With chapters devoted to three regions of ancient Mesoamerica—Central Mexico, Oaxaca, and the Maya area—this volume reflects both the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of Mesoamerican studies as well as its international scope. The twelve contributions, by Mexican, American, and European scholars, are loosely tied together by the medium of painting—including murals, ceramics, manuscripts, and body decoration. As the title suggests, the essays incorporate explorations of status, power, community identity, history, and the natural and built environment.
In the first chapter, Paxton and Staines Cicero, both art historians, provide a useful explication of the concept of Mesoamerica and a brief discussion of the early years of Mesoamerican art history, before introducing each of the chapters that follow. This chapter is marred, however, by a puzzling and lengthy digression, including six pages of tables, expanding on the chapter by Mexican ornithologist María de Lourdes Navarijo Ornelas about images of animals and birds painted...