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

Jaguars

This jaguar image comes from the USFWS National Digital Library. It was
created by Gary M. Stolz.

Panthera onca, or the jaguar as it is commonly called, is a large cat that you can find from South America up into Mexico and even the United States' South West. Though they are large (Males can be 200 pounds) and are carnivores, they like to stay away from people -- though they will attack if upset.

The ancient Maya had a lot of cultural connections to this beautiful animal. They thought it was sacred and they looked at it as a symbol connected to royalty. Jaguars were also mixed into the ancient Maya's religious beliefs: among the supernatural beings they believed to exist, there were ones that had jaguar features.

Supernatural Beings
One supernatural being that had features of a jaguar was the Unen Balam -- the Baby Jaguar --, the Water Lily Jaguar, and possibly the Jaguar God of the Underworld. The Baby Jaguar is a being that was drawn on codex style vessels. The Waterlily Jaguar was an underworld god as was the Jaguar God of the Underworld, who may have been an aspect of the sun.

With Royalty

Also from the USFWS National Digital Library. Created by
John and Karen Hollingsworth. 

At least with what ancient Maya art shows, looks like among royalty, it was cool to wear jaguar skins - it was a way of saying "I'm royal and can wear this skin because of that fact." It was a symbol of their right to rule, their power over everything.

And royalty didn't just wear jaguar skins. The art shows that it was common for royal thrones in art to have jaguar pelts on them. Royalty also took jaguar skins to the grave. Based on the fact that jaguar foot bones (phalanges) have been found in royal tombs, it looks like royal people's bodies were laid down on jaguar pelt mats. (Other kinds of mats were also used.)

As an Art Design
Speaking of art, the ancient Maya liked to include the jaguar in different items, including items made of ceramic as well as jade items and in structures like temples and stelae. Artists started to put jaguars into their works as far back as 1,000 BC.

One kind of pottery painted design artists would create was this: they would paint a jaguar skin on their pots, so that it looked like a real skin had been put on it. This style became notably popular in the 600s AD. The artists would include "loops" that may be representing how the skin pulls when being dried on the drying board. They would also draw the edge of the skin either with a flat edge or a ragged edge.

Wahy
A type of spirit being that the ancient Maya believed in was the wahy. Wahys could look like different things, including animals. In fact, one way to draw the glyph for wahy is a face that is half person and half jaguar pelt.

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

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

Google Books: "The Maya Tropical Forest: People, Parks, and Ancient Cities"; James D. Nations; 2010

UMFA: Pre-columbian Art: Utah Museum of Fine Arts Evening for Educators; 10 March, 2004

The Free Dictionary: Encyclopedia: Jaguar

The Free Dictionary: Phalanx


Image Credits:
USFWS National Digital Library: Images: Jaguar; Gary M. Stolz

USFWS National Digital Library: Images: Jaguar; John and Karen Hollingsworth; April 18, 2008

Tobacco and the Ancient Maya

May/Mahy.

To the ancient Maya, tobacco counted among the plants they thought were sacred. They may have used Nicotiana tabacum, Nicotiana rustica, or both. There were even gods that they would draw as smoking. Smoking was very common among the ancient Maya, which they consumed in different ways.

History
There's a theory that only certain authorities like shamans were allowed to use tobacco. But at least close to the end of the Postclassic Period, it's thought that all classes may have been allowed to smoke it.

Names of Tobacco
The word for tobacco in the codices (which date to the Postclassic Period) is k'uutz. It is spelled with syllables two ways: ku and tzi or k'uh and tzi. In inscriptions outside the codices, you may see tobacco called may or mahy, depending on the archaeologist. You will also find resources that translate may/mahy as snuff or tobacco-lime snuff.

Use

One way the ancient Maya consumed tobacco was by smoking it -- and they may have had tubes (made with either bone or ceramic) as a tool for smoking it.

The Maya may have also have powdered tobacco, mixed it with lime, and used it as a kind of snuff. There are bottles from the Late Classic that may have had spatulas for getting the snuff out. (One of these bottles -- painted in the codex style -- had y‐otoot 'u‐may written on it. This has been translated as "her/his/its home for tobacco." When this bottle, among other bottles, was tested, it was found to have nicotine in it.)

There are theories about how they used the snuff -- one says they used spatulas and used their mouths. Another says they used their noses, and may have stuck the bottles' openings up their nostrils.

The Maya may have used tobacco for serious things too. One thing they may have used it for was as a medicine plant. They may also have used it in their religion, as part of getting visions.

