Human Figuration and Fragmentation in Preclassic Mesoamerica
From Figurines to Sculpture

Explores the social significance of representation of the human body in Preclassic Mesoamerica.

Julia Guernsey (Author)

9781108478991, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 February 2020

278 pages, 203 b/w illus. 1 map
28.5 x 22.2 x 1.9 cm, 1.01 kg

In this book, Julia Guernsey examines the relationship between human figuration, fragmentation, bodily divisibility, personhood, and community in ancient Mesoamerica. Contending that representation of the human body in the pre-classic period gradually became a privileged act, she argues that human figuration as well as the fragmentation of both human representations and human bodies reveals ancient conceptualizations of personhood and the relationship of individual to the community. Considering ceramic figurines and stone sculpture together with archaeological data, Guernsey weaves together evidence and ideas drawn from art history, archaeology, and anthropology to construct a rich, cultural history of Mesoamerican practices of figuration and fragmentation. A methodologically innovative study, her book has ramifications for scholars working in Mesoamerica and, more generally, those interested in the significance of human representation.

1. Preclassic figuration: epistemological premises and problems
2. Monumental sculpture and the human form during the Early and Middle Preclassic periods
3. Early and Middle Preclassic figuration in clay
4. Figurines at Middle Preclassic La Blanca
5. Figurines, fragmentation, and social ties
6. Changing discourses of human representation in Late Preclassic Mesoamerica
7. High culture and human representation in Late preclassic Mesoamerica.

Subject Areas: Prehistoric archaeology [HDDA], Archaeology [HD], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], History of the Americas [HBJK], History of art: ancient & classical art,BCE to c 500 CE [ACG]