Color is an integral part of human experience, so common as to
be overlooked or treated as unimportant. Yet color is both
unavoidable and varied. Each culture classifies, understands, and
uses it in different and often surprising ways, posing particular
challenges to those who study color from long-ago times and places
far distant. Veiled Brightness reconstructs what color meant to the
ancient Maya, a set of linked peoples and societies who flourished
in and around the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and Central America.
By using insights from archaeology, linguistics, art history, and
conservation, the book charts over two millennia of color use in a
region celebrated for its aesthetic refinement and high degree of
craftsmanship.
The authors open with a survey of approaches to color
perception, looking at Aristotelian color theory, recent
discoveries in neurophysiology, and anthropological research on
color. Maya color terminology receives new attention here,
clarifying not just basic color terms, but also the extensional or
associated meanings that enriched ancient Maya perception of color.
The materials and technologies of Maya color production are
assembled in one place as never before, providing an invaluable
reference for future research.
From these investigations, the authors demonstrate that Maya use
of color changed over time, through a sequence of historical and
artistic developments that drove the elaboration of new pigments
and coloristic effects. These findings open fresh avenues for
investigation of ancient Maya aesthetics and worldview and provide
a model for how to study the meaning and making of color in other
ancient civilizations.
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