From Ritual in the Landscape to Capture in the Urban Center: The Recreation of Ritual Environments in Mesoamerica

Alternative Title

Journal of Ritual Studies

Author

Pamela J. Stewart
Andrew J. Strathern

Files

Publication Date

Winter 1-1-1992

Volume Number

6

Issue Number

1

Abstract

The development of Mesoamerican religious architecture is closely tied to perceptions and uses of the natural landscape, specifically the widespread and ancient custom of observing rituals at topographic locations, such as caves and mountain tops. This use of topography arises out of a model of space in which wilderness is perceived as the seat of supernatural authority. Mesoamerican urban architecture reconstructed wilderness space through constructions such as pyramids or "captured" it in other creative ways. Through this process, ritual space and ritual itself was brought under the hegemony of the elite. Mesoamerican art also drew visual parallels between ceremonial architecture and topographic forms, thereby reinforcing their conceptual equivalence.

Document Type

Article

Recommended Citation

Stewart, Pamela J. and Strathern, Andrew J., "From Ritual in the Landscape to Capture in the Urban Center: The Recreation of Ritual Environments in Mesoamerica" (1992). KIP Articles. 6343.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/6343