On a related note, archaeologists may have found evidence of tobacco being traded. The murals at the Chiik Nahb complex -- located at the site of Calakmul -- have a tobacco seller (whose caption has several translations including "tobacco person"). They've also found evidence of tobacco being grown -- at the site of Cerén, tobacco seeds were found in a gourd.

Smoking and the Gods
In art, you'll see drawings of Maya gods as well as people smoking. (Gods the Maya believed in that have been found to smoke in art include god B, god F, god D, god N, god A, and God L.

It's possible that god L may have had several names, connected to tobacco. One was Ch'ul Mahy or "Holy Tobacco." Another possibility about god L is that he was the god of all tobacco. Of these gods, god L is shown smoking the most often.

God K may also be connected with tobacco. One possible connection is the fact that the ancient Maya liked to draw god L with god K.

Consideration
Among the accounts written by the Spanish, there are accounts that say they saw Maya who smoked tobacco and acted like they'd had too much alcohol. There are different theories on this. Two theories wonder if the answer is the amount of nicotine the Maya were taking into their bodies.

One of these theories suggest that the Maya were smoking lots of tobacco -- the other suggests they were smoking Nicotiana rustica, which has 10 percent nicotine in it. (Nicotiana tabacum has 2 or 3 percent.)



References:
Google Books: "Substance & Seduction: Ingested Commodities in Early Modern Mesoamerica"; Stacey Schwartzkopf, Kathryn E. Sampeck (editors); 2017

Cornell University: SocArXiv: "“Elder Brother Tobacco”: Traditional NicotianaSnuff Use among the Contemporary Tzeltal and Tzotzil Mayaof Highland Chiapas, Mexico"; Kevin P. Groark; May 31, 2017

Library of Congress: Worlds Revealed: Geography and Maps at The Library of Congress: "Name Your Poison: Glyphic Designs on Maya Miniature Flasks in the Jay I. Kislak Collection"; John Hessler; January 27, 2016

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

Academia: "Rapid Communications in Mass Spectometry" Vol. 26 "The detection of nicotine in a Late Mayan period flask by gas chromatography and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry methods"; Dmitri V. Zagorevski, Jennifer A. Laughmiller-Newman; 2012

"The Classic Maya"; Stephen D. Houston, Takeshi Inomata; 2009

Google Books: "Smokes: A Global History of Smoking"; Sander L. Gilman, Zhou Xun; 2004

The Free Dictionary: Tobacco

Salt -- An Important Food Mineral

A beautiful shot of salt from the USGS by Scott Horvath.

Known to mineralogists as halite and to chemists as sodium chloride, salt is a mineral people need to live -- for both breathing and being able to digest what you eat. For the ancient Maya, who may have needed up to 30 grams of salt a day, salt was part of their diet and also had religious meaning. (The Maya today still make salt today.)

How The Maya Made Salt
The ancient Maya were known to use two methods for getting salt, both of which took a lot of work. One way they got salt was to boil salt water in ceramic vessels until the water was gone. (Archaeologists have found one technique for heating the water in these vessels was to put them on top of ceramic cylinders that were set upright around a fire. So far, it looks like the Maya in both southern Belize as well as the Pacific coast used this technique.) The Maya who made salt this way had to make sure they got enough wood to keep the fire going.

The other way was rake up salt made by the sun drying salt water in estuaries.  (Estuaries are places on coasts where seawater mixes with freshwater trying to go into the saltwater -- like a river.)

What the ancient Maya who lived in the north of the Yucatan Peninsula did. When compared with the boiling method, it was easier for two reasons. One was because the northern part of the peninsula is semi-arid, which means that the climate is drier. The other reason was because the northern Yucatan Peninsula has estuaries that are very salt-filled.Of the two ways the Maya made salt, this way was easier.

Salt Sources
So far as it can be seen, it's thought that the ancient Maya's biggest source for salt was seawater. Other sources of salt they may have had are certain palm leaves, burned for edible ash, and salt springs. (The ancient Maya also had a source of salt in the form of animal meat.)

Uses for Salt
The Maya may have used salt as a preservative as well as an ingredient in cooking, and they used as part of their religious practices. (On a related note, the market murals at Calakmul show a person selling salt -- the caption for this person was aj atz'aam. This has been translated as "he/she of salt" or "salt person." The seller is selling salt from a basket, and has a spoon for scooping.)

