The Moon and the Ancient Maya

The moon had lots of meanings for the ancient Maya. This civilization's people studied its path. It was a part of their religious beliefs. They included their observations of its passage in the inscriptions of their monuments. The moon was even thought of as a deity. Let's learn more, shall we?

Tracking the Moon

To see the moon in the same phase twice, you need to wait about 29.53059 days -- or 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3 seconds. This cycle is called the synodic month, and the ancient Maya studied it. (It's possible they also tracked how long it took for the moon to reach the same stars it had already passed -- this is called the sidereal cycle.) 

"Carved Door Lintel with Female in Moon Cartouche."
Made around 750 AD to 850 AD. Its country of origin is either
Mexico or Guatemala. From LACMA.

It seems that to get around having to use fractions, the Maya would calculate the synodic month using a cycle made of groups synodic months. Different places in the Maya area had their own way of tracking this cycle. For about 70 years though -- from 687 to 756 AD -- they tried to use the same method. (This period of time is called the Period of Uniformity, today.)

The first method is one you may see called the Palenque system. This cycle had 2392 days in it. When you divide 2392 by 81, you get an average of 29.53086 days for each synodic month. 

Time passed and the Maya started to use a new cycle, which looks like it started at Copán. The new cycle was made of 4,400 days. It had 149 synodic months. This makes about 29.5302 days for every synodic month -- even closer than the Palenque system.

Which phase of the moon did the ancient Maya see as being the beginning of the synodic month? It seems there was no standard starting point. One theory says it may have been the first night when they could see the moon again, which would have depended on a site's location.


Lunar Series

How did the ancient May use their knowledge of the moon? One way they used it was to help them calculate eclipses (which you can see in the Dresden Codex's pages 51 through 58). Another way they used their knowledge of the moon was to write the lunar series.

As you may know, there's been no evidence that the ancient Maya had a standalone lunar calendar. Starting in the Classic Period (around 250 AD/300 AD to 1000 AD), the Maya did start using a group of glyphs that people today call the lunar series. The Maya used the lunar series in the inscriptions on their monuments. In these inscriptions, the Maya tended to put the lunar series before the Haab' day of the date they were calculating.

The glyphs in the lunar series are known as glyph E, glyph D, glyph C, glyph B, glyph A and glyph X. Here's one view on what the glyphs mean:

•  The first two (glyph E and D) state the moon's phase from a starting point in the synodic month. When the moon was less than 20 days old, glyph D was used. When it was 20 days (or more) into its cycle, the Maya added glyph D to glyph E.

• The third (glyph C) is actually a cycle of numbered glyphs.  Each glyph C was a moon cycle, so altogether the cycle of glyph C lasted 177 days. Whether this cycle was used for a past or present moon depended on the site.

•  The fourth (glyph B) emphasizes what the sixth glyph (glyph X) said. One possible translation is "is its holy name." Another translation uses "youthful" instead of "holy."

•  The fifth (glyph A) says how long the particular "month" that the moon is in is (30 or 29 days.)

• The sixth (glyph X) is also a cycle of 6 glyphs. These glyphs might be names for whichever one of glyph C is being talked about in the inscription.

Buildings Connected to the Moon

The ancient Maya built different structures that were used to help them study the moon. Not all of the structures were built with exactly the same purpose -- here are some examples.

The Caracol.

One example of a structure made to study the moon is a pyramid at the site of Edzná, which you may see called La Vieja. La Vieja was (or at least possibly was) built as a marker for the farthest point the moon sets in its movement north within its cycle at Edzná.

A second example is a building (structure 10K-2) at the site of Xultun in Guatemala. It has murals on its walls, including glyphs that look like they were for charting the moon. These glyphs were made in the 800s AD.  It looks like the glyphs were for working on the math for the lunar series (specifically on glyph C.)

A third example is the structure known today as the Caracol (this is Spanish for "snail.") This structure might have been an observatory -- part of what the Maya may have used it for was to track the moon.

Moon Goddess

Detail of a Classic vase showing the moon
goddess and rabbit. From an image
in the gallery of LACMA.

Theories abound with figuring out the moon goddess of the ancient Maya. In the Classic Period, it looks like the Maya thought of the moon as a goddess (though there are also images of the moon as a man.) Symbols that she was connected with seem to be the moon and a hare or rabbit. However, it also looks like the Maya sort of blended the moon goddess and the corn god -- you can see images of the corn god with the symbols connected to the moon goddess.

