Essays in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology [2nd printing 1964. Reprint 2014 ed.] 9780674864917, 9780674864900

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Essays m Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology

Essays in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology by Samuel Κ. Lothrop and others

HARVARD

UNIVERSITY

Cambridge,

Massachusetts 1964

PRESS

© Copyright 1961 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Second Printing

Distributed in Great Britain by Oxford University Press, London

Typography

Typesetting

and printing

by Burton L.

Stratton

by the Crimson Printing

Bound by the Stanhope Bindery,

Company, Boston

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 61-18531

Printed in the United States of America

Cambridge

Preface We who have worked and been associated with Samuel Kirkland Lothrop over the past years, and who conceived this volume and organized it with him, would like to take the opportunity to say things here which he, in his modesty, would protest. This series of essays is representative of the extremely wide range of interests in a distinguished career. Far more than any of his contemporaries he has refused to make any single area or any set of problems his only concern. Mexico, Guatemala, Central America, Peru, Patagonia and other regions have claimed his interests at various times. His investigations wherever located have resulted in published contributions that will remain of basic importance for a long time. Our intent, insofar as this could be expressed as a centralizing theme for the contributing authors, was simply the presentation of current research findings and opinions with a particular eye to those objects that are commonly classified as art. Pre-Columbian art has always received special attention in Lothrop's publications. No one else among his Americanist contemporaries has extracted from the work of art so much information on the past or such insight into the lives of the makers. This volume was planned in the latter part of 1958. The essays were submitted in late 1959 and early 1960. D. Z. Stone J. B. Bird Editorial

G. F. Ekholm G. R. Willey Committee

San Jose, Costa Rica New Yor{ City, and Cambridge. June 1961.

Acknowledgments T h e authors and editors of this volume of essays wish to express their appreciation to all those whose interest, labors, and loyalty were devoted to the technical preparation of these manuscripts and their eventual publication. Most particularly, we would like to thank Mrs. Agnes Gamboa, secretary and typist for Dr. Stone and for the Editorial Committee, Sr. Wolfgang Hangen, who prepared many of the photoengraved halftone and line plates in San Jose, Costa Rica, and Mrs. E . Naomi Stratton, Peabody Museum editor, who assumed final responsibility for the manuscripts. Editorial

Committee

This volume has been made possible by the contributions of: CARLOS BALSER JUNIUS BIRD ROBERT WOODS BLISS STEPHAN F. DE BORHEGYI J. O. BREW GEOFFREY BUSHNELL FREDERICK J. DOCKST ADER KARL CURTIS DUDLEY T. EASBY, JR. ELIZABETH K. EASBY GORDON F. EKHOLM CLIFFORD EVANS JAMES C. GIFFORD A. V. KIDDER GEORGE KUBLER SAMUEL K. LOTHROP JOY MAHLER MRS. PHILIP A. MEANS BETTY J. MEGGERS MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN — H E Y E FOUNDATION

TATIANA PROSKOURIAKOFF G. REICHEL-DOLMATOFF ALBERTO REX GONZALEZ FRANCIS B. RICHARDSON WILLIAM C. ROOT IRVING ROUSE JOHN HOWLAND ROWE ALAN R. SAWYER CARL SCHUSTER E. M. SHOOK A. LEDYARD SMITH MARION STIRLING M. W. STIRLING ALISON BIXBY STONE FOUNDATION DORIS STONE ROGER THAYER STONE J. ERIC S. THOMPSON GORDON R. WILLEY WENNER-GREN FOUNDATION FOR ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH JOHN WISE

Autbors K. Harvard University, A.B., 1915; Ph.D., 1921. Now Curator of Andean Archaeology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University.

LOTHROP, S A M U E L

GEORGE. Yale University, A.B., 1 9 3 4 ; A . M . , 1 9 3 6 ; Ph.D., 1 9 4 0 . Now Professor of History of Art, Yale University and Curator of Pre-Columbian and Primitive Art, Yale University Art Gallery.

KUBLER,

T., JR. Princeton, politan Museum of Art.

EASBY, DUDLEY

B.S.,

1928; LL.B.,

1931.

Secretary, The Metro-

M. W. University of California, B.A., 1920; George Washington University, M.A., 1922; Tampa University, D.Sc., 1943. Now Research Associate, Smithsonian Institution.

STIRLING,

EASBY, ELIZABETH

1952.

K. Cornell University, A.B., 1947; Columbia University, M.A.,

Pennsylvania State College, B.S., 1930. Now Research Fellow in Maya Art, Peabody Museum, Harvard University.

PROSKOURIAKOFF, T A T I A N A .

LEDYARD. Harvard University, S.B., 1925. Now Assistant Curator of Middle American Archaeology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University.

SMITH,

F. DE. Péter Pázmány University, Budapest, Hungary, Ph.D., 1946. Now Director of Milwaukee Public Museum.

BORHEGYI, S T E P H A N

University of Arizona, A.B., 1 9 3 5 ; A.M., 1 9 3 6 ; Columbia University, Ph.D., 1942. Now Bowditch Professor of Central American and Mexican Archaeology and Ethnology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University.

W I L L E Y , GORDON R .

C. University of Arizona, A.B., 1951; M.A., 1957. Now Teaching Fellow in Anthropology and Research Assistant in Middle American Archaeology, Harvard University.

GIFFORD, JAMES

J. E R I C S. Diploma in Anthropology, Cambridge University. Now retired archaeologist of Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C.

THOMPSON,

A. V . Harvard University, A.B., 1 9 0 8 ; A.M., 1 9 1 2 ; Ph.D., 1 9 1 4 ; University of Mexico, LL.D. (honorary), 1934; University of Michigan, D.Sc., 1949; National University of Mexico, Doctor Honoris Causa, 1951; University of San Carlos, Guatemala, Doctor Honoris Causa, 1955.

KIDDER,

E. M. Research Associate, Carnegie Institution of Washington; Director, Tikal Project, University Museum, University of Pennsylvania.

SHOOK,

Arizona State College, A.B., 1 9 4 0 ; Western Reserve University, Ph.D., 1952. Now Director, Museum of the American Indian, New York.

DOCKSTADER, F R E D E R I C K J .

D O R I S . Radcliffe College, A.B., 1 9 3 0 ; Tulane University, L L . D . (honorary), 1957. Now Research Fellow in Central American Archaeology and Ethnology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University; and President, Board of Directors, National Museum of Costa Rica.

STONE,

BALSER, CARLOS.

Member Board of Directors, National Museum of Costa Rica.

JOY. Barnard College, A.B., 1943; Columbia University, A.M., 1948. Now Assistant Curator of Textiles, Peabody Museum, Harvard University.

MAHLER,

Université de Paris, P h . D . h.c., 1 9 3 9 . Now Chief Resident Associate, Instituto Colombiano de Antropología, Bogotá; and Resident Associate, Institute of Andean Research, New York.

R E I C H E L - D O L M A T O F F , GERARDO.

W I L L I A M C. University of California, B.S., 1 9 2 5 ; Harvard University, Ph.D., 1932. Now Professor of Chemistry, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine.

ROOT,

Cambridge, M.A., 1947. Now Curator, University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge.

BUSHNELL, GEOFFREY.

Harvard University, Museum, Washington, D.C.

SAWYER, A L A N R .

M.A.,

1949.

Now Director of The Textile

Wesleyan, D.Sc. (honorary), 1958. Now Curator of South American Archaeology, American Museum of Natural History, New York.

BIRD, JUNIUS B .

Brown University, A.B., 1 9 3 9 ; Harvard University, M.A., 1941; Ph.D., 1947; Universidad Nacional de Cuzco, Peru, Litt.D. (honorary), 1954. Now Professor of Anthropology and Curator of South American Archaeology in the Lowie Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.

R O W E , JOHN H O W L A N D .

Yale University, B.S., 1934; Ph.D., 1938. Now Professor of Anthropology, Yale University and Research Associate in the Yale Peabody Museum.

R O U S E , IRVING.

University of Minnesota, B.A., 1 9 3 3 ; Harvard University, Ph.D., 1941. Now Curator of Mexican Archaeology, American Museum of Natural History, New York.

E K H O L M , GORDON F .

J. University of Pennsylvania, A . B . , 1943; University of Michigan, M.A., 1944; Columbia University, Ph.D., 1952. Now Research Associate, Division of Archaeology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

MEGGERS, B E T T Y

University of Southern California, A.B., 1 9 4 1 ; Columbia University, Ph.D., 1950. Now Associate Curator-Archaeologist, Division of Archaeology, U. S. National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. G O N Z Á L E Z , A L B E R T O R E X . Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina, M.D., 1948; Columbia University, Ph.D., 1958. Now Director of the Instituto de Antropología and Professor of American Archaeology, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Rep. Argentina. EVANS, CLIFFORD.

C A R L . Harvard University, A.B., Vienna, Ph.D., 1934.

SCHUSTER,

1927;

A.M.,

1929;

University of

Contents Preface

ν

EDITORIAL

COMMITTEE

Acknowledgments

vi

Authors ι

Archaeology, Then and Now SAMUEL

2

Fine Metalwor\ in Pre-Conquest Mexico

5

43

STIRLING

The Squier fades from Toninä, Chiapas ELIZABETH

6

35

JR.

The Olmecs, Artists in fade M. W.

14

KUBLER

DUDLEY T. EASBY,

4

ι

K. LOTHROP

On the Colonial Extinction of the Motifs of Pre-Columbian Art GEORGE

3

vii

60

K. EASBY

Portraits of Women in Maya Art

81

TATIANA PROSKOURIAKOFF

7

Types of Ball Courts in the Highlands of Guatemala A. LEDYARD SMITH

100

8 Ball-game Handstones and Ball-game Gloves STEPHAN

9

F.

DE

126

BORHEGYI

Pottery of the Holmul I Style from Barton Ramie, British Honduras GORDON R. WILLEY

AND JAMES

C. GIFFORD

10 Notes on a Plumbate Vessel with Shell Inlay and on Chiclero's Ulcer J.

ERIC

S.

152

171

THOMPSON

11 A Possibly Unique Type of Formative Figurine from Guatemala 176 Α. V. KIDDER AND Ε. M.

SHOOK

12 A Figurine Cache from Kino Bay, Sonora FREDERICK

J.

182

DOCKSTADER

13 The Stone Sculpture of Costa Rica

192

DORIS STONE

14 Some Costa Rican fade Motifs CARLOS

210

BALSER

15 Grave Associations and Ceramics in Veraguas, Panama JOY

218

MAHLER

16 Anthropomorphic Magic and Art GERARDO

Figurines from Colombia,

Their

229

REICHEL-DOLMATOFF

17 Pre-Columbian Metalwor\ of Colombia and Its Neighbors W I L L I A M C. ROOT

242

18

Peruvian Stylistic Impact on Lower Central America 258 SAMUEL K. LOTHROP

19

A Cupisnique Bird Jar GEOFFREY

20

269

SAWYER

Textile Designing and Samplers in Peru JUNIUS

22

BUSHNELL

Paracas and Nazca iconography ALAN R.

21

266

299

B. BIRD

The Chronology of Inca Wooden Cups

317

JOHN HOWL AND ROWE

23

The Bailey Collection of Stone Artifacts from Puerto Rico

342

IRVING ROUSE

24

Puerto Rican Stone "Collars" as Ball-game Belts

356

GORDON F. EKHOLM

25

An Experimental Formulation of Horizon Styles in the Tropical Forest Area of South America BETTY J. MEGGERS AND CLIFFORD

26

27

EVANS

The La Aguada Culture of Northwestern Argentina ALBERTO REX

389

GONZALEZ

Observations on the Painted Designs of Patagonian S\in Robes CARL

372

421

SCHUSTER

Bibliographies

449

Notes

485

ESSAY

by SAMUEL Κ. LOTHROP

Archaeology; Then and Now Forty-five years ago, the late Professor Roland Dixon delivered a course of lectures at Harvard on the historical populations and the archaeological past of the New World. M y notes on these lectures offer a sound basis for comparisons, past and present. During the period 1915—1960, anthropology, to which the archaeology of the Americas is wedded, has undergone an enormous growth and a proliferation into many specialized fields of interest. The most fashionable fields for research today, however, eschew or are apathetic to material culture and its technology, and investigations often are directed toward social and administrative problems, both actual and theoretical. Archaeology, however, necessarily deals largely with reality, with the material products of human ingenuity which have survived the destructive effects of time. It has, of course, been responsive to the general pattern of anthropological thought and to our own recent cultural and economic developments. The major changes that have taken place in archaeological aims and procedure since 1915 may, perhaps, be compared in scale with the development in design and performance of the airplane during the same period. Improvements in transportation in many regions have been fantastic. In 1916,1 traveled through the Guatemalan highlands and to Copán in Honduras with Sylvanus Morley and W . H . Holmes (fig. 1). Railroads then existed, to be sure, and there were "roads" used only by oxcarts for a short distance outside the larger towns (fig. 3). W e traveled entirely by mule. Holmes was nearly seventy at the time and this was his last field trip. I was the youngest of the party. Holmes wore a thick, blue, wool business suit with canvas leggings, a starched collar and necktie (fig. 1). On mule back all day long he always made a series of sketches which showed an unbroken panorama of the country with details of the geological formations on either side of the trail. H e and I rode the 23 leagues from Copán to Zacapa in 14 hours, camping for the night en route (fig. 2). Morley covered this distance in 13% hours in one day and killed his mule.

