The Lost Calendar of the Maya: The Return of Kukulkan (The Martin Culver Series Book 3)

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Although it has been attributed to the Aztec or Mixtec Couch The beard and fangs are common traits of the Late Postclassic Maya sun god. In the west wall mural at Santa Rita, one of the severed heads held by the dancing figure is the bearded sun god with prominent fangs see Gann The Late Postclassic Maya sun god. Bearded sun god with lance, Madrid 90d. Diving sun god on wooden handle of sacrificial knife. Redrawn after Couch A turquoise mosaic mask in the collections of Dumbarton Oaks, at- tributed to Chiapas, also portrays the bearded sun god with inlaid jaguar fangs in the corners of the mouth fig.

The mask originally had a beard and brow fashioned from human hair now largely missing. Rendered with stepped frets on the cheeks, this mask is a rare portrayal of the bearded Maya sun god de- picted in the International style. Among the ancient Maya, flowers were closely related to the sun. As noted by Eric Thompson Thompson also mentioned that the Chilam Balam of Chumayel refers to the sun within a flower: Turquoise mosaic mask of probable sun god with beard and jaguar fangs.

The appearance of flowers with the Maya solar sign is entirely consistent with the Flower World complex identified by Hill The Santa Rita murals portray solar cartouches displaying four solar rays with outflaring bases and four jade signs fig. In its most basic form, this motif has four jades and solar rays arranged around a central solar disc fig.

One of the earliest known examples of this International-style form may be seen in Late Classic poly- chrome murals from Las Higueras, Veracruz. The floor of the eastern door of the Building of the Paintings features a massive sun sign rimmed with red and green plumes and circular blue disks at the intercardinal points, early versions of the jades placed in the same position in later International-style art fig. Redrawn after Coe The solar sign composed of four rays and jades. Plumed serpent passing through solar disk, Santa Rita.

Solar sign with solar rays separated by probable jade elements, Santa Rita. Head of sun god in solar disk, Codex Huamantla. Late Classic mural of solar disk with rays and probable jade disks, Las Higueras, Veracruz. Note Maya nik elements in interior circle. Figure with solar disk on abdomen, Las Higueras. Detail of solar disk. As in the central sun disk on the floor, circular beads sepa- rate the rays, probably an early version of the jade and solar rays surrounding International-style forms of the sun disk.

In Late Postclassic highland Mexico, solar-related images frequently appear in the interior of fine polychrome bowls that were probably used in feasting events. One example from central Veracruz has the sun rimmed by an outer border exhibiting jade bead assemblages, probable quetzals, pairs of maguey spine bloodletters, and possible spearthrowers, all associated with the realm of the sun fig.

In addition, the four flowers and the rim band are interspersed with very thin, U-shaped elements, or a pair of parallel lines, which in Mixteca-Puebla and Az- tec-style imagery denote solar brilliance fig. The roughly contempora- neous Dresden Codex also portrays images of the sun with four flowers at the intercardinal points to denote the sun in the realm of Flower World figs. A fragmentary bowl from Cholula probably originally displayed an Ear- ly Postclassic version of a central floral element surrounded by four blossoms fig. Although the pointed elements near the rim resemble solar rays, their asymmetrical sides suggest that they are more likely maguey spines, as appear in later Mixteca-Puebla—style art fig.

The other rim element, a flower in profile, closely resembles the Maya Ajaw sign with rudimentary eyes and a mouth fig. A vessel from a royal Zapotec tomb at Zaachila features a hummingbird drinking from a floral bowl with imagery similar to that appearing on the ex- terior rims of many Mixteca-Puebla polychrome bowls—a lower segment- ed portion with, above it, upward-looking heads interspersed with the same thin U-shaped elements commonly found with solar disks fig.

Clearly, the poised bird denotes that the solar bowl is an open flower. For Mixteca-Puebla and Aztec-style polychromes, the rims are usually flowers with open, petaled rims, but more important, such rims vividly display the essential attributes and inhabitants of the floral, solar paradise, which were first described by Hermann Beyer Beyer called attention to jade and solar rays and the exotic coxcox- tli or great curassow Crax rubra , which is native to the Gulf Coast and Maya region, recalling the eastern locale of the quetzal e.

