Anthropology Department | Brandeis University

Department of Anthropology
Brandeis University
P.O. Box 549110, MS 006
Waltham, MA 02454-9110

(781) 736-2210
(781) 736-2232 (FAX)

Office location: Brown 228
lcarpent@brandeis.edu

Javier Urcid

Brown 203
Department of Anthropology
Brandeis University
P.O. Box 549110, MS 006
Waltham, MA 02454-9110
urcid@brandeis.edu
(781) 736-2223

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION

Archaeology of complex societies, origins and social dimensions of literacy, writing systems and decipherment, bioarchaeology, human osteology, Mesoamerica.

Javier Urcid is an anthropological archaeologist interested in the role of ancient literacy on the formation and maintenance of social complexity, in modeling the origins and alternative developments of writing systems, and in methods of semantic and phonetic decipherment of extinct scripts. His other interests center on archaeological approaches to ancient political economies and on bio-archeology, particularly work on the social dimensions of mortuary practices and cultural/ritual modifications of human bones. He did undergraduate and graduate work at the Universidad de las Américas, in Cholula, Mexico, and received further graduate training at Yale University. His main research focuses on Mesoamerican scribal traditions. He has written on Otomanguean scripts (500 B.C.E.-1600 A.C.E.), including a book on "Zapotec Writing" and several articles on Ñuiñe, Central Mexican and Mixteca-Puebla scripts. He has also conducted archaeological and bio-archaeological fieldwork in Mexico, Belize, Ecuador, USA, and Syria. The Social Science Research Council, the National Science Foundation, and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation--among other institutions--have supported his work. Dr. Urcid has held residential fellowships at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Center for the Advanced Study in the Visual Arts of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. He has taught at the Universidad de las Américas, the University of Maryland at College Park, and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. His experience in museums include several years of work in the Repatriation Program at the National Museum of Natural History, of the Smithsonian Institution, and a curatorial position in the Museo Frissell de Arte Zapoteca in Mitla, Mexico. He has also served as script and exhibition consultant for several community museums in Oaxaca, Mexico. At Brandeis, Dr. Urcid teaches a variety of courses on archaeology, physical anthropology, epigraphy, aesthetics, and material culture. He acts as liaison to the CMRAE consortium and is in the chair of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program. Aside from his intellectual interests he dreams about landscapes on the dark side of the moon, imagines the organic architecture of Jurassic whales, and in general enjoys the simplest moments of life.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Book

2001	Zapotec Hieroglyphic Writing. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology, no. 34 Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington D.C. http://www.doaks.org/scripts/pub_product.asp?p_prod_id=1120

Electronic publications

2005 The Zapotec scribal tradition: knoweldge, memory, and society in ancient Oaxaca. http://www.famsi.org/zapotecwriting/

2004a Sacred Landscapes and Social Memory: The Ñuiñe Inscriptions in the Ndaxagua Natural Tunnel, Tepelmeme, Oaxaca. http://www.famsi.org/reports/author_u_v.htm#U

2004b Paisajes Sagrados y Memoria Social: Las Inscripciones Ñuiñe en el Puente Colosal, Tepelmeme, Oaxaca. http://www.famsi.org/spanish/reports/author_u_v.htm#U

Contributions in edited books

in press The Annals from Tenampulco (codex Saville). Entry for the revised volume on Ethnohistorical sources from Mesoamerica. Handbook of Middle American Indians, edited by Michel Oudijk and María Castañeda. Texas University Press, Austin.

in press Valued possessions: Materiality and Aesthetics in Western and Southern Mesoamerica. Introductory essay and commented entries for 35 objects in the Bliss Collection. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C.

in press Otra Narrativa de Jugadores de Pelota en Dainzu. In Oaxaca: el Registro Arqueológico, edited by Marcus Winter.

in press Huamelulpan: Prácticas Escriturales y Escultóricas a través de su Historia. In Colección de Ensayos sobre el Pasado de San Martín Huamelulpan, Oaxaca, edited by Marc Winter. Gobierno del Estado de Oaxaca, Mexico

in press Stone Monuments from Nopiloa, Veracruz. Contributions in honor of John Ranieri, edited by Sandra Noble. Foundation for the Advancement in Mesoamerican Studies, Florida.

in press Pintando los muros de las tumbas: una aproximación a la antigua sociedad e ideología Zapotecas (500-800 d.C). In La Pintura Mural en Oaxaca, edited by Beatriz de la Fuente. Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, UNAM, México.

in press Social Landscapes and Political Dynamics in the Southern Gulf Coast Lowlands (500-1000 CE). Dumbarton Oaks symposium Classic Veracruz: Cultural Currents in the Ancient Gulf Lowlands, edited by Philip J. Arnold III and Christopher A. Pool. Revised manuscript submitted February 2006.

in press Sacred Caves and Migration Legends as Allegories for Postclassic Alliance and Exchange Networks. Dumbarton Oaks symposium Pilgrimage and the Ritual Landscape in Pre-Columbian America, edited by John Carlson. Revised version submitted Fall of 2001. Publication expected in the Fall 2003 (with John Pohl).

in press Un Cráneo humano y una concha grabados en estilo Mixteca-Puebla. In Identidad y Recuperación de un Patrimonio Perdido. Teresa Mangas, editor. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México.