2

PRE-COLUMBIAN ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY

FIG. 1. Copan in 1916. W . H. Holmes and S. G. Morley in West end, Court of the Hieroglyphic Stairway. Mr. and Mrs. Percy Jackson in center. S. K. Lothrop in rear. (Mrs. Jackson washed her hands in alcohol after touching anything native, even a doorknob.)

Until recently, all distances in Central America were calculated in leagues, a unit of measurement which lacks precise definition. In Central America, it represented the distance traveled in an hour as estimated by a native who did not own a watch. An old quip stated that the leagues of Honduras were long ones. By 1917, roads were a little better in Guatemala. The Peabody Museum Expedition of 1916-1917 rode in a vehicle known as a carruaje drawn by six mules (fig. 4 ) . T o the eye, the dusty road surfaces appeared smooth but, in fact, concealed an endless series of potholes and gullies which gave us a terrific beating all day. Near Mixco we passed a man face down in the road with a knife handle sticking out of his back. Our driver lashed his mules to a gallop, explaining that the police would arrest anybody found in the vicinity. By nightfall we reached Chimaltenango. Geographical vagueness of the time is reflected by the statement in a guide book: "Dista la Capital (Guatemala) de Chimaltenango doce leguas, aunque dicen que once." T h e next day we traveled another 8 leagues to Tecpan, the end of wheeled transportation. One of the great worries of travel by mule was the difficulty of hiring them. Mule owners used them in their own business. From Tecpan we had

Essay 1

SAMUEL Κ. L O T H R O P

3

•

FIG. 2.

Zacapa-Copán mule trail, near Copán. Photograph: Arthur Carpenter.

mules only to Solalá, and we sent ahead an Indian with a case of champagne and a letter to the Governor of the Department asking him to get us a new mulada. Neither the letter nor champagne arrived, but the Governor gave us a gang of Indians to carry our baggage (fig. 5, bottom). We walked to Quezaltenango on footpaths with grades that a mule could not have negotiated. However, the Indians delivered our baggage in Quezaltenango and we met them well started on their journey home. Many of them carried a large stone on their tump lines, weighing perhaps 25 to 40 pounds, as they were so used to burdens that it was difficult for them to walk without one. If an Indian could stand up with a load, he or she could move with it. Before railroads were built, pianos were carried from the ports to Guatemala City by a single individual. We paid our men at the rate of 15 cents a day. A fourman marimba band would play all night for two dollars plus drinks. Later in the same year, 1917, we rode to Copan with Marshall Saville who had worked there in the 1890's. During the previous year the Great Plaza had been planted in tobacco but on this occasion the bush had grown well over the stelae tops. Saville complained that the stone wall, laboriously built by the Peabody Museum to keep cattle out, was, in fact, used to keep cattle in. Saville also told us how the great Copán collection now in the Peabody

4

FIG. 3.

PRE-COLUMBIAN

ART

AND

ARCHAEOLOGY

Wheeled transportation in Guatemala in 1917. Oxcarts and ruts. From a painting by Max Vollmberg, 1915.

Museum at Harvard had been transported by mule to the port of Izabal on the Golfo Dulce. An equivalent collection was packed and dispatched toward Tegucigalpa but little of it arrived. Presumably, the arrieros became tired of loading old stones and dumped their cargoes. Mule trails constantly shift, when a tree falls or when they wear down so that the packs scrape the ground. Copán sculpture might thus turn up in totally unexpected places throughout Honduras. From Copán we rode north to the upper Chamelecon Valley and thence eastward in zigzags to Tegucigalpa. Our map, the best then available, was from the 1855 or 1858 edition of E. G. Squier's book on Central America. We used the same mulada for 49 days. Thirty days were spent on the road, traveling an estimated 200+ leagues. The mules had lived mostly on pine needles and several died from overeating maize when they reached the Comayagua Valley. Hence, we entered the capital on foot with four riding saddles surmounting a single mule—and were promptly arrested for driving rather than leading it within city limits. Exactly 30 years later, with Doris Stone, I again visited Copan. We left Tegucigalpa by plane in the morning and returned in the afternoon. Each flight took a little over an hour. On leaving Copan by air, we made a wide turn in order to head eastward. This carried the plane over the upper Chamelecon. On the ground, the trail had zigzagged across steep mud-covered

Essay 1

FIG. 4.

S A M U E L Κ. L O T H R O P

Carruaje

5

with six mules used by Peabody Museum Expedition, 1916-1917.

ridges where the mules slipped and fell frequently. It had taken 21/2 days to cover 19 leagues. T h e plane made it in about a minute. T h e r e is one pertinent comment. In flying to Copán at several thousand feet elevation we saw little of the country and nothing of its inhabitants. On the ground we sweated up and down interminable mountain slopes, slept in the open, swam daily in icy water and talked to everyone we met. Our aim was a reconnaissance. T h e archaeological sites we surveyed and added to the maps could not have been found from the air or by automobile. T h e peak of achievement in mule transportation by archaeologists undoubtedly was the excavation of Uaxactún by the Carnegie Institution of Washington over a period of eleven years. T h i s project was set up by Oliver Ricketson who was in charge for the first five years. It was completed under the direction of Ledyard Smith. Uaxactún is located in the dense jungle in the northern part of the Department of the Petén in Guatemala. Today there is a landing field, village and post office. In 1926, when work began, there was not even a decent supply of water. Everything—workmen, equipment and provisions—had to be transported up the Belize River in small boats and on mule back for several days through the jungle. Houses had to be built, crops planted for both men and mules. Shipments from N e w Orleans had to be planned months in advance, calculating for the needs of the camp on their scheduled date of arrival, and so packaged that they could be loaded on mules.

6

PRE-COLUMBIAN A R T AND

ARCHAEOLOGY

When the Uaxactún project was in progress, Morley and others feared that the chicle supply in the area would become exhausted and that the trails opened by chicleros and used by archaeologists would become overgrown. Today, however, there are many landing fields in the Peten. The Tikal program undertaken by the University Museum relies entirely on air transportation which has moved in heavy equipment such as jeeps, sawmill, electric light and ice plants, etc. Tikal now operates on a year-round basis but Uaxactún, dependent on land transportation, could be worked in the dry season only. I do not know how the big expedition of the University Museum at Piedras Negras handled their problems, but it must have been difficult. At least they had plentiful water and a river in which to swim. One of the delights of mule travel was the unprintable language used by the arrieros. I suppose all men who work with animals develop a specialized idiom, but in Central America it approached poetic grandeur. No respectable mule would budge without lurid comments on its ancestry and habits. Morley, who hated mules, acquired a vocabulary which was universally admired. The automobile, like the airplane, has done much to speed up archaeological investigations. In 1915, Α. V. Kidder had a Ford at Pecos, New Mexico, but there were many days when it could not get through the mud and we often had to ride horses. Later in the same year and in 1916 there were some pretty good all-weather roads in Puerto Rico but not many bridges. Consequently, an automobile crossed rivers with the aid of oxen. I do not remember automobiles in the Guatemalan highlands before 1922, although a few could be seen bouncing on cobble-paved city streets. The first roads in the mountains had grades which were very hard on the then-current crop of cars, and the curves were too sharp to round without backing and filling. Thus every car had a chauffeur and also a boy with a large stone to place behind the wheels when changing gears on the turns. The verb embarrancarse was often heard. Breakdowns were frequent as there were few good mechanics. The boy guarded the car and baggage when you and the chauffeur with the broken part had to walk. Wonders were worked on the spot with bailing wire, but I once walked across the 11,000-foot Cuesta de Chixoy rather than trust temporary repairs on a broken steering arm which had nearly put us over a cliff. By 1924, a road from Guatemala City to San Salvador had been opened, passing over the famous Puente de Los Esclavos and through Asunción Mita and Santa Ana. It took nearly 14 hours to make the trip to the latter, averaging about 12 miles per hour. Later, in the same year, we motored north of the Lempa River to Chalatenango and were in the first car to reach Dulce

FIG. 5. Top: Heavy loads, Totonicapán, Guatemala. Center left: First outboard motor used on a dugout on Lake Atitlán, Guatemala. Center right: Landing supplies through the surf in 1922 at Tancah, Quintana Roo. Bottom: Company of cargadores in 1916 or 1917 entering Santa Cruz Quichá, now a center for trucking companies.

8

PRE-COLUMBIAN ART AND

ARCHAEOLOGY

Nombre de María. Although crawling in low speed, innumerable dogs and chickens which had never seen an automobile immolated themselves under our wheels. Women and children fled at our approach. Most of the traveling in El Salvador at that time was by horse or mule, in part over roads wide enough for oxcarts. As villages were not too far apart, it usually was not necessary to carry food and no pack animal was needed. For two field seasons, I rode with a guide, each of us with large Costa Rican saddlebags, a blanket, poncho and a tiny hammock of Cacaopera workmanship. North of the Lempa River it was pretty isolated country with no newspapers. I was repeatedly asked in 1924 and 1926 if World W a r I was over and, if so, who had won. In South America, by 1924, the big cities had well-paved streets and a nearby network of passable roads. Beyond, there were ruts in the mud and rivers too big to cross except by ferry. In the southern summer (October), the Ford Plant in Buenos Aires estimated that it would take a month or more to drive over dirt tracks to the Straits of Magellan. In Tierra del Fuego, Lucas Bridges drove us south as far as his Model-T Ford could go, and we walked over the Andes to the Antarctic side of that great island where now there is a motor road and where scheduled planes fly overhead. Rains and mud are the normal enemies of motor travel but, where there is sand, these elements may be your friends. In 1925, rains came to the Peruvian coast where there had been little development in roads since Colonial days. But the wet sands supported the narrow tires of the times and made it possible to reach Paracas and other then little-known archaeological sites. One of the most fundamental changes, at least in Latin America, is the improvement in living conditions and health. Owens, who is buried in the Great Plaza at Copán, was, I think, the only archaeologist who died on the job—from yellow fever. Merwin and Ricketson probably shortened their lives as the result of illness. Until World W a r II, however, almost everybody who traveled in the tropics had multiple infections of malaria and recurrent bouts of dysentery. Cures which once took months now are accomplished in days. Improved transportation has brought new hotels with better accommodations and food. Added mobility means a wider choice of lodging. With a mule, there is a physical limit to its endurance. With an auto, you can usually move on. Sometimes there were warnings scribbled on hotel walls : " Aqui hay chinchas" or "Paciencia, pulgas, larga es la noche." As for the manner of conducting excavations, there has been little change

Essay 1

S A M U E L Κ. L O T H R O P

9

over the years except for the introduction of the bulldozer, post-hole digger and other earth-moving machinery, which have proved particularly useful in the salvage archaeology in the United States. Except for specialized conditions under extremes of climates, little can be added to Heizer's "Field Methods"

1

and "Archaeologists at Work," 2 which explain how and with

what ends archaeologists should and have attacked their problems. Surveying, mapping, observing, and recording are the basic factors, but a delicate hand with knife and brush remains a great individual asset. Knowledge of chemical preservatives is rapidly becoming more important. W e have touched on some of the material facts which have affected archaeological studies in the Americas. Comparable changes have taken place in aims and theory. In part, these changes reflect general tendencies in anthropology; in part, the economics of the period were a factor. When I graduated from Harvard in 1915,1 felt myself lucky to find a job anywhere without salary, at first paying my own traveling and living expenses. I was fortunate to get field training at Pecos under Α. V . Kidder. It was not until 1923 that I found myself on a regular payroll, and thereafter I went where I was sent, which depended on individual gifts—New Mexico, Guatemala (twice), El Salvador (twice), Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia, the Paraná Delta in Argentina, Peru, and Europe within three years. It was a grand experience, but in each area you had to work on the previously published reports as if for a Ph.D. In contrast today, most research funds come from foundations which approve a continuing project. Hence, there is much less pressure for immediate publication and there is better opportunity to circumscribe individual interests and experience. Most jobs at the time stemmed from Museums. While publication and advancement of knowledge were part of a museum program, enrichment of the collections was equally so. I have been sent to a country, for instance Chile, with no instructions. Hence, it was necessary to set up an ethnological problem, in this case, Araucanian material culture and technology. It was also necessary to find archaeological sites suitable for excavation (luckily two with stratigraphy were found) and to secure, by purchase and exchange, other archaeological material from the Peruvian border southward to the Magellanic Islands. Most field trips used to be fishing excursions within an area. Only three times in my life have I set out with the knowledge that I was to excavate a specific archaeological site—once in N e w Mexico, twice in Panama. Obviously, the major end of field work has been to collect objects and information which lend themselves to interpretation. T h e material resulting

10

PRE-COLUMBIAN ART AND

ARCHAEOLOGY

from the old-type area fishing excursions has often permitted immediate analysis, but nobody can foresee the problems which will be current a century from now. W e can only hope that data assembled in our lifetime will prove pertinent in the future and that it can be re-interpreted in times to come by successive generations of students. A good example of the rise of a new problem is the non-ceramic site. With a few exceptions, like M. R. Harrington in Cuba (1921), most archaeologists who did not find pottery in their excavations automatically moved on to another site. Today, we are interested in non-ceramic deposits and are finding them in both continents and the Antilles. One of the major shifts in archaeological thinking concerns the antiquity of man in the Americas. It is not so long ago that the more advanced aboriginal cultures were seriously considered as survivals of a lost Atlantis or the Kingdom of Mu. No reputable New York paper today would publish an account of the intelligent simian called "Beebee" by the Mayas because on September 28, exactly 49,562 years ago, he had "suddenly improved his intelligence by studying the habits of the bees." 3 Professor Dixon, in his 1915 lectures, discussed the discovery of skeletal remains and implements in association with geological strata or the bones of extinct animals, pointing out that in each case the finds were poorly documented. He concluded: "A mass of uncertain evidence does not produce a certainty but the multiplicity of cases adds to probability." Today, of course, these associations are accepted without question and they have been given absolute dates. Research is no longer directed at establishing their validity but at explaining their implications in regard to man of their period. The introduction of stratigraphie field studies marks the beginning of a new era in American archaeology. In retrospect, one wonders why a technique well known in other continents developed so slowly here. Apparently, the first published record in the New World was Max Uhle's account of his work during the years 1896-1897 at Pachacamac in Peru, which appeared in print in 1903. The late Marshall H. Saville in 1907 discovered a refuse stratigraphy exposed in a river bank during his work in the Province of Emeraldas, Ecuador. His lavishly illustrated manuscript, which I have examined, never was published and now appears to be lost. Although Holmes 4 had noted superimposed remains in a railroad cut on the outskirts of Mexico City, it was over 25 years before systematic excavations were begun by Boas, Gamio, Hay, Nuttal, Tozzer and others who blocked out the major sequent styles. Vaillant's excavations 5 indicated clearly that the principal divisions of Mexican pre-history each extended over several

Essay 1

SAMUEL Κ.