Floral and solar imagery in Postclassic Mesoamerica. Fragmentary bowl with central blossom, Early Postclassic Cholula. Note probable original design of four surrounding blossoms in profile. Redrawn after Lind Late Postclassic central Veracruz bowl with celestial solar and floral motifs. Redrawn after Uriarte Detail of celestial rim band with quetzals, jade, maguey bloodletters, and other elements. Detail of central solar disk with four blossoms and solar rays. Maya solar sign with head of sun god surrounded by four blossoms in profile, Dresden 56a.

Hummingbird poised on rim of bowl symbolizing an open flower. Redrawn after Paddock Floral rims on Mixteca-Puebla—style vessels. Rim as open flower. Rim with petaled band, jade sign, and solar rays. Redrawn after Beyer Petaled rim with flowers, maize, maguey spines, coxcoxtli bird, and probable spearthrowers. Redrawn after Parsons Rim with flowers, solar rays, and jade signs. Rim with solar rays and flowers.

These bowls are portrayed as massive, open blossoms offering views of the solar Flow- er World. They typically have yellow, petaled rims—yellow being the color used for the day sign Flower and blossoms in general in Mixteca-Puebla—style art fig. The widespread motif of quetzal birds and butterflies descending to such vessels identify them as cave-like floral passageways for birds, butter- flies, and other celestial spirit beings fig.

Identical passages in the Borgia and Vaticanus B codices portray Mix- teca-Puebla polychrome bowls placed lip to lip as cache offerings. The Borgia example features five jades and a great maize plant surging from the center of the lid fig. In the Vaticanus B scene fig. Portrayals of bowls as open flowers in Mixteca-Puebla—style art.

Quetzal descending to petaled bowl ornamented with blossom, Borgia 1. Hummingbird sipping flower in bowl, Codex Cospi 2. Quetzal sipping blood from floral bowl, Borgia 3. Butterfly descending to floral bowl, Codex Vaticanus B 4. Fiery butterfly emerging from floral bowl, Borgia 6.

Butterfly head in center of Mixeca-Puebla—style bowl. In the Maya region, this sym- bolism is probably of great antiquity. The interior of an Early Classic cache vessel lid from Caracol portrays the Principal Bird Deity flying, with the opposing basal interior featuring a probable portrayal of the severed, lifeless head of the maize god see Chase and Chase As Chase and Chase Inverted bowls and celestial symbolism in International-style art.

Skyband with petaled edge, Santa Rita. Cache vessels with sprouting maize, Borgia 7. Cache vessels with sprouting plants, Codex Vaticanus B 7. World trees sprouting from inverted bowls, Codex Vaticanus B 17— The quadripartite arrangements seen in many Late Preclassic and Classic Maya cache vessels relate to the basic cosmological meaning of the inverted bowls and world trees such as appear in the Vaticanus B Codex scenes—the di- vision of the four world directions.

As on the Caracol lid, the four Tlalocs denote the celestial realm, here as rain falling on the maize goddess below. Both effigy jars contained vast amounts of carved greenstone. Mixtec portrayals of gods and spirits in celestial floral paradise. Creatures emerging from flowers hanging from skyband.

Note flower held by central figure. Redrawn after Caso Heads attached to blossoms in skyband. Figures emerging from flowers.

When fine Mixteca-Puebla polychrome vessels are inverted, many rims exhibit ex- plicit skybands, with solar rays, jade, flowers, and celestial motifs fig. With its petaled edge and solar rays, the skyband at Santa Rita is very similar to the inverted rims of Mixteca-Puebla—style bowls fig. Along with petaled edging, one bone also exhibits solar rays fig. The heads on the carved bones emerge from or are placed on blossoms as celestial denizens of the solar Flower World. Quetzalcoatl and the Plumed Serpent Among the most striking deities in the Santa Rita murals is an old god holding a feather-crested serpent staff plate 3.

Long ago, Gann In addition, there are other more subtle but perhaps also more significant indica- tions of his identity. A descending male quetzal, identified by his feather crest and long undulating tail, appears in the lower portion of his headdress fig. Classic Maya feather headdresses often feature descending quetzals and other birds, with their tails erect and wings stretched outward to the sides, indicat- ing that the Santa Rita example derived from Classic Maya traditions fig.