2003 Lecciones de una Urna Ñuiñe. In Homenaje a John Paddock, edited by Patricia Plunket, Universidad de las Américas, Puebla, Cholula. pp. 85-99.

2003a La Conquista por el Señor 1 Muerte: Inscripción Zapoteca en un Cilindro Cerámico. In Escritura Zapoteca: 2500 años de Historia, edited by Ma. de los Angeles Romero Frizzi, pp. 95-142. INAH-CIESAS, Mexico.

2003b Pre-Columbian Skull Trepanation in North America. In Trepanation: History, Discovery, Theory. Arnot et al, editors, pp. 237-249. Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse (with James L. Stone)

2002	La Faz Oculta de una Misteriosa Máscara de Piedra. Memoria de la Segunda Mesa Redonda de Monte Albán. Sociedad y Patrimonio Arqueológico en el Valle de Oaxaca, edited by Nelly M. Robles García. Conaculta/INAH, Oaxaca.

1994a

Monte Albán y la escritura Zapoteca. In Monte Albán. Estudios Recientes, Contribución No. 2 del Proyecto Especial Monte Albán 1992-1994, edited by Marcus Winter, pp 77-97. Oaxaca, México.

1994b

Cannibalism and Curated Skulls: Bone Ritualism at Kodiak Island, Alaska. In Reckoning with the Dead: Larsen Bay and the Smithsonian Institute, edited by Tamara Bray and Thomas Killion, pp. 101-121. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C.

1994c

Nuevos Monumentos Grabados en Monte Albán, Oaxaca. In Monte Albán. Estudios Recientes. Contribución No. 4 del Proyecto Especial Monte Albán 1992-1994, edited by Marcus Winter, pp. 2-52. Oaxaca, México (with Marcus Winter and Raúl Matadamas).

1994d

Un Sistema de Nomenclatura para los Monolitos Grabados y los Materiales con Inscripciones de Monte Albán. In Monte Albán. Estudios Recientes. Contribución No. 4 del Proyecto Especial Monte Albán 1992-1994, edited by Marcus Winter, pp. 53-79. Oaxaca, México.

Articles in journals

in press Águilas que descienden, Corazones que ascienden: sobre la antigüedad y distribución del ritual de los Voladores. To appear in Arqueología Mexicana. Editorial Raíces and Instituto Nacional de Antropología, Mexico.

in press El Legado Olmeca: Continuidad y Cambio Cultural en el Sur de Veracruz (with Thomas Killion). Arqueología, INAH, Mexico.

in press Una Mirada al lenguaje visual de los antiguos registros Genealógicos Zapotecas. To appear in Acervos-Boletín de los Archivos y Bibliotecas de Oaxaca. Asociación Civil Amigos de los Archivos y Bibliotecas de Oaxaca, Mexico.

2006a Sobre unos Antiguos Graniceros Zapotecos. Acervos-Boletín de los Archivos y Bibliotecas de Oaxaca, vol. 7 (29): 55-69. Asociación Civil Amigos de los Archivos y Bibliotecas de Oaxaca, Mexico.

2006b A Zapotec Carved Bone. Princeton University Library Chronicle Vol. 67, No. 2. pp. 225-236 (with John Pohl).

2005a El Simbolismo del Jaguar en el Suroeste de Mesoamérica. Arqueología Mexicana vol. XII (72): 40-45. Editorial Raíces and Instituto Nacional de Antropología, Mexico.

2005b Inscripciones del Epiclásico en la Cuenca de Coixtlahuaca, Oaxaca. Arqueología Mexicana vol. XII (73): 20-21. Editorial Raíces and Instituto Nacional de Antropología, Mexico.

2004 Epiclassic Inscriptions in the Coixtlahuaca Basin of Northwestern Oaxaca. Mexicon, vol. XXVI, num. 6, pp. 119-120.

2003a A Zapotec Slab in Santiago Matatlan, Oaxaca. Mesoamerican Voices (1): 60-86. University of Illinois, Chicago.

2003b Las Urnas del Barrio Zapoteca de Teotihuacan. Arqueología Mexicana, Vol. XI (64): 54-57. Editorial Raíces and Instituto Nacional de Antropología, Mexico.

2003c Nuevas Variantes Glificas Zapotecas. Mexicon, volume XXV, no. 5, pp. 123-128. Germany

2002 El Chacmool de Mixquic y el Sacrificio Humano. Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl, Vol. 33: 25-43. Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (with Leonardo López Luján).