Detail of a statue that
might be the moon goddess.
From an image in Yale's art gallery.

One view says the moon goddess in the Classic Period was also a goddess connected to corn as well as fertility -- and could turn into a rabbit. Another view says that the corn god and the moon goddess were seen as connected to each other.

In the Postclassic period, it looks like the moon is only shown as a goddess. Some sources say that two Postclassic beings, goddess I and goddess O, were moon goddesses. However, this theory has become questioned -- it may be that just goddess I was a moon goddess (or at least somehow connected to the moon, as well as fertility.) But it might also be that the only place that you can find evidence of the real moon goddess in the Postclassic Period so far is on page 49 of the Dresden Codex.

Consideration: Sun as the Moon?
The Maya believed in a god now called the Jaguar God of the Underworld (among other names) by archaeologists. This god may have been the sun at night or "night sun" or perhaps a fire god..

References:

University of Virginia: Astronomy 1210 (O'Connell): Introduction to Astonomy: Notes on the Maya

"Beyond the “Dresden Codex”: New Insights into the Evolution of Maya Eclipse Prediction"; Vincent H. Malmström

NASA: Eclipse and the Moon's Orbit

"The Role of Archaeoastronomy in the Maya World: the Case Study of the Island of Cozumel"; 2016

Archaeoastronomy and the Maya"; Gerardo Aldana y Villalobos, Edwin L. Barnhart (editors); 2014

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

Foundation Rituals and Mythology in the Postclassic Maya Codices"; Gabrielle Vail, Christine Hernández"; 2013

Maya Decipherment: Ideas on Ancient Maya Writing and Iconography: "Heavenly Bodies"; Stephen Houston; July 16, 2012

History Dictionary of Mesoamerica"; Walter R. T. Witschey, Clifford T. Brown; 2012

"Breaking the Maya Code" third edition; Michael D. Coe; 2012

Mesoweb: "Unearthing the Heavens: Classic Maya Murals and Astonomical Tables at Xultun, Guatemala"; Marc Zender, Joel Skidmore; 2012

2010 The Rulers of Palenque. Fifth edition. Mesoweb: www.mesoweb.com/palenque/resources/rulers/PalenqueRulers-05.pdf.

"Daily Life in Maya Civilization" second edition; Robert J. Sharer; 2009

"Maya Eclipses: Modern Astronomical Data, The Triple Tritos and the Double-Tzolkin"; William E. Beck; 2007

Mesoweb: "Maya Creator Gods"; Karen Bassie; 2002

FAMSI: John Montgomery Dictionary of Maya Hieroglyphs: J

LACMA: Carved Door Lintel with Female in Moon Cartouche

Eclipses

Courtesy Nasa/SDO.

Eclipses are exciting events where either the moon passes between the earth -- creating a solar eclipse -- and the sun or the earth passes between the sun and the moon -- creating a lunar eclipse.  Let's take some time to explore the ancient Maya perspective on it.

Eclipse Names

Solar eclipse glyph on the left,lunar 
eclipse glyph on the right. 
In the Dresden Codex, the lunar glyph 
is never without the solar one

Archaeologists think they've found various ways the Maya wrote "eclipse," at least for in the Postclassic Period. For the most popular of these, two "wings" (one mostly dark and one light) go on either side of a smaller sun glyph for "solar eclipse" or moon glyph for "lunar eclipse." The picture on the right shows two examples (from a drawing in Cyrus Thomas's Aids to the Study of the Maya Codices.)

"Pa' k'in" from the Dresden Codex's page 54.
(You may see people call it pa'al k'in.)

The ancient Maya of this period also had phrases they used sometimes to mean an eclipse. Though they could be used to mean real ones, these phrases were more popular when they wanted to say a certain era/length of time had ended. One of the known phrases was "pa' k'in" (thought to be a short form for "pa'al k'in"), which means "broken sun." 

What The Maya Knew About Eclipses

Copy of the Dresden
Codex's page 51. 

There are points in the earth's and moon's orbits where either the sun or the moon go through an eclipse -- these points are called nodes. Eclipses run in a cycle (called the saros cycle that begins again after about 18 years, 11 days, 8 hours. Did the ancient Maya know about these important parts of eclipse math? So far it looks like the answer is no. But they did know how to get close to predicting eclipses.

