College of Sciences Distinguished Speaker Series
Michael Callaghan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
UCF Department of Anthropology
Brigitte Kovacevich, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
UCF Department of Anthropology
Wednesday, March 27, 2019 at 6:00 p.m.
Tuscawilla Country Club
1500 Winter Springs Blvd.,
Winter Springs, FL 32708
The Naked and the Dead: Ritual & Sacrifice at the Dawn of Maya Civilization
Abstract: Artifacts, hieroglyphs, architecture and art have allowed archaeologists to reconstruct the lifeways and worldview of the Classic period Maya who inhabited the tropical lowlands of Mesoamerica from AD 250-900. However, the story of Maya civilization begins almost one thousand years earlier in a shadowy and poorly understood past.
Drs. Callaghan and Kovacevich will discuss new evidence uncovered at the Maya site of Holtun that suggests social inequality first began with communal ritual and feasting activities associated with monumental astronomical observatories around 1000 BC. Then towards the end of the Preclassic period political strategies shifted to a focus on conflict, warfare, and violence. This shift is evidenced in monumental stucco sculptures, early writing, burials, and some of the earliest graffiti depicting nude captives and scenes of sacrifice.
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