Thursday, January 3, 2019

Emblem Glyphs

Detail of a relief that dates to the 700s AD. Among
the glyphs, you can spot several emblem glyphs.
Rediscovered in the late 1950s, the emblem glyph (actually made of several glyphs) is an ancient Maya title. It is understood to translate as "holy lord of such and such place" -- with each city-state's/polity's name put in the "such and such place" spot. When used, an emblem glyph would be placed next to the ruler's name. As to their meaning, debate still exists as to the nuances this title held in ancient Maya thought.

 Rediscovery
It was a man named Heinrich Berlin who began the rediscovery of emblem glyphs. In 1958, Berlin found that there were certain groups of three glyphs that only changed one glyph, the "main sign." He thought that these glyph groups, which he called emblem glyphs, seemed to be about founding families or the names of places. 

 Setup
An emblem glyph, in one view, starts with the adjective k’uhul. This is made of the k’uh glyph (the god C glyph, which looks like a head) paired with a glyph that the Maya popularly drew as one or more curving rows of dots with a “k’an cross” on top. (A k’an cross is a cross surrounded by a circular border.) 

 To the right of the k’an cross was a glyph for ajaw or “lord”. Under the ajaw glyph went the “main sign,” which the Maya tended to place “on top” of the k’uh glyph. 

 Alternately, you may see that the glyph with the rows of dots is transliterated as k’ul or ch’ul -- with no mention of k’uhul or layering. A third alternate you may find is it being transliterated as k'uhul.

How They're Read
One of several known emblem glyphs for the Kaan,
or perhaps Kan, kingdom aka the "snake kingdom."
Even though the usual method for successfully reading Mayan inscriptions involves reading top, left, then right, that's not how emblem glyphs are read. Instead, it's understood that the ajaw glyph is really said last -- even though it is on top of the "main sign" glyph. For example, Tikal's emblem glyph is read ch'ul/k'ul mutul ajaw, with mutul being the reconstructed name for the site.

 Who Used Them 
Both rulers of city-states that controlled other city-states as well as rulers of city-states that were controlled used emblem glyphs. And there are some sites that use the same emblem glyphs -- like Palenque and Tortuguero. (Which could mean different things, including the possibility that they were both ruled by rulers from the same royal family.)

 Archaeologists have also found inscriptions where pairs of people -- brothers or sons and fathers -- both have the emblem glyph. However, the more important of the two has kaloomte' as part of their titles, while the less important one doesn't. One theory about this says that these were times where sites (such as Calakmul) were ruled by two people at once, with one being more powerful than the other. Another possible explanation is that the younger of the two people is being described as a future ruler.

 As to their location in an inscription, that depends on the time period you look at. Before 500 AD, the ancient Maya would put it either before or after a ruler's name -- after 500 AD, they just did the latter.

 Possible Meanings
It’s not entirely certain what emblem glyphs were referring to. They might be names for lineages, for a location or for dynasties.

 There’s also a theory you might see that wonders if emblem glyphs main signs were names for “origin places” – and that an emblem glyph may have been a statement of power. That is, an emblem glyph was a ruler’s way of declaring that he or his ancestors were given the right to rule from his emblem glyph's origin place.

Consideration: Unidentified Emblem Glyphs
There are emblem glyphs that archaeologists do not know the sites for. One example is the Water Scroll emblem glyph. The Maya wrote about it in inscriptions that date to between the 500s and 700s AD. A theory suggests that the Water Scroll emblem glyph was the emblem glyph of the Belize site Altun Ha.

