Indicating hours in ancient cultures

Abstract

For the most part, these inquiries, though substantive and valuable, are narrow. They comprise more of a gathering of specialist inquiries than a synthesis of varied material and fundamental principles. This remains evident in Aveni’s very useful concluding commentary. He highlights interesting elements of the articles but is hard-pressed to identify a singular, unifying perspective from their content. Documentation and formalization of research are among the primary functions of academic publication, and this assembly of work on the measure and meaning of time in Mesoamerica and the Andes addresses those tasks. The value of each article for each reader will vary with the reader’s specialized interest and knowledge. The articles range from the highly abstract to the unambiguously concrete. For example, “Ecumene Time, Anecume Time: Proposal and Paradigm” by Alfredo López Austin systematizes most of the fundamentals of Aztec cosmovision and mythic creation in a framework that distinguishes between time of this world and time not of this world. More tangible cultural assets are examined by Stella Nair in “Space and Time in the Architecture of Inca Royal Estates.” Although I’m not convinced the Inca ruler deliberately manipulated architecture and landscape on behalf of an intended perception of time, the hierarchy of power is evident in this deliciously specific analysis of the king’s design of royal estates. Other topics include time and animate objects for contemporary Tz’utujil Maya ritualists, Classic Maya concepts of time and space, the ceque system of Cuzco, time and the Huarochiri Manuscript, linearity and cyclicity in Maya calendrics, calendrical considerations in Mexican dynastic imagery, world ages in the Andes, time and political emblems in Colonial Peru, and calendars and computers in Mesoamerica and Bali. This is a rich inventory, but it is intended for those working seriously in Mesoamerican and Andean archaeology and anthropology and with interests related to the authors’ priorities. Readers need to come already equipped with the basics and the motivation to penetrate esoteric material. Anyone believing the end of the world was upon us in 2012 and looking for superficial guidance would have been made impatient for the Apocalypse by the intellectual investment this book requires.