2001a The Olmec Legacy: Cultural Continuity on Mexico’s Southern Gulf Coast. Journal of Field Archaeology, Volume 28, Nos. 1 and 2, pp. 3-25. (with Thomas W. Killion).

2001b Carved Monuments from Coastal Oaxaca. Ancient Mesoamerica 12: 1-18. Cambridge University Press (with Arthur Joyce).

2001c Zapotec Mortuary Practices. In Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia. Susan T. Evans and David L. Webster, editors, pp. 847-848. Garland Publishing, Inc., New York.

2001d Zapotec Writing System. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. David Carrasco, editor in Chief, vol. 3: 343-344. Oxford University Press, Oxford

2000a

La Lapida Grabada de Noriega: Tres Rituales en la Vida de un Noble Zapoteca. Indiana 16: 211-264. Berlin, Germany.

1999	Monumentos Grabados y Nombres Calendáricos: Los Antiguos Señores de Rio Viejo, Oaxaca. Arqueología 22: 17-39. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México (with Arthur Joyce).

1998	Codices on Stone: the Genesis of Writing in Ancient Oaxaca. In Mexican Codices and Archaeology, Indiana Journal of Hispanic Literatures 13: 7-16. Indiana University, Bloomington.

1997a

La Escritura Zapoteca Prehispánica: Un Milenio de Registros Históricos. Arqueología Mexicana 5 (26): 42-53. Editorial Raíces e Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México

1997b

Unas Piedras Grabadas de la Sierra Norte de Oaxaca. Mexicon XIX (4): 70-78 (with Michel Oudijk).

1997c

Tres Bloques con Pintura Mural de Chichen Itza en el Instituto Smithsonian. La Pintura Mural Prehispánica en México. Boletín Informativo, año III, nos 6-7. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

1996	¿Zapoteca o Ñuiñe ? Procedencia de una Lápida Grabada en el Museo Etnográfico de Frankfurt Am Main. Mexicon XVIII (3): 50-56, Germany.

1995a

Monte Alban. Encyclopedia of Latin American History. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

1995b

A Peculiar Stone with Zapotec Hieroglyphic Inscriptions. Mexicon, XVII (5): 87-92. Germany

1995c

Comentarios a una Lápida Zapoteca en el Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Smithsonian Institution, en Washington D.C. Cuadernos del Sur 8-9: 8-27. IIHUABJO, CIESAS, INAH-OAXACA, Oaxaca, México.

1993a

The Pacific Coast of Oaxaca and Guerrero: The Westermost Extent of Zapotec Script. Ancient Mesoamerica 4: 141-165. Cambridge University Press.

1993b

Bones and Epigraphy: The Accurate Versus the Fictitious? Texas Notes on Precolumbian Art, Writing, and Culture no. 42. University of Texas at Austin.

http://www.utexas.edu/research/chaaac/backgrounds/the_texas_notes/TN-42.pdf

1992	La Tumba 5 del Cerro de la Campana, Suchilquitongo, Oaxaca, México: Un análisis epigráfico. Arqueología 8: 73-112. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México.

1991	Una Mandíbula Humana Grabada de la Sierra Mazateca, Oaxaca. Notas Mesoamericanas 12: 39-49. Universidad de las Américas, Fundación Puebla, México (with Marcus Winter).

1989	¿Una genealogía prehispánica Zapoteca? Arqueología 2: 61-67. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México (with Marcus Winter).

1983	The Lords of Lambityeco and their Nearest Neighbors. Notas Mesoamericanas 9: 78-111. Universidad de las Américas, Cholula, Mexico (with Michael D. Lind).

Reviews

2000	On Oaxaca Coast Archaeology: Setting the Record Straight. Review of "Origin and collapse of complex societies in Oaxaca, Mexico: Evaluating the era from 1965 to the pesent", by A. Balkansky. Current Anthropology 41(4): 623-625. (with Arthur Joyce, Robert Zeitlin, and Judith Zeitlin).

1996	Review of "Classic Maya Place Names" by David Stuart and Stephen Houston. The Americas, Vol. 52, no. 3: 417-18. The Academy of American Franciscan History, The Catholic University of America, Washington D.C.

Video Documentary

2001	Featured as archaeologists and forensic consultant in the documentary "Aztec Death". Produced by Electric Sky for National Geographic. Aired in Discovery Channel as part of the series "Tales from the Living Dead".

COURSES TAUGHT AT BRANDEIS

Human Origins (Anth 05a)
Archaeological Methods and Techniques (Anth 60a)
Human Osteology (Anth 116a)
Directions and Issues in Archaeology (Anth 123a)
Meaning and Material Culture (Anth 128a)
The Rise of Mesoamerican Civilizations (Anth 147a)
Writing Systems and Scribal Traditions (Anth 153)
Cross-Cultural Art and Aesthetics (Anth 184a)