Preliminary Analysis of Hieroglyph and Iconography Placement on Freestanding Monuments at Copán, Honduras

Authors

Elizabeth Koenen, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

Spring 3-12-2018

Citation

Koenen E. 2018. Preliminary Analysis of Hieroglyph and Iconography Placement on Freestanding Monuments at Copán, Honduras [Thesis].[Lincoln(NE)]: University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

(Koenen 2018)

Comments

Copyright Elizabeth Koenen 2018

Abstract

This paper analyzes the placement of hieroglyphs and iconography on freestanding monuments at the ancient Maya site of Copán, Honduras. Preliminary spatial analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) highlight two potentially important findings. First, stelae in the main civic-ceremonial precinct (Principal Group), while erected in the most centralized and public location in the city, are not always placed to allow for public viewing of their fronts. Second, differences may exist in the number of logographic and syllabic glyphs used on a object depending on the type of object and its location. Further research and data collection are needed in order to perform statistical methods to further explore the preliminary results presented in this paper.