19th European Maya Conference: Bratislava, Slovakia -Maya Cosmology: Terrestrial and Celestial Landscapes

Maya Cosmology:
Terrestrial and Celestial Landscapes

17 - 22 November 2014

The 19th European Maya Conference in 2014 is organized and hosted by the Comenius University in Bratislava, the Slovak Archaeological and Historical Institute (SAHI), the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, and the University of Economics in Bratislava.

It will be held from 17th to the 22nd of November. A three-and-a-half-day Workshop (17th-20th of Nov.) will precede a two-day Symposium (21th-22nd of Nov.). All parts of the program will take place in Bratislava, in buildings of Comenius University and the Faculty of Arts (at adjacent addresses, including: Šafárikovo námestie 1, Gondova 2 and Štúrova 9), Slovak University of Technology (Radlinského 11) and University of Economics (Konventná 1).

Maya Cosmology: Terrestrial and Celestial Landscapes

The main topic of the EMC focuses on Maya cosmology in the wider sense: Maya perception of space and of the cosmos and their reflections in archaeological and epigraphic sources as well as in colonial and contemporary ethnographical documents. Astronomically oriented objects and structures used for astronomical observations will also be given attention. Another key point involves models of Maya urbanism and their connection with the architectonic configuration of space and the symbolic parallels between Maya macrocosms and microcosms as well as vertical and horizontal arrangements of space, including the underworld of caves, terrestrial and celestial realms of universe and mediatory elements, such as trees, mountains and artificial structures. The main topic includes the conceptualization of space by its mythological, ritual and eschatological aspects. Newest information, critical reinterpretations of older theories based on new research and innovative methodological approaches will be given preference.

Cosmología maya: paisaje terrestre y paisaje celestial

El simposio se enfocará en el tema de la cosmología maya en un sentido muy amplio: la percepción maya del espacio, la visión del cosmos y su reflejo tanto en las fuentes arqueológicas y epigráficas como en los documentos etnográficos coloniales y contemporáneos. También se prestará atención a los objetos orientados astronómicamente y estructuras utilizadas para las observaciones astronómicas. Un otro punto de enfoque son los modelos del urbanismo maya relacionados con la configuración arquitectónica de espacios, con la revisión del paralelismo simbólico entre el microcosmos y el macrocosmos maya o entre la distribución vertical y horizontal de espacios incluyendo el inframundo, las cuevas, los niveles terrestres y celestiales del universo junto con los elementos mediadores como los árboles, montañas y estructuras artificiales. El tema principal incluirá los aspectos mitológicos, calendáricos, rituales y escatológicos de la conceptualización del espacio. Se dará preferencia a la información más novedosa, a las reinterpretaciones críticas de las teorías más antiguas basadas en las investigaciones recientes y a los procedimientos metodológicos innovadores.

List of speakers (in alphabetical order):

• Dmitri Beliaev & Albert Davletshin (Russian State University for the Humanities)
  A Stairway to Heaven for the King: Royal Palanquins in Classic Maya Text and Image
• Guillermo Bernal (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)
  Palenque: Imágenes y Palabras del Reino de este Mundo
• Edwin Braakhuis (Utrecht University)
  Watery underworld or realm of the rain deities: The aquatic environment of the Tonsured Maize God
• James Brady (California State University)
  The Translation of a Maya Cosmogram onto an Uncooperative Terrestrial Landscape
• Oswaldo Chinchilla (Yale University)
  Landscapes of Creation: An Interpretation of Mesoamerican E-Groups
• John F. Chuchiak (Missouri State University)
  Caves of Life and Caves of Death: Colonial Yucatec Maya Rituals and Offerings in Caves and Cenotes, 1540-1750
• James Fitzsimmons (Middlebury College)
  Searching for the Classic Maya "Upperworld": A View from Epigraphy, Architecture and Material Culture
• Nikolai Grube (University of Bonn)
  Hunting in the Forest of Kings
• Kathryn Marie Hudson (University at Buffalo) & Mallory Matsumoto (University of Bonn) & John Henderson (Cornell University)
  Up, Down and All Around: Verticality as Demarcative Practice in the Construction of Copan's Historical Landscape
• Jan Kapusta (Charles University Prague)
  Pilgrimage and Living Mountains among the Contemporary Highland Maya
• Jared Katz (University of California at Riverside)
  A Blustery Melody: An Analysis of the Classic Maya's use of Music as a Mediatory Art Form
• Milan Kováč, Jakub Špoták, Tomáš Drápela (Comenius University), Tibor Lieskovský (Slovak University of Technology) & Vladimír Karlovský (Observatory and Planetarium M.R. Štefánik)
  Skywatchers from Uaxactun: New Perspectives on Astronomical Significance of Pre-Classic Architectural Alignments
• Jesper Nielsen (University of Copenhagen)
  How the Hell? The Colonial Demonization of the Maya Underworld
• Frauke Sachse (University of Bonn)
  Worldviews in Dialogue: Precolumbian Cosmologies in the Context of Early Colonial Christianisation in Highland Guatemala
• Ivan Šprajc (Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts)
  Lunar Orientations in Maya Architecture
• Karl Taube (University of California at Riverside)
  Centering the World: Ancient Maya Temples and the Creation of Sacred Space
• Rhonda Taube (Riverside City College)
  Bound Place and Segmented Time: The Function and Meaning of Space in Contemporary K'iche' Maya Rituals
• Fátima Tec Pool (Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán)
  Venerar el inframundo. Tráfico y deposición ritual de cerámica en las cuevas mayas (del preclásico al clásico terminal)
• Rogelio Valencia Rivera (Universidad Veracruzana)
  Maíz y atole son su trono: K'awiil y la Montaña de Sustento
• Érik Velásquez (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) & Vera Tiesler (Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán)
  El anecúmeno del ecúmeno: la cabeza como locus animico en el cosmos maya del Clásico y sus insignias fisicas
• Lorraine Williams-Beck (Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán)
  The Center as Cosmos in pre-Hispanic and Early Colonial period Campeche
• Héctor Xol Choc (Universidad Rafael Landívar)
  Loq'laj choxaal loq'laj ch'och' - Cielo sagrado tierra sagrada. El uso y contexto de difrasismos relacionados con la tierra y cielo en los idiomas mayas de Tierras Altas