 References
Cambridge Core: "Ancient Mesoamerica" Volume 29 Issue 1: "Kings of the East: Altun Ha and the Water Scroll Emblem Glyph"; Christophe Helmke, Stanley P. Guenter; Phillip J. Wanyerka; Spring 2018

 Maya Decipherment: "Secrets of the Painted King List: Recovering the Early History of the Snake Dynasty "; Simon Martin; May 5, 2017

 Google Books: "Encyclopedia of the Ancient Maya"; Walter R.T. Witschey (editor); 2016

 Google Books: "Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya: Rituals of Body and Soul"; Andrew K. Scherer; 2015

 The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago: Oriental Institute Seminars: Number 4; "Religion and Power"; Nichole Brisch (editor); 2008 (Second printing with minor corrections, 2012)

 Google Books: "The Ancient Maya" Sixth Edition; Robert J. Sharer, Loa P. Traxler; 2006

 Mesoweb: "PARI Journal" Volume 6, Issue 2: "Of Snakes and Bats: Shifting Identities at Calakmul"; Simon Martin; 2005

 The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Stela Fragment with Glyphs

 Image Credit:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Relief with Enthroned Ruler

 LACMA: Dynastic Vase (used as a model for the Calakmul emblem glyph image.)

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Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Bats and the Ancient Maya



This Guatemalan vessel, dated around 650 AD to 850 AD, has bat heads
painted on it. From LACMA.

All kinds of bats (or zotz (also spelled sotz') in a lot of Mayan languages) live in the Maya area. It makes sense then, that bats became part of the Maya civilization, including religious beliefs, their writing system, and their calendar.

What the Maya Thought of Bats
Two things the ancient Maya connected bats to were caves and the underworld -- they also thought that bats were messengers from the underworld. The Maya also connected bats with sacrifice -- they drew bats with symbols of sacrifice, like “death eyes” around their neck (or on their wings) and a sort of split scroll coming out of its mouth that might be a symbol for blood.

Three other possible views the ancient Maya may have had – according to a paper called Bats and the Camazotz: Correcting a Century of Mistaken Identity are: as a wahy, a choice for a city name, and as a pollinator.

The Bat God
Starting with Eduard Seler’s conclusion about images on a pot, it’s now thought that the ancient Maya believed in a bat god – archaeologists call this god Cama Zotz’. This name comes from a bat god in the Popol Vuh, a Quiche (also K’iche’) “bible”. This god was connected with death. (It must be said though, that Maya experts don’t have a lot of info about this god outside of vessels taken from burials found in the Maya highlands.)

However, the paper Bats and Camazotz not only has the view people interpret bat images as this deity too often – but also doubts that Seler’s conclusion was right. (This doubt comes from the fact that they haven’t found any pre-contact images of the Hero Twins in the House of Bats.)

Agricultural Significance
Speaking of pollination, a lot of plants that the ancient Maya used were pollinated by creatures (as opposed to wind pollination, like corn.) This includes certain kinds of bats, like Underwood's long-tongued bat (Hylonycteris underwoodi).



A detail from an image of Haab months
from An Introduction to the Study of the
Maya Hieroglyphs. From Project Gutenberg.
In Mayan Writing 
The Maya had different glyphs (or perhaps versions of one glyph) that were bat heads – and they used these bat glyphs (or perhaps versions of one bat glyph) in different ways. For one thing, it looks like they may have used it (or them) for several syllables, including “xu” and “tz’i”. (As to whether or not there is more than one distinct bat glyph, that seems to be under debate.)

They also used a bat head glyph as a logogram, and when they did you will see descriptions that say you pronounce it zotz/sotz’. (There is a theory that in Classic Period inscriptions, though, it ought perhaps to be pronounced sutz’.) They used this logogram for the fourth month of the solar calendar (the Haab.)

A bat glyph was also used to represent "mother of" or “mother of child” in inscriptions -- specifically, for when the mother of that person was alive. For this, the bat glyph also has two syllable signs with it, one for “ya” and one for “na.”


Bat glyphs have also been used as part of “emblem glyphs” or city names. Both Calakmul and Copan had a glyph that was a bat head as part of their emblem glyphs. (Calakmul also had an emblem glyph that used a snake’s head instead of a bat’s head.) 

Consideration: Which Bat is the Bat Glyph?
According to a 2009 paper by Erik Boot, people tend to accept that that the model for the glyph was a species of leaf-nosed vampire bat. This paper also wonders if the model might have been the American false vampire bat because ancient Maya art liked to show powerful carnivores, like alligators and jaguars. (The American false vampire bat is the biggest you can find in North America – at the largest, its wingspan can be as wide as three feet!)


