Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino

Disentangling Iconography in Borderlands: Nonhuman Actors and Authority in Honduran Classic Polychromes

Desenredando la iconografía en las tierras fronterizas: actores no humanos y autoridad en las policromías clásicas hondureñas

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56522/BMCHAP.0080020290004

ROSEMARY A. JOYCE

Resumen

In this paper I illustrate how semiotic analysis of art can be produced for a region for which we lack contemporaneous texts. The Ulúa Polychrome tradition of Honduras, which developed in the borderlands of Classic Maya society between ad 450 and 950, has been viewed as a variant of the Maya Lowland ceramic tradition. Instead, I show how key aspects of the iconography of these pots at the moment of greatest entanglement of Ulúa people with their Maya neighbors can only be understood in relation to a distinct indigenous Honduran history. Despite superficial similarities between these ceramic traditions, the depiction of nonhuman actors and the framing of human authority are part of a specific Honduran visual culture and aesthetic. The case study demonstrates how archaeological materials can provide a context through their visual and material indexicality, which illuminates features that might be missed by using more general guidance from texts covering neighboring and later societies.

Keywords: Honduras, Ulúa, borderland, authority, vessels, iconography.

Referencias

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Imágenes

Figure 4. Ceramic sculpture of man holding a ceremonial axe, Naranjo Chino, Ulúa valley, National Museum of the American Indian (nmai), Smithsonian Institution (18/3214), Washington dc, United States (photo by nmai Photo Services). Figura 4. Escultura cerámica de un hombre sosteniendo un hacha ceremonial, Naranjo Chino, valle de Ulúa, National Museum of the American Indian (nmai), Smithsonian Institution (18/3214), Washington dc, Estados Unidos (fotografía de nmai Photo Services).

Figure 10. Ulúa Polychrome vase, Cefiro subclass, with multi-figure scene, Tenampua site: a) two standing figures flank a vessel of burning incense; b) showing a seated figure holding a fan gazes toward the incense burning ceremony, National Museum of the American Indian (nmai), Smithsonian Institution (244275), Washington dc, United States (photos by Russell N. Sheptak). Figura 10. Vaso Ulúa Policromo, subclase Cefiro, con escena de varias figuras, sitio Tenampua: a) dos figuras de pie flanquean un recipiente con incienso encendido; b) muestra una figura sentada que sostiene un abanico que mira hacia la ceremonia de quema de incienso, National Museum of the American Indian (nmai), Smithsonian Institution (244275), Washington dc, Estados Unidos (fotografías de Russell N. Sheptak).