ARCH 100 Lecture Notes - John Lloyd Stephens, Frederick Catherwood, Maya Calendar
12 Sep 2012
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Document Summary
Rumble in the jungle: tropical forests and the collapse of urban societies. Common western 19th century mythology: western explorer stumbling thorugh jungle comes upon ruins, discovers civilization nobody remembers. Henri mouhot at angkor wat in 1850s; he did not claim he discovered it, but that became the mythology. Angkor described in detail by an ambassador from china in 13th century, who published extensive descriptions of it in china at that time. Portuguese missionaries of 16th century visited and described it in detail. French missionaries who spoke with houdor had already described it extensively in correspondence. Mouhot popularized the place in european minds through publishing on it, with illustrations played on the romance of the place. Catherwood was british artist travelled throughout mayan region, sketching, painting, and writing about mysterious lost cities . In 19th century this idea of tropics as a place of loss and ruin, very romantic. Makes great media splash whenever anybody solves these riddles .
