Faculty Guide

Title

Associate Professor of Anthropology

Anthropology

Expertise

Archaeology. Bioarchaeology. Complex societies. Writing systems. Material Culture. Comparative aesthetics. Mesoamerica.

Profile

Teaches archaeology and studies the development of ancient complex societies in Mesoamerica: the origin and societal functions of early writing, political economy and settlement patterns, and the social and ideological dimensions of mortuary practices.

Awards and Honors

Jane’s Faculty Development grant, Brandeis U. (summer research in Mexico). (2011)

Marver and Sheva Bernstein Faculty Fellowship (2001 - 2002)

Mazer Award (2001 - 2002)

Woodrow Wilson Career Enhancement Fellowship for Junior Faculty from Underrepresented Groups (2001 - 2002)

National Science Foundation Grant (1997)

Junior Fellow in Pre-Columbian Studies, Dumbarton Oaks (1990 - 1991)

Study Collection Grant, American Museum of Natural History (1990)

Wenner-Gren Foundation Grant (1988)

Social Science Research Council Dissertation Fellowship (1987 - 1989)

Sterling Prize Fellowship, Yale University (1983 - 1984)

Fellowship, Instituto de Estudios Oaxaquenos (1979)

Courses Taught

ANTH	5a	Human Origins
ANTH	60a	Archaeological Methods
ANTH	116a	Human Osteology
ANTH	128a	Meaning and Material Culture
ANTH	147b	Mesoamerican Civilizations and Their Legacies
ANTH	153a	Writing Systems and Scribal Traditions
ANTH	184b	Cross-Cultural Art and Aesthetics
EL	94a	Experiential Learning Practicum
IGS	89b	Internship Seminar in International and Global Studies

Scholarship

Urcid, Javier and Art Joyce. "Early Transformations of Monte Albán’s Main Plaza and their Political Implications (500 B.C. –A.D. 200)." Mesoamerican Plazas: Practices, Meanings, and Memories. Ed. Kenichiro Tsukamoto and Takeshi Innomata.. Tucson: University of Arizona Press., 2013 (forthcoming)

Urcid, Javier. "Casa de la Tierra, Casa del Cielo: Los murales del Edificio A de Cacaxtla.." La Pintura Mural Prehispánica en Mexico III: Tlaxcala. Ed. Ma. Teresa Uriarte.. Mexico City: Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2013 (forthcoming)

Urcid, Javier. "El ascenso al poder del Señor 4 Perro: Las Pinturas Murales del Conjunto 2-sub en Cacaxtla.." La Pintura Mural Prehispánica en Mexico III: Tlaxcala. Ed. Ma. Teresa Uriarte.. Mexico City: Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2013 (forthcoming)

Urcid, Javier. Zapotec Hieroglyphic Writing. 2001. 1st ed. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 2013.

Urcid, Javier. "Anales de Tenampulco." Wiki-Filologicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Filologicas, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (2012)

Urcid, Javier. "Meaning of shell ornaments from Northeastern Mesoamerica." Children of The Plumed Serpent. Ed. Virginia Fields and John Pohl. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum, 2012

Javier Urcid. "Human Remains." Artifacts from the Craig Mound at Spiro, Oklahoma. vol. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology no. 49 Ed. April K. Sievert and J. Daniel Rogers. Washington D.C: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2011. pp. 175-178.

Urcid, Javier. "En la Cima de la Montaña Sagrada: Escritura y Urbanismo en Monte Albán." Seis Ciudades Antiguas de Mesoamerica: Sociedad y Medio Ambiente. Ed. Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, 2011

Urcid, Javier. "Los oráculos y la guerra: el papel de las narrativas pictóricas en el desarrollo temprano de Monte Albán (500 a.C.-200 d.C.)." Monte Alban en la encrucijada regional y disciplinaria. Memoria de la Quinta Mesa Redonda de Monte Alban. Ed. Nelly Robles and Ivan Rivera. Oaxaca City: Instuto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, 2011

Urcid, Javier. "Objetos preciados." 100 Selected Works, National Museum of Anthropology. Ed. Monica del Villar. Mexico City: Artes de Mexico, 2011

Urcid, Javier. "Scribal Traditions from Highland Mesoamerica (300–1000 A.D.)." Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology. Ed. Chris Pool and Deborah Nichols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 855-868.

Urcid, Javier. "Sobre la antigüedad de cofres para propiciar y augurar la lluvia." Arqueología Mexicana (2011).

Urcid, Javier. "The Written Surface as a Cultural Code: A comparative Perspective of Scribal Traditions from Southwestern Mesoamerica." Their Way of Writing: Scripts, Signs, and Notational Systems in Pre-Columbian America. Ed. Elizabeth Boone and Gary Urton. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, 2011

Urcid, Javier. "Un cráneo humano y una concha grabados en estilo Mixteca-Puebla." Un Craneo y un Caracol de Estilo Mixteca-Puebla: Patrimonio Recuperado. vol. Arqueologia, Serie Logos Ed. Pedro Francisco Sanchez Nava, Angel Ivan Rivera Guzman, and Maria Teresa Castillo Mangas. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2011. pp. 33- 56.

Michael Lind and Javier Urcid. The Lords of Lambityeco and the Collapse of Monte Albán: Political Evolution in the Valley of Oaxaca during the Xoo Phase (650-850 CE). University Press of Colorado, 2010.

Urcid, Javier and Adam Sellen. "A Forgotten House of Ancestors from Ancient Xoxocotlán." Baessler-Archiv 56. (2010): 177-224.