Consideration: Saltworks of Note
One notable saltwork was Celestún, located in the Yucatan Peninsula -- it was the second largest salt works in all of Mesoamerica. Another very striking saltwork in the northern Yucatan Peninsula was Las Coloradas. This saltwork provided salt that was pink. It was pink because of beta-carotene rich invertebrate sea creatures.

Another notable saltworks was the Paynes Creek Salt Work, which is located in Belize. At Paynes Creek, archaeologists have found remains of what they understand are wooden buildings -- inside which the ancient Maya there made salt.

A significant area of salt works was Punta Ycacos Lagoon. This lagoon had a total of 41 salt works during the Late Classic. Most of this salt was going to be traded with the ancient Maya in the Peten region of Guatemala.

Significance
The number of  people in the Maya area became larger and larger during the Classic Period. Because of this, salt's value kept increasing. This was really good for business for salt makers in the south of Belize, because they became richer and also were able to stay separate from city-states/polities that were farther away from the ocean. (The Maya in south Belize also traded other ocean-sourced products.)

There's a view that the Yucatan Peninsula's salt, which was white, was a luxury item.


References:
Google Books: "Ancient Maya Commerce: Multidisciplinary Research at Chunchucmil"; Scott R. Hutson (editor); 2017

Google Books: "The Value of Things: Prehistoric to Contemporary Commodities in the Maya Region"; Jennifer P Mathews, Thomas H. Guderjan; 2017

Louisiana State University: LSU Digital Commons: LSU Doctoral Dissertations: "Excavations and Interpretation of Two Ancient Maya Salt-Work Mounds, Paynes Creek National Park, Toledo District, Belize"; Rachel Mariah Watson; 2015

Google Books: "Social Identities in the Classic Maya Northern Lowlands: Gender, Age, Memory, and Place"; Traci Ardren; 2015

Louisiana State University: Department of Geography and Anthropology: "Fuelling the Ancient Maya Salt Industry"; Mark Robinson, Heather McKillop; 2014

Mesoweb: Maya Archaeology Reports: "Maya Archaeology 2": "The Murals of Chiik Nahb Structure Sub 1-4, Calakmul, Mexico"; Ramón Carrasco Vargas María Cordeiro Baqueiro; 2012

Google Books: "La Cocina Mexicana"; Marilyn Tausend, Ricardo Muñoz Zurita; 2012

Google Books: "Pre-Columbian Foodways: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Food, Culture, and Markets in Ancient Mesoamerica"; John Edward Staller, Michael Carrasco (editors); 2010

PNAS: "Finds in Belize Document Late Classic Maya Salt Making and Canoe Transport"; Healther McKillop; 12 April 2005

National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis: Kids Do Ecology: World Biomes: Estuaries

Image Credits
USGS: "Salt, Sodium, Chlorine"; Scott Horvath; c. 2017

Mirrors and the Ancient Maya

Pyrite is an iron ore that the Maya would use for mirrors. This
image -- from the USGS site, taken by Carlin Green -- shows
a piece of pyrite and quartz.

The ancient Maya civilization, like other Mesoamerican civilizations, used pieces of iron ores to create shiny flat surfaces -- archaeologists call these artifacts mirrors. These mirrors, for the ancient Maya, were symbols as well as tools. One thing its thought mirrors were a symbol of was either the northern part of the sky when it was night or the North Star. They were also a symbol of ruler's rightful power, royal lineage, and sunlight.

The Mirrors
The ancient Maya liked to make their mirrors with minerals that are types of iron ore and slate. (As to what kind of iron ore, you may see that it said that the Maya just used pyrite, or used other kinds too, like pyrite.) They polished the iron ore and made them into a mosaic. A lot of mirrors have at least one hole near an edge.

For the backing of the mirror, they preferred to use slate. (The Maya also made wooden backings and ceramic backings.) There were times the ancient Maya decorated the visible side of the backing.

Consideration: Mirror Holders Found?
A few wooden sculptures have been found that might have been holders for mirrors. These possible holders are shaped like people with dwarfism. (The ancient Maya may have seen dwarfism as representing an "in between" state.) Below is an image (from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website) of one of these sculptures, which you may have seen in other places on this blog.

There are notches on the man's "kilt" and in his arms. This may have been where a mirror about 5 inches wide and 5 inches long may have been put.

Uses
Elites may have worn mirrors -- the mirror's holes could have been used to hang the mirrors on the elites somehow.  The Maya may have used mirrors in their rituals, for when they wanted to make smoke or fire -- possible evidence for this are mirrors taken from the site of Chichén Itzá that were burned. They also used mirrors as tools for telling the future. You may also see the view that mirrors were for communicating with supernatural beings, and that doing this made the person using the mirror divine.

