Meso America Map of Central America

- “to paint” and “to write” was the same word- special status of artist/calligrapher –came from the royal elite- called “royal artist scribes”

- the artists were special – they had a degree of poetic license, not like the rules of our text

- here an artist shows his inspiration- delicate painting hand emerges from Itzamna= celestial serpent (sky god) and patron of writing

- the skills come from beyond!!!

- paint pots are found in royal graves- symbols of their skills or secret knowledge…

- ceramic vessels were a symbol of status and power for the Maya. They were used by the élite and are found as offerings in rich burials.

- image that shows the “royal librarian” (RIGHT) who may have been the most distinguished of all the royal artist scribes

- chief diviner

- in charge of production and training of all books and royal scribe artists

- shows “royal librarian” seated cross legged across from the Pawatan= old god of art and writing (LEFT) brushes in his head wrap

- Pawatan reads from a book and the speech lines (like a modern cartoon!) shows he is reading the numbers 11 and 13

- book he is reading would have history, myth and astrological info- even though the books themselves are gone, these post help us to see they existed!

-many of the lost written stories and myths are preserved from oral tradition after the conquest- written down by scribes….in a book called Popul Vuh= “Book of Council”

Slide * Mayan elite pressed their baby’s heads in cradle boards to alter their head shape.

- for beauty

- for status like elite (sometimes different deformation- squished sides versus elongated heads, for different statuses) This made faking being an elite impossible and made the elite instantly recognizable.

- for connection to jaguar head

- for connection to Maize god- fertility

* Yaxchilán lintel 24, structure 23, after 709 C.E., Maya, Late Classic period, limestone, 109 x 78 x 6 cm, Mexico © Trustees of the British Museum

Yaxchilán was a significant Maya center during the Classic period (250-900 C.E.) and a number of its buildings stand to this day. Carved stone lintels above their doorways which have made this site famous. These lintels, commissioned by the rulers of the city, provide a lengthy dynastic record in both text and image. 

- The scene represents a bloodletting ritual performed by the king of Yaxchilán, Shield Jaguar the Great (681-742), and his wife, Lady K'ab'al Xook

- bloodletting= a common practice in Maya life from the Late Preclassic period (400 B.C.E.- 250 C.E.) onwards, and an essential part of rulership and of all public rituals.

- The Maya élite drew blood from various parts of their bodies using lancets made of stingray spine, flint, bone or obsidian.

* detail next slide

- Lady K'abal Xook pulls a rope with obsidian blades through her tongue in the principal form of blood sacrifice performed by royal women.

- The rope falls onto an open codex.

- Scrolls of blood can be seen around her mouth. 

- Her pierced tongue allowed her blood to flow as part of a ritual communication with gods and spirits.

- This sacrifice mirrored the Maya story of creation, when the gods let their blood to create the human race.

- By choosing to take part in the ritual, the queen demonstrated both her moral and physical strength to the people, and her suitability as a Maya royal. 

* detail next slide

- She kneels in front of Shield Jaguar who holds a great torch described in the text as a "burning spear” illuminating a ritual that was probably held at night or set in the dark recess of a private chamber. 

- Both king and queen are richly attired with Sun God pectorals.

King

- he has quetzal (say Ket- Zal) feathers in his hair (*bird on click- example of trade- each male bird only has about 3 tail feathers like this.)

- Maya viewed the quetzal as the "god of the air" and as a symbol of goodness and light. The Maya also viewed the quetzal symbolizing freedom and wealth, due to their view of quetzals dying in captivity and the value of their feathers, respectively.

- a jade bead necklace that is counterbalanced by a long strand of jade beads and what are probably carved shells going down his back. The artist was careful to show such minute details as the strings that are tied to hold on the wrist cuffs worn by both royals, and the pattern woven on Shield Jaguar’s beautiful cape.

Queen

- The queen also wears an elaborate headdress. There are flower tassels on the main part of the head band and a mosaic depiction of Tlaloc (rain god) sprouting quetzal feathers.

- Her necklace also appears to have a pectoral depiction of the sun god. It is probably made of shell or jade plaques, as are her wrist cuffs.

