Maya kings led opulent lives and, in death, lay in spectacular tombs. This book, illustrated with over 350 photographs and graphics in full color, publishes a royal crypt found in 2010 at El Zotz, Guatemala. Covered by a temple with celestial symbols, the tomb proved unusually rich. The main body belonged to the likely founder of a dynasty in the fourth century AD. The treasure with him included effigy ceramics, jade masks, regalia, textiles, objects of decayed wood, straw mats, necklaces, and paint cakes of specular hematite. For companions he had sacrificed infants and children, some decapitated, who were then burned and placed in bowls. Above, his temple displayed stucco effigies highlighting the sun at night, conceived to be jaguar-like and powdered with stars. Built to house a dead king, the temple continued for a century or more as a dynastic memorial, visible for miles. During its heyday, red paint blazed at sunrise and sunset, a sign of daily renewal for the dead king and testimony to a powerful story of dynastic origin and survival. This volume reports in detail on the excavation of the tomb, as clarified by numerous drawings, photographs, and technical studies by renowned experts. Temple of the Night Sun stands as one of the most important and revealing accounts of royal interment in the New World.

Temple of the Night Sun: A Royal Maya Tomb at El Diablo, Guatemala

Sarah Newman

Stephen Houston

Karl Taube

Andrew Scherer

Edwin Roman

Thomas Garrison

Nicholas Carter

Alyce de Carteret

Precolumbia Mesoweb Press

Continuing in the tradition of the Maya Archaeology series from Precolumbia Mesoweb Press, this volume offers chapters by leading authorities on discoveries and research in the field of Maya archaeology. Topics include a royal tomb at Palenque, an early Maya ceremonial center at Ceibal, a hieroglyphic stairway at El Palmar recording a pilgrimage to distant Copan, and breakthrough insights into Maya divinity. The volume is accompanied by a facsimile of an authentic Maya screenfold book, the Grolier Codex. 
 Chapters include: The Text and Context of the Cuychen Vase, Macal Valley, Belize, by Christophe Helmke, Jaime J. Awe, Shawn G. Morton, and Gyles Iannone....Ajpach' Waal: The Hieroglyphic Stairway of the Guzman Group of El Palmar, Campeche, Mexico, by Kenichiro Tsukamoto and Octavio Esparza....Middle Preclassic Caches from Ceibal, Guatemala, by Takeshi Inomata and Daniela Triadan....The Funerary Complex of Temple XX: Offering and Ritual in the Early Classic Period of Palenque, by Arnoldo Gonzalez Cruz and Joshua Balcells....The Fourth Maya Codex, by Michael Coe, Mary Miller, Stephen Houston, and Karl Taube...Royal Death, Tombs, and Cosmic Landscapes: Early Classic Maya Tomb Murals from Rio Azul, Guatemala, by Mary Jane Acuña...The Old Man of the Maya Universe: A Unitary Dimension to Ancient Maya Religion, by Simon Martin.

Maya Archaeology 3: Featuring the Grolier Codex

Michael Coe

Kenichiro Tsukamoto

Mary Miller

Takeshi Inomata

Daniela Triadan

Christophe Helmke

Jaime Awe

Shawn Morton

Gyles Iannone

Octavio Esparza

Arnoldo Gonzalez

Joshua Balcells

Mary Jane Acuña

Simon, Martin

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Books by Stephen Houston