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 

Chacmools

Author's note: the images in this post come from the Project Gutenberg. The first one comes from the work titled "Queen Moo's Talisman" by Augustus Le Plongeon's wife Alice. The second image comes from "The Mayas, the Sources of Their History and Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan, His Account of Discoveries" by Stephen Salisbury, Jr.

Chacmools are statues carved in stone that look like man partly lying down. Peoples in Mesoamerica, including the ancient Maya -- at least in Guatemala's Quirigua and the state of Yucatan's Chichen Itza -- used these statues as part of their religion. You may find different spellings of the word chacmool when you look, such as chaacmol, chaac mool, chak mol, and chac mol.
Name Origin

Augustus Le Plongeon leaning
on the chacmool found on his
excavation.

The name came from a man named Augustus Le Plongeon (1826 to 1908.) He and some others were excavating a platform on the site of Chichen Itza, and they came across a chacmool. Le Plongeon decided it was a statue was a statue of a prince and called it either "Chaac Mool" or "chaacmol." He thought this was the prince's name. (Or may have been told this name.) The source that says Le Plongeon chose "Chaac Mool" says it means "great/red jaguar paw." The source that says he chose "chaacmol" says Stephpen Salisbury Jr. changed it into chacmool when he wrote about Le Plongeon.
(Afterwards, a lot of people found out about the statue and were very happy about this statue being found -- it was an exciting find, culturally. Le Plongeon wanted to take the chacmool to an exposition called the Centennial Exposition (which was in Philadelphia.) However, the president he asked was replaced by Porfirio Diaz. Diaz sent some of the military to take it up to Mexico City's National Museum of Mexico.

History
The ancient Maya in the Yucatan Peninsula started to use chacmools in the Postclassic Period or the Terminal Classic, which was the last part of the Classic Period. A theory says that the ancient Maya were the first to start using chacmools. Another possibility is that another culture, the Toltecs, had come to the Yucatan Peninsula -- the cities are similar to each other in other ways too.

Appearance
The idea was possibly to make them look like warriors that had been hurt or died. These carvings look like a man paused in the middle of a sit-up to watch something off to his side. Their arms are carved so it looks like they have knives tied to them, and their elbows are bent so it looks like they are holding themselves up with them. As for their heads, it was common for chacmools to be carved so it looked like they were wearing helmets or at least hats that look like helmets. And there's another important feature: they hold a disk/plate or bowl on their chests/stomachs.

Purpose
Chacmools were -- or at least possibly were -- used as places to put offerings. (Human sacrifice may or may not have been a kind of offering connected to chacmools. No one knows for sure.) The ancient Maya who used chacmools put them in their temples, in a front room that led to another room that was bigger -- that is, their temples' antechambers.

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

"Romancing the Maya: Mexican Antiquity in the American Imagination 1820 - 1915"; R. Tripp Evans; 2004

"The A to Z of Ancient Mesoamerica" The A to Z Guide Series, No. 140; Joel W. Palka; 2000

Mesoweb Encyclopedia: chacmool

"Chacmool"; Lawrence G. Desmond, Ph.D.  Senior Reseach Fellow in Archaeology  Mesoamerican Archive and Research Project  Peabody Museum, Harvard University 

The Free Dictionary: Antechamber

"Augutus Le Plongeon (1826-1908): Early Mayanist, archaeologist, and photographer"; Lawrence G. Desmond, Ph.D. Senior Research Fellow in Archaeology Mesoamerican Archive and Research Project Peabody Museum, Harvard University

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

Project Gutenberg: "The Mayas, the Sources of Their History and Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan, His Account of Discoveries"; Stephen Salisbury Jr.; 1877

Wahys/Ways -- A Variety of Spirit Being

"Wahy" -- you say it like the question word "why"-- is a Classic Period word. (You may also come across places that spell it "way.") It is the name for a certain kind of demon or spirit being that it looks like ancient Maya believed in and thought some people could use. Other names you may come across for this being include alter ego, tona, co-essence, nagual, familiar, and spirit companion or even wahy demon and wahy creature.

Appearance

When it came to appearance, wahys had a lot of diversity. For example, there were animals, skeletons and wahys made up of different kinds of animals -- this last type being a large part of the known images of wahys. Wahys' appearances seem to have limited the kinds of things they could do. Wahys whose form looked weak tended to be underlings. But wahys that looked strong got more impressive things to do.

