GUATEMALA

 

III Simposio de Arqueologia Guatemalteca, (1989), Museo Nacional de Arqueologia y Ethnologia, 1993, 409 informative pages packed with the latest archaeological discoveries from Guatemala. Includes Richard Hansen on Nakbe (key pre-Classic sister-city of El Mirador), Arthur Demarest, Erick Ponciano, Juan Antonio Valdes and other leading archaeologists.

 

MURPHY, Francis, Dragon mask temples in Central Yucatan (1952-1972) , 82 large format pages, hardcover, published in Hong Kong with stunningly beautiful full page photographs of Chenes and Rio Bec palaces and temples. Covers Hochob, Tabasqueno, Dzibilnocac, Chicanna, Hormiguero, Santa Rosa Xtampak as well as CHENES temples at Uxmal and Copan. This rare book just got rarer since the warehouse storing them all (in Hong Kong) was destroyed. DRAGON MASKS is the most attractive book on RIO BEC Maya architecture of Campeche yet printed.

 

OHI, Kuniaki et al., KAMINALJUYU - Excavation Research, 1994, Set of 2 volumes, boxed w/history & culture, (texts in Spanish and Japanese) hundreds of B&W photos of artifacts and site excavations as well as illustrations. Foldouts of maps, chronologies of architecture, designs of crafts and cultures. 762 p.

 

PARSONS, Lee, BILBAO, GUATEMALA, Vol. II (Vol. I is not available, is totally separate, and is not necessary to understand the material of Vol. II). This volume (II) shows all the stone sculptures of the Pipil Cotzumalhuapa civilization of piedmont Guatemala, plus a thorough description; includes all the stelae which depict ballplayers, 274 p.

 

Primer Simposio Mundial Sobre Epigrafia Maya dedicado al Dr. Heinrich Berlin y a la Memoria de Tatiana Proskouriakoff 1909-1985 , with articles by Clemency Coggins, Christopher Jones on decipherment of inscriptions at Tikal as well as the only published illustrations of the just discovered incredible early architectural facade masks of Uaxactun much nicer sculpture than the famous E- VII-sub! Includes complete epigraphy and iconography of the remarkable Teotihuacan style portable ballcourt marker recently found at Tikal Early with lots of glyphs. Only 500 copies ever printed,

 

PROSKOURIAKOFF, Tatiana, A study of classic Maya sculpture (Carnegie Institution of Washington. Publication) , Carnegie Institution of Washington, Pub. 593, original edition, not the reprint with fuzzy 2nd-hand illustrations. Paper version (original Carnegie edition still in CIW binding), oxidized cover, rare edition of the most important reference book on Maya sculpture ever published.

 

SERRA PUCHE, Mari Carmen and Carlos NAVARRETE C., Ensayos de alfareria prehispanica e historica de Mesoamerica: Homenaje a Eduardo Noguera Auza (Arqueologia) (Spanish Edition) , UNAM, 308 p., features the most complete presentation of Early Classic TIKAL ceramics (Juan Pedro Laporte) plus key reports on Teotihuacan and related pottery not found in any other monograph. Lots of drawings of Tikal Maya Tzakol pottery.

 

VALDES, Juan Antonio, Federico FAHSEN, Hector ESCOBEDO, OBRAS MAESTRAS DEL MUSEO DE TIKAL, lots of color, including polychrome plates never before published, 75 p.

 

VILLACORTA & VILLACORTA, Codices Mayas Reproducidos Y Desarollado , the three main Maya codices (Paris, Madrid, and Dresden), in handsome line drawings. Most epigraphers use these drawings rather than the color facsimiles, since the details of the gods and glyphs are so much clearer. We have the actual Guatemalan printing, not a fuzzy reprint or fuzzy xerox (where it is hard to see the iconographic details). This book is long out of print, even in Guatemala.

 

WALTERS, Gary Rex, The San Agustin Acasaguastlan Archaeological Project: Report on the 1979 field season (Museum brief) . Describes artifacts found at jade workshops and in burial chambers. 39 p, 5 maps, 34 illustrations,

 

YASUGI, Yoshiho (commentary), ORNAMENTS OF THE WORLD, VOL. 5, The Continent of America, native art of the Americas, 408 photographs & drawings, has 51 color and 38 B&W photos of Maya ceramics, not counting Maya murals, architecture, sculpture, plus non-Maya cultures of America. The Guatemalan textiles are especially handsomely rendered in color which only the Japanese can so stunningly print. There are hieroglyphic inscriptions shown that are not published in any other book. Thus for epigraphers this book is a useful reference to allow keeping up to date with what is available to study from the F.L.A.A.R. Photo Archive. More of Hellmuth's Maya photographs are here than in any other book available this decade. Only a few of these ancient Maya ceramics have been published elsewhere. In other words, the majority of these pictures are not available in any other book and only about 7% of the Maya art in this book is found in books by Coe, Robicsek, or even Kerr.

 

YOSUGI, Yoshiho, MAYA TEJIENDO LA VIDA: Los Mayas de Hoy, 343 supurb color photographs, 12 B&W photos, 50 maps & line drawings (of looms, etc.) Covers Mexico and all of Guatemala, a double-page map has an addtional 110 photographs of color textiles. Sold out in Japan - not available anywhere else in USA or Europe. Forget the Japanese text - what you want (and need) are all these photographs. This book is a visual delight. 160 p.

 

 

New page format posted October 29, 2009