A DIVINE WIND: THE ARTS OF DEATH AND MUSIC IN TERMINAL FORMATIVE OAXACA

    Authors

    S. B. Barber;M. O. Sanchez

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Anc. Mesoam.

    Keywords

    CLASSIC MAYA; SOCIAL-COMPLEXITY; MESOAMERICA; ARCHAEOLOGY; GUATEMALA; IDEOLOGY; AGUATECA; Archaeology

    Abstract

    This paper examines the social context of music and musical instruments in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica through the detailed analysis of a late Terminal Formative period (A.D. 100-250) burial from the site of Yugue in the lower Rio Verde Valley of Oaxaca. The burial contained a sub-adult male interred with an incised bone flute and a plaster-backed iron-ore mirror. The Yugue flute is the earliest reported bone flute from Mesoamerica and is incised and carved to create the bas relief image of a skeletal male figure. Based on the instrument's archaeological context and elaborate incising, we argue that the flute was categorized in pre-Columbian ontology as an animate object that actively participated in ceremonial action at Yugue. While the nature of such ceremony remains unclear, the incising on the flute indicates that the instrument was capable of making manifest ancestral and divine forces affiliated with rain, wind, and agricultural fertility.

    Journal Title

    Ancient Mesoamerica

    Volume

    23

    Issue/Number

    1

    Publication Date

    1-1-2012

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    9

    Last Page

    24

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000306095000002

    ISSN

    0956-5361

    Share

    COinS