References:











Image Credits:


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Wednesday, October 24, 2018

The Starry Deer Crocodile

Image Credit: NPS/Chris Wonderly.
Seen in the Classic Period as well as the Postclassic Period, the Starry Deer Crocodile (or Starry Deer Alligator) is one of the wealth of "composite" beings that the ancient Maya included in their art and writings. Identified by Spinden in 1913 and given its current name by David Stuart, there are now various theories out there on it, including that it was a symbol or an aspect of another being, the Cosmic Monster.

Appearance                                                                    
The Starry Deer Crocodile has deer hooves for feet, eyes that have crossed bands (a sign for Venus) in them, a deer's ear, and eye-lids that have lines on them -- there are also times the Maya added an antler coming out of its forehead. It has water scrolls on its joints and has a shell under its ear. As for its body and head, they're like a crocodile or caiman's. You might see it drawn with a head on each end, though the ancient Maya didn't do that much.

A notable feature about the being's middle section is that one way the Maya liked to draw it was as a “sky-band” – in both ways, they put symbols connected to the sky on it.

The ancient Maya also liked to put one of several things on the Starry Deer Crocodile’s back. One of these things was the Principal Bird Deity (or PBD), which they would put on top of the Starry Deer Crocodile’s tail or make it part of the Starry Deer Crocodile’s back.

The other of these things was a symbol called the “Quadripartite Badge”. The Maya put it on the top of other end of the Starry Deer Crocodile. (This takes us back to the times the ancient Maya drew it with two heads. The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous's description of this symbol includes a skull as part of it. A description in a dissertation by Penny Janice Steinbach says the skull was something put under the Quadripartite Badge.)

Relation to the Sky
It may be that this being is an aspect of the being that archaeologists call the Cosmic Serpent or the Celestial Crocodile -- or was a different version of that other being. 

 Within the view of the Starry Deer Crocodile being an aspect, it might be that it was the Milky Way at night, the Milky Way with clouds, or the Underworld's sky at night. You might also see it suggested that it was a symbol of the Underworld's night sky, and this also made it a symbol of the earth...this is because the Underworld's sky would be our ground, in the ancient Maya view. (One caveat though: it must be said, I've had difficulty separating when an author was talking about the Starry Deer Crocodile as an aspect and talking about it as a symbol.)

 This being might also be part of a theory about a possible creation myth. In this myth, the Starry Deer Crocodile was not only connected with destruction (via flood) but also with creation. This possible myth might not have just been a myth among the Maya either – it could have, with some differences, been a myth throughout Mesoamerica. 

 This being was also a symbol. It is understood that when it was drawn with sky-related symbols for its body, the Starry Deer Crocodile was a way the ancient Maya drew the sky.

 Calendar Functions
The Starry Deer Crocodile had two calendar functions, one in the Tzolk'in or sacred calendar and one in the Haab or solar calendar. With the Tzolk'in, the Maya used its head as another way of writing "Lamat", the eighth day of the Tzolk'in. With the Haab', it was the patron of Yaxk'in, the tenth month of the Haab.

 Function for Royalty
Rulers seemed to like to use images of the Starry Deer Crocodile in connection to taking the throne. To them, the image of the Starry Deer Crocodile was a symbol of power and of taking the throne.

Consideration: Zoomorph P at Quirigua
Some examples of where you can find the Starry Deer Crocodile -- either in writing or drawn -- include Stela 9 at Lamanai, Temple 22 at Copan, a codex-syle plate called the "Cosmic Plate", and Stela 1 at Yaxchilan.

One side of zoomorph P at Quirigua -- the photo was 
taken by Alfred Maudslay. From the NYPL Digital Commons.
You can also spot this being at Quirigua. As for where exactly, I've come across a bit of snag. Several works I've come across don't say that a carving at the site -- zoomorph P (the Great Turtle or Monument 16) -- has the Starry Deer Crocodile on it. In fact, The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous says another zoomorph at the site -- zoomorph O -- is the only thing you can find the Starry Deer Crocodile on there. However, Art and Myth of the Ancient Maya says zoomorph P does show the being.