The only place for such an item would be the central brow, suggesting that it portrays a descending quetzal with outstretched wings and a vertical tail—essentially the same headdress as the Santa Rita example. The serpent held in the hand of the Santa Rita figure has a forwardly projecting hook at the tip of the snout, denoting a serpent spear- thrower plate 3. A shallow Cholula polychrome bowl portrays an interwoven rattlesnake with a similar hook on its snout see Beyer Because the serpent is atop a prominent dart, it is probably also a symbolic spearthrower.

Ancient Maya portrayals of headdresses as descending birds. Quetzal headdress worn by Quetzalcoatl in the Santa Rita mural. Redrawn after Sharer Woman wearing headdress as a descending quetzal, detail of Late Classic vase. Headdress as descending quetzal, Naranjo Stela 8. Redrawn after Graham and von Euw In Late Postclassic Maya art, plumed serpents commonly display feath- ered crests on their brows fig. Nonetheless, both the lowland Maya and highland Mexican creatures are relat- ed beings, serpentine embodiments of rain-bringing wind who exhale flowers and quetzal plumes as their precious breath.

The convention of plumes emerging from the snouts of plumed serpents identifies their feathered bodies as symbols of breath and wind fig. Plumed serpents in Late Postclassic Maya art. Redrawn after Lothrop Serpent with feather crest, Madrid Balustrade of serpent with feather crest. Redrawn after Gallareta and Taube Redrawn after Trik and Kampen Examples may be seen at Kabah and Sayil fig. Breath signs tip their tails also seen with the Sayil examples. At Hochob, the tail elements are flower and jade signs; feathered serpents with floral tails also appear in the Pyramid of the Plumed Serpents at Xochicalco and in the roughly contemporaneous murals at Cacaxtla.

Classic Maya plumed serpents. With flower on back, Structure 2B1, Sayil. Redrawn after Pollock Atop line of flowers, Structure 2C6, Kabah. With floral tail element, Hochob Structure 2. Redrawn after Gendrop Crested serpent emerging from blossom, detail of Palenque censer. Serpent emerging from blossom, Piedras Negras Stela 2.

Redrawn after Stuart Pair of intertwined serpents with blossoms, detail of Early Classic Tikal vessel. Redrawn after Culbert Serpent with feather crest, detail of Early Classic Tikal vessel. Serpents with feather brows also occur in Early Classic Maya iconography, including vessels from Tikal fig. In one example, abundant blossoms surround an intertwined pair of crested serpents fig.

The water spewing from their mouths is clearly a Teotihuacan-derived convention, although crest- ed serpents are generally absent from Early Classic Teotihuacan iconography. At Teotihuacan, feathered serpents also commonly appear with flowers, as seen at the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, which portrays plumed serpents emerging out of massive blossoms Taube a.

Intertwined serpent bodies in Late Postclassic Maya murals. Intertwined serpents with skyband, Santa Rita. Intertwined serpents with skyband, Rancho Ina. However, the relation of the plumed serpent to flowers is of still greater antiquity. The North Wall mu- ral at San Bartolo, dating to the first century BCE, features human figures atop a great plumed serpent exhaling yellow blossoms with another on its back Sat- urno et al. At San Bartolo, as well as in Classic and Postclassic Meso- american iconography, this being embodies Flower Road, a path or conduit for forces of life and fertility.

This motif also occurs in the Santa Rita and Rancho Ina murals, in which the belly scutes of the serpents are plainly evident fig. At both sites, their bodies extend to explicit skybands, denoting them as celes- tial roads or vehicles. At Santa Rita, the serpent cord connects two deities, the probable Maya wind god and a youthful deity sitting in the maw of a plumed serpent see Gann Portrayed with solar rays and the headband of the central Mexican sun god, the seated figure is probably a Maya depiction of Tonatiuh fig.

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I favor the latter reading, as he probably is the dawning sun appearing with symbolism of the morning star. At Santa Rita, the plumed serpent often appears with solar imagery. The Maya sun god wears a plumed serpent headdress not only in the North Wall mural but also in the West Wall scene, in which he emerges from a solar disk see Gann As an eastern being, the plumed serpent is both the bringer of rain and the vehicle or path for the dawning sun.

Rather than being Xolotl, the statue portrays Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli—that is, Venus as the eastern morning star Coltman After his final mythic journey to the east, Quetzalcoatl was reborn as Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, and plumed serpents are frequently marked with stars to denote the eastern morning star fig. Quetzalcoatl as the Morning Star carried the dawning sun into the sky Mill- er According to Arthur Miller The preeminent weapon of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli is his spearthrower for shooting his deadly rays of light, the same weapon wielded by Quetzalcoatl.

