H-130. The History & Construction of the Mesoamerican Codex, 600–1550 - Advance Reading List

• Required Readings

  Please note: books and articles marked with an asterisk are the most critical. Students admitted to this course will receive further instructions for accessing these readings.

  Books & Chapters

  * Douglas, Eduardo de J. In the Palace of Nezahualcoyotl: Painting Manuscripts, Writing the pre-Hispanic Past in Early Colonial Period Tetzcoco, Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010.

  * Kerpel, Diana Magaloni. The Colors of the New World: Artists, Materials, and the Creation of the Florentine Codex. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2014.

  Keber, Eloise. “Reading Images: The Making and Meaning of the Sahaguntine Illustrations.” In The Work of Bernardino de Sahagún: Pioneer Ethnographer of Sixteenth-Century Aztec Mexico, edited by J. Jorge Klor de Alva et al. Albany: Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, 1988.

  Peterson, Jeanette Favrot. “The Florentine Codex Imagery and the Colonial Tlacuilo.” In The Work of Bernardino de Sahagún: Pioneer Ethnographer of Sixteenth-Century Aztec Mexico, edited by J. Jorge Klor de Alva et al. Albany: Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, 1988.

  Articles

  * Buti, D., et.al. “Non-invasive Investigation of a pre-Hispanic Maya Screenfold Book: The Madrid Codex.” Journal of Archaeological Science 42 (2014): 166–178.

  Carmen Jorge, María del, Barbara J. Williams, C.E. Garza-Hume and Arturo Olvera. “Mathematical Accuracy of Aztec Land Surveys Assessed from the Records in the Codex Vergara.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108 (September 2011): 15053–15057.

  Carter, Nicholas P. and Jeffery Dobereiner. “Multispectral Imaging of an Early Classic Maya Codex Fragment from Uaxactun, Guatemala.” Antiquity 90 (2016): 711–725.

  Coe, Michael, Stephen Houston, Mary Miller and Karl Taube. “The Fourth Maya Codex.” Maya Archaeology 3 (2015): 116–167.

  Miliani, C., et.al. “Colouring Materials of pre-Columbian Codices: Non-invasive in situ Spectroscopic Analysis of the Codex Cospi.” Journal of Archaeological Science 39:3 (March 2012): 672–679.

  * Rossi, Franco D., William A. Saturno and Heather Hurst. “Maya Codex Book Production and the Politics of Expertise: Archaeology of a Classic Period Household at Xultun, Guatemala.” American Anthropologist 117:1 (2015): 116–132.

  * Snijders, Ludo, Tim Zaman, and David Howell. “Using Hyperspectral Imaging to Reveal a Hidden Precolonial Mesoamerican Codex.” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 9 (October 2016): 143–149.

  Stanley, Ted. “Non-invasive Spectroscopic Investigation of a Sixteenth-Century Polychrome Aztec Picture Map on Deerskin.” Restaurator: International Journal for the Preservation of Library and Archival Material 36 (2015): 183–210.

  * Vail, Gabrielle. “The Maya Codices.” Annual Review of Anthropology 35 (2006): 497–519.

  Zender, Mark. “One Hundred and Fifty Years of Nahuatl Decipherment.” PARI Journal 8:4 (Spring 2008): 24–37.

• Recommended Readings

  Coe, Michael. The Art of the Maya Scribe. New York: Harry Abrams, 1998.

  Houston, Stephen, et.al. Veiled Brightness: A History of Ancient Maya Color. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2009.

  Maffie, James. Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion. Denver: University of Colorado Press, 2015.

  Robertson, Donald. Mexican Manuscript Painting of the Early Colonial Period: The Metropolitan Schools. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994.