This glyph may describe
darkness during a solar eclipse.

They'd figured out that about 177/178 days (which makes 6 lunar months) or 148 days (5 lunar months) after an eclipse -- lunar or solar -- an eclipse of the same type as before might happen. You can find examples of these numbers various places. One is the site of Xultun, which has them written on the inside of a building. Another example is the Dresden Codex. 

The Dresden Codex has eight pages (pages 51 through 58) on eclipses. (Which kind of eclipse hasn't been decided for sure.) Archaeologists have found both number 177 and 148 in these pages. There are years' worth of eclipses written down there -- either ones people had seen or ones that had been predicted -- a length of time lasting 11,960 days. People still wonder if it was a chart that could only be used one time, or if the Maya were somehow able to use it again and again, adjusting it when they had to do so.

Depiction of a solar eclipse.
From the Dresden Codex's
eclipse pages.

So if the ancient Maya were able to sort of predict eclipses, did they realize that they were watching planets and their shadows? It seems they didn't. Instead, it looks like they thought solar eclipses (and maybe lunar ones too) happened because a creature was biting the sun. Various old accounts after contact with the Spanish say the Maya -- depending on the community -- thought the creature was an ant, some kind of cat, or Venus. In the codices, there are images of serpent figures that look like they're trying to eat the sun. These serpents may actually be Venus.

How They Observed Eclipses
The ancient Maya may have used a y-shaped stick to help them look at the sky's objects. They May have used mirrors (made from stone they'd polished) to watch eclipses. Bowls filled with water may have been another eclipse watching tool.

What They Meant
The ancient Maya, from what archaeologists can tell, may have thought that eclipses, lunar and solar, were dangerous. It's also possible that they thought a solar eclipse could be the start of the end of the current world. (The Maya believed there had been worlds before this one.) However, it looks like eclipses weren't always seen as dangerous -- it's possible that eclipses were dangerous during certain "dangerous" times. 

To keep the sun from being swallowed, the ancient Maya thought they could stop an eclipse if they made lots of noise -- doing things like making their dogs howl and by beating drums. The noise was supposed to scare off the creature causing the eclipse.

Terminal Classic Record of An Eclipse 
Unless calculations are mistaken, on July 16, 790, the ancient Maya recorded a solar eclipse. The evidence is Stela 3 from the site of Santa Elena Poco Uinic or just Poco Uinic, a site in the highlands of the Mexican state of Chiapas. The eclipse would have happened not long after noon there.

References:
"Totality: The Great American Eclipses of 2017 and 2024"; Mark Littmann & Fred Espenak; 2017

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

"Beyond the “Dresden Codex”: New Insights into the Evolution of Maya Eclipse Prediction"; Vincent H. Malmström

"Daily Life in Maya Civilization" 2nd Edition; Robert J. Sharer; 2009

ASTRONOMY 1210 (O'Connell): INTRODUCTION TO THE SKY AND THE SOLAR SYSTEMMaya Astr 341 Class: Notes on the Maya

Arqueología Mexicana: El símbolo maya para eclipse

NASA: Glossary of Solar Eclipse Terms

Mesoweb: The PARI Journal 13(2), 2012, pp. 3-16: "Exploring the 584286 Correlation between the Maya and European Calendars"; Simon Martin, Joel Skidmore

"Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars'"; Susan Milbrath; 1999

Project Gutenberg: Project Gutenberg's Aids to the Study of the Maya Codices, by Cyrus Thomas

University of Victoria Astronomy: Arif Babul: WELCOME TO MY ASTROCOURSE WEBPAGES: Physics 303: The Mayan Civilization

Ancient Maya Astronomy

Maya glyph thought to mean 'solar eclipse.'

Without any special tools to bring things into closer view, the ancient Maya watched the skies, studying the stars, various planets, the moon and the sun. They may have been trying to find ways that the cycles of the objects they observed were connected.

Evidence of these studies can be found in monument inscriptions, the Postclassic codices -- and even in their buildings, which they would orient towards various celestial objects. Let's learn more about what's currently understood about ancient Maya astronomy.

Constellations
It looks like the ancient Maya had constellations (and a zodiac), though there's a lot of uncertainty about what they were. One constellation that the ancient Maya may have had was the Pleiades, whose shape may have been viewed as a rattlesnake's rattle. 