LOTHROP

11

centuries, but no one foresaw the full time span afterwards revealed by radiocarbon tests. The first Maya ceramic stratigraphy was discovered by Raymond Merwin during his 1910-1911 excavations at the ruins of Holmul in Guatemala, but his findings were not published until after his death.® The first published account of stratigraphy in the Maya area 7 was the result of Jorge Lardé's discovery in 1917 that there were superimposed archaeological levels in El Salvador, separated by deep sterile layers of volcanic ash. 8 Later, in 1926, with Lardé's help, I found a spot where the lower refuse could be excavated and the ceramic types determined. 9 In 1924, stratigraphy was found at Uaxactún by Ricketson and Vaillant and at Chichén Itzá by Vaillant. Stratigraphy is now a common feature all over the Maya area, mainly due to the work of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. In the United States Southwest, superimposed remains had been observed long ago. True refuse stratigraphy was first revealed by Nelson in 191610 followed by Kidder in 1924.11 Owing to its accessibility, climate, soil and other favorable factors, stratigraphie technique has been highly developed in the Southwest, and, as in my case, it has been a schooling ground for many who have employed it elsewhere. At Pecos in 1915, however, it could not have been foreseen that stratigraphy would be discovered again and again in area after area to the continental extremes—Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. Another radical change in archaeology has come from the development of techniques to determine absolute age. In the Southwest, dendrochronology or dating by tree-ring counts has been successfully applied. Radiocarbon dating is more recent and not yet fully satisfactory, in part because many more dates are needed. Also, the published results may show wide separation in age when different laboratories and materials are involved or even when two tests are made from the same sample. Other methods of determining age are in process of development. These may well revolutionize archaeology, for instance, if it becomes possible to date individual pottery vessels. In keeping with the growth of archaeological techniques, much thought has been devoted to theoretical considerations. An important change has taken place in the nature of published reports owing to the introduction of new taxonomic systems, of which one of the first was McKern's and the most recent a system proposed by Willey and Phillips. One aspect—I use the word in the Webster, not the McKern, sense—of all the systems is that they entail the loss of a useful word to give it a specific meaning in archaeological literature. In the case of the McKern system, the five common terms to

12

PRE-COLUMBIAN ART AND

ARCHAEOLOGY

which he assigns special connotations already had 24 meanings in the small Webster dictionary. Another aspect of all systems is that they must fail in their purpose of providing precise definitions unless accepted by most archaeologists. The discussions they have provoked, both in and out of print, as well as the number of proposed modifications, suggest that they may have proved as much of a barrier as an aid to precise thinking. I find that students who have prudently followed a teacher's system tend to drift away from it when freed from academic bonds. A second theoretical change concerns the naming of archaeological periods, together with the associated types of material culture such as architecture, pottery, etc. There are several different schools of thought. One, usually known as functional development, uses terms for chronological stages which reflect an interplay of technical and socio-political development. Schemes proposed by Armillas, Steward and Strong 12 fall in this category. At the moment, no individual system has won general acceptance and many have been revamped at the whim of their inventor. Another school of thought has drawn on native names to indicate archaeological periods. The original meaning of these terms usually is obscure and their connection, if any, with archaeological remains is not mnemonic. Spelling is difficult and some words cannot be pronounced in English or any European language. Another tendency, perhaps with no conscious theoretical background, is that recent individual investigators have produced a new terminology, with or without reference to the nomenclature previously published. There are signs of active revolt in recent literature against the present expanding complexity. Rowe 13 writes "one of the objects of typological classification is to reduce the number of units of study to a more manageable size." Thus Ledyard Smith, 14 in discussing highland Maya architecture, has junked 28 more or less unintelligible terms in favor of a self-explanatory Preclassic, Early and Late Classic, Postclassic and Protohistoric. George Brainerd 15 has classified the pottery of the Yucatan Maya in four stages— Formative, Regional, Florescent and Mexican. In the Handbook^ of South American Indians, vol. II, 78 styles and periods are listed for Peru. In 1953, at a conference in Lima (Sociedad Peruana), it was suggested that most of these names be changed or eliminated. Apparently, Peruvian archaeology has reached a degree of systematization too complex for digestion. Double or self-explanatory designations, therefore, are often found in recent publications, such as Huancaco (Mochica), to

Essay 1

SAMUEL Κ.

LOTHROP

13

which a developmental stage, such as Master Craftsman, may be added. Thus, in theory, everybody, whatever his predilections, gets a piece of cake. The current flood of theoretical discussions and taxonomic schemes undoubtedly is a sign of healthy progress in New World archaeology. I foresee far greater concurrence of thought and definition, however, perhaps not so much the result of discussions and conferences as by the stagnation and elimination of theories and concepts which do not stand the test of time. The stage in anthropological and archaeological development through which we are passing is not an isolated phenomenon. At the opening of the present century, many of the best brains in the field were turning out speculative papers on subjects of broad interest. A search of bibliographies will reveal titles which might be expected in the American Anthropologist today: "Anthropology in education of the Foreign Service," "Methods of Ethnology," "The place of archaeology in human history," "The conception of love in some American languages," etc. The greatest changes in anthropology during my working lifetime have been the results of its growth, both in diversification of interests and in number of students. After World War I, the American Anthropological Association covered all fields, but our numbers were so small that everyone knew everybody after attending a few annual meetings. The older archaeologists often lacked a formal academic background or had transferred from another discipline—Hodge, Holmes, Hough, Hrdlicka, MacCurdy, Pepper, Saville and Wissler come particularly to mind—but their field experience was vast, their feelings were friendly and they took pleasure in helping the younger men. Contemporary foreign colleagues also were most friendly and cooperative. I think especially of Balfour, L. G. C. Clarke and Joyce in England, Nordenskiöld in Sweden, Rivet in France, Torres Lanzas in Spain, Tello in Peru, Latcham in Chile, Lehmann-Nietche, Outes and J. M. Torres in Argentina and Lardé in El Salvador. In short, New World archaeologists once felt that they all were members of the same small club, whereas today their numbers are so great and increasing so rapidly that many are unknown to each other even by name.

ESSAY^^

by GEORGE KUBLER

On the Colonial Extinction of the Motifs of Pre-Columbian Art T h e Editors originally requested an article on "the survival of native art motifs into the Colonial Period." Such survivals are so few and scattered that their assembling requires an enormous expenditure for a minimal yield, like a search for the fragments of a deep-lying shipwreck. Therefore, I renamed the study as above, so that its readers would not expect any large remnants of the wreck of pre-Columbian civilization. T h e extinction was gradual but its pace changed. In the sixteenth century the rush to European conventions of representation and building, by colonists and Indians alike, precluded any real continuation of native traditions in art and architecture. In the seventeenth century, so much had been forgotten, and the extirpation of native observances by the religious authorities was so vigorous, that the last gasps of the bearers of Indian rituals and manners expired unheard. Following the exploratory fervor of the first two generations of colonists, it was not until after 1750, when the Enlightenment reached the American cities, that any close attention was paid to the ruins of American antiquity. N o finds of monumental sculpture were reported in Mexico until the excavations of 1790 in the cathedral square of Mexico City. 1 One is reminded of the mystifying inability of Europeans to see or remark upon prehistoric cave paintings until late in the nineteenth century. T h e intellectual climate of the Enlightenment in Mexico, however, could favor only an archaeological autopsy. Survivals were by then beyond recall, and it is an autopsy that all posterior research has continued to perform. W e shall not here be concerned with any stage of this prolonged dissection of the corpse of a civilization, but only with the exceptional occasions when pre-Columbian themes continued in the artistic utterance of the peoples of Latin America. 2 These utterances were like death cries, and their study pertains to eschatology, or the science of the end of things. Very little is known about the

Essay 2

GEORGE

KUBLER

15

termination of art styles, or of the cultural configurations for which an art style is often the only proof of existence. The case of the pre-Columbian civilizations of America is a peculiarly abrupt example of the termination of cultural entities. W e shall later comment on the general significance of the extinction of American antiquity. Works of art are symbolic expressions. They evoke a reality without being that reality. Buildings, statues, paintings and tools all suggest so powerfully a specific time, place and attitude, that they are among our most tangible and permanent manifestations of culture. "Enemy" works of art are destroyed during cultural conflicts. The triumph of one culture over another is usually marked by the virtual cessation of the art of the vanquished, and its replacement by the art of the conqueror. When the offending objects and monuments finally cease to correspond to any living behavior, they become symbolically inert. They then are "safe" to play with in recombinations emptied of previous vital meanings, as in tourist souvenirs, antiquarian reconstructions, or archaizing revivals. Under the conditions of colonial life in Latin America, nearly all symbolic expressions of native origin were suppressed by the colonial authorities as well as by native leaders whose positions depended upon conforming obedience. 3 Only the practical or useful items of behavior were eagerly adopted. Hence the utility of any native behavior and its colonial survival are closely linked. The survival of the native languages is only an apparent exception to the rule of symbolic extinction. Without knowing Indian languages, the colonists could not attain their ends. Indian language was purified of its native symbolic content, and in the seventeenth century it became an acceptable vehicle for Christian belief and ritual. The linguistic separation of the populace into Spanish- and Indian-speaking groups strengthened the emerging division of colonial society as exploiting and exploited groups. Under these conditions, all symbolic expressions, including those of native origin, eventually became reinforcements of the power of the colonial state. As such, they are extensions of European art rather than native survivals. For example, in Mexico and in Peru, the earthen platforms of the preConquest peoples could not be dismantled, and they still stand as tokens of the power and grandeur of ancient religions. The Christian churches erected upon their summits symbolize the conquest of pagan observance by Christian ritual, like early Christian temples which mark triumph over the monuments of the ancient Mediterranean world. The idea of triumph probably also appears at many pre-Columbian sites where the superposition of

16

PRE-COLUMBIAN ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY

earthen platforms records distinct cultural periods as at Cholula. T h e several structural stages in the great pyramid form a layered record of cultural succession, which concludes with the Christian church built atop the entire complex in the seventeenth century, as if taking symbolic possession of the entire vast accumulation of human effort. 4 Not relevant to our purpose here are the ethnographical studies of Indian civilization by Europeans from Sahagún and Landa to the present. These works all are efforts to comprehend Indian antiquity as an integral phenomenon. They obey a historiographical impulse, and they do not form part of the phenomenon of cultural survival, which is best defined as the continuing performance of acts of pre-Columbian behavior. Before treating other visible survivals of art motifs, we should carefully examine one supposed class of forms which have been treated as survivals, although clear evidence of preconquest themes has not been shown. W e might here designate these types as "formal" survivals. During the past decade, much has been written about a "Mestizo art" in colonial Latin America. 5 Alfred Neumeyer, its principal proponent, postulated that mestizo art was unified by "admixtures of Indian pre-Conquest tradition," taking the form of "flat, grooved, or embossed designs" in "two-dimensional, symbolically abstract modes," analogous to the folk art of Central Europe or North Africa. In short, the "survivals" are formal rather than thematic. These "admixtures of pre-Conquest tradition" are not shown in thematic detail, but other writers have adopted the thesis of survival on the basis of mere formal persistence without closer scrutiny. As to the persistence of formal types of design independently of symbolic content, it is perhaps more plausible to suppose that we are confronted with examples of provincial or folk art, which are the end products of frequent copying. For example, the arabesques and grotesques of Italian Renaissance architectural ornament were copied in Spain and transmitted to Mexico in book illustrations and wood engravings, which then were turned back into relief sculpture by native craftsmen, as at Tlalmanalco, southeast of Mexico City (fig. 10). In this process the original design loses articulation, hierarchy, variation and individuality in increasingly schematic stylizations. This degradation of form has nothing to do with racial symbolism. It occurs independently of race and class, wherever a given form is required to serve many needs by frequent repetition. In Mexico the Náhuatl (Aztec) term tequitqui,

signifying "tributary"

(in precisely the sense of the Arabic term, mudé jar),

was first used by

J. Moreno Villa to describe the arts of Indian tradition in colonial Mexican

Essay 2

GEORGE KUBLER

17

society.® It is certainly preferable to "Mestizo art" which carries a burden oí racial meaning, but tequitqui

is restricted to Mexico and will not do for

Central America or the Andean region. Planiform—a term descriptive of formal properties, and first introduced by E. Marco Dorta 7 —is useful for sculpture, and it avoids racial and qualitative distinctions, but it is restricted to plastic expression, and will not do for architecture in general or for painting. In short, we lack a convenient and inclusive term to describe colonial style without condescension or prejudice. Since the phenomena under discussion continued after the Wars of Independence, even the term "colonial" is inadequate. For the present, "folk art" best describes most of the productions we are discussing, provided we include architecture under its rubric. The other principal modes of the survival of ancient forms are in reality the modes of extinction. The native symbolic system was first broken into disjoined parts, of which a few were gradually assimilated into the colonial fabric. T h e process can be classified as follows : ]uxtaposition: among the same people, coexistence of forms, drawn from two different cultures, without interaction. Only here has native culture any chance of intact survival. Convergence: unconnected cultural traditions produce similar behavioral patterns which are interchangeable in the colony for aims approved by the ruling group. Expiants: connected portions of native behavior continue to evolve for a period under colonial rule. Transplants: isolated, but meaningful parts of native tradition are taken into colonial behavior, without major changes or development. Fragments: isolated pieces of the native tradition are repeated without comprehension, as meaningless but pleasurable acts or forms. These all have in common some participation by native peoples, who brought to the work those residual preferences and symbolic forms which might pass the filter of colonial institutions. Juxtaposition

is a rare accommodation between colonists and natives.

