The historical Maya were of fair height and sturdy, qualities which
appear also upon the monuments. A peculiar appearance was given to
the head by the practice of cranial deformation which prevailed from
the earliest times. Boards were applied to the heads of infants so
that the forehead and occiput were flattened, and the crown assumed
in profile a “sugar-loaf” aspect. Individuals exhibiting this form
of distortion in a marked degree are shown in Figs. 49, 61, 82, and
Pls. XXII and XXIV, pp. 294 and 310. Cranial deformation is relatively
common in America, and the practice extended northwards along the
west coast, and southwards into Peru, but the Maya were peculiar in
considering a squint a mark of beauty. Landa states that the Yucatec
mothers were accustomed to suspend some small object from the forelock
of a child in order to produce the desired result. We have seen that
tooth-chipping was characteristic of the Huaxtec, Totonac and Mixtec
in Mexico, and that the Huaxtec and Mixtec were also accustomed to
ornament the teeth further by means of inlay. Both these practices
were widespread among the Maya. Allusion has already been made to the
chipped teeth which appear as attributes of the sun-god (see Fig. 72;
p. 316, and the cover-design), and it may now be mentioned that teeth
mutilated in exactly the same fashion have been found in burials at
Copan, in the Uloa valley, and in caves at Loltun. Teeth inlaid with
small circular plugs of jadeite have also been found at the first of
these sites. Tooth-filing was also practised by the later Yucatec,
by rubbing with a stone dipped in water. The ears and nose were pierced
and ornaments worn in the apertures. Plugs with long pendants were
carried in the ears, and the monuments and manuscripts show figures
with the lobes considerably lengthened by the weight of the ornaments
inserted in them (e.g. Pl. XXII; p. 294). In the nose a bar was worn,
of the same pattern as is occasionally seen in Totonac pottery (Pl.
XVIII, 5; p. 194). Sometimes the bar terminated each end in a long tuft
of feathers, as among the Huaxtec, and ornaments of this description
are common on the stelæ at Menché. The peculiar curved nose-ornament
associated with the sun-god has already been mentioned. As a rule the
ears of the men were much scarified from ceremonial blood-letting.
[Illustration:
_PLATE XXII_
_British Museum_
MAYA
STONE LINTEL FROM MENCHÉ, CHIAPAS
(Scale: ⅛th)]
Paint was much used as a body-decoration by the historical Yucatec, red
being the favourite colour for women and married men; bachelors usually
painted themselves black. Pottery stamps are among the remains commonly
found throughout the Maya region, and no doubt some of these were used
to impress designs upon the body as in Mexico. Tatu was also practised,
and Landa states that the more ornamented a man was in this way, the
more respect he won from his associates. The decoration was usually
applied at marriage, the design being first painted on and then pricked
in. Women also covered the body with tatu from the waist upwards,
with the exception of the breasts. Probably the custom was of long
standing, since ornament simulating tatu is often seen on the faces of
the figures on the monuments. The Yucatec were fond of perfumes, and
the women were in the habit of rubbing the body with a pottery brick
impregnated with a sweet-smelling gum.
[Illustration:
FIG. 61.--Man in ceremonial costume, from a stone
relief in the Temple of the Cross, Palenque.