There's an idea that royalty had a ceremony that concerned future rulers and involved a mirror. It's not sure what the ritual was for. One possibility was that it was part of the rituals for a new ruler who was taking the throne. Another possibility is that it was a ritual for telling everyone who was going to be the next in line.

Mirrors were also put in burials. You can find them in elite tombs -- more in the highlands than the lowlands. (They're not common in the lowlands.)

Gods Connected with Mirrors
Archaeologists have found that the Maya drew some of their gods with mirrors on their foreheads. One god is known today as god C.  A monkey god, this god's name was an "animated" version of a mirror glyph. This god was connected with rulership. The Maya drew him with a mirror in his forehead.

K'awiil (also known as god K) also had a mirror drawn on his forehead. And, also like god C, he was a god that had a connection to rulership.


References:
Manufactured Light: Mirrors in the Mesoamerican Realm"; Emiliano Gallaga M. and Marc G. Blainey (editors); 2016

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


Cambridge University Press: Cambridge Core: "Ancient Meosamerica" Volume 22 Issue 2: "Ancient Maya Mosaic Mirrors: Function, Symbolism, and Meaning"; Paul F. Healy, Marc G. Blainey; Fall 2011

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

Metropolitan Museum of Art: Mirror-Bearer

Image Credits:
USGS: Pyrite and Quartz; Carlin Green; c. 2016

Metropolitan Museum of Art: Mirror-Bearer

Samabaj -- An Underwater Maya Site

Lake Atitlan (Lago Atitlán,) the resting place of Samabaj. Photo from the
The World Factbook, which is run by the CIA.

In the highlands of Guatemala is the deepest lake in Central America: Lake Atitlan. More than one site has been found in this lake, including Samabaj. Discovered in the 1994, this site has been likened to Atlantis, due to how it may have ended up in the lake. Samabaj even got noticed by National Geographic, which made a documentary on it.

Location
Samabaj is located in the southern part of Lake Atitlan (itself located in the Sololá Department) about 40 to 82 feet below the surface. (It changes.) Before it was submerged, the site was on an island. It is north of another site called Chuk'muk, which is on land.

Discovery

Original map created by NASA/JPL/NGA. Found on the
CIA World Factbook. Annotation for Lake Atitlan by me.

There are differing accounts on Samabaj's discovery. The account in Arqueología Subacuática  says that it was discovered in 1996 by Robert Samayoa Asmus.

In 1994, he had found an artifact (a vessel) and decided to see what all he could find -- he came to think that there had been a community that was now under the lake. Two years later, he found the site. Four years later, he got the site registered as an archaeological site.

Name Origin
Samayoa is the creator of the site's current name: Samabaj is a mix of Samayoa and "abaj" -- "stone" in more than one Mayan language.

History
Samabaj dates to the Preclassic Period. Specifically, items from the site date to around about 300 BC to 300 AD. This makes them date to around the Late Preclassic.

It's possible that Samabaj was an important Preclassic Period community for the basin that the lake is located in. Based off of artifacts found (including the remains of people's houses,) the site was not only a place where people lived, but was also a place for religious pilgrimage. It may have been important during the time when another site, Semetabaj (which had enjoyed power for a time) was no longer a living community.

Samabaj's life as a community ended around the time the Preclassic Period was ending/when the Classic Period was beginning. That is, around 300 AD, the lake rose over the the land that Samabaj was built on -- a natural disaster may have been what made the water rise. (One possibility is a volcano erupting.)

Where did the people go? It's possible they went to another site: Chuk'muk. Around the time the Classic Period began, Chuk'muk got bigger -- and it may be because the Maya of Samabaj moved there. (Speaking of Chuk'muk: interestingly, in this period it became an important community in the basin that Lake Atitlan is in.)

References: 
UNESCO: "Underwater archaeology: UNESCO to explore Lake Atitlán and compile register of best practices"; 02 June 2017

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

Google Books: "Maya Pilgrimage to Ritual Landscapes: Insights from Archaeology, History, and Ethnography; Joel W. Palka; 2014

Google Books: "Arqueología Subacuática:  Amatitlán, Atitlán"; Guillermo Maya Amado, Sonia Medrano; 2011

Asociación Tikal: "Procesos Culturales y Patrones de Interacción en la Cuenca del Lago de Atitlán: 500 BC a 1,000 AD"; Tomás Barrientos, Marion Popenoe de Hatch, Carlos Alvarado; 2011

Universidad Francisco Marroquín: New Media: "Samabaj: un sitio sumergido en el Lago de Atitlán"; 24 September 2009

"Reuters": "Divers probe Mayan ruins submerged in Guatemala lake"; Sarah Grainger; October 30, 2009

Image Credit:
CIA: The World Factbook: Guatemala
(The 1st and the 13th photo in the gallery.)