It is therefore highly significant that the Santa Rita plumed serpent supporting Tonatiuh has a vertical dart on its snout, denoting a serpent spearthrower such as appears elsewhere in the mural plate 3; fig. Rather than swallowing the solar figure, the Santa Rita serpent carries him into the sky with the darts of dawn, the shooting rays of the morning star.

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Carved contact period serpent spearthrowers exist as well, including two virtually identical examples featuring a plumed serpent flanked by star signs rising out of a pool in the maw of the earth monster fig. In cosmological terms, this refers to the dawn emergence of Quet- zalcoatl and Venus out of the eastern sea. A much smaller dart-shooting serpent also emerges out of the water, recalling the upwardly facing plumed serpent supporting Tonatiuh at Santa Rita fig. A plumed serpent spearthrower. Wooden spearthrower portraying plumed serpent emerging from pool.

Detail of serpent tail and pool. Detail of small serpent emitting darts. Plumed serpent with dart projecting from snout, detail of Santa Rita mural. Detail of hummingbirds and flowers on back of plumed serpent in part A. His chapfallen and craggy features closely resemble portrayals of witz moun- tains in the Dresden Codex fig. Moreover, the majority of the so-called Chaak masks of Puuc-style buildings have recently been identi- fied as zoomorphic witz heads Boot ; Taube a. Many of these dis- play prominent flowers on their brows, identifying them as Flower Mountain Taube a.

The mural features a pair of intertwined serpents carrying gods on their backs as they rise out of a pool of water. Rath- er than depicting a freshwater cenote, the pool, which contains a marine ray, is almost surely the Caribbean, located less than meters to the east. A zoo- morphic maw encloses the water, immediately recalling the central Mexican pool in the mouth of Tlaltecuhtli fig. As is the case of many witz appearing on Late Classic Puuc structures, the snout is marked with a series of disks fig.

The Santa Rita mural also features a single profile version of the mountain cave maw with very similar teeth and facial markings, including smoke-like vertical scrolls and a petaled band crossing the upturned snout fig. Although largely destroyed, the top of the Santa Rita mountain is marked with remnants of a yellow trefoil flow- er and feather elements, possibly denoting Flower Mountain. The two quet- zals in front of it recall the pair of quetzals commonly appearing in scenes of the floral paradise and Flower Mountain of ancient Mesoamerica Taube a; a: The old man mountain motif.

Heads of old men appearing as witz mountains, Dresden 66b, 34c, 41a. Mountain marked with pair of human heads, Codex Laud The San Bartolo mountain exhales a massive plumed serpent with yel- low flowers on its back and emerging from its snout fig. The serpent is a Flower Road for eight figures conveying a basket of tamales and a water gourd out of Flower Mountain, a scene interpreted as the mythic emergence of maize and humans to the surface of the earth Saturno et al. A Late Classic vessel with two inwardly facing forms of Flower Mountain shows a human couple at a quatrefoil cave in the basal aquatic area see Coe Stephen Houston personal communication, notes that this ves- sel probably depicts the emergence of humans out of the watery underworld, greeted by gods presenting the esoteric arts of writing and ritual.

The mountain cave maw in International-style art. Redrawn after Miller and Pollock Cave maw from Santa Rita mural. Cave maw with band across snout, Codex Laud 3. Ancient Maya portrayals of Flower Mountain. Plumed serpent emerging from Flower Mountain. Detail of drawing by Heather Hurst, after Saturno et al. Serpent with sun emerging out of profile portrayals of Flower Mountain, Takalik Abaj Stela 4; partly reconstructed drawing by Karl Taube; from Saturno et al.

Flower Mountain rising out of pool of water. A great deal of International-style art concerns this realm, with its imagery of skybands, volutes of music, breath and wind, and spirit souls appearing as disembodied heads, butterflies, and precious birds. In highland Mexico, Flower World ap- pears vividly on ceramic vessels used for feasting with the honored dead as well as the living. Much of this symbolism is of great antiquity in Mesoamer- ica; even in Late Preclassic Maya art, ancestors appear as celestial, disembod- ied heads surrounded by swirling clouds e.

