Iconicity of the Uto-Aztecans
Snake Anthropomorphy in the Great Basin, the American Southwest and Mesoamerica

By (author) Alan Philip Garfinkel,Tirtha Prasad Mukhopadhyay

ISBN13: 9781836950837

Imprint: Berghahn Books

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Published: 01/10/2025

Availability: Not yet available

Description
Uto-Aztecan iconic practices are primarily conditioned by the consciousness of the snake as a death-dealing power, and as such, an animal that displays the deepest fears and anxieties of the individual. The attempt to study a snake simulacrum thus constitutes the basic objective of this volume. A long, all-embracing iconicity of snakes and related snake motifs are evident in different cultural expressions ranging from rock art templates to other cultural artifacts like basketry, pottery, temple architecture and sculptural motifs. Uto-Aztecan iconography demonstrates a symbolic memorial order of emotional valences, as well as the negotiations with death and a belief in rebirth, just as the skin-shedding snake reptile manifests in its life cycle.
Introduction Chapter 1. Inmigrations of the First Uto-Aztecans Chapter 2. The Uto-Aztecan Homeland Chapter 3. The Primordial Snake Religion Chapter 4. How Does Prehistoric Iconicity Emerge and Function? Chapter 5. Anthropomorphism of the Uto-Aztecans, Animism, and Animalism Chapter 6. Temporal Horizons of Uto-Aztecan Iconography Chapter 7. Hunting Tool Iconography Chapter 8. The Coso Anthropomorph and its Untold Secrets and Mysteries Chapter 9. The Circular Snake of Time Chapter 10. Outlier Indices in Aztec Icons Chapter 11. Iconicity of Tlaloc in the Rain Praying Cultures of del Bajio Chapter 12. The Binding Liberating Chain of Chupicuaro Pottery Chapter 13. Mother Earth Snakes Conclusion
  • Archaeology
  • Art of indigenous peoples
  • Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography
  • Professional & Vocational
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List Price: £27.95