References
PLOS One: "Jaguar and Puma Captivity and Trade Among the Maya: Stable Isotope Data from Copan, Honduras"; Nawa Sugiyama , William L. Fash, Christine A. M. France; September 12, 2018

Google Books: "Art and Myth of the Ancient Maya"; Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos; 2017

Mesoweb: "The PARI Journal" Volume 15, No. 3; "In the Realm of the Witz': Animate Rivers and Rulership among the Classic Maya";Jeremy D. Coltman; Winter 2015

Google Books: "Cosmology, Calendars, and Horizon-Based Astronomy in Ancient Mesoamerica"; Anne S. Dowd, Susan Milbrath; 2015

The University of Texas at Austin: Texas Scholar Works: University of Texas Libraries: "Sacrificing the Jaguar Baby : understanding a classic Maya myth on codex-style pottery"; Penny Steinbach; May 2015 (Click on the PDF icon for it to download.)

Google Books: "Maya Imagery, Architectuer, and Activity: Space and Spatial Analysis in Art History"; Maline D. Werness-Rude, Kaylee R. Spencer (editors); 2015

 Google Books: "The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous"; Asa Simon Mittman, Peter J. Dendle; 2013

Google Books: "Re-Creating Primordial Time: Foundation Rituals and Mythology in the Postclassic Maya Codices"; Gabrielle Vail, Christine Hernandez; 2013

 Maya Exploration Center: "Astronomy in the Tortuguero Inscriptions"; John Major Jenkins; 2010

 Google Books: "Palenque: Recent Investigations at the Classic Maya Center"; Damien B. Marken (editor); 2007

 Google Books: "The Ancient Maya" sixth edition; Robert J. Sharer, Loa P. Traxler; 2006

 Mesoweb: "A Cosmological Throne at Palenque"; David Stuart; 2003

 Google Books: "Mesoamerica's Ancient Cities" revised edition; William M. Ferguson, Richard E.W. Adams; 2001

 The Free Dictionary: Striation

 Image Credit:
Flickr: Arches National Park: "Milky Way from Garden of Eden Viewpoint"; Chris Wonderly; 10 September 2015

NYPL Digital Commons: The Great Turtle. Quiriguá, Guatemala

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Monday, October 15, 2018

Causes of the Collapse


Author’s note: No one can say for sure what the causes were or how the causes were connected. A newer view of the collapse says that each site has to be looked at on its own to see why it collapsed. Theories may be changed as new tests get better results, and archaeologists are able to ask better questions using these better results.
This is zoomorph P/the Great Turtle. It's at the site of Quirigua, and dates to
around 795 AD, during the time called the collapse.
For a chunk of time that lasted 200 plus years -- around the late 700s AD to around the early 900s AD -- the Maya area went through hardships and changes – a time that you may see called a collapse. Currently, it looks like more than one cause created this collapse. What were the causes? There are lots of theories and studies about what they might have been: drought, war, over-population, bad farming, changes in how trading happened, disease, and pollution. This post focuses on the first five, which you might commonly come across.

Drought
Evidence has been found that there may have been a bunch of really bad droughts that helped make the collapse happen. (Droughts were just part of ancient Maya life, but these possible droughts were a lot worse than usual.) The droughts may have been a very large cause of the collapse. When did they happen and how long were they?

As happens when dating ancient times, the dates of these droughts depend on the source. One book you can find dates for these droughts in is Why Did Ancient Civilizations Collapse?. This book says the droughts happened from 760 AD to 910 AD. It also says there were four droughts and that each of these droughts went on for three to nine years.

As for whether or not the droughts encouraged another possible cause -- war --, there is evidence that wars were going on before the droughts.

Over-Population
The population grew in the Maya area in the Classic Period. (More than one possible reason for the large population exists.) Because there were so many people, it may be that there wasn’t enough food to go around. And that might not have been the only kind of over population.

 This other kind of over-population that may have happened involved immigration. Too many people may have moved to places that were doing better, which made it harder for everyone in those places to get what they needed.

Bad Farming
This is related to the cause of over-population. Farmers may have started farming in ways that were bad for the environment, because there were so many people to feed. For example, they may have cut down too many trees to make room for fields. They may have also farmed so that they caused soil erosion.