- includes a single L shaped strip of glyphs (another common form of writing)

- The first two glyphs in the text at the top of the lintel indicate the event and the date on which it took place, October 24, 709 C.E. (5 Eb, 15 Mak in the maya calendar). The last glyph represents the Emblem Glyph (that is, the city name in Maya hieroglyphs) of Yaxchilán. The text on the left of the panel contains the name and titles of Lady K'ab'al Xook. 

- The lintel has traces of Maya blue, turquoise and red pigment.

8.21 * The Ball Court, Copan, Honduras. Late Classic period. (2 slides)
- info about this is left for us in the Book Popul Vuh.

- athletic men competed against one another hitting a rubber ball from end to end

- The game was invented sometime in the Preclassical Period (2500-100 BCE), probably by the Olmec, and became a common Mesoamerican-wide feature of the urban landscape by the Classical Period (300-900 CE). Eventually, the game was even exported to other cultures in North America and the Caribbean.

- ball courts are found all over Mesoamerica (almost every city had one)

- RITUAL (not modern sense of “game”)

- 2 teams of 7 aristocratic/ priestly status members- MEN- (also could have been captives)

- I (or T shaped) shaped court- each team volleyed the ball down the “alley” (stick of the I) and defended the end zones (the top and bottom of the I)- slopes on either side of the I. May have been a designated half of the alley per team that they weren’t to cross.

- It is not known with any certainty of the sizes or weights of the balls actually used in the ballgame.

- natural rubber disintegrates.

-While several dozen ancient balls have been recovered, they were originally laid down as offerings in a sacrificial bog or spring, and there is no evidence that any of these were used in the ballgame. In fact, some of these extant votive balls were created specifically as offerings. (found in sacred cenotes.)

- ball made from sap of tree can also be seen as symbolically connected to the blood that flows from sacrifice and the sap as the “blood” of the tree used for the game - men wore pads on hips and legs, off of which they would hit and steer the ball. (known only through art- none survive)

- padded helmet or a huge feathered headdress, perhaps the latter being for ceremonial purposes only.

- ball was heavy and could break bones! Men had belt and “pads” to keep the ball from hitting them and causing internal bleeding.

- some courts had sculptures to hit or rings to toss through

- priests sat above the sloped sides and kept score and penalties (no touching with hands, for example.)

- public would wager

- popular entertainment

- kings may have played instead of going to battle! Economic and political importance!

- RELIGIOUS- Xibalba and underworld associations- skulls as motifs, scenes of human sacrifice, cleft in the earth associations!

- priests “ascend” the mountain temples, players “descend” into the underworld to play

- human sacrifice in the court in post game ritual (those the priests may have decided who was meant to go join the gods- not necessarily the winners or losers..)- decapitation, cut out heart

- Blood was viewed as a potent source of nourishment for the Maya deities, and the sacrifice of a living creature was a powerful blood offering. Generally only high status prisoners of war were sacrificed, with lower status captives being used for labor.

- human sacrifice legitimized and sanctified the elites’ political power

- metaphorical parallel to the movements of the cosmos- the regeneration of maize, vegetation and life (seasonality of agriculture)

- there were skull racks where severed heads from sacrifices were displayed

- may have been seen as representing the “cosmos” or the underworld and the helped to decipher gods wants and wishes.

Little is known about the game's symbolic contents. Several other themes recur in scholarly writing.

• 
  Astronomy. The bouncing ball is thought to have represented the sun. The stone scoring rings are speculated to signify sunrise and sunset, or equinoxes.
  
• 
  War. This is the most obvious symbolic aspect of the game ("Proxy for warfare"). Among the Mayas, the ball can represent the vanquished enemy, both in the late-Postclassic K'iche' kingdom (Popol Vuh), and in Classic kingdoms such as that of Yaxchilan.
  
• 
  Fertility. Formative period ballplayer figurines—most likely females—often wear maize icons. At El Tajin, the ballplayer sacrifice ensures the renewal of pulque, an alcoholic maguey cactus beverage.
  

- chocolate drinking vessel- Mayan chocolate was very different than the chocolate we know today. It was a liquid made from crushed cocoa beans, chili peppers, and water. (There was no sugar in South America.) They poured the liquid from one cup to another until a frothy foam appeared on top. In fact, the word ‘chocolate’ is said to come from the Mayan word ‘xocolatl’ which means ‘bitter water.’

- As is common in mythological narratives throughout the Americas, these heroes win the day not through feats of brute strength but through cunning, and often humorous, trickery.

