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Post-Classical (500 CE - 1450 CE)

Inset of Prester John from larger world map. Shows a man sitting in front of a tent.
Source

Catalan Map of the World, c.1450

Dated to the mid-fifteenth century, this Catalan world map is over a meter in diameter on a sheet of vellum (high-quality parchment made of calfskin). Unlike many other surviving charts, this was not meant for practical navigation, though it was based on such nautical charts.

Broken fragment of stone monument with glyphs carved into it.
Teaching

Short Teaching Module: Maya Writing

In the period from 200 to 900 C.E, which scholars later labelled the Classic Period, the Maya developed the most complex writing system in the Americas, a script with nearly a thousand characters (termed “glyphs”) that represent concepts and sounds, which over the last fifty years has been largel

Small figure carved in jade
Source

Maya Deity-Face Jade Pendant, 7th-8th century

This small carved jade ornament, about 2 inches square, was most likely the central ornament on the paper headband of a Maya ruler.

Object with seated individual carved into it
Source

Maya Drinking Vessel with Seated Lord, 7th-8th century

This large ceramic vessel, made for drinking chocolate, shows a figure wearing a loincloth, necklace, and a large headdress that looks like the tail feathers of the quetzal bird.

Cup inscribed with a figure holding a ceremonial ax in one hand.
Source

Maya Vase with Mythological Scene, 7th-8th century

This drinking cup shows the aging Rain God Chank with a ceremonial ax in one hand and the other on a building that has split open.

Broken fragment of stone monument with glyphs carved into it.
Source

Maya Monument with glyphs, 4th-9th centuries

This stone monument carved with glyphs comes from Tortuguero, a Maya archeological site in southernmost Tabasco, Mexico that has been badly damaged by development. The monument is in a museum in Tabasco, and the smaller fragment is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.

Chart with curved sticks emanating from pebbles on either side
Teaching

Short Teaching Module: History of the Pacific Ocean

Scholars of Pacific history explore how people build lives dependent on the ocean, how maritime connections create communities, and how humans and the environment shape each other.

Close up of Manilla on Philippines map
Methods

Primer: Global Urban History

Urban history is a rich subfield of historical scholarship that examines life in urban spaces, how communities within cities interact and coexist, as well as the process of city formation and urbanization.

Source

The Miracles of Sainte Foy, Bernard of Angers, c. 1013–1020

In 1013, Bernard of Angers visited the relics of Sainte Foy at the abbey of Conques, in southern France. Initially skeptical of the cult which had formed around this little girl martyr, Bernard nonetheless fell under her spell.

Source

Theophilus, On Diverse Arts (De diversis artibus), c. 1120

Theophilus’ De diversis artibus is the only complete treatise on art to survive from the High Middle Ages.