Shells for Appearances

This pendant was made between the 600s AD and 700s AD, in either
Mexico or Guatemala. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

From personal adornment to ritual use, left whole or cut into shapes, the ancient Maya utilized different kinds of shells in their artistic and religious endeavors. Shells that we know the Maya used include the shell of the thorny oyster, the oliva, the conch and the pecten, among others.



Thorny Oyster
This oyster has a spiny shell, whose specific shade ranges from a red to a red-orange. The ancient Maya used the thorny oyster to make a whole range of items, from jewelry to cloak decorations. It became a more elite level shell by the Classic Period's close. (For more, go to the post on spiny oyster here.)

Oliva

These shell earflares were from either Mexico or Guatemala and
were made between the 300s AD and 900s AD. They both
have an image carved into them, with pigment inserted into
the carved lines. From LACMA.

Ancient Maya kings used the oliva shell in a certain kind of costume in which they wore strands of them -- these strands are thought to have made noise as they moved. For example, Yikin Chan Kawil (also spelled Yik'in Chan K'awiil), a king of Tikal during the 700s AD, can be seen in Tikal's Stela 5 wearing oliva shells. In contrast to the thorny oyster, by the Classic period's close the oliva shell was utilized by non-elite Maya in their adornments.

Conch
When it comes to the conch, the ancient Maya used several species for their shells. One species they turned into a kind of trumpet via altering the shell's lip, and then decorated -- by carving it, for example. Two other species have been found at sites carved into discs -- possibly items of personal wear. Like the oliva shell, at the finish of the Classic Period, conch shells were also a shell used by non-elites in their adornment.

Pecten
This shell's appearance is that of the quintessential scalloped clam shell. Introduced from Central Mexico, pecten shells were in favor in the Early Classic Period. Examples of pecten shells in art can be seen on Stela 4 at Tikal, in which the ruler is wearing a necklace of pecten shells -- an item seen in Teotihuacan art.

Other Shells
Two other kinds of shells were used, at least by the Classic Period's finale, by people of the non-elite class. These are the shells of freshwater mussels and pearly oysters, used by people of non-elite status for personal adornment.

Consideration
There are instances where, though a site is near a large body of salt water, the site's residents seem to have favored another body of salt water. One example of this is that most of the shells and other saltwater items at Tikal come from the Gulf of Mexico, not the Caribbean Sea. Another example is at Copán, where the Pacific Ocean seems to have the been preferred source of saltwater items.

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

Image Credit:
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Bird Ornament

LACMA: Ear Flares with Incised Faces

Alfred Maudslay -- An English Maya Preservationist of Note

Alfred Maudslay is a man of worthy mention when it comes to the preservation of the ancient Maya civilization. Born to well-off parents, he made many trips into Mesoamerica to help record various sculptures and architecture -- and the inscriptions found on both. What Maudslay had published from his preservation efforts gave people the first good resource for studying the writing system of the ancient Maya.

Birth, Education and First Trip to the Americas
Alfred Percival Maudslay was born March 18, 1850 to Anna Maria Maudslay and her husband Joseph, one of the couple's many children. First attending a boarding school in Tunbridge Wells, then another boarding school four years later called Harrow, Alfred began studying at Cambridge University in 1868. His career included being secretary for the Governor of Queensland (one of Australia's states), after which he took the position of British Consul in Samoa, before becoming Consul General in Tonga.

When Maudslay took his first trip to the Americas, however, it was not in the interest of a government career, although it was connected to making money. A business trip, Maudslay checked up on two things: a Californian property being used to produce fruit as well as a gold mine in Mexico. This trip is also significant because he met the woman who became his first wife, Cary Ann Morris, an American (they married in Rome, May 31st, 1892). Cary Ann later died in September 1926, was cremated then buried in Hereford Cathedral's crypt (Alfred later remarried).

Trips to Mesoamerica
Having read the writings of John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, Maudslay decided to get involved in preserving the ancient Maya civilization. From 1881 until 1894 he made eight trips to the Maya area (his wife accompanying him) to make a record of the ruins (sometimes taking pieces of the ruins away). On these trips various media were used to make records including photography (via a wet-plate camera) as well as paper and plaster casts. Written records were also made. Of the different sites he visited, certain ones received greater attention than others, including Yaxchilán (during which he met explorer Desirée Charnay), Palenque, Quiriguá, Copán and Chichén Itzá. Looking at the ruins, Maudslay began to notice recurring subjects in the art, and also noticed images that are now called full-figure glyphs (anthropomorphized versions of regular glyphs.)

Contributing to Posterity
Maudslay didn't keep his casts to himself. Instead he decided to contribute to posterity and offered them to the Victoria and Albert Museum. However, he had some terms attached to his proposed donation: he wanted the museum to produce a second set of casts from the original casts, and he wanted the museum to pay for their production. Not only that, he wanted his assistant Guitini hired to actually make the casts. The museum agreed to these conditions, and between 1886 and 1891 the casts were made.

Publishing
From 1889 to 1902, Maudslay had his work published in parts as an appendix of Biologi Centrali-Americana, a work that included a number of volumes. Published items include site plans, site descriptions and lithographic plates by Annie Hunter (who made use of the photographs and casts). The inscriptions located within this published work still help people study the ancient Maya writing system today.

Maudslay's publishings were later published on their own (one volume that just had writing and four consisting of photographic plates). These volumes were collectively titled Archaeology.

Memoir and Death
In his old age, Maudslay wrote a memoir, Life in the Pacific 50 Years Ago,(published 1930), a book whose recollections only go up to when he was thirty. Then, in 1931, Maudslay died.

Legacy
Items from Maudslay's trips -- known as the Maudslay Collection -- can still be seen in the British Museum's Department of Ethnology. This collection has casts, paper and plaster casts, journals and photonegatives. There are also a number of things Maudslay took away from the Maya area: eight lintels from the site of Yaxchilán as well as nine sculptures (made of stone) from the site of Copán.

References:The British Museum: Alfred P. Maudslay (1850 - 1931)

"Breaking the Maya Code"; Michael D. Coe; 1992

"Maya Art and Architecture"; Mary Ellen Miller 1999

"Alfred Maudslay and the Maya: A Biography";Ian Graham; 2002