Types
So far, it looks like there were two types of wahy. One type was connected to dynasties. The second type may have been supernatural beings of diseases, with a different wahy for a each disease. (Another view I found on a description of a vase in the Metropolitan Museum's online image collection says that it's common for a wahy to be a living form of a disease or another thing that makes people unhappy, like death.)

Who Owned Them
It looks like wahys were spirits that people like rulers, who had the right inborn ability, were able to keep inside their bodies and control. When asleep, wahys would come out of their owners -- using their mouths as a door -- to do things for them. And these people could get more than one wahy. 

It also looks like the Maya believed that if a wahy was hurt, the person who owned it died. Before dying, that person would become hurt just like the wahy had been.

Purpose

Wahys in the first type mentioned in the last section could have been mascots for the dynasties that owned them. A different function they may have had was as a sort of protector of their dynasties. They may also have been used like the second type, the wahys who may be beings of diseases.

This second type of wahy was thought to hurt or kill their owners' enemies for them when their owners were sleeping. The ancient Maya may also have believed that if someone's wahy killed an enemy, then that wahy would become that person's wahy.

References:
Mesoweb: "The PARI Journal" Volume 16, No. 4: "The Ocellated Turkey in Maya Thought"; Ana Luisa Izquierdo y de la Cueva, Mari/a Elena Vega Villalobos; 2016

Mesoweb: "The PARI Journal" Volume 16, No. 2: "For Love of the Game:The Ballplayer Panels of Tipan Chen Uitzin Light of Late Classic Athletic Hegemony"; Christophe Helmke, Christopher R. Andres, Shawn G. Morton, Gabriel D. Wrobel; 2015

Mesoweb: "The PARI Journal" Volume 15, No.4: "Once and Future Kings: Classic MayaGeopolitics and Mythic History on theVase of the Initial Series from Uaxactun"; Nicholas P. Carter; 2015

"Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya: rituals of body and soul"; Andrew K. Scherer; 2015

Mesoweb: "The PARI Journal" Volume 14, No. 4: "Beans and Glyphs: A Possible IB Logogram in the Classic Maya Script"; Alexandre Tokovinine; 2014

"Lightning in the Andes and Mesoamerica: Pre-Columbian, Colonial, and Contemporary Perspectives"; John E. Staller, Brian Stross; 2013

Mesoweb: "The Updated Preliminary Classic Maya - English, English - Classic Maya Vocabulary of Hieroglyphic Readings"; Erik Boot; April 2009 (version 2009.01)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Collection: Vessel, Mythological Scene

Maya Decipherment: Ideas on Ancient Maya Writing and Iconography: Category Archives: "Maya Spooks"; David Stuart; October 26, 2012

Maya Decipherment: Ideas on Ancient Maya Writing and Iconography: "Excerpt from: David Stuart, 2005. Glyphs on Pots: Decoding Classic Maya Ceramics, Sourcebook for the 2005 Maya Meetings at Texas, Department of Art and Art History, UT-Austin, Austin.": "19. The Way Beings"

Thorny Oyster

 Author's note: To see an earlier post that lists different kinds of shells the ancient Maya used, click here.

Spondylus carving of a dog from the 600s to 700s AD.
May have been attached to clothing or been a pendant.
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The thorny oyster (Spondylus princeps) is a creature with a red to red-orange spiny shell that sometimes produces pearls (another item the ancient Maya valued). Also known simply as spondylus, it lives in the ocean around a depth where divers without expert ability or scuba equipment would have difficulty getting to.  Used in different ways, the shell of the thorny oyster obtained elite status level by the finish of the Classic Period.

Working the Shell
Thorny oyster shells were altered in a number of ways. One of the ways was to rub young thorny oysters to make the colors of the shell stand out. This method was employed at Tikal, during the early Classic and Middle Classic periods.

Another method of alteration was to scrape off the nacre found on the shell's interior sides. As to where all this method was used, some contradiction has been found. In her book, Animals and Plants of the Ancient Maya: A Guide, Victoria Schlesinger states that this method was used at Tikal, while Maya Art and Architecture by Mary Ellen Miller does not state it was restricted to any city-state.

A third known method was very simple indeed. This method involved just drilling a hole through the shell. This hole was to be used for stringing.

Things Fashioned from Thorny Oyster
Once prepared, the shell would then be used to decorate rulers' mantles, shaped into tiles for mosaics, crafted into ear flares (spool-shaped earrings) and used to make hip ornaments for women. Sometimes thorny oyster was worn as a pendant necklace (via the one-hole method). Beyond personal adornment, thorny oyster was also used as part of funeral goods and in caches.