• 
   the victim’s serpent-umbilicus curls out to bite one of the executioners.
  
• 
  Hero Twins are very popular in art
  
• 
  Ball game may have been a reenactment of the Hero Twins battle with the underworld gods!!! Rebirth as leaders in heaven!
  

• 
  is surrounded by 5 women attendants whose hair has been plucked and whose foreheads are sloping
  
• 
  Women goddesses have varied poses/ movements
  
• 
  One goddess pours chocolate drink from high up to froth it.
  
• 
  Fat rabbit acts as an artist scribe to record the event on a folded screen in a fur lined box
  

- tall mountain shaped temples

-Mayan rulers claimed they could travel to the otherworld, commune with the gods and return to the earth through certain pathways and portals within their temple complexes

- named y-tot =his or her house, indicating that the temples belonged to the gods and goddesses

- stelae acted as “trees” -called them “stone trees”= te tun- in the symbolic landscape with the “mountain” temples

- narrow passages at the top of the temples were like caves that lead from this world to the next- rulers would go back and forth from earth to otherworld and bring back divine knowledge for their rule.

- rain sunk quickly into their soil, they figured out a way to make a plaster basin and slightly tilt the main plaza so that rain water would run down into a great cistern creation that provided for the many inhabitants!

- city of Tikal (750BCE-900CE) has the tallest temples- 154 ft

- temple and tomb for one strong king= Jasaw Chan K'awiil (ruled 682-734) (where the carved artists bone from earlier came from..)

- has become THE symbol for Tikal, the Maya and for Guatemala

- king’s body at the bottom, 9 levels above him symbolizing Xibalba- this is his entry way!

- temple at the top was used for king’s funeral rituals after his death (there are carved roofbeams inside that show his military prowess and accession to the throne)- Huge stucco image (now eroded) that showed enthroned king with Itzamna (celestial serpent, sky god, and patron of writing) looped over his head= image of king as KING of HEAVENS!

- The tomb of Jasaw Chan K'awiil I was discovered by archaeologists in 1962.

- It is a large vaulted chamber deep within the pyramid, below the level of the Great Plaza.

- Over half of the chamber is occupied by the masonry bench supporting the king's body and his jewelry.

- The king's remains had been laid on a woven mat and the tomb contained rich offerings of jaguar skins, jadeite objects, painted ceramics, rare shells, pearls, mirrors, and other works of art.

- no equal structure in Europe at the time.

- would have been painted- red, white, and maybe other bright colors

City of Palenque (Mayan) Mexico

- tomb for King Hanab Pakal (ruled 615-83)

- had a beautiful palace made- at age 75 had this temple made next to the palace

- made in a manner that looks like a stone version of a Mayan house- lashed saplings, high pitched roof, roof of palm fronds= king’s “home” in the afterlife.

Video Link

8.25 * Sarcophagus lid, Temple of the Inscriptions. Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico. , Late Classic period, c. 680 CE. , Limestone, approx. 12’2” × 7’ (3.7 × 2.2 m).

- lid to the sarcophagus of the ruler Pakal’s tomb

- (The Temple of the Inscriptions has been significant in the study of the ancient Maya, owing to the extraordinary sample of hieroglyphic text found on the Inscription Tablets, the impressive sculptural panels on the piers of the building, and the finds inside the tomb of Pakal)

- moment of king’s death as he falls backwards like the setting sun into jaws of the earth monster on his way to Xibalba

- like how his body would be carried from the temple, down the stairs to the tomb on ground level.

- Pakal lies on top of the “earth monster.” Below him are the open jaws of a jaguar, symbolizing Xibalba. Above him is the Celestial Bird, perched atop the Cosmic Tree (represented by a cross) which, in turn, holds a Serpent in its branches. Thus, in the image Pakal lies between two worlds: the heavens and the underworld. Also on the sarcophagus are Pakal’s ancestors, arraigned in a line going back six generations

- Originally, the piers would have been extraordinarily colorful. Bright red, yellow, and blue would have been seen on their stucco sculpture.

* Pakal’s sarcophogus reconstructed- (on click)- real remains and burial goods, Palenque, Maya

- inside the sarcophagus were Pakal’s remains and burial goods including a funerary mask of jade and obsidian

- In his right hand Pakal held a squared piece of jade and in his left one a sphere of the same material. ???

