Joyce Marcus

Robert L. Carneiro Distinguished Professor of Anthropology; Professor, Anthropology

joymar@umich.edu

Office Information:

phone: 734.763.5164

Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies; LACS Faculty

Education/Degree:

M.A., Harvard University, 1971; Ph.D., Harvard University, 1974

About

Joyce Marcus has carried out fieldwork in Nevada (Lovelock Cave), California (the La Brea Tar Pit), Mexico (San José Mogote), Guatemala (El Mirador, Tres Islas, Naranjo, Tintal, Chunhuitz), and Peru (Cerro Azul). Marcus entered the field of Archaeology after Heinrich Berlin had shown that certain hieroglyphs (which he called ‘emblem glyphs’) referred to the royal dynasties of Maya cities. By plotting the distribution of emblem glyphs, Marcus showed that some Maya states had a four-tiered hierarchy in which secondary centers mentioned their dynastic capital, tertiary centers mentioned their secondary centers and so on. A byproduct of this work was her identification of the previously unknown emblem glyphs of Calakmul and Motul de San José. This discovery led to excavations by William Folan that showed Calakmul was one of the biggest Maya capitals, at the center of a hexagonal lattice of secondary centers. Marcus then began to document the rise of Maya states, dating the moment when each capital acquired its emblem glyph. This led to her fleshing out a “Dynamic Model” which shows the way Maya regions went through cycles of political centralization and breakdown. Marcus then decided to see if she could document the rise and fall of the Zapotec state by analyzing the hieroglyphs of that undeciphered script. She eventually showed a Zapotec pattern of centralization and breakdown similar to the Maya. She went on to co-direct the University of Michigan project at San José Mogote, Oaxaca, which produced Mexico’s oldest hieroglyphic monument, as well as key data on the social and political evolution of the Zapotec. Marcus went on to investigate the relationship between archaeological data and Spanish eyewitness accounts by excavating the site of Cerro Azul, Peru. In 2008 she published its architecture and pottery; in 2009 she published data on its brewery; she is currently working on evidence for its economic specialization, division of labor (fishing vs. weaving), and the nature of individual style, as expressed in the textiles and workbaskets buried with female weavers.

Affiliation(s)

Museum of Anthropological Archaeology

Award(s)

Elected to the National Academy of Sciences (1997)
Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1997)
Elected to the American Philosophical Society (2008)
Cotsen Book Prize for Excavations at Cerro Azul, Peru: The Architecture and Pottery (2008)
Shanghai Award for contributions to archaeology (2013)
Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, University of Michigan (2007)
Mentor Recognition Award, University of California at San Diego

About

Affiliation(s)

Museum of Anthropological Archaeology

Award(s)

Elected to the National Academy of Sciences (1997)
Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1997)
Elected to the American Philosophical Society (2008)
Cotsen Book Prize for Excavations at Cerro Azul, Peru: The Architecture and Pottery (2008)
Shanghai Award for contributions to archaeology (2013)
Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, University of Michigan (2007)
Mentor Recognition Award, University of California at San Diego

Highlighted Work and Publications

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Excavations at San José Mogote 2: The Cognitive Archaeology

Kent V. Flannery, Joyce Marcus

San José Mogote is a 60-70 ha Formative site in the northern Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Occupied for a thousand years before the city of Monte Albán was founded, San José Mogote sent most of its population to Monte Albán at 500 BC and was later reborn as a second-level administrative center for the Zapotec state.

The University of Michigan is publishing the final site report on San José Mogote in three volumes: first the household archaeology (published in 2005), then the cognitive archaeology ...

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(2015) Excavations at San José Mogote 2: The Cognitive Archaeology

Kent V. Flannery, Joyce Marcus

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58. Excavations at San José Mogote 2: The Cognitive Archaeology

Kent V. Flannery, Joyce Marcus

Year of Publication: 2015

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Publisher: Cotsen Institute, UCLA

Year of Publication: 2009

Location: Los Angeles, CA

# of Pages: 419

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Excavations at Cerro Azul, Peru: The Architecture and Pottery

Joyce Marcus

Publisher: UCLA Cotsen Institute

Year of Publication: 2008

Location: Los Angeles, CA

# of Pages: 332

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Monte Albán

Marcus. Joyce

Publisher: El Colegio de México y Fondo de Cultura Económica

Year of Publication: 2008

Location: Mexico

# of Pages: 206

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Imperial Transformations in Sixteenth-Century Yucay, Peru: Memoir 41