Caves

Caves were special places to the ancient Maya. The Maya connected caves with a number of things, including the underworld, mountains, water, and corn -- which the Maya thought the creator gods had taken from a mountain to make people. Caves were also also places for burial and for holding rituals. Some of the more famous caves that the ancient Maya used are Naj Tunich and Actun Tunichil Muknal (Cave of the Crystal Sepulcher.)

The Mayan Name for Cave

It's thought that the ancient Mayan name for cave is either ch'en or ch'een, though people studying ancient Mayan writing are still making sure – and you may also find ch'é'en. (To keep things simple, this post will just use ch'een.) This word doesn't just mean cave though. It means a lot of other things too -- well, rock shelter, cenote, canyon, hole, and spring, for example.

The word also seems to somehow be connected to the idea of location or community. One view on this can be seen in Tikal: Paleoecology of an Ancient Maya City. This view says ch'een’s meanings include "city center" and “water cave.”

Added Features

The ancient Maya often changed the caves they used. One thing they would do is paint images of animals as well as people in the caves. Another thing they would do is carve things like heads, skulls, footprints and geometric shapes into the cave. They would also build things in them like tombs, stairways, platforms, and shrines.

Functions

In the ancient Maya view of the way the world worked, caves had a lot of different functions. I've separated the functions I've come across below.

Source of Water, Rain, Corn, and Clouds

The Maya thought that water, clouds and rain, came from caves. (The idea of clouds from caves isn’t so strange as it may seem -- the Maya area has tropical locations, and it is in tropical locations that clouds can form and come out of caves.) You may also find the view that there was a belief among the ancient Maya that lightning came from caves too.

Place of Sacrifice/Burial

One use the ancient Maya had for caves was as a place to put the dead. And it wasn’t just people who had died naturally. The Maya would also bury people they had killed as sacrifices in caves -- in fact, they would also go to really hard to get to sections of caves to sacrifice people. (The Maya also killed animals in caves as sacrifices.) It may even be the ancient Maya had caves for burying the bodies of their sacrifices as well as caves for burying people who had died but hadn't been sacrifices.

Source of Formations

The Maya used cave formations in rituals and not just in caves. There was a practice where a tall stalactite or stalagmite would be taken from where it formed and set up somewhere else. The stalagmite or stalactite could be set up inside the cave it formed in, just in a different spot – or was taken outside to be set up somewhere else.

Supernatural Doorway

The Maya thought that caves were connected with the Underworld. There are different views on how exactly the Maya thought the two were connected. One view says they thought caves were doorways that connected the human world to the underworld.  (There's also a view that the ancient Maya thought caves were parts of the underworld, not just doorways to it.) They thought that gods from the underworld sent things out through caves. (There's also a different view that caves were ways to talk to creator grandparent gods – and that these gods were believed to control the sea. Yet another view says that the ancient Maya thought that more than one rain god lived in caves.) The Maya would give the gods of the underworld offerings in these caves. 

Possible Use: Period Ending Rituals

One specific ways the ancient Maya may have used caves as places to have ritual celebrations – archaeologists have found evidence that these ritual celebrations were celebrating other rituals for “period ending.” (Period ending rituals were rituals for when a certain period of time had become complete, like a b'akt'un – a period of 144,000 days.)

Consideration: Diphrastic Kennings

The ancient Maya had special phrases that you may see called diphrastic kennings. These were pairs of words that sounded close to each other – but meant two different things -- that when put together were a way of saying an idea.

For example, one diphrastic kenning that had ch’een in it was chan ch’een. This translates as “sky cave” but means "world" or "universe." That is, all of reality. (There’s a view that says it’s possible that when the ancient Maya wrote ch’een, they were just using a short form of the diphrastic phrases that had ch’een in it.)