(_After Maudslay_)]
The men of Yucatan at any rate wore no hair on their faces in Spanish
times, and it is said that mothers scorched the faces of their
children with hot cloths in the belief that its growth was thereby
prevented. However, pottery fragments from Alta Vera Paz occasionally
show faces with a heavy moustache, and certain of the gods appear on
the manuscripts with beards. Bearded figures also occur on vases and
among the sculptures, notably at Quirigua. The hair was usually worn
long, and the priests in Guatemala had great difficulty in persuading
their converts to cut it. In Yucatan a patch was burnt short on the top
of the head, the rest of the hair being plaited and wound round the
head with the exception of a small tail behind. The women wore it in
two long plaits down the back. Head-ornaments existed in great variety
and were extremely elaborate among the men; brilliant feathers were
used in great profusion, and masks of animals or gods were frequently
added, if we may accept the evidence of the sculptures. Clothing itself
was made from textiles, and was usually assumed about the age of five
or six, children under that age going nude. The principal garment
worn by men was a girdle of about a hand’s breath, the ends falling
down before and behind (e.g. Figs. 61 and 82; pp. 297 and 344). These
ends were ornamented by the women with embroidery or feather-work,
and in the monuments they are shown furnished with the most elaborate
designs, of which the most frequent is a grotesque face, often highly
conventionalized, with long nose-ornaments, probably representing a
water-deity. Wide, square shoulder-mantles were also worn, as well as
sandals of plaited hemp or hide. The sandal-strings, again, were often
highly decorative, and in the monuments the sandal itself is of so
elaborate a nature that it may almost be said to be a shoe (Pl. XXII,
and Fig. 61). The manuscripts seem to show some sort of a leg-covering
also (e.g. Fig. 46, _e_). Women wore a skirt, and often covered
the upper portion of the body with a cloth or a tunic open at the
sides; the breast-cloth was worn at Campeche and Balcalar and tunics
elsewhere in Yucatan at the time of the conquest. It is possible that
the ceremonial dress of the men in early times included a skirt, for
it hardly seems probable that all the skirted figures in the monuments
represent women. Ornaments were worn in great variety, beads of
jadeite and other hard stone were strung as necklaces; masks, also of
stone, were worn as breast ornaments, and shells appeared as fringes
to the edges of garments. But the details of dress and ornaments can
be understood better from the illustrations than from any lengthy
description.
[Illustration: FIG. 62.--A. Turkey in a trap.
B. Hunter with deer.
C. The black god making fire.
D. Deer in a trap.
E. Alligator in a deadfall.
(_Troano-Cortesianus MS._)]
Agriculture was very important among the Maya, as may be judged from
the study of their religion. Maize and cacao constituted the most
important of the crops, but beans, yams and other food-plants were
also grown. Co-operative labour was employed in the preparation of
the fields, for weeding and for sowing, and the burnt weeds were
the only manure. Sowing took place at the commencement of the rainy
season; the sowers were furnished with a bag containing the grain
and a pointed stick with which they made holes in the ground for the
reception of the seed. The right-hand figure in the upper portion of
Fig. 59 is probably engaged in this occupation. The crop was stored
in specially constructed granaries. Maize was set to steep over night
in water mixed with lime, and was then pounded on stones and made up
into cakes, which lasted a long time and were soaked in water before
a meal when they became hard. Various kinds of bread were made,
most of which were eaten hot, as they were indigestible when cold.
Maize-meal was mixed with water to make a beverage, for water was not
usually drunk plain; a drink was also prepared from the roast grain
pounded and mixed with cacao and pepper. Much chocolate, prepared
as described on p. 155, was consumed, and mead was prepared from
honey to which an infusion of a certain root was added. For grinding
maize a flat stone, called in Mexico metatl, was used together with
an elongated stone rubber, circular or square in section, and often
with a marked flattening on the side which was most constantly in
use. At the present day the rubbers used in Mexico and in northern
Guatemala are heavy, and the ends project beyond the edges of the
metatl, so that they can be grasped by the user; in Peten, Alta Vera
Paz and south-eastern Guatemala, they are lighter, and shorter than
the breadth of the metatl. Rubbers of the first type, however, dating
from an early period, have been found in ruins in Alta Vera Paz. Flesh
food was not much eaten on ordinary occasions, but was reserved for
feasts. The Maya were good hunters, and organized communal drives
besides manufacturing various forms of traps, principally springes and
deadfalls (Fig. 62). The deer was the principal quarry, but various
animals were domesticated, including turkeys, geese and bees, and fish
was considered a great delicacy. For fishing, canoes were employed, of
the dug-out variety, and the inhabitants of the lower Usumacinta led
a semi-aquatic life. Between Yucatan and Tabasco is a large lagoon,
with many small islands, teeming with fish and bird-life; here the
navigation is very confusing, but the natives made their way from point
to point by the aid of signs which they placed in the trees. Large
canoes were constructed for use on the sea, propelled by oars and
sails, and one is mentioned as being seen in the neighbourhood of Cape
Cotoche large enough for a crew of forty men. In hunting and fishing,
when practised in common, a portion of the catch was reserved for the
lord and the rest was divided. One principal meal was taken during
the day, about an hour before sunset, and the hands and mouth were
washed afterwards; the women ate apart from the men. Most ceremonial
occasions were marked by a feast, and the Maya were rather given to
debauchery. The nobles frequently gave banquets, and the invited guests
were supposed to be under the obligation of returning the compliment
on some future occasion. Indeed, the debt was considered so binding,
that it became transferred to their heirs in the case of their death.
