Social Skins of the Head
Body Beliefs and Ritual in Ancient Mesoamerica and the Andes
Vera Tiesler editor María Cecilia Lozada editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:University of New Mexico Press
Published:30th Aug '18
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The meanings of ritualized head treatments among ancient Mesoamerican and Andean peoples is the subject of this book, the first overarching coverage of an important subject. Heads are sources of power that protect, impersonate, emulate sacred forces, distinguish, or acquire identity within the native world. The essays in this book examine these themes in a wide array of indigenous head treatments, including facial cosmetics and hair arrangements, permanent cranial vault and facial modifications, dental decorations, posthumous head processing, and head hunting. They offer new insights into native understandings of beauty, power, age, gender, and ethnicity. The contributors are experts from such diverse fields as skeletal biology, archaeology, aesthetics, forensics, taphonomy, and art history.
Successfully combining ethnography, archaeology, skeletal biology, and art history into a powerful and insightful exploration of ancient culture, this volume provides an essential blueprint for cross-disciplinary research."" - Gabriel D. Wrobel, editor of The Bioarchaeology of Space and Place: Ideology, Power, and Meaning in Maya Mortuary Contexts
ISBN: 9780826359636
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 1090g
288 pages