References:

Mesoweb: "The PARI Journal" Volume 17 Issue 4: "A Carved Speleothem Monument at Yaxchilan, Mexico"; Christophe Helmke; 2017

YouTube: "How caves showed me the connection between darkness and imagination | Holley Moyes | TEDxVienna"; TEDx Talks; November 22, 2016

Google Books: "Tikal: Paleoecology of an Ancient Maya City"; David L. Lentz, Nicholas P. Dunning, Vernon L. Scarborough (editors); 2015

Google Books: "Maya Pilgrimage to Ritual Landscapes: Insights from Archaeology, History, and Ethnography"; Joel. W. Palka; 2014

Google Books: "Sacred Darkness: A Global Perspective on the Ritual Use of Caves"; Holley Moyes (editor); 2012

Western Oregon University: "From Out of the Earth: Water, Maize and Caves in Ancient Maya Myth and Religion"; Clara Scillian Kennedy; June 13, 2011

University of Central Florida: STARS: "New Perspectives On The Quatrefoil In Classic Maya Iconography The Center And The Portal"; Rachel K. Egan; 2011

Google Books: "Exploring Maya Ritual Caves: Dark Secrets from the Maya Underworld"; Stanislav Chládek; 2011

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

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

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

UC Merced: Holley Moyes: Belize Cave Project

The Ocellated Turkey

Author's note: This post was last updated on 10/03/19

 Photo by George Harrison, published by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Related to -- but very different from -- the turkey you might know, ocellated turkeys are some very eye-catching birds, as you can see from the photo above. They live in north Belize, Guatemala (in the Petén region,) and the Mexican states of Quintana Roo, Yucatán, and Campeche (though people have seen them in east Tabasco and northeast Chiapas too.) The ancient Maya thought this bird had supernatural power.

Names

"Kutz" in glyphs. Free-hand drawn
image by me using FAMSI's
copy of the Madrid Codex and the 2016
reference below as guides.

When looking for their scientific name, you will find the bird has two: Meleagris ocellata and Agriocharis ocellata. The second name, Agriocharis ocellata, was the first name the ocellated turkeys were given and is not used for them anymore.

One name for the ocellated turkey that the ancient Maya may have had in the Classic Period -- in the southern lowlands -- is ak'ach. This word has been figured to mean "turkey hen" but there's a theory that it might have been used for male and female ocellated turkeys.

Another word, which so far has been seen only in Postclassic writings -- the Dresden Codex and the Madrid Codex -- is kutz. This word may have been a word used in areas where the Yucatec Mayan language was at.

Features
Female ocellated turkeys grow to be around 6.6 to 8.8 pounds, while the males grow to be 8.8 to 11 pounds.  The birds have bright, light blue necks and heads, and have red-orange eye-lids. On top of each bird's head is an extension called a crown. On their heads and necks are nodules or caruncles that come in yellow, orange, red, red-orange or even somewhat blue. (Caruncles tend to be lighter in color the higher up they are.) Both genders of bird also have red or red-pink legs (I've seen both stated), the males' including spurs. Then, of course, there's the feathers.

Ocellated turkeys's feathers are iridescent. (Females' iridescent feathers are not as strongly brilliant as males'.) As for the coloring of feathers with iridescence, Specific descriptions of the iridescent colors differ a bit. Here's a list of iridescent colors from the Cornell Lab of Orinthology's website Neotropical Birds: bronze, gold, black, blue, and green. (Another section of the site does not include black, though.)

At the tail feathers' ends are blue spots with a black ring around them. This is the "ocellated" part of the name "ocellated turkey". The spots are supposed to look like eyes and are called ocelli, a word that comes from "oculus," Latin for "eye."


Function and Sourcing
Like other animals like snakes and jaguars, based of of their observations, the ancient Maya thought that ocellated turkeys were birds that had power. They used the ocellated turkey in their religion.

Drawings from "Animal Figures in the Maya Codices" of ocellated
turkeys. When compared to 93a and 91a of the Madrid Codex, they
look like good copies.

How did the Maya get their ocellated turkeys for their religious practices? A known way was to catch them -- the Madrid Codex has two images (page 91a and page 93a) that show them being caught using snares as well as baskets. 

It's possible that the ancient Maya had a practice of catching and raising ocellated turkeys. (There's a theory that there were Maya at the site of Mayapán who had flocks of them!) However, the birds don't like being kept and won't start families if they are.

Consideration: A Wahy?
In the Classic Period, it looks like the ancient Maya may have seen the ocellated turkey as a sort of wahy. (Wahys are spirits that, depending on the type, were either mascots or protectors of dynasties or were a weapon. (On a related note, Postclassic images that include ocellated turkeys seem to see them as more good beings.)