References:
"Maya Art and Architecture"; Mary Ellen Miller; 1999
"The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives"; Heather Irene McKillop; 2004
"Maya History"; Tatiana Proskouriakoff; 2011
"The Meriam-Webster Dictionary"; 2004
"Animals and Plants of the Ancient Maya: A Guide"; Victoria Schlesinger; 2001
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Canine Ornament

Turquoise and the Ancient Maya

Turquoise is more commonly associated with cultures in the American Southwest, such as the Hopi and the Navajo, and in northern Mexico. However, in the Maya world, turquoise -- though not cherished as long as jade -- did eventually become valuable.

History

Toltec traders are credited with introducing turquoise to the ancient Maya during the Classic Period. From around the 900s AD onwards through the Postclassic Period (around 1200 AD to 1524 AD), turquoise was a precious item to the Maya. Found at a diversity of sites, turquoise has been uncovered in places such as northern Belize's Santa Rita Corozal and Yucatan state's Chichén Itzá.

Source

Where was Mesoamerica's turquoise mined? This depends on the authority with which one confers. Most tend to agree that it was north of the Maya world. According to Sylvanus G. Morely and Robert J. Sharer in their book The Ancient Maya (fifth edition), the source of the turquoise was Central Mexico. Lynn V. Foster's  2005 Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya World states that turquoise was obtained from what is now New Mexico. The book Maya Art and Architecture (by Mary Ellen Miller, published 1999) agrees in part with Foster, giving the location of the turquoise source as what is now New Mexico and Arizona. A 2004 book The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives (by Heather Irene MacKillop) agrees in part with the last two sources, stating the source may have come from Lower Central America or from what is now New Mexico.

Use

Turquoise was used to make mosaics, which would be used in different ways -- jewelry and masks, for example. It is possible that the ancient Maya worked turquoise but it is thought that the mosaic items were crafted together before being traded to the Maya.

And what are some examples of turquoise use in the Maya world? A number of examples come from the site of Chichén Itzá. One is a wood scepter depicting the maize god in a dive -- dredged from the Sacred Cenote -- that utilizes turquoise mosaic overlay on the god's face. Also found at the site are four turquoise mosaic disks (found in ceremonial caches), one of which was found in the Temple of the Chacmool -- a temple discovered underneath the site's Temple of Warriors.

References:
"Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya World"; Lynn V. Foster; 2005

"Maya Art and Architecture"; Mary Ellen Miller; 1999

"The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives"; Heather Irene MacKillop; 2004

"The AncientMaya"; Sylvanus G. Morely, Robert J. Sharer; 1994

God L -- A God of Xibalbá

Author's note: To go to the overview post on the ancient Maya gods and goddesses, go here.

God L was a god connected to trade and the underworld, Xibalbá,  (and was was one of the Lords of Death that the Hero Twins defeated.)Another merchant god (God M, known as Ek Chuah or Ek Chuwah) may have become more popular than God L as time passed.


Appearance
Often drawn with a black colored body, God L is an old-looking god who has square eyes and a big nose. He wears a black cape and in his mouth is a cylinder -- described in books as a cigar. At times he is drawn with a merchant's pack and a walking stick.

Another distinctive part of God L's appearance is headdress with a wide brim that has a bird with black tipped feathers on it (thought to be a screech owl, sometimes called a muan-bird). At times this headdress is drawn with a jaguar ear, making it look like the ear is attatched to it.

The material of God L's clothing varies somewhat, it seems. The depiction of God L on both the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Cross includes his cape being a jaguar pelt. In the Vase of Seven Gods, God L wears a jaguar kilt and his throne is a jaguar (describe alternately as jaguar skin) throne.

Function
God L was the patron of merchants (The Ancient Maya states he was also the god of tribute). He was connected to jaguars, wealth and power. Depending on the source he is either a one of the gods in Xibalbá (such as Trees of Paradise and Pillars of the World: The Serial Stelae Cycle of "18-Rabbit-God K," King of Copan) or the ruling god of Xibalbá (such as The Ancient Maya).

It's possible that God L was more than this. According to Dr. John F. Chuchiak IV's site, God L wasn't just a merchant god, but was also a creator god.

Possible Function
According to Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars by Susan Milbrath, in the Dresden Codex's "Venus pages", God L is shown as the dry-season Morning Star (connected to war). This may connect him to war. The book states a man named Michael Closs says that God L could be an aspect of Venus.