War
With this possible cause, elite families getting bigger and bigger meant that it was getting harder to have “enough” of things that elites thought they had to have. From this tension, they may have started wars with each other more often, in order to get “enough” of these things.

Speaking of fighting, there are other theories about war – that is, it wasn’t just elites going to war against other elites. There’s a theory that commoners actually rose up against the elites – and that there may have been “Mexican” invaders (invaders from north of the Maya area).

Change in Trade
Another thing that may have helped make the collapse happen is a change in trade. It may be that the ancient Maya traders began to use sea routes way more than land routes. (There are a number of theories about how the ancient Maya did their trading.)

References
MDPI: "Climate" Volume 5: "The Role of Climate in the Collapse of the Maya"; Werner Marx, Robin Haunschild, Lutz Bornmann; 30 Novermber 2017
(Takes you to the abstract, which also has a link to the full paper.)

Google Books: "Why Did Ancient Civilizations Fail?"; Scott A.J. Johnson; 2017

Annual Reviews: "Annual Review of Earth andPlanetary Sciences " Volume 44; “Impacts of Climate Change on the Collapseof Lowland Maya Civilization”; Peter M.J. Douglas, Arthur A. Demarest, MarkBrenner, Marcello A. Canuto; June 2016

Google Books: "Beyond Collapse: Archaeological Perspectives on Resilience, Revitalization, and Transformation in Complex Societies"; Ronald K. Faulseit (editor); 2016

Ithaca College: “Symposium: TheIthaca College Honors Undergraduate Journal” Volume 5; 2016

Wiley Online Library: “Water Resources Research” Volume 52;"Conceptualizing socio-hydrological drought processes: The case of theMaya collapse"; Linda Kuil, Gemma Carr, Alberto Viglione, AlexiaPrskawetz, Günter Blöschl; 2016

 Google Books: "Encyclopedia of the Ancient Maya"; Walter R.T. Witschey (editor); 2016

Louisiana State University: LSU DigitalCommons: “Excavations and Interpretation of Two Ancient Maya Salt-Work Mounds,Paynes Creek National Park, Toledo District, Belize”; Rachel Mariah Watson;August 2015

Google Books: "The Oxford Handbook of Environmental History"; Andrew C. Isenberg (editor); 2014

ResearchGate: "Contributions in New World Archaeology" Volume 4; "Nakum and Yaxha during the Terminal Classic period: External relations and
strategies of survival at the time of the collapse "; Jaroslaw Zralka, Bernard Hermes; January 2012

PNAS: "Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences of the United States of America" Volume 109, Issue 45;Maya Collapse Cycles; Marilyn A. Masson; November 2012

 Google Books: "Mesoamerica's Ancient Cities"; William M. Ferguson, Richard E.W. Adams; 2001

 Image Credit:
NYPL Digital Commons:The Great Turtle. Quiriguá, Guatemala 

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Thursday, September 20, 2018

Ancient Maya Markets

The ancient Maya traded all kinds of things -- including
the above. (Image a composite of images from the USGS,
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the USDA.)


The remnants of the ancient Maya civilization don’t talk a lot about markets. But those who study the Maya have still been able to create ideas about what markets were like in ancient Maya times -- by doing things like looking at current markets, Spanish accounts, and doing soil tests.

What Could Be Traded
There's a view that elites controlled luxury items, which they got as tribute -- then they passed these items on, following social rules. This view also says that commoners traded items that were everyday items. But this might not be completely true.

Marketplaces
It may be that the Maya put markets near places where lots of people would be gathered together, and near places where lots of people would pass. Some examples of these possible places are ballcourts, wells, popular roads, and the end of roads.

Moving on to marketplaces, it doesn’t look like there were specific buildings the Maya used for getting together to trade. It may be that they used open spaces like plazas. Examples of sites where it looks like marketplaces may have been include Chunchucmil, Motul de San Jose, and Coba.

As for how the traders were set up, it seems that it depended on the community. In some places though, they may have been lined up in rows.