For instance, the Portuguese in India and Japan 8 so adjusted their ways to native habits that their message or action was transformed, as much to secure native compliance as to impose the will of the colonizers. In Asia, the colonist often assumed many new habits, as if to compensate the native for having been obliged to adopt an alien faith. Under these conditions extensive portions of native culture survived, and the extinguishing action of colonial institutions remained minimal. In America, only the Franciscan missions among the Pueblo Indians of

FIG. 1.

Abó, N e w Mexico. Isometric reconstruction of the seventeenth-century mission church, showing transverse clearstory w i n d o w . After Kubier, 1940.

Essay 2

GEORGE

KUBLER

19

open chapel. About 1580. After Kubler, 1948.

the southwestern United States can be considered under this head. The Pueblo peoples of the Rio Grande Valley and the Hopi lands in northeastern Arizona have massive and integral survivals of prehistoric urban life, rimmed with only a thin accretion of European culture until this century.9 In discussing the Pueblo tribes, to speak of acculturation is less relevant than juxtaposition of distinct kinds of culture. For example, in the pueblos the Christian church usually stands at the periphery of the densely built town, where the underground ceremonial chambers of the men's societies, the kivas, still are in use. Each adult is likely to have two modes of religious life: one Indian and the other Catholic, with few evidences of reciprocal influence. The Catholic churches have always been there on sufferance and it is instructive to see how their structure reflects the profound indifference of the Indian communicants, who refused the technical novelties of European building traditions. In this matrilocal society, ownership of buildings was vested in the women, who built the walls and maintained the surfaces, while the men cut the timbers, formed the adobes and transported the building supplies. All pre-Conquest construction was of post-and-lintel type, and when the Franciscans brought knowledge of arches and domes in the seventeenth century, these were refused. Although adobe brick is well suited to dynamic structural devices, arches and domes were generally refused because they would have upset the traditional division of labor by sexes. The women were accustomed to build the walls, and to keep up the surfaces. The men assembled the materials. However, the friars countered this passive opposition among their charges by transforming European structural habits to accommodate Indian tradition, resulting in a reciprocal acculturation of which there are very few examples in the history of Christianity. In such an acculturation, the behavior of the missionaries is altered by colonial contact as well as the behavior of the natives themselves.

20

PRE-COLUMBIAN ART AND

FIG. 3.

ARCHAEOLOGY

Uxmal, Yucatan. Drawing of the serpent-mouth doorway of the Casa del Adivino, by F . Catherwood.

The purpose of the domed and arched construction in European seventeenth-century building tradition was to achieve novel effects of dramatic opposition between main spaces and secondary units; between brilliant focal areas and darkened surroundings; between the altar and the congregation, in an aesthetic of the interaction of opposites by dramatic tension. When the Indian builders refused arches and domes, the friars transformed the trabeated system of native building by using a transverse clerestory window at the stepped difference of roof levels between the sanctuary and the nave (fig. 1). This cross-window floods the altar with light. In the dark nave the attention of the congregation is centered upon the mystery of the sacrament. In this roundabout way, the friars attained their aim of Baroque lighting while respecting the labor habits of the native population. Convergence. The celebrated "open chapels" of the sixteenth century in Mexico and Yucatan have been the subject of much discussion, centering upon the question of origin.10 Some writers assert the transfer of ancient Mexican habits of outdoor worship to Christian ritual. Others prefer to regard open chapels as functional necessities with ample precedents in Mediterranean antiquity, in Early Christian art and in Islamic worship, as well

Essay 2

GEORGE

KUBLER

21

as in Mexican religion. Since the open chapel usually includes a courtyard or atrium like that of Early Christian churches, and a covered sanctuary like the Syrian \alybe (fig. 2), its Old World derivation seems assured under favoring conditions in the early colonization of the huge urban congregations of Mexico. Hence the open chapel is best classed as a phenomenon of convergence between ancient Mediterranean types and more recent Mexican habits, with its structural features deriving from nearly forgotten European antecedents. The domain of architectural ornament offers another example of possible convergence between Indian and European systems in the decoration of the façade of the Montejo house in Mérida, a house built after 1549 for the conqueror of Yucatan (fig. 11). 11 A peculiar surround decorates the upper window of the façade: it consists of repeating console brackets which make a pointillé outline to the aperture, much as in the style of Diego de Siloe, the great Andalusian architect of the second quarter of the sixteenth century. These brackets, however, also suggest the repetition of a pre-Conquest Maya form, of a type most common in the Chenes region of west central Yucatan at about A.D. 1000, and recurring at Chichén Itzá in the Iglesia edifice, as well as in the upper portion of the Pyramid of the Magician at Uxmal (fig. 3). In all these Maya examples, the doorway surround also consists of geometrically stylized blocks. They represent serpent fangs arranged to suggest that the doorway is a serpent's gullet. The serpent was usually a sky symbol in Maya art, and objects or buildings marked with serpent forms were probably the domain of celestial powers.12 Thus the serpent fangs marked the sacred character of the building by defining a boundary between worldly and other-worldly space at the doorway. In the Montejo house, however, the idea of a conflation of Renaissance and Maya forms may be untenable, for it takes us close to a class of false or imaginary survivals which have arisen among people inclined to see "idols behind altars" in every department of Latin American behavior. Visual convergences of the type of the Montejo house nevertheless appear, and whether they are intentional, or subconscious, or purely adventitious, requires documentary proofs of intention which are extremely elusive. No such doubts arise in connection with the many colonial examples of heraldic and commemorative records in which pre-Conquest themes appear. Pre-Columbian examples are common. The Tizoc stela in the Museo Nacional is a commemorative relief: it records a date (1486) and it shows the rulers Tizoc and Ahuitotl drawing penitential blood from their ear lobes. Heraldic forms, such as personal name-signs and as place-names, were the

22

PRE-COLUMBIAN ART AND

ARCHAEOLOGY

principal substance of pre-Conquest picture-writing. Thus the name-glyph of Tizoc was the picture of a bleeding leg and foot. The emblem of Tenochtitlan was a cactus plant ( n o c h t l i ) . The convergence of native emblems and European heraldry was inevitable. They are comparable stages in the history of writing, especially useful in the making of maps. For example, the name of Tenayuca, near Mexico City, signifies "walled place" and its Aztec glyph shows the outline of a crenelated wall. This glyph survived in colonial usage, and it appears over the church doorway at Tlalnepantla as part of a Renaissance architectural composition (fig. 12). Personal name-glyphs recording Indian sounds continued in colonial use through the sixteenth century in tax records (fig. 4) and genealogies, 13 and they were replaced by written names in the Spanish phonetic system only after 1600. Hxplants. The descendance of a small piece of embryo chicken heart has flourished since 1912 at Rockefeller Institute in New York as an explanted tissue. It has been kept alive outside its organism in an appropriate medium. 1 4 The term can be borrowed to describe certain phenomena of native survival in colonial America, as when an isolated theme flourished for a period within the supporting medium of colonial institutional life. An example is the continuing development of one aspect of pre-Columbian calendrical symbolism under colonial conditions for two generations after the Conquest. No regular sequence of glyphs designating the 20-day months of the native calendar of Mexico and Central America was used in Central Mexico until some Indian scribe devised a sequence of month-glyphs (figs. 7, 8) in connection with historical records of the Conquest and colonial taxation periods. 15 The appearance of these 19 signs coincides with the introduction from Europe of an archaic form of the farmer's calendar and a group of Renaissance menological symbols based upon Roman prototypes. Thus the pages of the Tovar calendar resemble those of the Chronograph of A.D. 354, and the pages of a calendrical manuscript of 1575-82 (fig. 5) in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (Ms. Mexicain Nos. 23-24) recall those of the runic farmers' calendars used in northern Europe as late as the sixteenth century (fig. 6). The glyphs themselves depict the Mexican names of the months, but the forms of panel composition derive from European models. In short, the cells of the tissue are Mexican, but their medium is European. These early colonial efforts to perpetuate the use of the Indian calendar died out about 1600. Indeed, the entire "native" illustrated manuscript production of the metropolitan region surrounding Mexico-Tenochtitlan can be regarded as

«igjgg

tf-r^i-'-r]ft

./i^

y - J í l - L h ι V . « i T»»lV{ .

>>/•"•·> j

t e a 4 ,

e j r t i Í r v

f

Φ

r -

FIG. 4.

·»>

t ^ . « n«-y*·«

_ i r * *

1

· * *

'

víV**«*

Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale. M S mex. 387, fol. 526. T a x list of the residents of Huejotzingo with rebus names, 1559.

24

PRE-COLUMBIAN

ART

AND

ARCHAEOLOGY

FIG. 5. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale. MS mex. 23-24, fol. 4. Codex mexicanus. The month of August.

FIG. 6. Bologna, University Museum. Runic calendar of French origin on wooden tablets (A.D. 1514).

an expiant. All these manuscripts, with only one possible exception—the Plano en papel de maguey—were made after the Conquest. Early colonial illustrated texts, made either on European paper or on a new colonial variety of native paper prepared from the fiber of the maguey cactus,1® were commissioned for the use of the Crown and for the information of colonial administrative officers when considering new legislation or matters under litigation. 17 They were not made for publication or for general use, and they

Essay 2

FIG. 7.

GEORGE

KUBLER

25

Rome, Vatican Library. Codex Rios. The month signs designating the events of the Conquest of Mexico, 1520-21, in drawings executed after 1566.

Λ

b

e

d

FIG. 8. Berlin, Staatsbibliotek. Codex Humboldt, No. 1. Four colonial tribute payment period glyphs, drawn after 1539?

all remained lost to view in archives and private collections until the modern era. Many are faithful copies of pre-Conquest books, like Codex Borbonicus, whose colonial date is betrayed by certain European conventions of draughtsmanship, with rounded contours suggesting three-dimensional bodies. The Aubin tonalamatl is also a colonial manuscript, because it contains a depiction of a European species of pig. At the other extreme, the Europeanized illustrations for Sahagún's great encyclopaedia of Mexican ethnography were painted by Indians, but the graphic conventions are those of sixteenthcentury Spanish art. An exception is the group which illustrates the Primeros Memoriales, circa 1558, in a manner still retaining some habits of preConquest drawing (fig. 13). Occasionally, a graphic style of some expressive power arose from the compounding of Indian and European conventions, as in the Lienzo de Tlaxcala (ca. 1558), but it was inevitable that the flat manner of Indian painting, fenced about by straight lines and abrupt curves, with color in ungraded local tones, should disappear in favor of the far greater descriptive power of European drawing and coloring. The appearances of solid bodies could only be shown schematically in the Indian conventions and

26

FIG. 9.

PRE-COLUMBIAN ART A N D

ARCHAEOLOGY

New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery. Lacquered wooden \ero depicting Inca warriors in colonial costume. Photograph: E. DeCusati.

the Indians themselves eagerly learned the new European system of perspective construction by line and graduated color relations. Another instance of the colonial expansion of pre-Columbian themes appears in the highland Peruvian manufacture of lacquered wooden drinking vessels called \eros and panchas.18 Many hundreds of them are known, showing Indians with elaborate colonial costumes (fig. 9), engaged in ritual actions of pre-Conquest types. The \ero is a vessel form of flaring beaker type. Examples have been found at Inca sites of fifteenth-century date, but they lack the elaborate figurai compositions of the colonial examples. The pa\chas are complicated carvings in which the vessel is separated from the drinker's mouth by a more or less elaborate channeling of the liquid along a carved handle or stem. These painted wooden vessels, together with the remarkable seventeenthcentury manuscript by Felipe Guarnan Poma de Ayala, 19 are the principal pictorial documentation of Inca culture known today. Though colonial con-

Essay 2

FIG. 10.

GEORGE

KUBLER

27

Tlalmanalco, Mexico. Stone pilaster at chancel of open chapel. About 1580 (Dirección de Monumentos Coloniales).

ventions of representation are predominant, the subject matter is indigenous, so that the class as a whole, of which the manufacture endured far into the nineteenth century, can be regarded as an explanted survival of native themes in colonial forms. Transplants describe the inclusion of pre-Columbian symbols among the configurations of colonial art. Such grafts of pre-Columbian material upon the colonial matrix are uncommon, because of the general tendency toward the symbolic extinction of pre-Columbian values in colonial life. When transplants can be identified, they enjoy an exceptional dramatic status, as much because of their rarity as because of their intrinsic interest. An example is the occasional use of obsidian inserts on colonial sculpture to symbolize the vital principle, as in pre-Conquest statuary, when an obsidian disk set into the chest of a stone figure represented the heart and therefore the life of the image. Two stone churchyard crosses of sixteenth-century date in Michoacán, and one at Tepeapulco in Hidalgo, bear such inserts at the intersection of the arms (fig. 15). There can be no doubt that the pre-Conquest symbolism of heart sacrifice was intended, in order to re-

28

FIG. 11.

