Dr. Margaret Jackson, UNM
October 9, 2016

Do monuments tell stories? This lecture introduces the relationship between kingship and monumental art at the site of Tikal, Guatemala. For over 1000 years, the kings and queens of Tikal created art and monuments celebrating themselves and their lineages. Maya artists recorded names, dates and events in an elegant visual vernacular that today provides surprisingly detailed information about Maya lives and adventures. Tikal’s famous pyramids, stelae and acropolis allow us to consider what royal display, art and architecture may (or may not) tell us about Maya dynastic history. Several key examples of how this is visible will be explored in this lecture.

Dr. Margaret A. Jackson earned her doctorate in Pre-Columbian Art History at University of California Los Angeles. Currently on faculty at UNM, she was previously affiliated with the UCLA Cotsen Institute, Stanford Humanities Center and the University of Miami (FL). Her research interests include arts of Mesoamerica, Central American and Andean cultures. She is author of Moche Art and Visual Culture in Ancient Peru (University of New Mexico Press, 2008), winner of the Association for Latin American Art Arvey Award (2010), and author of various articles on Pre-Columbian narrative and iconography.

Supported by Sandia National Labs and Haverland Carter Lifestyle Group