El Tajín, an ancient Mesoamerican capital in Veracruz, Mexico, has long been admired for its stunning pyramids and ballcourts decorated with extensive sculptural programs. Yet the city's singularity as the only center in the region with such a wealth of sculpture and fine architecture has hindered attempts to place it more firmly in the context of Mesoamerican history. In Lightning Gods and Feathered Serpents, Rex Koontz undertakes the first extensive treatment of El Tajín's iconography in over thirty years, allowing us to view its imagery in the broader Mesoamerican context of rising capitals and new elites during a period of fundamental historical transformations.
Koontz focuses on three major architectural features—the Pyramid of the Niches/Central Plaza ensemble, the South Ballcourt, and the Mound of the Building Columns complex—and investigates the meanings of their sculpture and how these meanings would have been experienced by specific audiences. Koontz finds that the iconography of El Tajín reveals much about how motifs and elite rites growing out of the Classic period were transmitted to later Mesoamerican peoples as the cultures centered on Teotihuacan and the Maya became the myriad city-states of the Early Postclassic period.
By reexamining the iconography of sculptures long in the record, as well as introducing important new monuments and contexts, Lightning Gods and Feathered Serpents clearly demonstrates El Tajín's numerous iconographic connections with other areas of Mesoamerica, while also exploring its roots in an indigenous Gulf lowlands culture whose outlines are only now emerging. At the same time, it begins to uncover a largely ignored regional artistic culture of which Tajín is the crowning achievement.

Lightning Gods and Feathered Serpents: The Public Sculpture of El Tajín (The Linda Schele Series in Maya and Pre-Columbian Studies)

Arts & Photography

Koontz, Rex

History & Criticism

University of Texas Press

From the early cities in the second millennium BC to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan on the eve of the Spanish conquest, Ancient Mesoamericans created landscapes full of meaning and power in the center of their urban spaces. The sixteenth century description of Tenochtitlan by Bernal Diaz del Castillo and the archaeological remnants of Teotihuacan attest to the power and centrality of these urban configurations in Ancient Mesoamerican history. In Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica, Rex Koontz, Kathryn Reese-Taylor, and Annabeth Headrick explore the cultural logic that structured and generated these centers.Through case studies of specific urban spaces and their meanings, the authors examine the general principles by which the Ancient Mesoamericans created meaningful urban space. In a profoundly interdisciplinary exchange involving both archaeologists and art historians, this volume connects the symbolism of those landscapes, the performances that activated this symbolism, and the cultural poetics of these ensembles.

Landscape And Power In Ancient Mesoamerica

History

Reese-Taylor, Kathryn

Headrick, Annabeth

Americas

Routledge

Product Description 
A more global, flexible way to teach art history 
The History of Art: A Global View is the first major art history survey textbook -- written by a team of expert authors -- with a global narrative in mind. A chronological organization and “Seeing Connections” features help readers make cross-cultural comparisons, while brief, modular chapters (with on-page definitions) offer instructors unparalleled flexibility. You can assign more than one chapter per week for a fully global course, or skip and reorder chapters, for a more focused syllabus. 
 Book Description 
with Ebook, InQuizitive, Videos, and Student Site 
 About the Author 
Jean Robertson is Chancellor's Professor of Art History Emerita at Indiana University, Herron School of Art and Design, IUPUI, where she received three Indiana University awards for excellence in teaching. She specializes in art history and theory after 1980, viewed in a global context. She served as founding co-director of the Southern Ohio Museum and associate curator of the Columbus (Ohio) Museum of Art.\nDeborah Hutton is Professor of Art History in the Department of Art and Art History at The College of New Jersey. Her research explores art made for the Muslim courts of South Asia between the sixteenth and early twentieth centuries.\nCynthia S. Colburn is Professor of Art History at Pepperdine University where she has received two awards for excellence in teaching. Her research focuses on the art and archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean, especially the role of bodily adornment and performance in identity construction.\nÖmür Harmansah is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Illinois at Chicago. As an archaeologist and an architectural historian, Dr. Harmansah specializes in the art, architecture, and material culture of the ancient Near East.\nEric Kjellgren is a leading scholar of the arts of Oceania. Formerly curator of Oceanic Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and director of the American Museum of Asmat Art (AMAA) and Clinical Faculty in Art History at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, he has worked extensively with contemporary Indigenous Australian artists and done field research in Vanuatu.

The History of Art: A Global View: Prehistory to the Present

Sloboda, Stacey

Robertson, Jean

Colburn, Cynthia

Harmanşah, Ömür

Kjellgren, Eric

Lee, De-nin

Luttikhuizen, Henry

Palmer, Allison Lee

Blackmun Visonà, Monica

Hutton,Deborah

Thames&Hudson

The fifth revised edition of Coe's text on Mexico's ancient cultures incorporates findings from the latest archaeological research, including a revision of dates based on the use of dendrochronology in combination with radiocarbon analysis. The text describes the geography, flora, fauna, and climate of the area as an introduction to its cultures. The chapter topics proceed from the early hunters and archaic period through the preclassic period in villages and under the Olmecs and on through the Aztecs. The text is illustrated with high quality b&amp;w and some color plates. Coe is emeritus in anthropology at Yale U.; Koontz teaches art history at the U. of Houston. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs, Fifth Edition

Coe, Michael D.

