 5
Aztec and Mexica Culture
Reading: Miller, 197-230; Robert Draper, “Unburying the Aztec,” National Geographic
Nov. 2010 (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/11/greatest-aztec/draper-text/1)
Week 6
Conquest of Mexico by the Spanish and its Aftermath
Reading: “Letter of Hernan Cortes to Charles V, 1520”
(http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/1520cortes.asp) ;
Bartolomé de las Casas, “A Short Account on the Destruction of the Indies, 1542”
(http://web.archive.org/web/19980116133031/http://pluto.clinch.edu/history/wciv2/civ2ref/casas.htm) ;
Week 7
Chavin, Paracas, Nazca and Moche Cultures
Reading: MacQuarrie, 7-54; “Tombs of the Lords of Sipan” Current World Archaeology 35 (2009)
(http://www.world-archaeology.com/features/tombs-of-the-lords-of-sipan/) ;
Donald Proulx, “The Nasca Culture: An Introduction” Nasca: Geheimnisvolle Zeichen im Alten
Peru, Zurich Museum Rietberg, 1999, ed. 2007, 59-77
(http://people.umass.edu/proulx/online_pubs/Nasca_Overview_Zurich.pdf) ;
John Rick at Chavin de Huantar: Tyler Bridges, “What Lies Beneath” Stanford Magazine
Jan/Feb 2005 (http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=34573)
Week 8
Tiwanaku, Wari, Chimu Cultures
Reading: MacQuarrie, 55-137; Alan Kolata, “The technology and organization of agricultural
production in the Tiwanaku State”, Latin American Antiquity 2.2 (1991) 99-125
(http://anthropology.uchicago.edu/docs/Technology_Organization1.pdf) ;
Week 9
Rise and Fall of the Inca Empire
Reading: MacQuarrie, 138-229; Guaman Poma, New Chronicle 1615 excerpt,
“Conquest of Peru” (D. Frye tr.)
(http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dfrye/guaman.htm) ;
Jean-Pierre Protzen “Inca Stonemasonry” Scientific American 254.2 Feb., 1986, 80-8.
Week 10
Precolumbian Archaeology at the De Young Museum, FAMSF
Reading: P. Hunt, Ten Discoveries That Rewrote History, chapter 5, Machu Picchu
Note: instructor reserves right to amend schedule