Another constellation they may have had was made up of part of Orion: his belt.The three stars may have been seen as three hearthstones connected to creation -- but there may have been another idea among them that the stars were seen as a turtle.

Earth
It doesn't look like the ancient Maya ever figured out that Earth is ball-shaped or that it orbits the sun. Instead, the ancient Maya thought that our planet was the middle of all layers of reality. They thought that it was a crocodile/crocodile-like creature or caiman or a turtle, and they thought that they lived on the back -- another theory says these were just metaphors. (There's also art that shows Earth as a creature with two heads called kawak.)

They thought that they lived above their underworld and below a place that we call the upperworld. (And it's possible they believed the underworld had 9 layers and the upper world had 13 layers.) The upperworld is where the ancient Maya thought the celestial objects that were gods lived.

They thought that the world was made of four parts or quarters. Each of the four had certain things connected to them -- one of these was colors: east was red, west was black, south was yellow and north was white. The center of their world had a color too, but which color depends on the source: examples from sources include blue, green or blue-green.

Eclipses
The ancient Maya knew about lunar and solar eclipses, and sort of knew how to predict them. They used two groups of moon-based months, 148 days (five months) and 177/178 days (six months) as a way of figuring out when eclipses would occur. One artifact that shows they studied eclipses is the Dresden Codex; pages 51 through 58 look like they were for eclipses. (Whether they were lunar or solar is debated). 

Solar eclipses seem to have been an event that the ancient Maya thought was dangerous. Though perhaps they were dangerous if they happened in certain "bad" astrological times. 

Jupiter
An 819-day count may have been used by the Maya in the Classic Period to track Jupiter. The tun (a period of 360 days) and the katun (20 tuns or 7,200 days) may have been connected to Jupiter. The ancient Maya tracked Jupiter in order to time their wars to happen in connection certain positions of that planet. (This count is thought to have been used with Saturn as well, perhaps along with other cycles.) 

A god that archaeologists call K'awiil or god K might be connected to Jupiter. This god is also connected to the sky, lightning, snakes, and storms as well as ancestors and rulers. 


Mars
The ancient Maya had a cycle of 780 days that tracked Mars. And it seems they thought there was a supernatural creature that was linked with the planet. Archaeologists call this creature the Mars Beast. (The creature might be linked with the rainy season too.)

Mercury
The Maya tracked Mercury, using the number 117. (Mercury's orbit is more precisely 115.8 days). You can see evidence for this in the Dresden Codex. 

The Milky Way
The Milky Way may have been thought to be a path/road that the spirits of the dead traveled on. Another idea among them was that it was a river -- another idea it seems they had was that it was a river with a crocodile-like creature in it. The ancient Maya also associated the Milky Way with three things: rain, wind and lightning.

Moon
The ancient Maya followed the moon's path, but it doesn't so far seem that they had an official, separate moon calendar. What they did have was what we call today the "lunar series," which was part of inscriptions. The lunar series describes information about the moon on a particular date, including how far along in the month it was. Moon months to the Maya could be 29 days or 30 days, depending on the month.

The moon itself was connected with eclipses. There was an idea among the ancient Maya, among other ideas they had, that eclipses were fights between the sun and the moon. 

As for supernatural connections, the goddess Ix Chel may or may not have been a 'young' moon goddess (as well as a goddess of other things.) But there are those who don't think she was connected to the moon at all -- instead they think there's a different goddess, which can be seen in the Dresden Codex, on page 49a.


Saturn
The ancient Maya followed Saturn's orbit with a cycle of 378 days. They also, as you probably read above, used an 819-day cycle for Saturn (as well as Jupiter), perhaps along with other cycles. It seems that, like Venus, the ancient Maya used certain positions of Saturn and Jupiter to time wars. 

An aspect of the god Pawaaj (or god N) named Pawaaj Sahb'iin could have been the god Saturn. Or he may have been Saturn's messenger. 

Sun
The ancient Maya tracked the sun's path across the sky (called the ecliptic), which in their art they showed as a double-headed snake. They would build their buildings according to the various points of the sun's path, such as the equinoxes. 

One example is this: in the Preclassic Period, it was popular to orient your structure to both the solstices' sunsets and the solstices' sunrises. There was even a type of building group they would construct as a kind of sundial -- these are called E groups by archaeologists.

