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Date/Time
Date(s) - 01/16/2016
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Location
El Paso Museum of Archaeology

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Lecture by Joan E. Price, M.F.A.

Saturday, January 16, 2016 at 2:00 p.m.
El Paso Museum of Archaeology
4301 Transmountain Road
El Paso, TX, 79924.

The El Paso Archaeological Society (EPAS) announces its featured speaker for Saturday, January 16, 2016 at 2:00 p.m.

Joan E. Price, of the Jornada Research Institute of Tularosa New Mexico, will be speaking on ancient Mesoamerican imagery found at Three Rivers Petroglyph Site near Tularosa. The public is welcome to this free program at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology, 4301 Transmountain Road, El Paso, TX, 79924.

Jaguar GlyphIdentified by Dr. Kay Sutherland (Spirits From the South, The Artifact, 1996), and others, numerous “collared Jaguar” glyphs, a Mesoamerican image associated with ritual warfare and royalty, are found depicted in the Mimbres style on significant stones among over 21,000 glyphs at Three Rivers Petroglyph Site. The possibility that Mimbres culture appears to have assimilated the elite Jaguar cult into a Mimbres hunt/warrior society in a far more egalitarian small-scale society and sacred landscape is discussed and compared to a Tewa Puebloan ritual calendar of hunting and agricultural ceremonial events and activities outlined by Alphonso Ortiz, The Tewa World, 1969).

The possibility that at least three jaguar sites with clusters of associated glyphs all in Mimbres style of iconography may have served as solar or fertility shrine sites will be presented in a power point format by Joan E. Price, a research associate with Jornada Research Institute. One large well made classic Mesoamerican collared jaguar is depicted on the southeast face of a massive four sided stone located roughly in the center of the 1 ½ mile long ridge of stones. Associated glyphs on the connected northeast face include astronomical motifs, directional faces, and a key geometric glyph. A second unusually shaped stone, located very near the beginning of the public trail, features the same collared jaguar image on a much smaller scale facing east, and a directional face, circle motifs and geometric glyphs. A third site, high on a nearby hill, displays a well-made and placed collared jaguar, also with astronomical symbols, overlooking an important eleven-winding spiral geometric glyph and numerous other jaguar icons.

Close up Jaguar GlyphJoan E. Price constructs a temporary string diagram incorporating a  Mesoamerican jaguar stone at Three Rivers Petroglyph Site on Fall Equinox this year. The directional alignments of the stone conform to a calendar system used in Mesoamerican sacred architecture, the subject of her talk at the El Paso Archaeological Museum.

Strings and glyphsA stone with a Mesoamerican style jaguar at the base conforms to a calendar system used in Mesoamerican sacred architecture.