On such occasions the wine was handed by women, who turned their backs
while the guest drank, and at the end of the festivities each of those
present received a mantle as a gift, together with the cup from which
he had drunk. Invitations to a wedding-feast, or to a banquet held
in commemoration of some ancestor, involved no return invitation.
Tobacco-smoking seems to have been practised, since pipes have been
found in Guatemala, though only one is known to have been discovered
in Honduras. It would seem as if some form of dramatic performance
was occasionally given on festive occasions, since Landa speaks of
“comedians who gave representations with much grace,” but the principal
form of amusement was the dance, of which there were many varieties.
A number of musical instruments are shown in the manuscripts (Fig.
63) and mentioned in the early accounts. These include hollow gongs
of wood, sounded with rubber-headed beaters, which could be heard
over a distance of two leagues, drums of two types, gongs formed of
tortoise-carapaces, beaten with the hand, and rattles and rattle-staves
similar to the Mexican chicauaztli. Wind-instruments comprised
conches, several forms of trumpet, often with bell-mouths formed of
calabashes, bone and reed flutes and whistles. Small bells or rattles
of the “hawk-bell” pattern were often worn as ornaments.
[Illustration: FIG. 63.--Priests with musical
instruments.
(_Dresden MS._) (_After Seler_)]
As regards games, beans were thrown as dice, but the most interesting
amusement was the ball-game, called tlaxtli by the Mexicans, and played
in the same manner. In the Popol Vuh the outfit of the ball-player,
which the rat discovers for Hunahpu and Xbalanque, is said to consist
of “hip-shields, rings, gauntlets, crowns and helmets.” By far the
finest example of a tlaxtli-court known is at Chichen Itza, and the
semi-religious nature of the game is illustrated by the fact that a
temple is attached to it. Before a court could be used it was formally
consecrated; at midnight, on a lucky day, two idols, one of the game,
the other of the ball, were set up on the lower walls of the court,
and certain ceremonies took place, including the blessing of the court
itself. Finally the ball was thrown four times as in the game, and the
court was then considered consecrated and could be used by the players.
The game was played for stakes, such as a bundle of cotton cloths, gold
ornaments, or feathers, and a peculiar rule existed in accordance with
which the player who was fortunate enough to send the ball through
the ring, a feat which was but rarely performed, could claim all the
cloaks of the spectators. Now it is an interesting fact that remains
of tlaxtli-courts are not found elsewhere in the Maya country except
at Chacula and Alta Vera Paz in the west of Guatemala, where they are
exactly similar to those in the Zapotec region at Quiengola. Moreover,
the ball-court at Chichen Itza belongs to the later buildings, since
the temples attached to it are ornamented in Toltec style, the figures
do not exhibit head-deformation, and the reliefs include glyphs of a
non-Maya character. I think it is fair to assume that the game was not
played by the builders of the earlier monuments, but was introduced in
later times from Mexico. I believe that the Popol Vuh gives a hint of
its introduction. It will be remembered that the heroes Hun Hunahpu
and Vukub Hunahpu give offence to the people of Xibalba by playing the
game. “Their game is an insult to us,” are the words used, and they
are forthwith challenged to a contest. But before they are allowed
to engage in competition, they are submitted to a number of tests, a
fact which seems to indicate that they were called upon to prove their
acquaintance with certain mysteries peculiar to the tribe. Failing in
these, they are put to death without being permitted to engage in the
game. The idea that certain games are the property of certain tribes is
not unfamiliar to students of ethnography, especially in the case of
games which possess the ceremonial significance which is so noticeable
a feature of tlaxtli. The tests therefore which the lords of Xibalba
impose upon the heroes have the object of discovering whether the
latter possess the right to play the game which they claim, and it will
be remembered that the victory of Hunahpu and Xbalanque is in a sense
regarded as the capture of the tlaxtli-game, since they pronounce
sentence upon the defeated Xibalbans in the words “Your ball shall
not roll again in the ball-game.” Now Xibalba is evidently regarded
as an underworld, but the author of the Popol Vuh goes out of his way
to explain that the inhabitants are not gods. That being so, one’s
thoughts are immediately directed to the Mixtec or Zapotec country as
the site of Xibalba, since in this region alone certain localities were
definitely pointed out as the openings of the underworld. On the whole
I think the evidence suggests that the game found its way into the
Maya region after the abandonment of the earlier Maya cities, and as a
result of the migrations which the fall of Tulan set on foot. Further,
that it reached the Maya by two channels (and perhaps at different
times), i.e. Yucatan _via_ Vera Cruz and Tabasco, and north-west
Guatemala by way of Oaxaca. The presence of ruins strongly resembling
tlaxtli-courts in the Huaxtec territory is, I believe, due to later
influence emanating from the Mexican valley. Besides the presence of
the court at Chichen Itza, further evidence of the presence of the game
in the east is found in the Kakchiquel legends, where a related people
living far to the east, and almost certainly to be identified with the
Olmec, are called the “Ball-play and fish people.”