Urcid, Javier. "El Sacrificio Humano en el Suroeste de Mesoamérica." Nuevas Perspectivas sobre el sacrificio humano entre los Mexicas. Ed. Leonardo Lopez Lujan and Guilhem Olivier. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2010

Urcid, Javier. "Valued possessions: Materiality and Aesthetics in Western and Southern Mesoamerica.." Ancient Mexican Art at Dumbarton Oaks: Central Highlands, Southwestern Highlands, Gulf Lowlands. Ed. Susan Evans. Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 2010

Urcid, Javier. "El Arte de Pintar las Tumbas: sociedad e ideología Zapotecas (400-800 d.C)." La Pintura Mural Prehispánica en México III: Oaxaca. vol. tomo IV (Estudios) Ed. Beatriz de la Fuente and Ma. Teresa Uriarte. Mexico: Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico., 2009. 513-627.

Urcid, Javier. "La Lápida grabada de Santiago Matatlán. Una mirada al lenguaje visual de los antiguos registros genealógicos zapotecos (600-900 d.C.)." Pictografía y Escritura Alfabética en Oaxaca. Ed. Sebastián van Doesburg. Oaxaca: Fondo Editorial del Instituto Estatal de Educación Pública de Oaxaca, 2009. 23-51.

Urcid, Javier. "Personajes Enmascarados: El Rayo, El Trueno y la LLuvia en Oaxaca." Arqueología Mexicana Vol. XVI. 96 (2009): 30-34.

Javier Urcid. "An Ancient Story of Creation from San Pedro Jaltepetongo." Mixtec Writing and Society: Escritura de Ñuu Dzaui. 1st ed. Ed. Maarten Jansen and Laura van Broekhoven. Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2008. 143 - 194..

Urcid, Javier and Thomas W. Killion. "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. Ed. Philip J. Arnold III and Christopher A. Pool.. Washington D.C.: Harvard University, 2008

Javier Urcid. "A stela of unknown provenience inscribed in the Central Mexican scribal tradition. Mexicon,." Mexicon vol. XXIX. (5) (2007): 117-123 ..

Urcid, Javier. "Antigüedad y distribución del ritual de los Voladores: Aguilas que descienden, corazones que ascienden." Arqueología Mexicana Vol. XIV (81). (2006).

Urcid, Javier. "El Legado Olmeca: Continuidad y Cambio Cultural en el Sur de Veracruz." 33. (2006): 5-31.

Urcid,Javier. "A Zapotec Carved Bone." Princeton University Library Chronicle 67. 2 (2006).

Urcid,Javier. "Sobre unos Antiguos Graniceros Zapotecos." Acervos 7. 29 (2006).

Urcid, Javier. The Zapotec scribal tradition: knowledge, memory, and society in ancient Oaxaca.. 2005. Foundations for the Advancement in Mesoamerican Studies. <http://www.famsi.org/zapotecwriting/>.

Urcid,Javier. "El Simbolismo del Jaguar en el Suroeste de Mesoamérica." Argueología Mexicana 12. 72 (2005).

Urcid, Javier. Sacred Landscapes and Social Memory: The Ñuiñe Inscriptions in the Ndaxagua Natural Tunnel, Tepelmeme, Oaxaca.. 2004. Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies. <http://www.famsi.org/reports/author_u_v.htm#U>.

Urcid,Javier. "Epiclassic Inscriptions in the Coixtlahuaca Basin of Northwestern Oaxaca." Mexicon 26. 6 (2004).

Urcid,Javier. "A Zapotec Slab in Santiago Matatlan, Oaxaca." Mesoamerican Voices. University of Illinois, Chicago, 2003

Urcid,Javier. "La Conquista por el Señor 1 Muerte: Inscripción Zapoteca en un Cilindro Cerámico." Escritura Zapoteca: 2500 años de Historia. Ed. Ma. de los Angeles Romero Frizzi. Inah-Ciesas:, 2003

Urcid,Javier. "Las Urnas del Barrio Zapoteca de Teotihuacan." Arqueología Mexicana 11. 64 (2003).

Urcid,Javier. "Lecciones de una Urna Ñuiñe." Homenaje a John Paddock. Ed. Patricia Plunket. Puebla: Universidad de las Américas, 2003

Urcid,Javier. "Nuevas Variantes Glificas Zapotecas." Mexicon 25. 5 (2003).

Urcid,Javier. "Pre-Columbian Skull Trepanation in North America." Trepanation: History, Discovery, Theory. Ed. Arnot et al.., 2003

Urcid, Javier with Thomas W. Killion. "The Olmec Legacy: Cultural Continuity on Mexicos Southern Gulf Coast." Journal of Field Archaeology (2002).

Urcid,Javier. "El Chacmool de Mixquic y el Sacrificio Humano." Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 33. (2002).

Urcid,Javier. "La Faz Oculta de una Misteriosa Máscara de Piedra." Socieded y Patrimonio Arqueológico en el Valle de Oaxaca. Ed. Nelly M. Robles Garcia. Conaculta/INAH:, 2002

Urcid, Javier with Arthur Joyce. "Carved Monuments and Calendrical Names: The Rulers of Rio Viejo, Oaxaca." Ancient Mesoamerica (2001).

Urcid,Javier. Zapotec Hieroglyphic Writing. Dumbarton Oaks, 2001.

Urcid, Javier. "Codices on Stone: The Genesis of Writing in Ancient Oaxaca." Journal of Hispanic Literatures (1998).

Urcid, Javier. "Cannibalism and Curated Skulls: Bone Ritualism at Kodiak Island, Alaska." Reckoning with the Dead. Larsen Bay and the Smithsonian Institution, Smiths, 1994

Urcid, Javier. "The Pacific Coast of Oaxaca and Guerrero: The Westermost Extent of Zapotec Script." Ancient Mesoamerica (1993).

Urcid, Javier with Michael D. Lind. "The Lords of Lambityeco and Their Nearest Neighbors." Notas Mesoamericanas (1983).