To the ancient Maya, the sun was also a god. They thought he had different aspects -- one was the 'jaguar sun,' which he became at night and went through the underworld. This god was also connected to kings. Names archaeologists use for the Maya sun god is K'inich Ahaw and god G.

Venus 
This brightest planet in the solar system was to the ancient Maya a very important "star." One name for Venus that the ancient Maya used for the planet was Chak Ek' or Great Star.  From what has been found, Venus was a celestial object that represented violence. How?

It seems rulers used parts of its orbit to figure out times for wars to get captives to kill as sacrifices. (However, nowadays, it looks like the ancient Maya more often used Jupiter and Saturn to time their wars more often than Venus.)

But there are also many theories about Venus's aspects and functions.  One theory says that there was a belief among the ancient Maya that it made eclipses happen.

Consideration: 63 Day Cycle
Unless further evidence shows otherwise, in the Classic Period at least, there was a 63-day cycle that was used to sync different celestial objects' cycles.  In the examples found, the 63-day cycle looks like it was for fire rituals for the god Pawaaj Sahb'iin. 

References:

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

"The Role of Archaeoastronomy in the Maya World: the Case Study of the Island of Cozumel"; UNESCO Office Mexico; 2016

Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars"; Susan Milbrath; 1999

"Unearthing the Heavens: Classic Maya Murals and Astronomical Tables at Xultun,Guatemala"; Marc Zender, Joel Skidmore; 2012

PubMed: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America: "Ancient Maya documents concerning the movements of Mars"; Harvey M. Bricker, Anthony F. Aveni, and Victoria R. Bricker; 2001 Feb 13

"Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars"; Susan Milbrath; 1999

Exploration Magazine, Volume 6, Issue 2: "Mayan Meltdown UF Geologists' Analysis Of Ancient Lakebeds Leads To A Theory About The Decline Of Mayan Civilization"

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

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

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

The PARI Journal: 14(1), 2013, 6-12; "Patterns in the Dresden Codex"; Cara G. Tremain

"Archaeoastronomy and the Maya"; Gerardo Aldana y Villalobos, Edwin L. Barnhart (editors); 2014

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

The PARI Journal 15 (1), 11-24, 2014: "Alternative Functions of Distance Numbers in Maya Calendrical Texts: Codices vs. Monuments"; Victoria Bricker, Anthony Aveni

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

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

"Millenary Maya Societies: Past Crises and Resilience"; "Time, Memory, and Resilience among the Maya"; Prudence M. Rice; 2013

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

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

Maya Blue

This figurine is partly painted with Maya blue. It was made in the
600s AD to 700s AD. It may represent a being that you may see
called the "Fat Man." (This figure seems to have been in part of
Mesoamerican cultures, and was connected, it seems, music as well
as comedy.) From The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Used by the ancient -- and Colonial Period -- Maya (and other Mesoamericans), Maya blue is a pigment that is noticeably resistant to deterioration. After numerous studies (beginning in the early 1900s), it is now thought that at least two things went into its making: indigo dye and a kind of clay, either sepiolite or palygorskite. This article will focus on Maya blue's composition, production, resistance and its uses.

Historical Note

Maya blue has been found within the context of the Late Preclassic. However, it is in the Late Classic that increased usage of Maya blue began. During the beginning of the Late Classic, the use of Maya blue appears to have become common in the Usumacinta region, the Puuc region and Guatemala. The ancient Maya used the pigment through the Postclassic Period and even in the Colonial Period -- though its use declined and disappeared during the latter (around the end of the 1500s).

Color

Maya blue ranges in color from a light blue to green blue, and adjectives connected to its description include "vivid" and "radiant".  The color might be connected to iron as well as iron oxide nanoparticles, though it is also possible that it isn't -- an alternate theory being that it is the ratio of indigo dye to clay. Different shades may have been possible through different kinds of Maya blue recipes.

Indigo Dye

The genus Indigofera has species that can be used to produce indigo dye. The indigo dye the ancient Maya used could have come from different species, such as Indigofera suffruticosa (a shrub whose other names include Guatemala indigo, ti cafe, añil, wild indigo, añil de pasto or just indigo.

As for the way the ancient Maya made their dye -- that has yet to be discovered, and is therefore one of the lingering mysteries of Maya blue. For example, whether or not the dye was a liquid or reduced even further into chunks of dye (which would be ground up). 