*(sideways view) Sarcophagus lid, Temple of the Inscriptions. Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico.

- another interpretation says he is riding a great machine and gives evidence for extrateresstrials!! 

- Mayans set up tall stone sculpted stele in the Grand Plaza…(symbolic trees)

- around 695 CE, ruler commissions temple “mountains” and stone “trees” that establishes Copan as major Mayan art center

- over life size royal stelae portraits

- stelae—upright flat slabs of stone worked in relief on one, two, or four faces.

- glyphs on front, sides or back recorded names, dates of reign and notable achievements.

- larger stone sculptures served as the principal medium for presenting political and religious rhetoric to the public.

- placement at the base of immense pyramids or in open plazas facing small stage-like platforms suggests that they were intended to be viewed by vast audiences in conjunction with other public spectacles.

- ensured that the public recognized the authority of the ruler, the fortitude of his or her dynasty, and of the favor of deities. 

- wearing full ceremonial dress- sandals, garters, loincloth, ear plugs, necklaces, plumed headdress- various symbols of kingship, and an unwieldy, oversized headdress that must have been highly impractical for regular use!

- holds a bar with serpent heads on each side= Itzamna- sky serpent god- and the bar then represents the whole Mayan cosmos. King is ruler/ regent for the gods!

- NOT about personality of the individual!

- made of andesite stone which is soft but hardens on contact with air- the sculptors achieve very 3Dforms that was different (less of the Mayan linear form)- his rounded forms burst forth from the background that symbolizes his authority

- like change from Renaissance to Baroque in West!

- must have been aware of the effects of shadows and the drama it can give!

- made with only stone tools!!!

- Bonampak= another city (in Mexico)

- the most well-preserved Maya murals- unparalleled resource for understanding ancient society

- the ancient Maya at the end of their splendor, engaging in court rituals and human sacrifice, wearing elegant costumes and stripping the clothing from fallen captives, acknowledging foreign nobles and receiving abundant tribute.

- the murals clearly depict war and human sacrifice

- The capture of sacrificial victims was an essential aspect of Maya warfare, as they were necessary for many rituals.

- some of the few surviving examples

- mural that celebrates the exploits of the king and his queen

- king and captain (in royal jaguar pelts) and his warriors looking at a group of captives

- blood drips from some captive suggesting they have already been tortured in rituals

- lifeless captive in the middle is foreshortened! – contrasts with the more formal images of the king

8.28 * The House of the Governor. Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico. 10th century. Art Archive/Dagli Orti.

- city of Uxmal (say "oosh-mahl" )- not that much rainfall here- belief in Chac- rain god(s)- reptilian creature with long curved nose and open fanged mouth, beady eyes- His hair is a permanently knotted tangle of confusion (spelled Chac, Chaac, etc.)

- Chac sends rain into the world by weeping from his large benevolent eyes, even teaching the secrets of farming at no extra cost.

- ironically this is built by ruler named Lord Chac

- “House of the Governor”= 16^th c. name- administrative center

- 3 buildings linked by (emergence of) corbelled arches (click on slide) - mosaic like stonework on the top section over plain lower section

- The whole building leans slightly outwards giving an impression of lightness and also correcting the distorted perspective created by the long horizontals of the building.

- decoration using motifs such as serpents, step frets and lattice work along with human portraits and small thatched houses.

- some of the carving shows Chac heads over Mayan homes= Chac together with Lord Chac send the rain!

- If you stand back from the Palace on the east side, the 103 stone masks of Chac seem to slither across the facade like a serpent. They end at the corners, where there are columns of masks. 

- The Governor's Palace probably had an astrological significance as well.

- For years, scholars pondered why this building was constructed slightly turned from adjacent buildings. Recently scholars of archaeoastronomy (a relatively new science that studies the placement of archaeological sites in relation to the stars) discovered that the central doorway, which is larger than the others, is in perfect alignment with Venus.

-Decorative stone serpent-masks are arranged in diagonals to create striking outlined triangles on all façades.

- "The Nunnery" at Chichen Itza was given its name because of its resemblance to convents in Spain. They were probably the living quarters of the elite Mayans. Located in the southern group of ruins, it contains some of the best preserved structures at Chichen Itza. Every square foot of wall has reliefs and paintings decorating it