PRE-COLUMBIAN ART AND

ARCHAEOLOGY

Mérida, Yucatan. Façade of the Montejo house, begun 1549 (after Toussaint).

inforce the Christian meaning of the crucifixion among recently converted natives. 20 Many opportunities for this kind of reinforcement were present, but in practice the parallels were not drawn close enough for use. Thus the ritual of Xipe Totee, with human flaying to symbolize the renewal of vegetation (fig. 13), had a Christian parallel in the martyrdom by flaying suffered by St. Bartholomew. The apostle is often represented in colonial art, and many churches are dedicated to him, but no allusion to the pre-Conquest symbolism of flaying is ever apparent, nor is any conflation of Xipe symbolism with that of St. Bartholomew known.

Essay 2

FIG. 12.

GEORGE

KUBLER

Tlalnepantla, Mexico. Heraldic signs over main doorway. About (Monumentos Coloniales.)

29

1580.

Fragmentation. Survivals of odds and ends of native ornament, torn from context and repeated as "empty" decorative themes, rarely appear in sixteenth-century art. One example is convincing: in the mural paintings at the Augustinian cloister of Culhuacán, south of Mexico City, painted about 1570-80, 21 the borders are repetitions of the pre-Conquest stepped-fret meander, or Xicalcoliuhqui (fig. 14). This symbol appeared most frequently in Cholula polychrome pottery designs. The form is properly listed among the most common and widespread of pre-Conquest geometric decorations. Its wide diffusion suggests that even in pre-Conquest time no highly specialized or restricted symbolism was read into it. 22 Such forms are comparable to the flotsam of a shipwreck, to the wooden fragments and buoyant objects washed ashore and preserved as mementos by uncomprehending foreigners. Bits of empty decoration like the Culhuacán borders are important, however, as early dated examples of the most abundant category of "survival art" in existence, the category of tourist souvenirs decorated with archaeological themes. Enormous amounts of textile, pottery, jewelry and painting have been emblazoned with the Aztec calendar disk or with the Tiahuanaco "sun-gate" figure. These empty revivals, without meaning beyond the vague evocation of place, first appeared as an industrial phenomenon about 1875. A transformation in the direction of upper-class taste began after the

30

PRE-COLUMBIAN ART AND

ARCHAEOLOGY

First World War, when expatriate artists, like William Spratling in Tasco, made use of rural artisans for the execution of designs aimed to appeal to the moneyed and discriminating traveler. 23 Truman Bailey in Lima is another such director of revival design, using highland artisans brought together from many provinces. Many items of native technology, like the dyestuffs of the central Andes, have thus been recovered from obscurity and probable oblivion, to be mixed into the immense technological repertory of modern industrial art. Thus the principal native survivals in post-Conquest life are nearly all useful and technical, pertaining either to language or economic life. Other than in language, symbolic and expressive behavior of all kinds was discarded early in colonial history never to be recalled or revived unless as documents by modern students of the history of culture, long after the extinction of native art. If we now return to the eschatological theme, of the ways in which cultures terminate, it is instructive to compare the end of the American Indian society with the end of the Roman Empire. The events are comparable as to magnitude alone; otherwise they differ most radically. The end of the

Essay 2

GEORGE

KUBLER

31

FIG. 14. Culhuacán, Mexico. Mural decoration in the Augustinian cloister. About 1570-80.

Roman state was gradual, enduring several centuries, unlike the nearly instantaneous conquests during one generation of the principal American Indian peoples. The Roman Empire was slowly flooded by barbarians and by eastern Mediterranean mystic religions. Its aristocracy was ruined or destroyed by a barbarianized army. 24 The American peoples were conquered by the emissaries of a unified nation possessing more viable ethical and technological resources than their victims. The survival of Roman antiquity in Europe was generally regarded by the historically conscious ruling classes both as a guiding heritage and as a burdensome model of superior achievement, which mediaeval men struggled to equal or surpass until the Renaissance. The survival of antiquity in America rapidly faded into oblivion, as all peoples gravitated into the domain of European technology and of Christian ethical standards, often of their own volition, and as if in flight from the limitations of pre-Conquest cultural life. In short, the differences are those of termination by gradual dilution and replacement in the Roman case, as contrasted with integral transformation into the European model in the American case. The ethnic dilution of the Roman state facilitated those massive survivals of superior ancient knowledge among disoriented peoples that animated the Middle Ages until the Renaissance. In Europe, the technology of the Roman could only be imperfectly imitated during the Middle Ages. The symbolic forms of classical

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antiquity could be used to implement and propagate the ethical system of Christian religion. But the integral transformation of America required the destruction of all symbolic expressions of Indian intellectual tradition, and the Spaniards permitted only the technologically useful elements of economic behavior to survive. The slow ending of Greco-Roman civilization was the end of a system of political control. After its disintegration, the spiritual and technical achievements of antiquity survived as living traditions of overwhelming superiority. Of this mode of survival there is practically no trace in America, unless it is in an illusion of Indian superiority held among the more sentimental or opportunistic followers of the twentieth-century movement of indigenismo. Indigenismo seeks to establish the economic and political rights of the native peoples of America. The intellectual foundations of indigenismo, however, are built upon the political theories of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Europe and upon humanitarian demands for victims of racial and economic oppression. There is no native philosophical or religious tradition upon which indigenismo rests. Its intellectual boundaries are those of European thought alone. The end of American Indian civilization came by total replacement in symbolic matters with significant residues surviving only in economically useful products, like corn, peanuts, chocolate, and tomatoes and potatoes.25 Are there other examples of this mode of ending in history? Probably not, for only in the period of the voyages of discovery, could such disparate cultures as those of Spain and America be brought into contact. At all other times, the différences between more advanced or urban peoples have been more gently graded, and more slowly resolved. Never before and probably never again will a nation be able to profit from such a tremendous potential energy of difference between national and tribal cultures as in Renaissance America, when the confrontation of Spaniards and American Indians produced a reaction violent enough to strip apart the symbolic system from the practical behavior of an entire continent. Save for rare exceptions, the preColumbian arts are gone. Only the practical economic behavior, and a few superstitious rites survive among the rural proletariat. These parts of preConquest life were enriched in most respects by European imports, and they are overlaid altogether by European symbolic patterns. Our demonstration that symbolic forms are perishable, while utilitarian traits, like hardy weeds, may infiltrate situations where symbols cannot survive, has some bearing upon the issue between diffusionists and independent inventionists.26 The traits enumerated by the new diffusionists pertain

FIG. 15.

Ciudad Hidalgo, Michoacán. Churchyard cross with obsidian insert. After 1565. (Monumentos Coloniales.)

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mainly to symbolic expression. The diffusionists have never given any explanation of the absence of large-wheeled vehicles and of Old World beasts of burden in America. Would these powerfully useful instruments not have survived the displacement more readily than Hindu and Buddhist symbols? Between equivalent peoples of differing traditions, tools and useful ideas travel much more quickly than symbolic forms, as we are witnessing today in the massive flow of useful ideas between Russia and the West, in contrast to the negligible exchange of symbolic forms in art, philosophy, and religion. In respect to colonial action, differing graduated scales can be suggested for the survival of various items in the cultural repertory. The scales vary according to the magnitude of the intrusion. Most likely to weather a great displacement in the hands of a few stragglers would be useful plants and animals (index 5). Useful crafts would be next most likely to attain perpetuation if any one survived (index 4). Then, useful symbolic knowledge such as language, explanatory myth or animalistic accounts (index 3). Aesthetic symbols would come next, in the arts of time and space (index 2). Religious beliefs: the accounting of the unknown in nature and in perception would have the lowest value (index 1). An inverted index order attaches to these same items when a conquering people, strong in numbers and tenaciously persistent in its colonizing ambition, rules a subject population of retarded culture. Thus with Spain in America: religion came first to Indian notice; then art; then the useful skills and crafts. The viability of native symbolic matter varied therefore inversely with the magnitude and staying power of the intruder. Powerful and numerous invaders can impose their religion at once upon a retarded and conquered people, whose own religious tradition then withers away. Art is the symbolic expression accompanying this displacement. Utility and practical need probably governed the later sequence of adoptions, rejections and displacements. For early man in America, and for all the principal regions of preColumbian life, we have no evidence that any Old World invader other than the conquistador was ever numerous enough to impose his religion to the exclusion of his useful knowledge.

ESSAY

by DUDLEY T. EASBY, JR.

Fine Metalwork in Pre-Conquest Mexico By fine metalwork we mean those objects which show both artistic merit and mastery of technique. Technical competence alone is not sufficient to assure a work of artistic merit, but without it no true work of art is possible. As sometimes happens with the products of an unfamiliar civilization, the metal adornments from ancient Mexico that appeal least to our present taste are quite often the very ones which show the greatest virtuosity and mastery of technique. It should be conceded at the outset that it is not easy to appreciate fully the artistic qualities in the works of a bygone culture that was virtually stamped out by the Spanish Conquest in the sixteenth century. But numerous eyewitness accounts at that time, particularly when the loot from New Spain began to arrive in Europe, leave no doubt about the impact of the goldwork. Perhaps the most eloquent tribute was that Cortés could not bring himself to melt down some of the more outstanding pieces, but sent them intact to Charles the Fifth that the latter might admire them with his own eyes. When the great Renaissance master, Albrecht Dürer, saw them in Brussels in 1520 he was moved to such an extent that he wrote the oftquoted "Never in all my born days have I seen anything that warmed my heart as much as these things. . . . " 1 Unfortunately, they have since disappeared. However, other examples of the goldsmith's art in ancient Mexico have been found in tombs and offerings, and are now in public and private collections. Many are pleasing to our eyes and have a very direct and universal appeal. Some that come to mind are the little owl's head and the eagle's head in the American Museum of Natural History, the incredible miniature snake's head pendant in the Museum of the American Indian, the coyote's head in the Museo Nacional in Mexico City and the same museum's famous shield or Chimalli de Yanhuitlán with turquoise inlay. The fabulous treasure from Tomb 7 at Monte Alban is in a class by itself, and ranks with the greatest works of art of all time.

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Most early Mexican metalwork was intended to be worn as personal adornment, and any jeweler will testify that it was exceedingly well designed for the purpose. The pectorals, for example, are carefully balanced to hang well, often with broad flat surfaces at the base to prevent them from rotating or turning. These flat surfaces may or may not be decorated, but in every case they add to the resplendence of the object. Rings for suspension are always placed with balance and appearance in mind. Small bells are often suspended from larger pieces, and these give a pleasing sound when they move and strike each other as they would if worn. The aspects of successful design for wearing cannot be appreciated when the objects are immobile in a museum vitrine, but they must be taken into account in any consideration of the skill and competence of the men who made the objects. From the technological point of view fine metalwork from Mexico, as indeed from elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere, is both fascinating and enigmatic. When and where metalworking began in the New World, how it developed, and the extent to which metals were extracted from ores must still be viewed as open questions. There is plenty of debate but very little of what, as a lawyer, I would call evidence. Pre-Columbian America never reached an Age of Metals such as we know in the Old World, although it is only fair to say that the Andean region was on the threshold of a Copper and Bronze Age when the Europeans arrived. Yet fine metalwork in gold, silver and copper 2 had already reached an astonishingly high degree of technical development in what we today call Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico. Even platinum, which European craftsmen were unable to master until the nineteenth century, was being worked in Ecuador and Colombia. The metallurgical process used in ancient Ecuador to work platinum is the first known application of the basic principle of powder metallurgy, generally thought to be a strictly modern method of working high-meltingpoint metals. 3 Motolinía, López de Gomara, Sahagún and Peter Martyr were among the first Europeans to bear witness to the technical excellence of Mexican fine metalwork. 4 Modern metalworkers and metallurgists have confirmed those judgments and, based on an intimate knowledge of the technical problems involved, have gone on to express amazement at the results achieved with what must have been the most rudimentary sort of equipment. It is not too much to say that it was a sheer triumph of dexterity and ingenuity coupled with a sure eye, long practice, infinite patience and plenty of time. This is not the time nor the place for detailed descriptions of the vari-

Essay 3

D U D L E Y T. E A S B Y ,

JR.