Who Got To Trade at Markets
Archaeologists don’t know for sure whether it was just women, men or both genders who normally got to trade. Murals at the site of Calakmul -- located in the Chiik Nahb complex, may have a piece of evidence about genders and trading at markets. One-third of the people that can still be recognized are women. There’s a woman who may possibly have even been a kind of manager.

Consideration: "Money" Items
Around the time of contact with the Spanish, the ancient Maya would use certain items as a kind of money. Examples of these items include jade, cotton mantles, and salt. It may even be that the Maya used items as "money" back into the Classic Period.

Significance
It seems that markets were important for ancient Maya communities. Why? Because communities had to rely on each other to get items that they needed.

References:
Google Books: "Encyclopedia of the Ancient Maya"; Walter R.T. Witschey (editor); 2016

Google Books: "The Ancient Maya Marketplace: The Archaeology of Transient Space"; Eleanor M. King (editor); 2015

Tulane University: “Integrating Maya Market Women in Archaeology";Bobbie Simova; Fall 2015

University of Calgary: "Trading Spaces: The Archaeology of Interaction, Migration, and Exchange"; November 2013 (goes to a download link)

 Google Books: "Cities of the Maya in Seven Epochs, 1250 B.C. to A.D. 1903"; Steve Glassman, Armando Anaya; 2011

Image Credits:
CIA World Factbook: Mexico (1/24)

USDA: "20170831-OSEC-LSC-1847"; Lance Cheung

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Deity Face Pendant

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Canine Ornament

 USGS: "Salt, Sodium, Chlorine"; Scott Horvath, USGS
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Thursday, September 13, 2018

Dance and the Ancient Maya Civilization



This figurine comes from the Mexican state of
Campeche. It's 7.25 inches tall and dates to around
700 AD to 900 AD. Courtesy LACMA.
There’s evidence the elites of the ancient Maya civilization used dance, just like other civilizations in Mesoamerica. (Curiously, the Spanish involved in colonizing the Maya area didn't talk about dance too much.) Dance was in their politics and religious practices, and they danced them in their temples and in open spaces meant to be used for displays.

Dance Items
Examples of things worn in dances are rattles, shields, different kinds of staffs, axes, drums, belts made of shells meant to make noise (called tinklers), jade celt pendants, jaguar skins, fans, animal headdresses, and god headdresses. Another example is a scepter called a mannikin scepter, which were related to K’awiil, also called god K).

This vessel, from around 600 AD to 900 AD, 
shows a dance scene. Courtesy LACMA.
Another example is the backrack, which is a rack that dancers wore with a special strong belt that had lots of padding for the dancers’ backs. Items that had meaning as symbols were put onto backracks. 

What dance items the dancers put on depended on the dance – for instance, a dance called the K’awiil Scepter dance involved the mannikin scepter. Dressing up as gods to impersonate them was a common feature – rulers could then talk as the god to everyone watching the dance.

Purpose
The ancient Maya elites were known to hold dances for all kinds of occasions, each meant to show off their power. Most often, they had dances as part of other ceremonies. Some examples of occasions where they included dance are: victories in war, dedicating a building, the summer solstice, when there was a new ruler taking the throne, getting tribute items, the end of a k’atun (group of 20 years), and the end of a tun (1 year).

Who Danced
A lot of art only shows men being dancers. But there is art that shows women dancers with men dancers. The Dances were watched by an audience. Dancers tended to be rulers, sometimes with governors who worked for the rulers.

Music 
Music was part of Maya elite dances. Several other instruments included ceramic flutes and whistles, like the ocarina. Yet another instrument used in dances was a long trumpet, which you might see called the hom-tah. (The Maya made hom-tahs with wood or paper, gourd (for the end or bell of the hom-tah), clay, and beeswax, which was for the mouthpiece. The beeswax would have helped players keep their mouths pressed firmly against the mouthpiece.)

The ancient Maya elites used drums in their dances. There are three drums that archaeologists have found that the elites used. These are called the turtle drum (with a turtle shell base), the pax (which was small and could have a base of gourd, ceramic, or clay), and the “huehuetl” (which had a wood base and is named after an Aztec type of drum with the same name.)