Publisher: Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan

Year of Publication: 2008

Location: Ann Arbor, MI

# of Pages: 373

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The Ancient City

Publisher: SAR Press

Year of Publication: 2008

Location: Santa Fe, NM

# of Pages: 405

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Agricultural Strategies

Publisher: UCLA Cotsen Institute

Year of Publication: 2006

Location: Los Angeles, CA

# of Pages: 428

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Excavations at San José Mogote 1: The Household Archaeology: Memoir 40

Joyce Marcus, Kent Flannery

Publisher: Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan

Year of Publication: 2005

Location: Ann Arbor, MI

# of Pages: 490

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The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations

Publisher: Percheron Press

Year of Publication: 2003

Location: Clinton Corners, NY

# of Pages: 391

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La Civilización Zapoteca

Joyce Marcus, Kent Flannery

Publisher: Fondo de Cultura Económica

Year of Publication: 2001

Location: Mexico

# of Pages: 324

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33. Women's Ritual in Formative Oaxaca: Figure-making, Divination, Death and the Ancestors

Joyce Marcus

This book covers divination, figurine-making, and women's ritual treatment of ancestors in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, from 1600 to 500 B.C. Women's ritual was distinguished from men's through excavation strategy: houses, dooryards, activity areas, features, middens and public buildings were excavated and studied as separate units, and context was used to link artifacts with women's domains. They were then interpreted using ethnographic and ethnohistoric data on women's ritual. Included are illustrations of more than 800 figurines or figurine parts. This monograph is Vol. 11 of the...

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Publisher: Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan

Year of Publication: 1994

Location: Ann Arbor, MI

# of Pages: 300

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Early Formative Pottery of the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico: Memoir 27

Marcus. Joyce, Kent Flannery

Publisher: Museum of Anthropology University of Michigan

Year of Publication: 1994

Location: Ann Arbor, MI

# of Pages: 400

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89. Caciques and Their People: A Volume in Honor of Ronald Spores

Joyce Marcus, Judith Francis Zeitlin (editors)

A volume of essays by Mesoamerican scholars on topics ranging from Zapotec archaeology to Cuicatec irrigation, Mixtec codices to Aztec ethnohistory. Authors use direct historical approach, the comparative method, or develop models that contribute to ethnological and archaeological theory. Contributors: J. Chance, G. Feinman, K.V. Flannery, F. Hicks, R. Hunt, M. Lind, J. Marcus, J. Monaghan, J. Paddock, E. Redmond, M. Romero Frizzi, M.E. Smith, C. Spencer, and J. Zeitlin.

Order through Museum of Anthropology Publications, or from...

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Mesoamerican Writing Systems: Propaganda, Myth, and History in Four Ancient Civilizations

Joyce Marcus

Publisher: Princeton U Press

Year of Publication: 1992

Location: Princeton, NJ

# of Pages: 500

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Debating Oaxaca Archaeology: Anthropological Paper 84

Publisher: Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan

Year of Publication: 1990

Location: Ann Arbor, MI

# of Pages: 275

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84. Debating Oaxaca Archaeology

Joyce Marcus (editor)

Based on the 1987 meeting of the Northeast Mesoamericanists Society.

Order through Museum of Anthropology Publications, or from Amazon.com.

Publisher: Museum of Anthropology

Month of Publication: January

Year of Publication: 1990

Location: Ann Arbor, MI

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The Flocks of the Wamani: A Study of Llama Herders on the Punas of Ayacucho, Peru

Joyce Marcus, KV Flannery, RG Reynolds

Publisher: Academic Press

Year of Publication: 1989

Location: New York

# of Pages: 240

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The Inscriptions of Calakmul. Royal Marriage at a Maya City in Campeche, Mexico: Technical Report 20

Joyce Marcus

Publisher: Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan

Year of Publication: 1987

Location: Ann Arbor, MI

# of Pages: 205

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Late Intermediate Occupation at Cerro Azul, Perú: Technical Report 20

Marcus. Joyce

Publisher: Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan

Year of Publication: 1987

Location: Ann Arbor, MI

# of Pages: 112

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20. Late Intermediate Occupation at Cerro Azul, Perú: A Preliminary Report

Joyce Marcus

Preliminary report of an interdisciplinary project carried out at Cerro Azul, a late prehistoric fishing community on the south-central coast of Peru.

Order through Museum of Anthropology Publications or from Amazon.com.

Publisher: Museum of Anthropology

Month of Publication: January

Year of Publication: 1987...

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The Cloud People

Joyce Marcus, KV Flannery

Publisher: Academic Press

Year of Publication: 1983

Location: New York

# of Pages: 391

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Emblem and State in the Classic Maya Lowlands: an epigraphic approach to territorial organization

Marcus. Joyce

Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks

Year of Publication: 1976

Location: Washington DC

# of Pages: 203

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