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Sunday, June 15, 1952. Having spent four years clearing a secret passage inside Palenque's Temple of the Inscriptions, Mexican archaeologist Alberto Ruz gazed into a vaulted chamber. There, beneath a gigantic carved stone block, he would make a spectacular discovery: the intact burial of King Pakal, complete with jade jewelry and an exquisite burial mask.
Pakal was one of the greatest ancient rulers and the most prominent among a long line of monarchs who held sway at Palenque from AD 300 to 800. This "queen of Maya cities," as Palenque has been called, fell into ruin and was abandoned along with other great urban centers when Maya civilization suffered a mysterious collapse more than 1000 years ago.
Through the eyes of David and George Stuart, we travel with pioneer artists and archaeologists from the eighteenth century on as they rediscovered Palenque and attempted, in the oppressive tropical heat, to document the city's graceful and ornate palaces, temples, bas-reliefs, and hieroglyphic inscriptions. These inscriptions lay largely unread until, in the late twentieth century, major breakthroughs in decipherment revealed Palenque's history. David Stuart, one of the leading decipherers, portrays a lost world of palace intrigue, of brilliant architects, of gods and revered ancestors.
Today Palenque, proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a place of new reverence and relevance for millions of modern Maya, New Age spiritualists, and all those fascinated by the history of the Maya.
| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
Andrew Nagy
reviewed Palenque on September 27, 2013
Palenque
The authors, archeologists George and David Stuart, are father and son, so that's pretty cool. The first 100 pages or so of this book deals with the gradual discovery of Palenque in more modern times, beginning just before 1800, and with the last two hundred years of study and scholarship. It includes detailed descriptions of the ruins. The rest of the book talks about what they've learned there about the civilization so far. It is mostly a history of kings.
Early researchers had bizarre theories about the Mayans--that they were a "lost tribe of Israel," or very displaced Romans (!), etc. It took a long time for Europeans to acknowledge that the ancient Mesoamerican people, dismissed as "primitive," could have been so advanced.
The beautiful and complex Mayan writing system, their "long count" calendar, and the stories of the colorful and eccentric characters who studied the ruins in the 19th century, interested me the most. The book contains plenty of illustrations and photographs, which are needed when reading about the art and architecture.
This book is very methodical and detailed, and seems to address more of a scholarly than a general audience. To be honest, the writing is unexceptional. However, it's a great and thorough resource, and piqued my curiosity to learn more about Mayan mythology in particular.
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