References
Google Books: "Wildlife Ecology and Management in Mexico"; Raul Valdez, J. Alfonso Ortega-S.; 2019

Mesoweb: "The Pari Jounral" Volume 16, Issue 4: "The Ocellated Turkey in Maya Thought"; Ana Luisa Izquierdo y de la Cueva, Maria Elena Vega Villalobos; Spring 2016

Five College Compass: Digital Collections: "Birds and Environmental Change in the Maya Area"; Peter Stuart; May 2015

Google Books: The Archaeology of Mesoamerican Animals"; Christopher M. Götz, Kitty F. Emery (editor); 2013

Mesoweb: "Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs: Workshop Handbook"; Harri Kettunen, Christophe Helmke; 2008

Google Books: "The Turkey: An American Story"; Andrew F. Smith; 2006

Cornell University: Neotropical Birds: Ocellated Turkey Meleagris ocellata: Appearance

Cornell University: Neotropical Birds: Ocellated Turkey Meleagris ocellata: Distribution

ITIS Standard Report Page: Meleagris ocellata

The Free Dictionary: Ocelli

Image Credit:
US Fish and Wildlife Service National Digital Library: search result: Occelated Turkey
(Tip: I had a bit of difficulty using this site, as the links to picture's personal pages wouldn't load everything and the download button wasn't working. What worked for me is to save the image to favorites (you don't need to sign up,) then go to favorites and pick your preferred download option. Both worked for me. However, when I tried again later, the site wasn't working. You might have to experiment yourself.)

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

The Jester God

A piece of stone ("jadeite/omphacite, iron ore") worked to look like the Jester
God's bird form. It dates to the 600s AD to 700s AD and comes from either
Mexico or Guatemala.  Image from the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, and cropped by Glas Ysgrifen -- me.

"The Jester God" is a nickname created by the well-known Maya expert Linda Schele in the '70s for a figure in ancient Maya art whose headdress looks like a jester's hat. From a symbol worn as a jewel to a supernatural being of various things – to both of these possibilities -- there are all kinds of views on what the ancient Maya thought of the Jester God. This article will touch on the three forms as well as some of the views on it.

Forms

This image shows a jade pendant from Guatemala or Mexico
that dates to 200 AD to 600 AD. The top of the man's head has
 what the image's description calls a "beaded tassel" which it
says relates to the Jester God. From the Yale University
Art Gallery.

The Jester God is known for being drawn in three ways, known as forms. These forms are the fish or piscine form, the bird or avian form, and the maize or anthropomorphic form. The ancient Maya didn't always keep these forms separate when they drew them -- there was a practice of mixing the forms in different ways. (However, not everyone thinks these are three forms of the same being. Instead, some think these are three beings that are separate from each other.)

Anthropomorphic Form

Though spoken of as one, the maize/anthropomorphic form is actually two forms. The book Maya Imagery, Architecture, and Activity describes the one as like a corn kernel made a bit human. It also says other is a whole ear of corn that has been made somewhat human -- and unlike the other version, it has a more "human" looking face.

The Name of Paper also says there are two types of the anthropomorphic form. However, it says that the plant is a flower blossom – maybe a corn blossom – and that it doesn’t always have a human face. (It also says that when the Maya did draw it as a face, it was from the side.)

Fish Form

This form looks like a shark that's blooming. It has spiral pupils, which the ancient Maya drew for creatures connected to the underworld. Its forehead has two separate sections. This form has large nostrils and a snout that either goes upwards or is straight out. The Maya also drew it with "face fins" --  though you may see them called gills -- which you'll find either on the form's chin or not far from its cheek. Another notable feature was its teeth, which like its nose the Maya had two ways of drawing: one was to draw just one triangle-shaped tooth and the other was to draw serrated teeth. As for its tail, the Maya (when they drew it just as itself, without adding in other forms) drew it so that it was over the form's head.

The Name of Paper, which as mentioned above says the forms are separate beings, calls the fish form the Xoc Adornment.

Bird Form

This form tends to have square-ish eyes and square-ish pupils. Its nose is a “beak-snout” that has big nostrils. Like the fish form, the bird form's teeth too are also a notable feature and could be several shapes: one of the shape's the bird forms could be was similar to fangs. The Maya also would draw a mirror on this form’s forehead that fits she shape of the forehead. There's a theory that this form was, in its unique way, a fig tree. The Name of Paper describes this form as the "true" form of the Jester God.