[Illustration:
_PLATE XXIII_
_By permission of the Peabody Museum_
MAYA
STELA 24; NARANJO, GUATEMALA]
As regards habitations, no doubt the early inhabitants of the Maya
country lived, for the most part, in huts constructed of perishable
materials, and reserved the more permanent buildings for the service
of the gods and the use of the tribal chiefs. So close a similarity
does the present-day native house of Yucatan bear to the typical form
of Maya room as exemplified in the ruins, that it seems probable
that the early habitations did not differ essentially from those of
later times. The Yucatec house is a rectangular structure of wood and
leaves, with a gabled roof supported by a ridge-pole; it is usually
constructed on a raised foundation, which renders it considerably
cooler than if built upon the ground level, and the floor is mortared.
Like the early structures, it contains no windows. Landa describes the
houses of Yucatan in much the same terms, stating that the building
was divided by a longitudinal wall, pierced with doorways giving
access to small rooms used as sleeping apartments. The front was open,
and constituted the living and reception room, and in the houses of
chiefs, the walls, which were plastered, were ornamented with frescoes.
A certain amount of building in stone was carried on right up to the
conquest, though the buildings erected do not seem to have been either
as important or as ornamental as those of earlier date. Diaz mentions
stone-built habitations in Yucatan, and waxes enthusiastic over the
towns of Chiapas, which were of no great importance, a fact which goes
far to prove that the great sites such as Palenque were never visited
by the conquerors, and must have been even then deserted. The Quiché
and Kakchiquel were good builders in stone and lime, and an early and
somewhat high-flown description exists of their chief towns, Utatlan
and Iximché, though the ruins in that locality show clearly that the
chronicler’s imagination has completely run away with him. But on the
whole it may be concluded that the Maya, like the Mexicans, dedicated
their architectural masterpieces to the purposes of religion, and
lived for the most part in dwellings of a more temporary nature. The
population seems to have moved about a great deal, probably around the
religious centres distinguished by the more extensive ruins, and the
construction of elaborate dwellings would have been rather a waste of
time.
[Illustration: FIG. 64.--Objects of flaked stone;
British Honduras.
(_British Museum_)]
[Illustration: FIG. 65.--Stone mask from Benque
Viejo, British Honduras.]
Like the Mexicans, the Maya were living at the discovery practically
in an age of stone. Copper and gold they knew, but the former was
rare, and gold ornaments have not been found in great numbers in the
country. The elaborate monuments, such as are described in the next
chapter, must have been worked almost entirely with stone implements,
though copper chisels, hardened at the edge by hammering, may have
been used to a limited extent; indeed blocks of stone have been found
bearing marks which could hardly have been made except by a metal tool.
Stone, including jadeite, and obsidian must have furnished by far the
larger proportion of the implements used by masons and carvers, and the
latter was imported into Yucatan from the volcanic districts. Examples
of stone-flaking are not very common in the Maya area, but little
excavation has been carried out. It must have been widely practised,
since the glyph representing a knife, and the spear-heads as shown
on the reliefs, both exhibit marks indicating flaking. Objects of
flaked stone, of a very interesting class, are found in some numbers
in British Honduras; these include obsidian arrow-heads of extremely
graceful design, and a large number of what may be ornaments or
ceremonial objects made from a kind of chert and exhibiting great
variety of type. A few of these are shown in Fig. 64, but it should
be mentioned that human and animal forms are also found. Objects of
exactly similar type have been found at Naranjo in Guatemala. Maya
stone-carving is considerably more elaborate than Mexican, and their
art stands on a higher plane. It is true that much of it is in fairly
soft material, but the remains of certain sites, notably Quirigua,
prove that the Maya mason could handle large masses of hard stone with
almost equal facility. Still many of the large Mexican carvings are
in much harder material than any in the Maya area. Smaller works of
stone art consist for the most part of jadeite beads and pendants,
carved in relief (Pl. XI, 1 and 2; p. 140), and stone masks, furnished
with holes for suspension and probably worn as breast-ornaments, (as
shown in Pl. XXII; p. 294). A fine stone mask discovered in a cist near
Benque Viejo, in British Honduras, is illustrated in Fig. 65, and is
interesting as showing the connection which this region evinces with
the Totonac country, a specimen almost identical having been discovered
in Vera Cruz. Unfortunately no early author has left an account of
Maya arts and crafts as Sahagun has of Mexican, but it may safely be
conjectured that the methods of the two peoples were similar.
[Illustration: FIG. 66.--Women weaving.
(_Troano-Cortesianus MS._)]
Maya carving is seen at its best when applied to wood, but owing to
the perishable nature of the material few examples have survived.
Nearly all of these are from Tikal, and consist of lintels on which
designs are sculptured in low and beautifully modelled relief (Fig.
48; p. 225). The fact that practically no idols have been discovered
seems to indicate that they were carved in wood and so have failed to
survive, and indeed Landa states that amongst the historical Yucatec
the most venerated idols were wooden. The relation which the reliefs,
especially those of the northern Maya region, as at Palenque, bear to
wood-carvings is evident, and no doubt proficiency in wood-carving
antedated skill in sculpture.
Of weaving and embroidery nothing is known, save that the historical
Yucatec were experts in the art. However, the dresses of the figures
sculptured on the monuments prove that the early Maya had attained
great proficiency in the textile arts. Garments heavy with embroidery,
and with elaborate inwoven designs, are sculptured with great care,
and a fine example is shown on Pl. XXII; p. 294. The loom used must
have been of the same type as that found throughout Mexico and Central
America in historical times (Fig. 66; compare Fig. 27, _b_; p.
148).
The subject of Maya pottery, though extremely interesting, has not
yet been studied sufficiently to yield any very important results,
as far as indicating the direction in which the culture spread.
It is complicated moreover by the fact that there was evidently a
considerable trade in pottery in early times, and the ware of a good
factory spread far and wide over a large area. Besides this the
available material has not yet been fully classified, and much more
excavation must be performed before really representative collections,
illustrative of the various districts, can be brought together. Seler
has attempted to trace to some extent the wanderings of pottery from
certain centres of manufacture; he calls attention to the finding in
Guatemala of ware of Tarascan type; and concludes that the ware of
Huehuetenango and Chiquimula spread over the whole of south-western
Guatemala and south-eastern Chiapas, while that of Jilotepec in the
Guatemalan province of Jalapa was carried to south-eastern Guatemala
and western San Salvador. The Maya had carried the fictile art to a
high degree of development, though they never obtained such a mastery
over their material as the coastal tribes of Peru. Naturally the
quality of the ware varies considerably according to the use for which
the vessel was intended, but the paste in the best specimens is hard,
well mixed and fired, and varies in colour from a bright terra-cotta to
pale cream, though the majority of fragments are of a reddish tinge;
black pottery is rare. Some of the Guatemalan vases are moulded from
a clay containing a large percentage of mica, and these are usually
softer than the better-class ware; while certain vessels from the Peten
district are composed of a very coarse grey clay containing small
pebbles. The latter have not been fired at a high temperature and are
very soft. Another form of coarse, soft and brittle ware is found in
British Honduras, chiefly in the form of small figurines probably made
for funerary purposes (Pl. IX, 7–11; p. 82).
The shapes in which the pots were moulded exhibit great variety, and
most of the types characteristic of Sacrificios are found scattered
over the whole area, though they are more common in Guatemala than in
Yucatan and Honduras. In particular a very close connection appears to
exist between Sacrificios pottery and the ware of the Alta Vera Paz
region. The similarity is not confined to shape, but relates also to
the peculiar slate-coloured earth-glaze (see p. 194), which is found
on many of the vases of this district, and extends westward into the
neighbourhood of Quen Santo in western Guatemala close to the Chiapas
border. Another interesting similarity exists between the spouted vases
of the Huaxtec country and certain pots discovered in British Honduras,
and further south in Honduras. The resemblance which certain forms
of the Uloa valley bear to the regular Huaxtec “teapot” (Fig. 42; p.
196) with its vertical spout is very striking, but the bodies are not
ornamented with painted designs, being either plain or decorated with
faint gadroons.
The shape which is perhaps of widest distribution is the tripod bowl,
the feet of which terminate in grotesque animal heads, like those of
Sacrificios (Pl. XIX; p. 198), or are moulded in cascabel form and
contain a rattle (as Fig. 36, 9; p. 185). The former type appears
rather to be limited to Vera Paz, while the latter has a wider range.
The beaker-form with expanding foot, so common at Sacrificios (e.g. Pl.
XVIII, 10; p. 194), extends through Vera Paz to the Chacula district,
while bowls, invariably with a flat base, and bottle-forms, appear
to be found in greatest numbers in the Uloa valley. The pottery of
the latter district is distinguished by the frequency of loop-handles
attached to the bodies of vases, usually two in number, but sometimes
four, and always disposed symmetrically. Bowls with the peculiar flat
feet characteristic of the Mexican valley (Fig. 36, 3; p. 185), and
the dishes with a single expanding foot (Fig. 36, 8), so common at
Sacrificios, have not yet been found in this area. Characteristic of
the Quiché area are vases of coarse ware in “slipper” form, a type
which is also common in Nicaragua, where it is often used as a funerary
urn.
[Illustration:
_PLATE XXIV_
MAYA
Design on a pottery vase found at Nebaj, Guatamala.
(Fleischman Collection)]
Vases painted in the early Maya style are unhappily very rare, though
two magnificent vases have been discovered, one at Chama and the other
at Nebaj. The design on the latter I am enabled to figure (Pl. XXIV;
p. 310) through the kindness of Mr. C. Fleischmann, the possessor. It
is cylindrical in shape, of the best quality red ware, hard, light and
well-fired, and covered with a highly burnished yellow-brown slip on
which the designs are painted in red and yellow with black outlines.
The scene represents a visit paid to a chief by an inferior; the
former is seated on a dais, and wears a head-dress terminating in a
flower from which hangs a fish, a form of ornament also observed on
reliefs at Naranjo, Palenque and Chichen Itza. His visitor is offering
a pouch containing copal, and the rest of the field is filled with
the figures of three attendants, one of which is engaged, apparently,
in pouring some liquid from a vessel over two egg-like objects on a
small table. The treatment of the figures and accompanying glyphs is
particularly free and bold, and the whole scene is an excellent example
of Maya draughtsmanship at its best. Fragments of vases painted in
similar style, though not quite so good, have been found in the same
region, and also in the Uloa valley, though the specimens from the
latter locality exhibit certain peculiarities of drawing which prevent
them from being considered typically Maya (Fig. 67). The use of a
slip-covering to pottery is found throughout the whole area, though it
is by no means constant; the colour is most commonly red or yellow,
though white and brown are also found. Painted decoration is also in
slip, of similar colours, and where figures are represented they are
usually outlined in black (e.g. Pl. XXIV). The funerary pottery of
British Honduras shows a greater variety of hue; in many cases the slip
(white) is so thick as almost to amount to a kind of stucco, and on
this the details are painted in brilliant colours, including a bright
red and a turquoise-blue (Pl. IX, 7–11; p. 82).
[Illustration: FIG. 67.--Bat-design from a vase;
Uloa valley. (_After Gordon_)]
[Illustration: FIG. 68.--Pottery vase from Chama,
Guatemala. (_After Seler_)]
[Illustration: FIG. 69.--Pottery vase from Ococingo,
Chiapas. (_After Seler_)]
Designs are frequently found engraved in slip, and the most interesting
of such vessels come from the Vera Paz district. Beakers with expanding
foot, exactly similar to the specimens from Sacrificios, are found
here, with incised patterns from which, in some cases, the background
has been cut away. Such vases have been found also in the neighbourhood
of Chacula, but the engraved pots most characteristic of Guatemala
belong to the type of which a fine specimen is shown in Fig. 68. Here
the design is cut in a thick white slip, and represents the sky-god
emerging from a shell, probably symbolizing his connection with the
moon. A vase of interesting type and ornamented in somewhat similar
fashion, is illustrated in Fig. 69. This specimen was found at
Ococingo in Chiapas, and is furnished with a cover. Vases found with
covers are rare, but no doubt the covers of many have been lost; three
vessels however with covering plates of black ware have been discovered
at La Cueva near Coban, and with them were found certain vases of a
type unique in this region, representing a human figure of which the
head could be removed and constituted a lid. Pots somewhat similar in
design are known from the lower Amazon in South America. A certain
proportion of the pottery is mould-made, and this method appears to
have been most extensively employed in the Alta Vera Paz area, where
moulds for the manufacture of whole pots have been found. Some of the
mould-made vases are of good quality and shape, and the design often
includes a row of glyphs. Vases of this type have been discovered also
at Copan and in the Uloa valley. From Vera Paz also come plaques with
excellent designs, including figures holding the “ceremonial bar,”
together with the moulds in which they were made. These are in hard
terra-cotta coloured clay, and are not furnished with a slip. Many
details to serve as applied ornament to vases and censers were also
made in moulds (e.g. the sun-face which forms the cover-design), while
a great proportion of the figurines and whistles throughout the Maya
region were similarly constructed.
[Illustration: FIG. 70.--Pottery vase from Coban,
Guatemala.
(_After Seler_)]
[Illustration: FIG. 71.--Pottery censer from Nebaj,
Guatemala.
(_Fleischmann Collection_)]
Relief ornament moulded by hand is common throughout the Maya area, and
in the Vera Paz region vases are frequently found in the shape of birds
and beasts, sometimes with a human face enclosed in the jaws (similar
to Pl. XVIII, 5). The combination of human and animal forms is
characteristic of Yucatan, but interesting specimens of this type have
been found in the Vera Paz region, as well as the plain bird and beast
forms (Fig. 70), though here both types bear a striking similarity to
the Sacrificios vases. An extremely interesting vase, with a human head
moulded in relief, has been found near Coban. This is exactly similar
to certain Zapotec pots, and the head and head-dress are in true
Zapotec style; but the paste is different, and the vase is coated with
the slate-coloured earth-glaze, mentioned above, which has never been
found in the Zapotec area. All indications seem to prove that it was
made locally, and if this is so, it affords a striking instance of the
borrowing of forms and illustrates the danger of basing arguments as to
tribal migration on pottery types alone, though it provides a valuable
hint of cultural contact. It is worthy of remark that the animal forms
seem borrowed from the fauna of the Tierra caliente, a fact which goes
far to indicate that the potters of Alta Vera Paz borrowed from the
Totonac and people of Tabasco and not _vice versa_.
The most elaborate relief decoration, not made in moulds, seems to
have been applied to censers, and the large specimens in cylindrical
form which have been found from the Chacula district to that of Coban,
are particularly bold and vigorous in treatment (Fig. 71). In the case
of vessels of this type much of the ornament appears to have been
applied, but fragments of censers of another pattern, with handles,
and conforming more closely to the type shown in Pl. IX; p. 82, have
been discovered, perhaps more frequently in Vera Paz. These exhibit
considerable artistic and technical skill in their construction; the
handles are hollow, and usually terminate in a grotesque face, the
eyes and mouth of which form apertures connected with the cavity in
the handle. The numerous fragments of figurines of rather coarse
unburnished clay found throughout British Honduras seem in most
cases to have formed part of large vessels, which probably served
as censers (Pl. X, 3; p. 108). Free use was made of applied details
in this district, as can be seen from the illustration on Pl. X, 3;
p. 108. From the Pokomam region come peculiar circular dishes, with
broad flat rims, the vertical walls of which are studded with conical
projections; it is possible that these vessels also, which appear to
be characteristic of the district, were censers. In the Uloa valley
fragments of vases of a peculiar type have been found, distinguished by
lugs in the form of animal heads. Pots of this description are usually
further decorated with painted designs of good quality in yellow,
orange, brown and black (as Fig. 67; p. 311). Pottery figurines,
serving as whistles, with one or more finger-holes, are not uncommon,
especially in the Uloa valley. As said before, the majority appear
to have been made in moulds, but the funerary figurines of British
Honduras (Pl. IX, 7–11; p. 82), also mentioned above, seem to have
been modelled by hand. Large solid hand-modelled heads have also
been found in Vera Paz, and were probably the heads of idols, since
Landa states that the latter were frequently made of clay among the
Maya. A fine specimen, which, to judge from the peculiarly cut teeth,
may be identified with the sun-god, is shown in Fig. 72. Smaller
solid figurines, but mould-made, have been found at Copan, Tikal and
other ruined sites; many of these show traces of paint, including a
turquoise-blue, and the details, though less bold, belong to a higher
type of art and correspond very closely with those of the stelæ.
[Illustration: FIG. 72.--Pottery head of the
sun-god; Nebaj, Guatemala.
(_Fleischmann Collection_)]
An interesting peculiarity of the Vera Paz representations in pottery
of the human face lies in the fact that beards and even moustaches
are not infrequently shown. The former class of adornment can be
paralleled in the ancient stone carvings, but the moustaches on
the latter are rather problematical, and in any case are not nearly
so full as those of the pottery faces of Vera Paz. Another find in
the same district, highly interesting from the point of view of
technique, consists in a number of spherical pottery beads, overlaid
with gold-foil of extreme thinness. The process by which the gold was
applied to the clay constitutes a problem of some difficulty, though
the specimens themselves recall the wooden beads, similarly overlaid,
discovered in the Totonac region (p. 144).
A certain amount of pottery has been discovered in the caves, both in
Yucatan and in the neighbourhood of Copan, which show traces of human
occupation. This pottery is peculiar in the fact that it appears in
no case to bear any definite relation to the other pottery of the
district. The Copan cave-pottery is for the most part in bottle form,
with faint gadroon mouldings or impressed key-patterns; while fragments
from a cave at Loltun, in Yucatan (immediately south of Uxmal), seem to
be in the main of bowls, sometimes with small ring-handles, and usually
with fine incised linear designs. The ware of the latter is black and
thin, and fragments of figurines occur, the technique of which recalls
that of British Honduras.
As stated before, the material is not sufficient to furnish support to
important theories, but the close connection of the Vera Paz pottery
with that of Sacrificios appears obvious, a connection which extends
through to the Chacula region. But too much stress must not be laid
upon this, because many forms and details of ornament connect the Vera
Paz area with the Copan district, notably the engraved, mould-made
and painted pots which bear glyphs. The practice of cutting away the
background extends from the Totonac country, through Vera Paz and
the Chacula district up into Oaxaca, but no trace is found of the
champ-levé work discovered at Sacrificios, Teotihuacan and in the
Tarascan country. The turquoise-blue colour occurring on pots in the
last style is rare in the Maya area, and is limited to the pottery
of British Honduras and certain figurines which seem to bear a close
relation to the early culture to which the ruins belong. The ware of
the Uloa valley, which has been investigated with some care by Gordon,
displays technical qualities which are identical with that of Copan,
but is distinguished by a number of features, principally relating
to ornament, which give it a character of its own. Many features
suggestive of Totonac influence appear in the pottery of British
Honduras, and though the ware is, to speak technically, of inferior
quality, considerable artistic skill is shown in the modelling of
the human face (e.g. Pl. X, 3; p. 108). The attribution of forms,
as given above, to different districts can however only be regarded
as tentative, and will probably have to be modified in the light
of subsequent discoveries. The most pressing need is an accurate
classification of Maya pottery, together with a careful investigation
of the various qualities of paste employed in different districts.
The latter is particularly important, since it would afford far more
valuable evidence regarding centres of pottery manufacture than a
mere study of the forms. Community of form after all only implies
connection, and often merely trade-connection which may be second,
third, or fourth hand; but a careful investigation of the material will
often reveal the actual locality of manufacture, and when this has been
fixed for a number of centres, the main lines of trade and the artistic
influence exerted by one locality upon another can be estimated with
some degree of accuracy.