Consideration
There is a site known as Cacaxtla ("place of the merchant pack") that has colorful murals. In these murals, one of the figures depicted holds a pack containing jaguar pelts, cacao and quetzal feathers. This figure could be God L, and he may be the referent in Cacaxtla's name.


References:

"Handbook to life in the Ancient Maya World"; Lynn V. Foster; 2005

"The Ancient Maya"; Robert J. Sharer, Loa P. Traxler; 2006

"Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars"; Susan Milbrath; 2000

"Icons of Power: Feline Symbolism in the Americas"; N. Saunders; 1998

Precolumbian Art and Art history: Cacaxtla

"Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia"; Susan Evans; 2000

"Trees of Paradise and Pillars of the World: The Serial Stelae Cycle of "18-Rabbit-God K," King of Copan "; Elizabeth A. Newsome; 2001

"Chocolate: Pathway to the Gods"; Meredith L. Dreiss, Sharon Edgar Greenhill; 2008

Missouri State University: MAYA GODS AND GODDESSES

Kinich Ahau (God G)

God G was the sun god of the ancient Maya. In the Classic period and the Postclassic period, he was referred to either as Ahau Kin (Ahaw K'in) or Kinich Ahau (K'inich Ahau, K'inich Ajaw). One of the most famous pieces of jade found in the ancient Maya land is a jade head bearing his appearance, from Altun Ha. His head has also been used to decorate temples.

Appearance
There are variances in how Kinich Ahau was drawn. In Mesoamerican Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs of f Mexico and Central America he is described as having several distinguishing features: a hooked nose (a spiral often heading out from it in profile drawings); eyes that looked like crosses in full view but with an eye that looked like a square in profile; and sometimes a beard that had sections curling at the corners of his mouth.

Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars says some similar things but also says some different things. It uses examples of Kinich Ahau found in the codices: in the Madrid Codex he is depicted as a aged being with crooked teeth; but in the Dresden Codex he is depicted to be around middle age, though on a table concerning eclipses he is drawn with a beard. The book also says that during the Postclassic period, Kinich Ahau was drawn with the glyph for the day Kin on his head or body. Sometimes, he was drawn with fangs or with one tooth.

Function
Kinich Ahau was the sun, and was believed to turn into a jaguar as he went through Xibalbá each night. He was the patron of the day Muluc (also spelled Muluk), and was associated with Maya rulers and warriors as well as jaguars.

Change of Kinich Ahau's Patronage of Kings
The association of Kinich Ahau with kings changed over time. In the Classic period it was very common for a ruler to say he had a connection with the god. However this changed to become less common in the Postclassic period, as did the prominence of Kinich Ahau.

A God or an Aspect?
Kinich Ahau might not actually be a god by himself. There is a possibility that he is only an aspect of Itzamná (God D), a creator god (Itzamná has been identified as having an aspect named Kinich Ahau Itzamná).


References:

"The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives"; Heather Irene McKillop; 2004

"The Ancient Maya"; Robert. J Sharer, Loa P. Traxler; 2006

"Prehistoric Mesoamerica"; Richard E. W. Adams; 1991

"Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars"; Susan Milbrath; 2000

"Mesoamerican Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs of f Mexico and Central America"; Kay Almere Read, Jason J. Gonzalez; 2002

The Maize God (God E)

Author's note: this post was last updated on 11/19/17.

Composite image by the author, made from photos of figurine made in the 700s AD,
in Mexico.It shows the Maize God wearing jewelry and a headdress,
in a corn plant. Source photos from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Fertility, jade, beauty, and the idea of being young were all things the ancient Maya thought when they thought of the Maize God; they also would draw his head when they wanted a symbol of corn -- or a symbol of cacao. Other than all of these things, this god was connected to rulers and may have had several aspects. The ancient Maya believed in a lot of gods, and the Maize God -- which you may see called God E -- was definitely a major one in their religion.

Appearance 
The Maize God was drawn as young and with a head that looks somewhat like an ear of corn. That is, his head was elongated and he only had hair right on top of his head. He is also drawn with a whole bunch of jewelry made from jade, and on his belt there's an ornament that you may see called the "xook monster." (The "xook monster" looks like the head of a shark that was drawn with a lot of artistic license.)

This stucco artifact was made between
100 BC and 100 AD. It comes either from
Mexico or Guatemala. From LACMA, which
calls it an "architectural medallion."