Function

Different people have different ideas about what the Jester God was to the ancient Maya. You may see sources say that it was a living version of the world tree -- which also meant it was connected to the idea of "center," rulers, jade, and corn. You may also find descriptions that say it was the essence of paper items used for rituals -- that it was a living version of these things.

A view within the idea that the Jester God was a symbol (you may see it described as a symbol that was animate -- held life) of rulership says that Maya rulers wore images of the Jester God's bird form as a jewel on their heads in various ways, including on headbands -- and a ruler could wear more than one Jester God. 

There's also an outlook within the idea of the Jester God being connected to rulers that says paper headbands -- called sak hu’un, white paper -- with the Jester God's bird form on it were part of a ruler becoming a ruler officially. One theory I saw said sak hu'un were used for when a ruler got their ruler's name, and another said that they were used to make a ruler divine.

In the view that the Jester God was worn as a jewel by rulers, you will also find it said that it was very common to carve Jester God jewels out of green-colored stones they valued, such as jade. On a related note, the Maya would draw a Jester God jewel (using any one of the three forms) as part of the ancient Maya glyph for ruler, ajaw. They drew the jewel on the forehead of the face that also made up part of the glyph. (However, The Name of Paper questions the accuracy of saying Jester God jewels are the bird form and instead thinks they look more like the fish form -- which it calls the Xoc Adornment.)

This clay figurine's left cheek has a symbol on it
that its description says is connected to the Jester God.
It dates to between 600 AD and 900 AD and comes from
Mexico. From the Yale University Art Gallery.

The Maya had a practice where they would label items they'd drawn with glyphs. This included when they drew something that was paper: there are times when the ancient Maya drew the Jester God's bird form as part of items that are made of paper, such as codices. (And perhaps may be why it was drawn on the paper headbands of rulers.)

Speaking of paper, the ancient Maya also used the bird form in their glyphic writing. The bird form's head was used as a "head variant" glyph or as the main part of a head variant glyph – I have seen both descriptions. Either way, the ancient Mayan word this particular head variant glyph is huun or hu’n, depending on the conclusion of the person reconstructing the pronunciation -- I will be using huun.) Huun means a world of related things, including "paper,” “fig tree” (amate,) "book," and "headband."

Consideration: The Principal Bird Deity

Drawings of the Jester God made in the Classic Period have the same face as a supernatural being archaeologists call the Principal Bird Deity. In fact, it looks like these two a connection -- one idea is that the Jester God’s bird form came from the Principal Bird Deity.

Another Consideration: "Ux Yop Huun"

In various places, archaeologists have found a phrase: "ux yop huun." (You may see this phrase written as "ux yop hu'n.") One translation of the phrase is "Three Leaf Paper." The head of the Jester God's bird form  either is or is the "main part" of a head variant glyph for the huun part of the phrase. There's a theory that this might be the bird form's name -- depending on the source, you may read that it may have been or actually was the name for all three forms.

Ux yop huun may also be a name for a Juun Ajaw, whose name means One Lord. Juun Ajaw is one of the Hero Twins (also known as the Headband Twins.) If you have read or read about the Popol Vuh will have heard of that book's version of Juun Ajaw: Hunahpu/Jun Aj Puuh/Jun Ajpu. Jun Ajaw is known for shooting a giant bird with his blowgun. The Maya also liked to draw him with a paper headband.

References:

University of Calgary: "A Study of Dress and Identity in the Late Classic Maya Court"; Cara Grace Tremain;August 2017 (This will download when clicked.)

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

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

Leiden University: "Personhood in MayaArt: A Theorhetical Perspective"; Laura Ann Osorio; March 3, 2015

Google Books: "Maya Imagery, Architecture, an Activity:Space and Spatial Analysis in Art History"; Maline D. Werness-Rude, Kaylee R. Spencer (editors); 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"; PennySteinbach; May 2015 (Click on the PDF icon for it to download.)

Mesoweb: Maya Archaeology Articles: Maya Archaeology 2: "The Name of Paper: The Mythology of Crowning and Royal Nomenclature on Palenque's Palace Tablet"; David Stuart; 2012

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

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Deity Face Pendant

Yale University Art Gallery: Warrior with Facial Decoration

Yale University Art Gallery: Pendant in the Shape of a Standing Ruler or Lord

Image Credit:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Deity Face Pendant

Yale University Art Gallery: Pendant in the Shape of a Standing Ruler or Lord

Yale University Art Gallery: Warrior with Facial Decoration