Deciphering “To Dance”
Nikolai Grube is the discoverer of an ancient Mayan verb that is supposed to mean “to dance.” He deciphered this glyph, which is understood to be said “ahk’ot” in 1992. 

According to "The Hidden Maya", the term also means "to perform ceremonies that manifest divine beings." It also says that the phrase "ti ahk'ot" means "he or she went or goes dancing" but it's not strictly that dancing happened. It means any ceremony used to connect with the gods, either making them manifest or talking with them.
References:








Image Credits:
LACMA: Masked Male Figure with Dance Staff

 LACMA: Vessel with Dance Scene
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Friday, August 10, 2018

Monkeys in the Ancient Maya Civilization

A young spider monkey with its mother. Credit: Kevin Lafferty, USGS.


Two monkeys are found in the Maya area: the Central American spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi), the mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata), and the black howler monkey (Alouatta pigra). Monkeys in ancient Maya times were part of the Maya’s lives in multiple ways. The Maya made them part of their religious beliefs, but they also were used more practically.

In Religion
A vessel from 600 AD to 900 AD. Courtesy of
LACMA.
There were monkey gods who were patron gods of the arts connected with scribes. (Versions of these two gods may or may not be in the Popol Vuh, as the Hero Twins’ older half-brothers, Huun Chuwen and Huun Bats’ or One Artisan and One Monkey. They had lots of talents and could even see the future, but were mean to the Hero Twins -- who turned them into monkeys.) No one knows what kind of monkey the gods were supposed to looked like. There has been a view, though, that wonders if the Maya connected howler monkeys with their various arts. 

 Somewhat connected to this is the monkey-headed god C -- which isn't thought to be a god now. Instead archaeologists currently think god C is just a way the Maya said "supernatural being" or "god."

Other than gods, the ancient Maya thought that there were wahys -- a kind of spirit being (see more here) -- that were monkeys.

In Art
A Peten region plate from between 600 AD
and 900 AD showing a "supernatural monkey".
Courtesy of LACMA.
The ancient Maya used monkeys to represent the idea of doing things you shouldn't really do. They also connected monkeys with being creative. Examples of things the Maya drew monkeys doing include drinking and dancing.

Practical Use
Among the animals the ancient Maya hunted for food were howler and spider monkeys. However, it must be said, archaeologists haven't found that many monkey bones at sites so far. 

Consideration: Species

There’s a view that it’s possible that during ancient times, the Maya area may have been home to five kinds of monkeys: two species of howler monkey, the capuchin monkey, and two types of spider monkey. 
Detail of Plate 39 of "Animal Figures in the Maya Codices".


References:
Google Books: Art and Myth of the Ancient Maya"; Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos; 2017

Cambridge Core: "Revisiting Monkeys on Pots: A Contextual Consideration of Primate Imagery on Classic Lowland Maya Pottery"; Prudence M. Rice. Katherine E. South; 29 December 2015

Google Books: "Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya: Rituals of Body and Soul"; Andrew K. Scherer; 2015

Google Books: "Cosmology, Calendars, and Horizon-Based Astronomy in Ancient Mesoamerica"; Anne S. Dowd, Susan Milbrath (editors); 2015

Google Books: "Encyclopedia of the Ancient Maya"; Walter R.T. Witschey (editor); 2015

Google Books: "Maya Figurines: Intersections between State and Household"; Christina T. Halperin"; 2014

LANGUAGE: "Journal of Mesoamerican Languages and Linguistics" Vol. 1, No. 1: 1-34, 2008; K'U: The Divine Monkey; Brian Stross

Google Books: "Animals & Plants of the Ancient Maya: A Guide"; Victoria Schlesinger"; 2001

Cambridge Core: "Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus capucinus) and the Ancient Maya"; Mary Baker; 1992(published online: 10 October 2008)

Image Credits:
USGS: "Baby Spider Monkey Snacking While Clinging to Mom"; Kevin Lafferty, USGS; December 4, 2013

LACMA: Vessel with Young Lord and Monkey

LACMA: Plate with Supernatural Monkey

Project Gutenberg: "Animal Figures in the Maya Codices"; Alfred M. Tozzer. Glover M. Allen; 1910

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