The ancient Maya also liked to draw images of the Maize God wearing a netted "skirt" of jade that goes down to the middle of his thighs. This "skirt" might be a symbol of something else. Another is that it represents a turtle shell, which is a symbol representing the earth. (The turtle shell symbol is also part of a myth about the Maize God that the ancient Maya seemed to like a lot. See below for more in The Myth of the Maize God section.)

 How the ancient Maya drew the Maize God didn't always stay exactly the same. For a while, in the Early Classic (the first part of the Classic Period,) the ancient Maya liked to draw the Maize God so that his mouth was open and his two front teeth stuck out. They moved away from this, and eventually began to like drawing him with a closed mouth.

The Two Aspects
This description of the Maize God -- being young, with a long head and having only some hair -- might only apply to an aspect of the Maize God. You may know this aspect as the Tonsured Maize God. His ancient Mayan name might be Juun Ixiim, which has several translations including "One Grain Corn."

The reason why the description might be only for the Tonsured Maize God is because of what the ancient Maya who lived in the Classic Period never seemed to want to put on their pottery: images of another possible aspect, the Foliated Maize God. (Though they did use his name glyph as a "head variant" for the number eight.)

The Foliated Maize God, whose name might be Ajan, was connected to corn plants that were fully grown. The ancient Maya drew this possible aspect with an ear of corn coming out of his head. The ancient Maya who created the four known codices -- which come from the Postclassic Period -- seem to have drawn only him.

These two aspects might not even be aspects at all. There is also the belief that they were both gods on their own, though they were both gods of corn.

The Myth of the Maize God
There is a myth of the Maize God, seen from the Preclassic Period on into the Popol Vuh. (It doesn't mean it's always the exact same myth, though.) In it, the Maize God dies, goes into the underworld, and comes back to life.

The front pieces of a pair of earflares
showing the head of the Maize God
as a symbol of picked corn -- his
close eyes mean he's dead. They
were made in the 400s AD to 600s AD
and might be from Guatemala. From
The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

When they drew the Maize God going to the Underworld, which is drawn as being watery, Ancient Maya artists liked to show him going there in a canoe. The Maize God is then reborn, but as strange as it may sound, he isn't resurrected yet -- he only does that after he forces his way back above the ground. (He doesn't do it alone either -- he either has Chaak or the Hero Twins help him back out.) Before he can force his way back above ground through, women in the Underworld put pieces of jade jewelry on him -- this has to be done before he resurrects.

Connections to Ancient Maya Rulers
It seems rulers in the ancient Maya world wanted people to look at their family's rule as like the cycle of plants: when a ruler died, another one took that ruler's place. (It was supposed to be like the cycle had started over with the new ruler.)

This piece of pottery is from Guatemala and was
made between 300 AD and 600 AD. The ruler drawn
on it is impersonating the Maize God. From LACMA.

It also looks like rulers thought that they would actually have the same thing happen to them that happened to the Maize God in the myth -- so they had jade jewelry put on their bodies when they died. While alive, rulers would impersonate the Maize God for rituals, which was something they did with other gods too.

An example of where you can see a ruler dressed like the Maize God (and another god, K'awiil) is the sarcophagus lid of K'inich Janaab Pakal I, a ruler of Palenque. He may either be rising up from the Underworld, rising up to the Upperworld, or perhaps falling into the Underworld.

Another example of an impersonation of the Maize God is on Stela H at the site of Copan. The king impersonating the god on this stela is Waxaklajuun Ub'aah K'awiil. His netted "skirt" though goes to his ankles, which is not the normal length at all for it.

Consideration: Other Aspects?
According to Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos, the Maize God had a lunar aspect. This is because there are a lot of images where he is drawn with a rabbit as well as a symbol representing the moon. This symbol, can start from one of two places: either his armpit or his back.

The figure on the left of this vase is a drawing of the Maize God
with that moon symbol. The vase comes from either Guatemala or Mexico
and was made between 300 AD and 900 AD. From LACMA.

There is a theory that the Maize God was somehow female too. This is because of the netted "skirt" that the ancient Maya liked to draw him wearing. However, this garment doesn't have any specific connection to women.

