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Joyce Marcus

Joyce Marcus has carried out fieldwork in Nevada (Lovelock Cave), California (the La Brea Tar Pit), Mexico (San José Mogote), Guatemala (El Mirador, Tres Islas, Naranjo, Tintal, Chunhuitz), and Peru (Cerro Azul). Marcus entered the field of Archaeology after Heinrich Berlin had shown that certain hieroglyphs (which he called ‘emblem glyphs’) referred to the royal dynasties of Maya cities. By plotting the distribution of emblem glyphs, Marcus showed that some Maya states had a four-tiered hierarchy in which secondary centers mentioned their dynastic capital, tertiary centers mentioned their secondary centers and so on. A byproduct of this work was her identification of the previously unknown emblem glyphs of Calakmul and Motul de San José. T Joyce Marcus has carried out fieldwork in Nevada (Lovelock Cave), California (the La Brea Tar Pit), Mexico (San José Mogote), Guatemala (El Mirador, Tres Islas, Naranjo, Tintal, Chunhuitz), and Peru (Cerro Azul). Marcus entered the field of Archaeology after Heinrich Berlin had shown that certain hieroglyphs (which he called ‘emblem glyphs’) referred to the royal dynasties of Maya cities. By plotting the distribution of emblem glyphs, Marcus showed that some Maya states had a four-tiered hierarchy in which secondary centers mentioned their dynastic capital, tertiary centers mentioned their secondary centers and so on. A byproduct of this work was her identification of the previously unknown emblem glyphs of Calakmul and Motul de San José. This discovery led to excavations by William Folan that showed Calakmul was one of the biggest Maya capitals, at the center of a hexagonal lattice of secondary centers. Marcus then began to document the rise of Maya states, dating the moment when each capital acquired its emblem glyph. This led to her fleshing out a “Dynamic Model” which shows the way Maya regions went through cycles of political centralization and breakdown. Marcus then decided to see if she could document the rise and fall of the Zapotec state by analyzing the hieroglyphs of that undeciphered script. She eventually showed a Zapotec pattern of centralization and breakdown similar to the Maya. She went on to co-direct the University of Michigan project at San José Mogote, Oaxaca, which produced Mexico’s oldest hieroglyphic monument, as well as key data on the social and political evolution of the Zapotec. Marcus went on to investigate the relationship between archaeological data and Spanish eyewitness accounts by excavating the site of Cerro Azul, Peru. In 2008 she published its architecture and pottery; in 2009 she published data on its brewery; she is currently working on evidence for its economic specialization, division of labor (fishing vs. weaving), and the nature of individual style, as expressed in the textiles and workbaskets buried with female weavers. ...more

Combine Editions
Joyce Marcus’s books

Average rating: 3.82 · 262 ratings · 35 reviews · 36 distinct works • Similar authors

	Monte Albán (Fideicomiso Historia De Las Americas Serie Ciudades) by Joyce Marcus, Lucrecia Orensanz Escofet (Translator), Adriana Santoveña (Translator) 4.47 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2008 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico's Oaxaca Valley by Joyce Marcus, Kent V. Flannery 4.33 avg rating — 12 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ancient City: New Perspectives on Urbanism in the Old and New World (A School for Advanced Research Resident Scholar Book) by Joyce Marcus (Editor), Jeremy A. Sabloff (Editor) 3.63 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 2008 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mesoamerican Writing Systems: Propaganda, Myth, and History in Four Ancient Civilizations 3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1992 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Debating Oaxaca Archaeology (Anthropological Papers really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1991 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Emblem and State in the Classic Maya Lowlands: An Epigraphic Approach to Territorial Organization by Joyce Marcus, Gordon R. Willey (Foreword) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1976	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Andean Civilization: A Tribute to Michael E. Moseley (Monographs) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2008 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Excavations at Cerro Azul, Peru: The Architecture and Pottery (Monographs) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2008 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Women's Ritual in Formative Oaxaca: Figurine-making, Divination, Death and the Ancestors (Memoirs) (Volume 33) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1999 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Zapotec Monuments and Political History (Memoirs) (Volume 61) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars