Although they represent a relatively minor component of this investigation, the text-image ratios of sculpture associated with the Cross Group and the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque were calculated. The objective of this procedure was twofold: (1) to test the proposition that biases exist in the relative proportion of test and imagery on monumental art, which varies depending on its spatial context; and (2) to validate this author’s proposition that imagery was the primary method used by the Maya elite to communicate to the wider population at Palenque.
Text-image ratios were calculated by measuring the relative coverage of text over the surfaces of monuments and comparing it with the quantity of surface area occupied by the iconography. Various software packages were used to do this: Adobe Illustrator 9.0.1, Adobe Streamline Version 4.0, AutoCAD 2000, and Microsoft Excel. Scale drawings of monuments obtained from published sources were first scanned and converted to vector format before being adjusted and scaled to their specified sizes in Adobe Illustrator. The scanned monuments were then exported into AutoCAD where the surface area occupied by text and the surface area occupied by iconography could be traced and calculated; these data were then inserted in Microsoft Excel where they could be graphed. Together with access analysis, the power of this method is its ability to detect gradual shifts in the relative proportions of text and image on monuments and architecture with changes in relative accessibility of the art. As previously stated, it is generally agreed that literacy was one of the privileges of an educated minority (Houston and Stuart 1992: 592; Houston 1994: 27-50). Therefore, it is reasonable to argue that monumental art positioned in public spaces (areas of low elevation and ease of access) would contain a lower proportion of text than would those contained in private spatial contexts (see Chapter 3, Section 3.5, Text-Image Ratios and the Cross Group for more information).
World History