37

ous metalworking techniques employed in ancient Mexico. The bygone jewelers were past masters in the art of making small and very precise cireperdue castings, both solid and hollow. Their only rivals in the use of false filigree, or cast wire, were the craftsmen who made the gold ornaments found at Venado Beach in Panama. For those Lothrop has a tentative, but significant, Carbon 14 date in the first half of the third century. 6 The casting methods and materials are described in Sahagún's sixteenth-century account, written originally in a transliteration of Náhuatl but now available in a translation that is technically understandable.® In general, they resemble modern casting practice with one important difference. The investment compounds now in use cannot, so I am told, be carved for cores like the old mixture of clay and powdered charcoal.7 This puts today's sculptors and jewelers at a disadvantage, since cores have to be mold made. That technique was used by the Mexicans only when they wished to cast a series of identical objects. Sheet metal was produced by cold-hammering and annealing, and cut into discs and other forms to be decorated with repoussé work. To digress for a moment, in 1519 Cortés sent back to Charles the Fifth a large gold solar disc and a companion silver one, described in contemporary accounts as being the size of cart wheels or millstones; and there has been speculation about how they were made. Having in mind the enormous weight of metal needed to cast a piece of that size, Lothrop and I have maintained that these discs were probably made of sheets of repoussé work applied over a wooden frame or form. Confirmation for our belief appears in a letter to the Archbishop of Granada, the President of the Council of the Indies, written from Seville on November 7, 1519, two days after the caravel bearing these discs and other treasures arrived from the New World. One is described as having been "worked, as when they work over pitch," 8 almost a textbook description of the method. Carved wooden objects were sheathed with finely beaten gold foil, and labrets and other ornaments were made of gold and silver set with jade or rock crystal or obsidian. Cast gold objects were sometimes inlaid with turquoise mosaic, and there are many references to gold and feather ornaments. Despite the frequency with which cups and other vessels are mentioned in the chronicles and inventories, Mexican examples of raising by cold-hammering sheet metal over a stake are very rare. There are, of course, the fluted silver bowl from Tomb 7 at Monte Alban, and the Peabody Museum's six copper cups and gold skullcap from the Cenote at Chichén Itzá, but it would appear from early accounts 9 that the Mexicans did not turn out rais-

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FIG. 1. Front, profile and rear views of Skull of Chinantlilla. Museo Nacional, Mexico City. Total height 8.5 cm. Courtesy of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.

ed work comparable to that from Peru. 10 However, Motolinia indicates that they learned this technique rapidly from the Spaniards, 11 and apparently before the end of the sixteenth century they were beginning to produce fine raised work in Chiapas. 12 Recently, I had an opportunity to examine some exceptional items from a new find in Uruapan in the State of Michoacán, and came upon two techniques hitherto associated with Ecuador and Colombia but not with Mexico. One was the use of drawn wire (as opposed to cast wire or false filigree) and the other, the hammering of small sheet gold objects over a mold or model carved in relief. This find will be published shortly by Eduardo Pareyon of the I.N.A.H., who excavated the site. Finally, Motolinia, López de Gomara and Gage write enthusiastically about the skill of the Mexicans in making articulated pieces and bimetallic objects, half-gold and half-silver. 13 These two types are also mentioned in the inventories, but very few examples are known today. As they have received scant attention in Americanist literature, I have singled them out for special mention. An engaging example of the first type is the little skull pendant with a movable jaw, found at Chinantlilla, Oaxaca, and now in the Museo Nacional in Mexico City (fig. 1). The core for the skull was carefully carved, then completely covered with a thin coating of wax. When the wax model had been sharpened with a tool (and before it was enveloped in the outer shell of the mold) the model with the core inside was sawed in two along a line dividing the lower jaw from the upper part of the skull. The wax models for the two parts were completed by making the four

Essay 3

D U D L E Y T. E A S B Y , JR.

39

FIG. 2. Front and rear views of half-gold, half-silver Pectoral of Teotitlán del Camino. Museo Nacional, Mexico City. Height 4.25 cm. Photographs: the author's.

circular and two rectangular perforations in the upper part, and by adding three flattened rings and two thin straps of wax to the lower part or jaw. Each part was then enveloped in its own outer shell or mold of clay and crushed charcoal. The molds were dried, the wax burned out, and each part was cast separately. After the two castings were removed from their respective molds, cleaned and burnished, the two little metal straps on either side of the lower jaw were fed through the rectangular holes at the base of the upper part, bent into place to form loops, and then soldered. Little is known about soldering in ancient Mexico beyond the fact that it was used to close loops or rings on some bells and pendants. Sahagún mentions adding a little copper to silver to make solder, but refers to it only in connection with repairs. To return to the skull, there can be no doubt that the upper and lower parts were cast separately in two molds, nor that the wax model of the entire skull (with the core inside) was first made in one piece which was then sawed in two. The edges of each part are definitely cast, and slight irregularities and variations in thickness along the corresponding edges match up perfectly. The three flattened rings on the underside of the jaw were placed with balance in mind, that is, the jaw should open and close in a rather startling fashion as the wearer moved. The only technical slip is that when the craftsman added the rings in wax to the wax model of the jaw he put them on backwards. They are smoothly finished and slightly convex on the back,

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whereas the front bears what appear to be textile impressions (from whatever surface on which the maker rested the w a x ) . Each of the tassels and bells suspended from the skull was cast separately with two thin prongs that were later bent to form a loop and soldered together when the piece was assembled. T h e loops at the bottom of each tassel were part of the original castings. Excluding the compound rings and pectorals from Monte Alban and other Oaxacan sites, I have examined only one other articulated piece, the notable snake labret with a movable tongue presently on loan at the American Museum of Natural History. 1 4 However, that and the Skull of Chinantlilla convince me that the early chroniclers did not exaggerate in their descriptions of articulated pieces from Mexico. T u r n i n g to bimetallic objects, there is one in Mexico City and two more are among the treasure found in Tomb 7 at Monte Alban. T h e first is the half-gold, half-silver pectoral of a deity wearing a small nose bar and a mouth mask in the form of an eagle's beak (fig. 2 ) . It was found at El Fuerte, Teotitlán del Camino, Oaxaca, and is now in the Museo Nacional. The maker of this tour de force displayed what can only be described as contempt for technical difficulties. H e cast it in two operations using a process known today as "casting-on." 1 5 In simple terms the component with the higher melting point is cast first, and placed in a new mold that is heated. T h e n the metal with the lower melting point is poured into the new mold and "cast on" to the higher melting one which remains in a preheated solid state. T h e bonding of the two metals is brought about by a process called diffusion. 1 6 T h e principal steps in m a k i n g the pectoral under consideration were: (a) preparing a wax model of the entire piece; ( b ) cutting that model in half longitudinally; ( c ) casting the gold half first; (d) placing the gold half and the w a x model for the other half together in a new mold; (e) burning out the wax at the same time preheating the gold (but not melting i t ) ; and (/) casting on the silver half. In preparing the model for the gold half the maker added a small flange of wax along the edge where the metals would be joined to provide a wider bonding surface. This is visible on the back of the piece. On the back, and to a greater extent on the front, some silver has flowed over the gold beyond the line of union. T h e silver, undoubtedly an alloy containing copper, is badly corroded and fine deposits of a green salt (probably malachite) are present on the surface. T h e silver also is quite brittle, and has developed a bad crack near but not at the line of union. Part of the mouth mask has been lost on the silver side as a result of other cracks.

Essay 3

DUDLEY T. E A S B Y , JR.

41

FIG. 3. Two half-gold, half-silver solar discs from Tomb 7 at Monte Alban. Museo Regional de Oaxaca. Average diameter 2.45 cm. Photograph: the author's.

This loss is not mentioned in Forsyth's description of the piece, published in 1909.17 That description should have, but apparently did not, put at rest the speculation about whether the two metals were joined by soldering; Forsyth states that: . . . the parts do not appear to be soldered together, so closely and perfectly are they joined; the whole work is cleverly done, no trace of tools being visible. The figure must have been first cast and afterward polished. A much earlier and less equivocal description of the making of a similar bimetallic piece is that of López de Gomara, who notes that it was "no soldado sino fundido, y en la fundición pegado." 18 The italics for emphasis are López de Gómara's. Not all the early chroniclers were technically uninformed clerics or soldiers, and it is a mistake to ignore or discount them as possible sources of technical information. This pectoral is a good example of the extravagant use of cast wire or false filigree decoration, so common in pieces from Oaxaca. All this was carefully laid out in wax thread in making the model. How were wax threads of such uniform diameter made? Dr. Alfonso Caso, Joseph V. Noble of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dr. Javier Castro Mantecón, a dental surgeon and historian of Oaxaca, and I have independently come to the same conclusion; the wax was extruded into cold water, using a tube with a tiny, necked orifice and a plunger. Despite the evident dexterity of the ancient craftsmen, it would be absurd to maintain that these threads were rolled. The other known half-gold, half-silver objects from Mexico are the pair of small solar discs found in Tomb 7 and now in the Museo Regional de Oaxaca (fig. 3). In these the two metals were definitely not joined by soldering nor by casting-on. Visual examination with a low-power binocular microscope, as well as X-ray photographs made by Dr. Luis Vargas y Vargas of the Hospital Inglés in Mexico City, fully confirm Dr. Caso's opinion

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that the two metals were joined by hammering. To determine whether they were cold-hammered or hot-worked would require a metallographic examination of a polished section. Contrary to most Mexican repoussé work, the decoration was not done freehand, but by hammering the piece from behind into an intaglio mold. As usual, the silver is very brittle; in one disc part of the silver half has been lost, and in each there is a large crack near but not at the line of union. From what is known, it may safely be said that fine metalwork from pre-Conquest Mexico can hold its own with that of any era or place. What can be learned from a study of the objects themselves 19 and a few early accounts, however, is all that is ever likely to be known about the craft until such time as metal working sites are found and excavated scientifically. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The work in Mexico for this paper was made possible by a grant from the American Philosophical Society. My warm thanks go to Dr. Eusebio Dávalos Hurtado and his colleagues in the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, especially Lorenzo Gamio and Sra. Susana Pérez, for all they did to facilitate my studies.

ESSAY

4

by M. W. STIRLING

The Olmecs; Artists tn Jade When the Spaniards reached Mexico during the first quarter of the sixteenth century, one of the things that most impressed them was the high value placed on jade by the natives. However, this feeling was not reciprocated and the conquerors in their search for gold soon disrupted native concepts, and one of the most highly developed of native arts quickly disappeared. Were it not for a few of the early chroniclers such as Sahagún and Torquemada, who gave us details on prospecting and techniques of working this beautiful and durable material, we would know little other than the fact that it was valued by the Mexicans far more than gold. W e do know that the wearing of jade ornaments was reserved for nobles and men of high station. When these lost their power it is easy to see why jade was so soon abandoned. Although Europeans first became acquainted with jade from its use in aboriginal America, their early interest in it was as a "medicine" rather than as an art medium. It was not until they were re-introduced to Chinese jade in the middle of the nineteenth century that its esthetic merit began to be appreciated in the western world. At the time of the conquest, the Spaniards were so disinterested in jade that apparently no one made any effort to learn where it was found. To this day the only knowledge of jade in Mexico is as artifacts found in archaeological sites, although recently jade has been found in situ near Manzanal, Guatemala. While archaeologists have long known that artistically made jade objects occur in relative abundance in prehistoric Middle American sites, only recently it became known that jade working is a very ancient art in the New World which went through long periods of change comparable to the developments in ceramic art and sculpture. Like the ceramic art, no primitive developmental stage has been found. Jade working appears suddenly among the Olmecs of southern Veracruz, possibly as early as 1000 B.C. Not

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only is this true, but the Olmec jades were never surpassed either in workmanship or quality of material. Since the Olmecs were contemporary with the Chou Dynasty in China, which also represented the peak of jade working in that country, some have speculated that the art may have been introduced from across the Pacific. It is not only that jade working appears fully developed in America but many parallels exist. Our documented information concerning jade in America is confined to the Aztec period, but it is fairly safe to assume that ideologies concerning its use were carried on for many centuries. As with the Chinese, it was considered to be the most precious substance. W e say "he has a heart of gold"; the Mexicans and Chinese said "he has a heart of jade." In both regions jade symbolized the sky and water and was represented by a goddess. The Chinese and the Mexicans each placed a piece of jade in the mouth at death as a symbol of eternal life. It was used by the Olmecs and the early Chinese in association with cinnabar, particularly in burials which in both regions were in tombs covered with large earth mounds. In keeping with their status as the earliest high culture in Mesoamerica, the influence of the Olmecs extended to distant places. In fact there is some evidence that they may have had small colonies in such places as Morelos, Guerrero and even El Salvador. Jade has been found, although sparingly, in many early sites in Middle America, which are thought to be more or less contemporaneous with the Olmecs. Vaillant found jade in the Valley of Mexico at Zacatenco, Gualupita, El Arbolillo and Ticoman. It was never abundant and consisted of simple forms such as beads, celts and ear flares. One of the most interesting types recovered was representations of jaguar fangs, in what we now know to be typical Olmec style. These were found at Zacatenco and El Arbolillo. At Tlatilco, near Mexico City, one of these jade canines was found in the mouth of a burial. As early as 1935, Vaillant, with prophetic insight, stated: "Thus the corpus of jade objects from the early cultures is increasing, and suggesting further implications of trade with peoples to the south, perhaps more highly developed than those of central Mexico." At Finca Arizona in Guatemala, a site of the Miraflores period, Shook describes a jade jaguar tooth, ear flares and long slender tubular beads such as were so abundant at La Venta. In the Miraflores horizon at Kaminaljuyu, Kidder found a small polished jade disc accompanying a burial.

FIG. 1. The Kunz axe. Pale blue diopside jadeite. Courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History.

