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THE MURAL PAINTINGS OF EL ZAPOTAL, VERACRUZ, MEXICO

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2011

Cherra Wyllie
Cherra Wyllie*
Affiliation:
Humanities Department, Hillyer College, University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117
*
E-mail correspondence to: [email protected]
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Abstract

During the 1970s, excavations at El Zapotal revealed a Late Classic period ossuary with multiple burials, sumptuous funerary offerings, and life-sized terracotta sculpture individually on a par with the Chinese national treasures from Xi'an. Less known are murals adorning a U-shaped banquette centering on the monumental clay sculpture of a skeletal Death God.

Wyllie, through the assistance of Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Veracruz, produced drawings of the now deteriorating paintings. The murals form part of a larger narrative program integrating sculpture, architectural elements, burial offerings, and human osteological remains connected with Mesoamerican underworld stories of creation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , Fall 2010 , pp. 209 - 227
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

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