References:
Florida Museum: Latin American Exhibit: "Mesoamerican Artifacts"; Jeffrey R. Vadala; March 23rd, 2017

Google: Books: "Beauty around the World: A Cultural Encyclopedia"; Erin Kenny, Elizabeth Gackstetter Nichols; 2017

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

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

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

Mesoweb: "The PARI Journal" Volume XV, No. 2: "On the Reading of Three Classic Maya Portrait Glyphs"; Marc Zender; 2014

Google Books: "The Life Within: Classic Maya and the Matter of Permanence"; Stephen Houston; 2014

Mesoweb: "Antiquity" Volume 85; "In the path of the Maize God: a royal tomb at Nakum, Peten, Guatemala"; Jarosław Zrałka, Wiesław Koszkul, Simon Martin, Bernard Hermes; 2011

Google Books: "Death and the Classic Maya Kings"; James L. Fitzsimmons; 2009

Google Books: "Maya Sacred Geography and the Creator Deities"; Karen Bassie-Sweet; 2008

Google Books: "The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives"; Heather McKillop; 2004

Google Books: "Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia"; Susan Toby Evans, David L. Webster (editors); 2001

Google Books: "Trees of Paradise and Pillars of the World: The Serial Stela Cycle of "18-Rabbit-God K," King of Copan"; Elizabeth A. Newsome; 2001

Los Angeles Mission College: "Jade - The Green Gold of the Maya"; Elisabeth Wagner


Image Credits:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Young Corn God

LACMA: Architectural Medallion Depicting the Maize God

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Pair of Earflare Frontals

LACMA: Seated Ruler in the Guise of the Maize God

LACMA: Cylinder Vase with Moon Goddess and Other Celestial Beings

Itzamná (God D)

In the Postclassic Period codices, this god used to be called (and in some books still is) god D. Worshiped at least as far back as the Preclassic Period, Itzamná -- a name spelled various ways -- was a god whose name translates as "one who does itz." ("Itz" seems to be a word that means any sacred liquid -- such as water, sap, and blood.)

Itzamná was the first shaman and a creator god (though some books say that he was an aspect of a creator god or one-half of a god.) He had a lot of avatars, was connected with various things such as rulers, writing and possibly god N.  He also seems to have connections to the gods of rain, corn, and the sun as well as the world tree.

History of Importance
As history passed, Itzamná became a very important god to the ancient Maya. Then the Classic Period collapse happened, and he became less important. His importance went down because the Maya had begun to stop believing in rulers that were connected to the gods -- they were switching to councils. Later on, in the Yucatan Peninsula, Itzamná's importance increased again.

Appearance
Itzamná appears to be elderly and male. His nose is big, and a description you may see of it is "Roman." The shape of his eyes was drawn either square or round, depending on the artifact.There are also certain things the ancient Maya tended to draw as part of their depictions of Itzamná. One is his headdress, which has a flower with an ak'bal symbol (ak'bal means dark/night) in it. Another thing they tended to show him wearing was a necklace made of shell.

Art with Itzamná in it shows him doing things like creating the sky or being a ruler that's managing a ritual. Also, it was common for the ancient Maya to draw him sitting on a throne.

Function
Among other gods, rulers may have looked to Itzamná's supernatural court as something to imitate as a form of 'correct' behavior. If true, this included how they set up their cities as well as how they acted themselves. (It seems that other gods' lives were possibly imitated as well.)

Quirigua's Stela C appears to be an example of the belief that Itzamná helped make the current world. It seems like the stela says that Itzamná -- which the stela calls Six Sky Lord -- and three other gods set three "throne stones" for a hearth in the sky. (Itzamná's throne stone was the water or waterlily throne stone.) Part of this stela also shows Quirigua's Ruler I in a ceremony, dressed up as Itzamná -- dressing up as gods as part of rituals was something the Maya did, and one of the gods they're known to have imitated in rituals was Itzamná. (There's a theory that rulers used quetzal feathers as part of their headdresses to copy the Principal Bird Deity, one of Itzamná's aspects.)

The ancient Maya in the Postclassic Period went to him (among certain other gods) when the coming year was predicted to be an unfortunate year, with disasters such as crop failure. They would ask him to keep the year from having disasters.

Itzamná was a god of scribes -- and he was a scribe himself. He was also a god of knowledge.

This god was also connected to some more pointedly mystical things. One of these was foretelling the future. The other was the ability to look at things that you couldn't normally see as a person.

Curiously, it seems Itzamná had a bad side too. This negative part of him would destroy crops.

Aspects
Four aspects of Itzamná are a peccary, a turtle with a k'an sign on its shell, a possum, rattlesnake and the crocodile-like creature that makes up the earth -- that is, the part that people live on, in between the upperworld and underworld. (There is a theory though that Maya art that shows animals as being the land on which people walk should not be taken literally.) Itzamná also has a group of four aspects, each connected to one of the four cardinal directions and a color. And another aspect of his was the Milky Way.

