Volume 51 / Number 1

2009

Special Edition: Mirroring the Maya

On The Cover: Mythical dwarf seated with ruler Photo by Justin Kerr, K4889

Vol. 51 / No. 1

By: Richard Hodges

From the Director – Spring 2009: A New Position To Help Define A New Age

The dramatic global economic crisis could have a major impact on the public’s perception and value of the Penn Museum. […]

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Vol. 51 / No. 1

By: Allen J. Christenson

The Popol Vuh

“These books were seen by our clergy, and even I saw part of those which were burned by the monks, […]

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Vol. 51 / No. 1

By: Eleanor M. King

From Mules to Lasers: Maya Fieldwork Over the Years: Field Experience

IN MORLEYANA—The affectionate posthumous tribute to noted Mayanist S. G. Morley—friends reminisced about his days in the field, recalling mule […]

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Vol. 51 / No. 1

Museum Mosaic – Spring 2009: Young Friends Offer Fresh Perspective On Museum’s Collections And Research

The Young Friends of the Penn Museum, an active group of Penn Museum members ages 21 to 45, has become […]

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Vol. 51 / No. 1

By: Sarah Kurnick

Crossing Boundaries: Maya Censers from the Guatemala Highlands

The ancient Maya universe consists of three realms—the earth, the sky, and the Underworld. Rather than three distinct domains, these […]

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Vol. 51 / No. 1

By: Elin C. Danien

Painted Metaphors: Politics and Pottery of the Ancient Maya

Pottery and Politics of the Ancient Maya features a unique collection of Maya artifacts, including the Chama polychrome ceramic cylinders, […]

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Vol. 51 / No. 1

By: Judith A. Storniolo

Out of the Past and Into the Night: Ancient Mythical Dwarfs in Modern Yucatan

In his book, The Maya’s Own Words, Thomas Ballantine Irving translates a passage in the Popol Vuh, the creation myth […]

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Vol. 51 / No. 1

By: Allan Meyers

Bullfights in Mayaland: How Rural Yucatecans Reinvented "Death in the Afternoon"

The “lover of the bullfight,” Ernest Hemingway once observed, is “one who has this sense of the tragedy and ritual […]

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Vol. 51 / No. 1

By: Allen J. Christenson

“Who Shall be Our Sustainer?”: Sacred Myth and the Spoken Word

Nearly all contemporary highland Maya ceremonies and mythic tales focus on creation, or how things first came to be. How […]

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Vol. 51 / No. 1

By: Elin C. Danien

Maya Home and Hearth: From the Archives

  Robert Burkitt, who was Penn Museum’s “man in Guatemala” from 1912 to 1937, had an insatiable curiosity bout all […]

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Vol. 51 / No. 1

By: Deborah I. Olszewski

Robert J. Sharer: Meet the Curators

Robert J. Sharer, Curator-in-Charge of the Museum’s American Section, became interested in archaeology as an undergraduate when he took a […]

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Vol. 51 / No. 1

By: Elin C. Danien

Mirroring the Maya: From the Guest Editor

Not too long ago the Maya were thought of as an enigmatic people who had inhabited a large portion of […]

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