The Clay -- Palygorskite or Sepiolite?

This is a rattle and whistle painted with Maya Blue that was
made in the 700s AD. From The Metropolitant Museum
of Art.

Of the resources thus far found in researching Maya blue, most tend to favor palygorskite as the clay that was used; (though some also include sepiolite in their definition. One book, Developments in Palygorskite-Sepiolite Research, states that sepiolite sometimes is found in Maya blue from the Aztec area.)

Also called attapulgite (an older name), palygorskite is defined by Encyclopedia Britannica Online as a fibrous magnesium aluminum silicate. It is a clay whose molecular structure is described as "fibrous", a kind of structure that has "channels" (or tunnels, as Handbook to Clay Science describes them). The "fibrous" structure, it is understood, is necessary for making Maya blue.

Production

It is now thought that it is not enough to mix indigo dye and palygorskite together -- the mixture has to be heated (Handbook says it must be 302 Fahrenheit), and for a couple of days.  As evidence, dehydroindigo (oxidized indigo dye) has been found in Maya blue, which may have formed when heated. Also, a blue color was only obtained, in studies I have found on creating Maya blue, when something else was added (such as acetone or diluted hydrochloric acid), so it is possible the ancient Maya had an acid or acids they could use.

How does the indigo dye bind to the clay?  It is thought that the dye is caught in the channels (or tunnels) of the palygorskite, perhaps at the ends of these channels. 

Resistance

A word connected to Maya blue is "stable". It is resistant to many things. For example, The Field Museum's Dr. Gary Feinman states that, "Maya blue is a very stable pigment. In other words, it does not rub of or wash off very easily." (Author's transcription.)

But Maya blue can resist more than rubbing and washing. Published in 2009, Electrochemical Methods in Archaeometry, Conservation and Restoration gives a list of things Maya blue can withstand. The book states that Maya blue is resistant to "...acids, alkalis, oxidants, reducing agents, organic solvents or biodegration."

How long can Maya blue resist attack? A study conducted by Rutherford J. Gettens involved putting samples of Maya blue from an incense burner in various liquids, including concentrated hydrochloric acid, concentrated sulfuric acid and concentrated nitric acid. After eighteen hours had passed the samples were still the same color.

Uses

The ancient Maya used Maya blue artistically for their murals, such as the murals at Bonampak, and figurines, such as those found on Jaina Island. Maya blue was also used as part of the color palette in codices. Also, it seems, they used it when preparing people and inanimate objects off as sacrifices.

What was the connection between Maya blue and making sacrifices? The understanding is that votives were covered with the pigment before they were sacrificed. As evidence, at the bottom of the Sacred Cenote, a layer of blue silt was found while it was being dredged. Dr. Feinman states that coating objects (and people) in Maya blue was an act used when making sacrifices to rain deities.

Consideration: Copal, A Potential Ingredient

A theory also exists that Maya blue was made by using burning copal resin to bind the indigo and palygorskite. According to Developments, it is yet to be seen whether or not Maya blue could be created by adding palygorskite-indigo dye mix to melted copal -- which melts below 302 degrees Fahrenheit.

References: 

"Handbook of Clay Science"; F. Bergaya, B.K.G. Theng, G. Lagaly; 2011

"Pigment Compendium: A Dictionary of Historical Pigments"; Nicholas Eastaugh, Valentine Walsh, Tracey Chaplin, Ruth Siddall; 2012

"Developments in Palygorskite-Sepiolite Research: A New Outlook on these Nanomaterials"; Elsevier; 2011

"The Archaeology of Science: Studying the Creation of Useful Knowledge"; Springer; 2013

"Electrochemical Methods in Archaeometry, Conservation and Restoration"; Antonio Doménech-Carbó, María Teresa Doménech-Carbó, Virginia Cost; 2009

"Analytical Archaeometry: Selected Topics"; Howell Edwards, Peter Vandenabeele; 2012

USDA Forest Service: International Institute of Tropical Forestry: Indigofera suffruticosa P. Mill.

The Field Museum: Science at FMNH : Ep. 42 – The Production of Maya Blue

The Field Museum: Dr. Gary Feinman

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Crocodile Rattle

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Costumed Figure

Image Credits:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Costumed Figure

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Crocodile Rattle