The goddess Chak Chel (you might come across books that refer to her as Ix Chel) may be an aspect of Itzamná, or perhaps they were two parts of one deity. The ancient Maya may have given Itzamná and Chak Chel credit for being the creators of people as well as time. The two may have been seen as the gods of healing as well.

In the Classic and Postclassic Period at least, another aspect  -- or perhaps spirit animal companion -- of Itzamná was a supernatural bird that has the same headdress as him. Images of the bird also tend to have it holding a snake in its beak. Archaeologists sometimes call this bird the Principal Bird Deity (PBD for short) or the Itzamná bird. Because of how it looks, there's a theory that this bird's appearance may have been based off of a real species of bird called the laughing falcon or guaco (Herpetotheres cachinnans) -- but not everyone agrees on what bird the Principal Bird Deity is supposed to be like though. 

(There's a also theory that  Itzamná (god D) is actually a a mix of of Pauahtun (god N) and the Principal Bird Deity.)

Consideration
Itzamná tends to be drawn with a hummingbird. In these images, the hummingbird is giving him things. This may mean that the hummingbird was Itzamná's messenger. It's not the only possible messenger of this god's though. Archaeologists have found evidence that there were times where the Principal Bird Deity delivered messages for Itzamná. The name for the Principal Bird Deity as a messenger could be Muut Itzamnaaj.

References:

Google Books: "Philosophy of the Ancient Maya: Lords of Time"; Alexus McLeod; 2018

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

The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System: "High-resolution speleothem record of precipitation from the Yucatan Peninsula spanning the Maya Preclassic Period"; Medina-Elizalde, Martín; Burns, Stephen J.; Polanco-Martínez, Josué M.; Beach, Timothy; Lases-Hernández, Fernanda; Shen, Chuan-Chou; Wang, Hao-Cheng; March 2016

Google Books: "The Origins of Maya States"; Loa P. Traxler, Robert J. Sharer (editors); 2016

"Dreams in Mayan Spirituality:Concepts of DreamingFrom the Ancient Mayans to the Contemporary Mayans around Lake Atitlán"; Elena Levi; March 2010

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

"Maya Sacred Geography and the Creator Deities"; Karen Bassie-Sweet; 2008

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

Five College Compass Digital Collections: "Birds and Environmental Change in the Maya Area"; Peter Stuart (with contrib. by David Stuart; 2015

The University of Texas at Austin: Texas Scholar Works: University of Texas Libraries: "Framing the portrait : towards an understanding of elite late classic Maya representation at Palenque, Mexico"; Kaylee Rae; 2007

Journal of Ethnobiology 32(1): 74-107: "Water Lily and Cosmic Serpent: Equivalent Conduits of the Maya Spirit Realm"; J. Andrew McDonald, Brian Stross; 2012

eScholarship: "A Study of Classic Maya Rulership"; Mark Alan Wright; 2011

Digital Collections at Texas State University: "Maya Scribes who would be Kings: Shamanism, the Underworld, and Artistic Production in the Late Classic Period "; Barry B. Kidder; 2009

FAMSI: "Maya Hieroglyphic Writing: Workbook for a Short Course on Maya Hieroglyphic Writing", Second Edition; 2011

"Maya Calendar Origins: Monuments, Mythistory, and the Materialization of Time"; Prudence M. Rice; 2007

"Water and Ritual: The Rise and Fall of Classic Maya Rulers"; Lisa J. Lucero; 2006

"Reconstructing Classic Maya Economic Systems: Production and Exchange at Cancuen, Guatemala"; Brigitte Kovacevich; 2006

"Landscape And Power In Ancient Mesoamerica"; Rex Koontz, Kathryn Reese-Taylor, Annabeth Headrick; 2001

Cacao (Chocolate)

Author’s note: A lot of the information on how the Maya viewed and ate and drank cacao comes from the Classic period. This is because this period has the most text information from painted texts and pictures on ceramics, which come from the context of what is understood to be the elite class. The Maya codices, understood to be from the Postclassic period, are another source of information on the Maya view of cacao.

Other than corn, one of the foods most talked about when it comes to Maya cuisine is cacao. It comes from the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), also known as the chocolate tree. The ancient Maya cultivated the cacao tree for its fruit as well as for the fruit's seeds, which are the basic item required to make cacao. The ancient Maya viewed cacao as a precious substance, and used it as food as well as for religious and economic purposes.

