Contents
List of Figures
Preface: Maya Archaeology and the Popol Vuh: An Intellectual History | Michael D. Coe
1. Introduction: The Popol Vuh as a Window into the Mind of the Ancient Maya | Allen J. Christenson and Frauke Sachse
Part 1: Understanding Highland Maya Worldviews through the Mythologies of the Popol Vuh
2. “For It Is with Words That We Are Sustained”: The Popol Vuh and the Creation of the First People | Allen J. Christenson
3. Metaphors of Maize: Otherworld Conceptualizations and the Cultural Logic of Human Existence in the Popol Vuh | Frauke Sachse
4. The Saqirik (Dawn) and Foundation Rituals among the Ancient K’iche’an Peoples | Iyaxel Cojtí Ren
Part 2: The Popol Vuh in Understanding the Archaeological Record
5. Archaeological Evidence for the Preclassic Origins of the Maya Creation Story and the Resurrection of the Maize God at Cahal Pech, Belize | Jaime J. Awe
6. The Dynamics of Dynasty, Power, and Creation Myths Embedded in Architecture: A Case Study from Blue Creek, Belize | Thomas H. Guderjan and Colin Snider
7. Sacrifice of the Maize God: Re-creating Creation in the Main Chamber of Actun Tunichil Muknal, Belize | Holley Moyes and Jaime J. Awe
Part 3: Comprehending Classic Maya Art and Writing through the Myths of the Popol Vuh
8. The Transmutation of Sustenance: A Narrative of Perennial Reciprocity on Classic Maya Codex-Style Ceramics | Barbara MacLeod
9. Predatory Birds of the Popol Vuh | Karen Bassie-Sweet and Nicholas A. Hopkins
Part 4: Mythological Continuities and Change
10. The Solar and Lunar Heroes in Classic Maya Art | Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos
11. Beyond the “Myth or Politics” Debate: Reconsidering Late Preclassic Sculpture, the Principal Bird Deity, and the Popol Vuh | Julia Guernsey
12. Blowgunners and the Great Bird at Teotihuacan: Mesoamerican Myths in a Comparative Perspective | Jesper Nielsen, Karl A. Taube, Christophe Helmke, and Héctor Escobedo
Index
List of Contributors