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During the Tzakol period at Uaxactún, a very little jade occurs in the form of beads. One crude jade bead was found in Temple E VII sub. At Playa de los Muertos, Strong found a jade bead in the earliest horizon. Thus the archaeological evidence indicates that probably because of the Olmecs, interest in jade was beginning to develop quite early in Middle America. Apparently, these early pieces were the result of trade, for jade working on a wide scale was not undertaken by peoples other than the Olmecs until a later date. The craft did not reach full flower in the Guatemala highlands, for example, until Esperanza times, although there are indications that it was fairly well developed in the Miraflores Phase of the Pre-Classic. 1 Excellent centers of jade working were also developed in the Nicoya Peninsula and the "Línea Vieja" regions of Costa Rica. It is interesting to note that blue diopside jadeite was a favorite material here as it was with the Olmecs. This hints not only at a southern source for the blue jade, but of possible early trade relations. A typical Olmec specimen of this material was found in the Nicoya Peninsula. This beautiful little "bat man" was no doubt made in Southern Veracruz or Tabasco. It is intriguing to speculate that it may have been one of the trade objects used in return for the raw material which could have come from this region. Costa Rica represents the southern limit of jade use in Middle America. The use of nephrite jade appears in northern and eastern South America and in the West Indies, but the connections with Middle America, if any, are vague. As with knowledge of the beginnings of jade working, the existence of the Olmecs themselves was unknown until well into the present century. In 1929, Marshall Saville published two articles on votive axes from Southeastern Mexico, calling attention to a distinctive art style, which he attributed to the Olmecs described in Aztec and early Spanish accounts. At this time none of the known specimens had been obtained from actual archaeological excavations but it was evident that the majority had come from Southern Veracruz and neighboring regions. This gave plausibility to his theory since here was the "rubber country" from which the Olmecs received their Aztec name. W e know now that the developers of this interesting art style were not the Olmecs of history, but the name has become so firmly established that undoubtedly "Olmecs" they will remain. Jimenez Moreno has discussed the probable sequence of occupations in this coastal region from the historical Olmecs back to the Olmecs of archaeological fame and has concluded that several different peoples were involved.

FIG. 2.

Crying dwarf. Blue jade f r o m Cerro de las Mesas. Courtesy of the National Geographic Society.

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The objects described by Saville were modified axes of jade or other stone, representing a curious anthropomorphic feline with flaring upper lip, down-curved mouth with fangs, and a broad flat nose (fig. 1). Frequently, they had a peculiar type of branching eyebrows and a notch in the forehead. They were sometimes embellished with fine incising and shown holding a leaf-shaped knife over the chest. The ears were long and narrow. Eyes were either oblong and slanting in accentuated mongoloid fashion, or stylized rectangles set horizontally. The feet when represented were shown by grooved lines indicating the toes. All of the specimens displayed the highest type of sculptural art and finish and appeared to be entirely distinct in style from other known examples of Middle American art. Other anthropologists soon became interested in this intriguing subject, notably George Vaillant and Miguel Covarrubias. In 1938, the writer, who suspected that the Tuxtla statuette and the colossal head at Tres Zapotes were also representative of this style, inaugurated a series of excavations at Tres Zapotes in the hope of learning more of the producers of this interesting art. The early date on the Tuxtla statuette hinted that the culture was very old. The Tres Zapotes excavations were followed by work at La Venta and San Lorenzo, with the result that the Olmec "civilization" began to emerge in its full form. Drucker, Weiant, Wedel, Heizer and Squier have all contributed important material to this project. The anthropomorphic jaguars proved to be but one aspect of a spectacularly rich and well-rounded culture. The antiquity of the Olmecs was demonstrated by the early calendar dates on the Tuxtla statuette and Stela C at Tres Zapotes and later by radiocarbon dates secured from La Venta. Although lacking stone architecture, the Olmecs were real masters of the sculptor's art. Whether the carved object consisted of a paper-thin piece of jade no larger than a little fingernail or a colossal head of basalt nine feet high, they achieved a mastery over stone unequaled by any of their New World successors. An outstanding feature of the style was its dignified simplicity and restraint. Lacking the baroque embellishments of most later styles, the Olmec artist did nothing that would distract from the main points of interest in his product. Admirable realism was achieved when desired (figs. 5, 6), but the artist could produce highly imaginative impressionistic results when representing supernatural beings (fig. 3). Among the characteristic products of these early sculptors were colossal heads and huge table-top altars of basalt, decorated with carvings in both low and full relief. Statues representing human beings and deities, stone sarcophagi and boxes were sculptured

FIG. 3.

Stylized jade jaguar. From Necaxa, Puebla. Courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History.

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FIG. 4.

ARCHAEOLOGY

Grimacing man, Olmec culture. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Robert Woods Bliss Collection, Loan.

and tastefully decorated. L a r g e mosaic pavements were constructed of polished green serpentine blocks, representing conventionalized jaguar masks. Palisades and tombs were made of two-ton, columnar basalt columns. Stelae up to 18 feet in height and weighing over 20 tons were erected, as were elaborate tombs in many different forms. T h e majority of the monuments were of basalt, but serpentine, limestone and some other stones were used as well. Above all things, the Olmecs loved jade, and in the hands of their artists it was shaped to suit their ends. With apparent disregard for the difficulties involved, the tough material was mastered as though it were a plastic. This is in contrast to most later American jade products, where obvious concessions were made to the original form of the material and the

finished

products usually had a rigidity not present in Olmec art. In this respect Olmec jades rival the finest Chinese pieces, and the polish and surface texture has not been excelled by modern lapidaries. T h e simple beauty and sensuous warmth of this art has made Olmec jades the most desired by artloving moderns of all American aboriginal products. Seated and standing figurines

appear relaxed and natural, while dynamic movement could be

represented when desired (fig. 4 ) , as with some of the jade dancing

figures.

Many of the sculptures, large and small, may well have been portraits.

FIG. 5.

Blue jadeite bust of a m a n , Olmec culture, Mexico. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Robert W o o d s Bliss Collection, Loan.

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There does not exist a more pleasing figure than the jade seated lady from La Venta, wearing a mirror on her chest and a subtle Mona Lisa smile. The jade used by the Olmecs was jadeite, basically a silicate of sodium and aluminum. The ancient Chinese jades were nephrite, a calcium magnesium silicate. It was not until the eighteenth century that the Chinese began to import jadeite from Burma. In general, jadeite is the superior stone. It is somewhat harder than nephrite, has more luster after polishing and the colors tend to be brighter. Furthermore, jadeite is of much rarer occurrence. The wide variety of colors and types of jadeite used indicates that the materials must have been supplied from many different sources. Jade was undoubtedly an object of extensive trade, and it is probable that jade prospecting was a specialized profession as it was in Aztec times. La Venta was apparently the ceremonial headquarters of the Olmec during their apogee, and the sacred burial place of their leaders. It has produced the greatest abundance of jade of any Olmec site. Jade objects constituted a favorite type of burial offering, while other caches of the same material were evidently offerings to the gods. For this reason it is from La Venta that we have acquired most of our knowledge of how jade was used and regarded by the Olmecs. Here two types of jade appear to have been especially prized. One of these was the precious transparent emerald-green variety, known to the Chinese as imperial or gem jade. The other was a beautiful, translucent blue form, identified as diopside jadeite. This latter was unknown in China. The term imperial jade has been frequently abused, often being applied to any type of unusually bright, green jade. True imperial jade was found at La Venta for the first time in the New World, heretofore being known only from Burma. Imperial jade does not occur in large masses. The specimens from La Venta consist principally of beads; tubular, spherical and in the form of sections of bamboo or joined spheres. One exquisite pair of ear pendants of this material was in the form of long, slender jaguar fangs, hollowed out on one side so as to enhance their color and transparency, and at the same time making them lighter to wear (fig. 9). Two similar pairs were of only slightly inferior quality. The limpid transparent beauty of imperial jade when first exposed in an Olmec tomb embedded in moist, vivid red cinnabar is almost beyond description. One large composite bead from the columnar basalt tomb, made from imperial jade in the form of four joined spherical beads, is possibly the finest piece of jade ever found in America. When working with this precious material the La Venta lapidaries used great skill and thought in shaping the objects in such manner as to produce

FIG. 6. Head of a man broken from a statuette, Olmec culture (possibly from Tututepec, coast of Oaxaca). Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Robert Woods Bliss Collection, Loan.

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the maximum diffusion of light to best bring out the rich color. It was for this reason the bamboo shapes and lobed forms were designed, as well as the long, slender tubular pieces. When such beads are too thick, some of the color value is lost. The other highly valued type, the blue diopside jadeite, was evidently found in larger pieces and was a favored material for carving into figurines. At La Venta, at least, it was not used for beads and rarely for similar smaller objects. This jade is a deep blue in color and is quite translucent. It takes a high polish and produces a beautiful effect. Two delicately carved human figurines of flawless blue jade of exceptionally uniform color were found in the basalt column tomb at La Venta (fig. 8) and the powerfully modeled figure of a dwarf, of similar material, came from the great jade cache at Cerro de las Mesas (fig. 2). A novelty from the same La Venta tomb was a necklace made from serrated sting ray tails, each of which was inlaid with several rectangular pieces of glittering crystalline hematite. The central piece of this necklace was an exact replica of one of these tails carved from blue jade. Other outstanding specimens of blue jade were some ceremonial awls or perforators, a large replica of a clam shell and a few axes or celts. The interesting canoe-model pendant from the Cerro de las Mesas cache was also of this material (fig. 10). These two favored materials, however, constituted only a fraction of the jade used at La Venta. Highly desired and relatively rare was a form of translucent grass-green jade of striking color. This was a favored material for making large spherical and gadrooned beads worn as necklaces in some of the rich burials (fig. 9). There was also one seated male figurine made of this bright green jade. In this instance, as with some of the large beads, the green is mottled with white. In no instance was the white jade isolated for use by itself, although some of the inclusions were large enough to have made this possible. Another interesting piece made from this material was the representation of a human heart with aorta attached. By far the most abundant jade at the La Venta site was a pale gray-green variety. Several hundred axes were found, made of this material. The color is not very striking but it takes a high polish which makes it quite attractive. Many of these axes have in them small veins of green. The liking for green is further made evident by the extensive use of green serpentine at La Venta. This was commonly used for making both figurines and axes, and it was evidently the poor man's jade of the Olmecs. When freshly polished these objects must have resembled jade, but the polish does

FIG. 7. Standing figure of a man. Highly polished diopside jadeite. Olmec culture, Mexico. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Robert Woods Bliss Collection, Loan.

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not last indefinitely, so the majority of the serpentine specimens when found had a smooth but dull finish. One large figure of an anthropomorphic monkey was made of green serpentine, and polished slabs of this material were used to make the three jaguar-mask pavements found at L a Venta. A few axes of chloromelanite jade were found, almost jet-black in color Jades of other types and color were few and relatively unimportant. Jade-working techniques for various parts of Middle America have been discussed by several writers, notably Kidder, Drucker, Covarrubias, Foshag, Lothrop and Baiser. For this reason it will not be necessary to go into this matter in detail. F r o m the accounts of Sahagún and Torquemada who described jade working in Aztec times, and from a careful study of archaeological finds, we are able to deduce a great deal concerning the techniques used by the Olmec lapidaries. Undoubtedly, the artists were specialists and we can imagine that they had considerable prestige. Art styles were fairly stereotyped and were an expression of the group rather than the individual. This is true to such an extent that it would be difficult for us today to distinguish between the works of different artists. There exists, therefore, an anonymous character in Olmec art, which remained consistent over a considerable period of time. There is no doubt that, as among the Chinese, considerable preliminary study was given each piece of raw jade before the lapidary decided what the maximum use of it was. Much of the jade, as we know from unfinished examples, was found in the form of waterworn pebbles or boulders. Preliminary polishing of small areas through the surface patina revealed the real nature of the piece. Since the Olmecs had no metals, stone and other available materials were used for tools. The methods of shaping were by percussion, sawing, drilling and polishing. Percussion was used in some of the preliminary stages, such as breaking off projections and unwanted pieces, or in separating sections blocked out by sawing. Hammerstones were used—probably, in most cases, natural waterworn pebbles of convenient size and shape. After the lapidary had made his preliminary study of his raw material, the sections showing the best color were removed by sawing. For this purpose thin slabs of sandstone or even potsherds may have been used. Saws of this nature were found at L a Venta and have been illustrated by Drucker (1952). It is possible that the cutting was aided by the addition of abrasives such as ground-up jade or quartz. Evidence of sawing techniques can be seen in many Olmec specimens, particularly the figurines, where the arms

FIG. 8.

Blue diopside jadeite figures from the basalt column tomb at La Venta. Courtesy of the National Geographic Society.

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FIG. 9. A jade axe, ear ornaments, beads and pendants of jade from La Venta. All excepting the axe are of bright green jade. Courtesy of the National Geographic Society.

and legs were shaped by this method. Fine grooving, such as was used to indicate hair, was also done with a thin stone saw. There is no clear evidence that the Olmecs were acquainted with string sawing such as was used in Costa Rica. Drilling was used as a method of removing material as well as for establishing the base points in shaping the features on figurines. Remains of drill holes can often be seen in the eyes, the nostrils and the corners of the mouth. Apparently the Olmecs used a solid drill rather than the hollow variety. Some of the Olmec drilling is really remarkable. Long, slender beads were drilled their entire length with holes so small that even with modern facilities it is difficult to string them. At L a Venta a large number of paper-thin bangles of green transparent jade were found. These were each drilled with several holes so small that something like a bristle must have been used as a drill. T h e handling and shaping of such tiny objects must have been very difficult. Drucker speculates that large thin sheets of jade were first made, the drill holes put in, and then the individual pieces were cut out and the edges ground down. Once the object had been roughly outlined, it was shaped and rounded by abrading. This may have been done in part with stone "files" or grinding stones, and with the use of pulverized abrasives. At Kaminaljuyu, a cache

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FIG. 10. A canoe model, an engraved plaque, a ceremonial adze and the replica of a mussel shell. T h e latter from L a Venta, the others from Cerro de las Mesas. Courtesy of the National Geographic Society.

of lapidary's materials was found including reject materials and tools, and also there was found a deposit of abrasive consisting of angular quartz sand and ground-up jade. It is most probable that similar materials were used by the Olmecs. T h e final stage in jade working was, of course, polishing, an art in which the Olmecs excelled. Foshag, who made a careful microscopic study of the surface finish of Olmec and other jades concluded that the polishing was accomplished by fine grinding with a hard tool such as another piece of jade or of bamboo. It is clear that no polishing powders were used as in modern lap polishing. Olmec jades were frequently decorated with fine line incising showing details of dress, ornaments, tattooed designs or glyphs. T h i s could have been done with sharp quartz tools or even with jade. Since quartz is harder than jade and was not difficult to obtain, it was probably the material used. T h e names of the artists who produced these masterpieces in jade will never be known, but as long as museums exist their products will give pleasure to art lovers the world over.