The Tree
Found only in wet, tropical lowlands, the cacao is found in Mesoamerica and the Amazon Basin. The tree has leathery and long leaves and a wide trunk. The tree produces pink flowers on its trunk and branches—flowers whose smell repels human noses. After these bloom, the tree produces its edible, red-brown fruit pods with sweet flavored flesh and twenty to fifty seeds.

The ancient Maya, who in the Yucatan Peninsula at least, grew plantations of cacao trees, possessed methods to grow the trees well. They pruned the trees to make them grow more seedpods (this happens with some other plants as well), and they had to keep the trees out of direct sunlight.

History
It is understood that the ancient Maya began using cacao seeds as a food source 2,000 years ago or so. Based on a vessel with a spout that comes from Belize, cacao consumption started somewhere around 600 BC to around 400 BC.

Cacao usage has been found throughout the Classic period in the southern lowlands of the Maya world. But in the northern area of the Maya world, the Yucatan Peninsula, archaeologists have only found cacao consumption as far back as the Late Classic.

The Process
To begin the process of making cacao, the Maya first opened the seedpod and removed the seeds, which were white in color and bitter. Then they fermented the seeds for several days, decreasing the bitterness and bringing out the chocolate flavor. After fermentation, the seeds were roasted and shelled. The ancient Maya then mashed the seeds into a paste and it was this paste that they used for in food.

Four hundred seeds makes a pound of chocolate -- a bag of baking chips is about twelve or fourteen ounces, four to two less ounces than a pound. This means it takes about 10 to 20 pods to make a pound of chocolate.

Cacao Drinks and Foods
The ancient Maya made different kinds of drinks (hot and cold ones) via the medium of cacao. They would flavor their chocolate drinks with such things as chilies and seeds such as annatto. Another ingredient that the ancient Maya would sometimes use is honey.

Of the different kinds, a well-known kind of drink the ancient Maya made included chocolate and corn, and was a frothy/foamy drink that was savory. The foam was considered the best part of this drink.

However, drinks weren’t the only food the ancient Maya used cacao for. They also used cacao in gruels.

Containers
The vessels that the Maya used for the serving of cacao-based drinks come in a range of shapes. The most common kind of vessel the Maya used for chocolate is a basic cup. More rare is the spouted vessel that looks like a teapot.

Significance
In the ancient Maya religion, cacao seeds were a kind of offering to the gods. In the Popol Vuh – a book recording Quiche Maya myths – chocolate was something that came out of the mountain Paxil, when it broke open. Beyond mythological meaning, it is also understood that people drank the foamy chocolate drink during their wedding ceremony.

Other than having a religious significance, cacao also served a function in the ancient Maya economy: cacao seeds were used as a kind of currency.

Consideration
Some of what is known about what the Maya made using chocolate comes from chemical analysis of residues on the bottom of ceramics. Hershey Corporation was the first to discover the chemical signature of chocolate in 1990, using a lidded vessel discovered in Rio Azul.

References:
The Free Dictionary: Encyclopedia: Cacao

"Food, Farming and Hunting"; Emory Dean Keoke, Kay Marie Porterfield; 2005

"Chocolate - History, Culture, and Heritage"; Louis E. Grivetti, Howard-Yana Shapiro; 2011

Mayan Social Order

Both anthropologists and archaeologists are still reconstructing the ancient Mayan culture, including the social order. Currently, different theories (also called models) exist as to what things were like. One thing that they know is that ancient Mayan culture --including its social order -- changed by region, and also changed over time.

One theory about how the ancient Mayan society was generally structured goes like this: in the ancient Mayan world, people lived in city-states, where one city controlled a region. Kings were at the top of society, and under them were the nobles, the scribes and the priests. Underneath the nobles, scribes and priests were the merchants as well as artists. The next level down on the social pyramid included the commoners (such as farmers) and the slaves. This last level was possibly the largest, and worked for the upper levels of the social pyramid. This system was thought to have begun around 300 BC, and grew more elaborate by the Classic Period (around 200 AD to 900 AD).

There is an argument that says the social pyramid was not rigid. In this version of the theory, farmers had some control over things because they controlled food production. At the site of Ceren, archaeologists found that people seemed to have extra parts for things, and may have actually had home businesses selling items.

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

Illinois State University: Archaeology, Political Economy and the Maya Commoner