It is likely that many conventions appearing in International-style art derived from Late Classic Maya iconography, including the jade brow piece of Tonatiuh, the netted earth motif, and flower symbolism and imagery. However, the relationship of ancestors with butterflies, which occurs in central Mexico, was not widely shared with the ancient Maya, who instead classified butterflies with bug-like insects, skeletal beings of death and darkness, rather than of light and beauty.

One creature widely identified with the celestial flower paradise is the plumed serpent.

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Often ornamented with flowers on its tail and body, this being embodies Flower Road, the celestial path of the sun, gods, and ancestors. The relationship between the plumed serpent and Venus probably relates to its east- ern nature, the east being where both the morning star and sun emerge. Depic- tions of feathered serpents rising out of water represent their dawn emergence out of the eastern sea. These beings, the earliest known portrayals of plumed serpents at Teotihuacan, are covered with quetzal plumes from the eastern Maya realm. The Structure 16 murals feature serpents rising out of the water at Flower Mountain, and the exterior floral cornices display massive heads of old men, late forms of the zoomorphic witz masks from Late Classic Maya temples.

As a major temple pyramid literally at the shore of the Caribbean, the Castillo probably symbolized the sacred mountain of the east. From this eastern realm, the pilgrims re- turn westward to their communities with the plumed serpent of rain Neurath Aztec Pomp, Toltec Circumstances. American Antiquity 55 2: Estudios Leticia Staines Cicero, ed.

Berlo, Janet The Warrior and the Butterfly: BAR International Series Reconstructing the Murals of Teotihuacan. University of Washington Press, Seattle. Bolz, Ingeborg Meisterwerke altindianischer Kunst. Verlag Aurel Bongers Recklinghausen, Germany. Smith and Frances F. Thames and Hudson, London and New York.

Caso, Alfonso Una urna con diosa mariposa. Chase, Diane Ganned but Not Forgotten: Chase and Prudence M. University of Texas Press, Austin. Masterpieces of Classic Maya Ceramics. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N. Labyrinthos, Culver City, Calif. Patrick The Ceramics of Tikal: Vessels from the Burials, Caches, and Problematical Deposits.

Tikal Report 25, part A. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. Dover Publications, New York. The Origins of Sacred Maya Kingship. Shaw and Jennifer P. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

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Gann, Thomas Mounds in Northern Honduras. Journal of Anthropological Research Perception and Cultural Expression in Ancient Mesoamerica. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 10 2: Oxford University Press, Oxford. Cuadernos americanos 1 5: Kerr Associates, New York. Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae Academia Scientiarum Fennica, Helsinki. A Floral Metaphor for the Source of Life. Journal of Latin American Lore 21 1: University Press of Colorado, Niwot. Seventeen Aztec Dedication Caches. In The Sowing and the Dawning: University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D. Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo Cacaxtla. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D. Death and Rebirth at Palenque and Tulum. Mirambell Silva, Lorena ed.

Material Information

Neff, Hector, Ronald L. Glascock, and Penny R. Consideraciones sobre la posibiliidad de establecer comparciones con las antiguas concepciones mesoamericanas. In Men and Cultures: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Discoveries in Mexican Archaeology and History. Stanford University Press, Stanford, Calif. Harper and Rowe, New York. Pasztory, Esther Aztec Art. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. In The Maya Vase Book, vol. Wyllys Andrews V, eds. Tulane University, New Orleans.

Robertson, Donald The Tulum Murals: Kommissonsverlag Klaus Renner, Munich. Anderson and Charles E. Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. Carolina Academic Press, Durham, N. Catalogue of the Exhibition. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.

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Preliminary Research from Santa Barbara. Stuart, David Ten Phonetic Syllables. Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing Center for Maya Research, Washington, D. Flower Symbolism in Maya Iconography. National Geographic 3: Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology British Museum Press, London.

In Hidden in the Hills: In The Road to Aztlan: Art from a Mythic Homeland Virginia M. Fields and Victor Zamudio-Taylor, eds. Anthropology and Aesthetics Concepts of Resurrection and the Afterlife in Ancient Teotihuacan. Trik, Helen, and Michael E. Kampen The Graffiti of Tikal. American Anthropologist 40 4: In The Maya and Their Neighbors: Shapiro, and George C. Origin, Rise and Fall of the Aztec Nation. Fiction , Suspense , Thriller.

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