"Masterly....The complexities of Mexico's ancient cultures are perceptively presented and interpreted."―Library Journal Michael D. Coe's Mexico has long been recognized as the most readable and authoritative introduction to the region's ancient civilizations. This companion to his best-selling The Maya has now been completely revised by Professor Coe and Rex Koontz. The sixth edition includes new developments in the birth of agriculture and writing, both of which were independently invented here. Fresh insights into the metropolis of Teotihuacan reveal a world of palaces and warrior cults brought down by social revolts. A spectacular new find in the center of the Aztec capital, just unearthed, gives us a privileged glimpse into the funerary rites of the most powerful monarch in North America at the time. 181 illustrations, 20 in color

Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs (Ancient Peoples and Places)

“Masterly. . . . The complexities of Mexico’s ancient cultures are perceptively presented and interpreted.” ―Library Journal Michael D. Coe’s Mexico has long been recognized as the most readable and authoritative introduction to the region’s ancient civilizations. This companion to his best-selling The Maya has now been revised by Professor Coe and Rex Koontz. The seventh edition incorporates new findings in a number of disciplines. The solution to the long-standing puzzle of the origin of maize-farming has at last been solved, and spectacular new discoveries shed light on Mexico’s earliest civilization, the Olmec culture. At the great city of Teotihuacan, recent investigations in the earliest monumental pyramid indicate the antiquity of certain sacrificial practices and the symbolism of the pyramid. Expanded information on the Huastec region of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico is included, while discoveries in the sacred precinct of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan have led to a refined understanding of the history and symbolism of this hallowed area. 182 illustrations, 20 in color

The History of Art: A Global View: Prehistory to 1500 (Volume 1)

The History of Art: A Global View: 1300 to the Present

A more global, flexible way to teach art historyThe History of Art: A Global View is the first major art history survey textbook -- written by a team of expert authors -- with a global narrative in mind. A chronological organization and “Seeing Connections” features help readers make cross-cultural comparisons, while brief, modular chapters (with on-page definitions) offer instructors unparalleled flexibility. You can assign more than one chapter per week for a fully global course, or skip and reorder chapters, for a more focused syllabus.\nBook Description\nwith Ebook, InQuizitive, Videos, and Student Site

About the Author\nMichael D. Coe is a highly respected archaeologist specializing in the Maya and rainforest civilizations. He is the author of numerous books, including The Maya, Breaking the Maya Code, and The True History of Chocolate. 
Rex Koontz teaches art history at the University of Houston and has written widely on ancient Mexican art, architecture, and aesthetics. 
Javier Urcid is the Jane’s Chair Professor of Latin American Studies at Brandeis University, where he teaches archaeology, material culture, and Mesoamerican civilizations.

Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs

Urcid, Javier

An extensive update to the authoritative introduction to Mexico’s ancient civilizations.
“Masterly. . . . The complexities of Mexico’s ancient cultures are perceptively presented and interpreted.” Library Journal
“A must for anyone interested in archaeology and history.” ―DIG
Mexico arrives in its eighth edition with a new look and the most recent discoveries. This is the story of the pre-Spanish people of Mexico, who, with their neighbors the Maya, formed some of the most complex societies north of the Andes. Revised and expanded, the book is updated with the latest developments and findings in the field and current terminology.
The new edition includes expanded coverage of Oaxaca, particularly Monte Alba´n, one of the earliest cities in Mesoamerica and the center of the Zapotec civilization. Recent research on the Olmecs and the legacy of the Maya offer a wider and more cohesive narrative of Mexico’s history. And a fully revised epilogue discusses the survival of indigenous populations in Mexico from the arrival of the Spanish through to the present day.
Mexico has long been recognized as the most readable and authoritative introduction to the region’s ancient civilizations. Featuring up-to-date research and, for the first time, full-color illustrations throughout, this book brings to life the vibrant ancient art and architecture of Mesoamerica. 200 color illustrations

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Koontz, Rex. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Koontz, Rex

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Koontz, Rex. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Lightning Gods and Feathered Serpents: The Public Sculpture of El Tajín (The Linda Schele Series in Maya and Pre-Columbian Studies)

Landscape And Power In Ancient Mesoamerica

The History of Art: A Global View: Prehistory to the Present

Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs, Fifth Edition

Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs (Ancient Peoples and Places)

Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs (Ancient Peoples and Places)

The History of Art: A Global View: Prehistory to 1500 (Volume 1)

The History of Art: A Global View: 1300 to the Present

Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs

Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs