ON THE SUBJECT MATTER OF SOUTHEASTERN CEREMONIAL COMPLEX ART

Interpretations of Southeastern Ceremonial Complex art are conditioned by varied assumptions. In this article we submit our own most fundamental claims governing an approach to this corpus. As defined for our purposes, we contend that the imagery of Southeastern Ceremonial Complex art is uniformly that of otherworldly or mythic subject matter. Depictions of quotidian realities, such as portraiture or humans impersonating supernaturals, cannot be identified in this material, despite common claims to the contrary. Moreover, references are primarily to the celestial realm of a layered cosmos.