Find out more and view our projects.
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A Graphic Communication System Of The Prehispanic Central Andean Highlands
The subproject focuses on the graphic communication system (GCS) of the Tiwanaku polity (ca. AD 600-1000) as a system that combines elements with very different communicative potential. Since Arthur Posnansky’s (1945, 1952) work, researchers have examined theories about writing or iconography with varying degrees of success. It is becoming more and more clear that the […]
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Divinatory practices and codes
This subproject focuses on divinatory practices and the codes they entail. In particular, this project will investigate how the on-going divinatory practice of reading maize works and how its messages are transmitted. Maize divination still persists among some indigenous communities such as the K’iche (Colby & Colby 1981, Tedlock 1982), Nahuas from the Huasteca (Sandstrom […]
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Tio-tio writing and material culture of Yukpa people
Exploring Yukpa Graphic Communication systems (GCS) in Tio-tio Writing and Material Culture This project aims to inquire for the first time into the multiple and mixed forms of graphic communication system among the Carib-speaking Yukpa, living in the Isthmo-Colombian region. So far only fragmentary accounts on Yukpa GCSs are available which nevertheless demonstrate the existence […]
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GCS of the Venezuelan rock art
Venezuelan rock art has been a subject of multidisciplinary studies for years (e.g. Boulton 1993; Straka 1975). One of the defined cultural regions is the north-central area (Idler 2004, Páez 2012). Many rock art sites with numerous petroglyphs were found in that region, and they are considered a part of the Valencia-style iconographical region (Falcon […]
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Graphic Communication System in Mixtec narratives and Mesoamerican divinatory codices
The subproject focuses on the graphic communication system of the historical and divinatory Mesoamerican manuscripts, commonly called codices in the scholarship. Mixtec pre-Hispanic codices tell the accounts of the local ruling dynasties and are characterized by a narrative construction, manifested mainly in the spatial organization of content. Divinatory codices were sacred books that served as […]