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Joyce Marcus

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Joyce Marcus has carried out fieldwork in Nevada , California , Mexico , Guatemala , and Peru . Marcus entered the field of Archaeology after Heinrich Berlin had shown that certain hieroglyphs referred to the royal dynasties of Maya cities. By plotting the distribution of emblem glyphs, Marcus showed that some Maya states had a four-tiered hierarchy in which secondary centers mentioned their dynastic capital, tertiary centers mentioned their secondary centers and so on. A byproduct of this work was her identification of the previously unknown emblem glyphs of Calakmul and Motul de San José. This discovery led to excavations by William Folan that showed Calakmul was one of the biggest Maya capitals, at the center of a hexagonal lattice of secondary centers. Marcus then began to document the rise of Maya states, dating the moment when each capital acquired its emblem glyph. This led to her fleshing out a “Dynamic Model” which shows the way Maya regions went through cycles of political centralization and breakdown. Marcus then decided to see if she could document the rise and fall of the Zapotec state by analyzing the hieroglyphs of that undeciphered script. She eventually showed a Zapotec pattern of centralization and breakdown similar to the Maya. She went on to co-direct the University of Michigan project at San José Mogote, Oaxaca, which produced Mexico’s oldest hieroglyphic monument, as well as key data on the social and political evolution of the Zapotec. Marcus went on to investigate the relationship between archaeological data and Spanish eyewitness accounts by excavating the site of Cerro Azul, Peru. In 2008 she published its architecture and pottery; in 2009 she published data on its brewery; she is currently working on evidence for its economic specialization, division of labor , and the nature of individual style, as expressed in the textiles and workbaskets buried with female weavers.

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Joyce Marcus

Joyce Marcus

Books from Joyce Marcus

The Creation of Inequality. How Our Prehistoric Ancestors Set the Stage for Monarchy Slavery and Empire

Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved In Mexico's Oaxaca Valley

Monte Albán (Fideicomiso Historia De Las Americas Serie Ciudades)

The Ancient City: New Perspectives on Urbanism in the Old and New World

Mesoamerican Writing Systems: Propaganda, Myth, and History in Four Ancient Civilizations

Debating Oaxaca Archaeology (Anthropological Papers (Univ of Michigan, Museum of Anthropology))

Emblem and State in the Classic Maya Lowlands: An Epigraphic Approach to Territorial Organization

Andean Civilization: A Tribute to Michael E. Moseley

Excavations at Cerro Azul, Peru: The Architecture and Pottery

The Flocks of the Wamani: A Study of Llama Herders on the Punas of Ayacucho, Peru

The Flocks of the Wamani: A Study of Llama Herders on the Punas of Ayacucho, Peru

The Flocks of the Wamani: A Study of Llama Herders on the Punas of Ayacucho, Peru

Zapotec Monuments and Political History (Memoirs) (Volume 61)

The Burials of Cerro Azul, Peru (Memoirs Book 65)

Excavations At San Jose Mogote I: The Household Archaeology

Excavations at San José Mogote 2: The Cognitive Archaeology (Volume 58) (Memoirs)

Tiempo mesoamericano (Especial Arqueología Mexicana n. 11)

The Inscriptions of Calakmul: Royal Marriage at a Maya City in Campeche, Mexico

La escritura maya (Arqueología Mexicana, marzo-abril 2001, Volumen VIII, n. 48)

Late Intermediate Occupation at Cerro Azul, Perú, A Preliminary Report