ESSAY

by ELIZABETH K. EASBY

The Squier Jades from Tontna, Chiapas So many of the distinguished Maya jades now known appeared singly and innocent of information that it is surprising the familiar and beautiful "Ocosingo jades" at the American Museum of Natural History have never been studied as a group since E. G. Squier published them, with engravings, some ninety years ago when they belonged to him. There have been no published photographs of most of them, so the Museum has graciously rephotographed them for this volume (figs. 1 and 2). Since they come from an interesting site, and constitute a splendid sample cabinet of certain characteristic classes of Maya jades, they are well worth a second look in the light of what has been learned of Maya archaeology since 1869. At that time Squier wrote two articles about his remarkable jades: a paper read before the Lyceum of Natural History of New York and published in its Annals the following year, and one installment in his series entitled "Tongues from Tombs; or, The Stories that Graves Tell" for Fran\ Leslie's Illustrated Weekly. Only in this popular article did he report how the jades had been found. Since copies for the week of July 10, 1869 are hard to find now, that report is included here. I subjoin a section of one of the smaller temples of Palenque, with the vault beneath. . . . In character, if not exactly in dimensions, it coincides with one covered by a mass of fallen masonry that was discovered and excavated in the year 1852, in Ocosingo, in the department of Quesaltenango, Guatemala. Here were also found a series of sepulchral vases containing the ashes of the dead. Most were crushed, but, carefully placed in the largest and most elaborate urn, which occupied the place of distinction at the head of the vault, that is to say, furthest from the doorway, were found a series of relics perhaps the most interesting, if not, in a monetary sense, the most valuable, yet discovered on this continent, and which furnish us with one of the most striking illustrations of the high condition that had been reached by aboriginal American art. They consist of a series of engraved and perforated green stones—probably those called chalchiuitls by the ancient Mexicans—and of sufficient hardness to scratch a cut glass. . . . Besides

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these articles, there were found, at Ocosingo, some large beads of the same green stone. Squier, having completed his diplomatic mission to Central America two years earlier, did not excavate the jades himself, but his description of the find sounds assured and implies that he knew more than he wrote about it, including the dimensions of the vault or building. Unfortunately, a search of his papers at the Smith Memorial Library in Indianapolis revealed no clue to the source of his information, nor to how the jades came into his hands. The town of Ocosingo, of course, has been undisputedly Mexican territory since 1895, part of Chiapas. The only notable ruins near it are those now called Tonina, but until recently referred to more often by the name of the modern town. Squier evidently followed that practice, having said in his lecture that the jades were found "among the ruins of Ocosingo . . . not remote from the more famous but hardly less imposing monuments of Palenque." 1 Any one of several structures at Tonina might correspond to Squier's description. His section of the Palenque temple was obviously copied from one of four architectural drawings published in 1866 by Waldeck and Brasseur de Bourbourg in Monuments Anciens du Mexique, showing the Templo del León, or of the Beau Relief. It is a small, two-room building with a single doorway and a short stair leading down from the inner room into a vaulted L-shaped chamber below. House Β at Tonina2 likewise has a single door and two rooms, and is in such a ruined state that an opening in its floor might have gone undiscovered. However, the wording of Squier's report suggests that he was not comparing the Temple of the Beau Relief to an entire building at Tonina, but only its underground room to the vault where the jades were found. This might have been in Structure D, described by Blom and LaFarge as "a large mound in which we saw remnants of a room and narrow passage," or their No. 8, "a small underground passage, or perhaps, burial vault," located on the third terrace from the summit of the site. Tonina is the largest city discovered in the high country just southwest of the lowland Maya area. No scientific excavating has been done there, but Blom and LaFarge explored and described it, assigning letters to the six best-preserved buildings and numbers to the other structures, and numbering the sculptured monuments, of which nearly forty are known now. The "stelae" among them, renumbered by Morley, are like no others in the Maya area except the single Stela of Palenque. They are stifi standing figures carved completely in the round, and there are other figure sculptures, stela

FIG. 1. Jades from Tonina, Chiapas, a and b: Two-sided plaque, mottled medium emerald green. Height: 7 cm. Thickness: 5 mm. Late Classic. No. 30.1/1446. c and d: Pair of flares, mottled light emerald green. Height: 2.3 cm. Diameter: 5.5 cm. Nos. 30.1/4433-4. e: Inscribed bead, medium emerald green patches in gray. Height: 4.8 cm. Diameter: 5.5 cm. Dated 9.15.0.0.0. No. 30.1/1449. / and g: Flat ornaments, mottled medium emerald green. Diameter: 4.7 cm. Thickness: 3 mm. Nos. 30.1/4430-1. h: Flat ornament, speckled medium bluish green. Width: 5.7 cm. Thickness: 6 mm. No. 30.1/4432.

FIG. 2. Jades from Toniná, Chiapas, a: Pendant, opaque medium blue-green. Width: 11.6 cm. Thickness: 1.2 cm. Late Classic. No. 30.1/1448. b: Pendant, deep green over gray. Height: 11 cm. Thickness: 1.8 cm. Probably Formative Phase, Late Classic. No. 30.1/1447. (Drawing, fig. 9.) c: Pendant, medium emerald green patches in gray. Height: 10.3 cm. Thickness: 1.2 cm. Ca. 9.15.0.0.0. No. 30.1/1444. d: Reçut pendant, medium emerald green over gray. Height: 5.7 cm. Thickness: 1 cm. Late Classic. No. 30.1/1445. All Tonina photographs courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History.

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O O o o Figure 3 FIGS. 3, 4 and 5.

Figure 4

Figure 5

Glyphs on inscribed bead, figure 1.

bases and altars. Relief sculpture was mostly in painted stucco, now much disintegrated. The stone monuments are damaged to an unusual degree and this damage appears intentional. Nearly all the heads have been broken off, and in most cases corresponding heads and bodies have not been found. The readings of the Tonina dates are not entirely agreed upon, but those that are range between 9.12.10.0.0 and 9.18.0.0.0. Half a dozen monuments have less certain inscriptions or stylistic features that indicate dates at least one katun earlier. The ceramics,3 even though little known, show that the life of the city extended over a longer span than the readable texts. They include Tzakol types demonstrating occupation during Early Classic times, as well as Tepeu forms from the period covered by the inscriptions. PostClassic occupation is considered possible, and there is a handsome plumbate tripod with a fish on the cover from Cerro de Santa Tereza near Ocosingo. Even without precise background information, the Squier jades tell their own story, and the key piece among them is the great bead, figure 1, e. Calling it a bead describes its form correctly but is like referring to a praying mantis as a bug. It is 5.5 centimeters in diameter and correspondingly heavy, with three incised glyphs evenly spaced around its sides. The glyph that I assume to be the first, figure 1, e and figure 3, is interpreted by Thompson as follows: "A jade from Ocosingo has a 4 Ahau (note typical forehead ornament) with the katun prefix and the a\ postfix, and this must surely indicate a Katun 4 Ahau." The forehead ornament is typical of the profile form of the Ahau glyph; and the a\, or Postfix A, under the chin is attached to Ahau in texts where it refers to a katun ending, rather than to other Ahau days. 4 The only likely place to put this Katun 4 Ahau in the Long Count is at 9.15.0.0.0 4 Ahau 13 Yax (A.D. 731). The dates recorded at Toniná together with the style and number of the other jades make the preceding Katun

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4 Ahau at 9.2.0.0.0 improbable and the following one at 10.8.0.0.0 downright inconceivable. The character of the glyphs themselves supplies confirmation. N o painstaking stylistic analysis is needed to show that these glyphs do not resemble either the ornate early forms in use even after 9.2.0.0.0, or the inelegant late glyphs of Yucatan, which record no dates as late as the next return of a Katun 4 Ahau after 9.15.0.0.0. The "Short Count" method of designating katuns by their ending days is typical of late texts, but far from unknown at the time when the Toniná bead was so inscribed, and earlier. Such a notation on Copan Stela 6, following an Initial Series date of 9.12.10.0.0, is illustrated and discussed by Thompson along with that of the bead. At Toniná itself there is a circular altar (T-16) with a large 9 Ahau in the center and a border of sixteen glyphs. It is believed to refer to the katun ending 9.6.0.0.0 9 Ahau 3 Uayeb or to 9.19.0.0.0 9 Ahau 18 Mol, even though neither date falls within the range of the other Toniná inscriptions deciphered. Seven altars at Caracol, British Honduras, that can be dated between 9.3.0.0.0 and 9.10.0.0.0 mark the current or ending katun only by a large Ahau with its coefficient. The profile Ahau form appears to have been used in this way on two of the more eroded giant glyph altars at this site, and on two monuments at Altar de Sacrificios.5 Since the first glyph on the bead proves to be so helpful, perhaps it would be too much to expect more than stylistic assistance from the other two. At present their meanings can only be guessed at. The prefix of the second, figure 4, is the xoc element, signifying a count; the upper unit beside it is not a recognizable form; but the lower one is the cauac sign, used in some contexts to represent the haab or 360-day year. Judging by the placement of this compound after the period ending sign, and by the usage of its two known elements in other combinations, 6 it seems probable that it represents some ceremonial phrase concerning "the count of the year," which of course would end at the same time as the katun. The third glyph, figure 5, has an odd prefix at upper left filled with sharp angles and circlets. Under it is the "sky" sign with its usual Postfix Β or te{2) beneath, but with a small square as the infix at the top. Rather close counterparts to the grotesque head at the right appear combined with the "sky" element in two Tikal texts probably dedicated in 9.16.0.0.0 and 9.17.0.0.0. In both cases the glyphs are considered non-chronological, and their precise meanings are unknown. 7 The three glyphs are incised lightly on the well-polished surface of the bead, which is not completely regular in shape. The complicated third glyph is placed on a flat area, and there is a round shallow depression to the right

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of the first one, probably made with a large blunt drill, a suggestion perhaps that the lapidary first intended to begin the perforation from that point. The perforation (3.4 cm.) was drilled biconically, though it is almost cylindrical and has a fairly high polish. The flat grotesque head in profile, figure 1, a and b, represents a class of ornaments characteristic of the Late Classic period. They are unique among Maya jades in being carved on both sides; properly speaking, they have no front and back. (For convenience I shall call them "two-sided placques.") They seem to be quite rare, perhaps because their elaborate shapes, openwork and extraordinary thinness make them so breakable. The Cenote at Chichén Itzá yielded fragments of a dozen or so, one of them shown in figure 6, d. Recent excavations at Palenque have uncovered two more; one in the great sarcophagus in the Temple of the Inscriptions, probably dedicated in 9.13.0.0.0, and the second, figure 6, e, in Tomb 2 of Temple XVIII, where the Initial Series date in the inscription is 9.12.6.5.8.8 Another, from a Late Classic tomb at Nebaj, 9 is stylized beyond easy recognition but is likewise carved on both sides, with seven openings including a hookshaped one in the eye, and 12 perforations around the edges. Obviously, these jades carved on both faces were intended to be worn or used in such a way that both sides would be visible. (Maya lapidaries, especially in the later period, were not in the habit of taking much trouble with surfaces that would not be seen.) The piece found in the Palenque sarcophagus lay among fragments of the cranial dome, implying that it had been part of the headdress or diadem. Confirmation of this is not hard to find in other forms of Maya art. Many sculptures show figures in profile wearing just such an ornament on the brow below the towering headdress. It appears to be mounted on a headband of square or circular units, with several beads or pendants dangling from it. Some good examples, of various dates but all Late Classic, are: Yaxchilan Lintel 26, Bonampak Stela 2, Naranjo Stela 8, Piedras Negras Stela 12 (the standing figures), and Seibal Stela 10, figure 7. The Bonampak murals also illustrate it, and in color. In the attiring scene of Room 1, the priest at the right is wearing, below his splendid feather headdress, a green diadem of five units with a grotesque head in front that has four white pendants. Similar headbands appear less clearly on the other two priests and on four of the dancers in Room 3. What seems to be another mode of wearing the two-sided plaques is shown in the scene repeated on three reliefs at Palenque: 1 0 the oval stucco panel in House E, the stone tablet in the North Gallery of the Palace, and

FIG. 6. Maya jades, a: Pendant, speckled pale green. Width: 5.8 cm. Thickness: 1.5 cm. Stela 3 cache (9.11.0.0.0) Copán. No. c/675. Courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History, b: Pendant, opaque mottled green. Width: 6 cm. Thickness: 9 mm. Cache 3, Mont. M (Period IV), Monte Alban. Museo Nacional, Mexico. Photograph: D. T. Easby, Jr. c: Pendant, pale blue-green stained brown. Height: 13.6 cm. Guatemala. Bliss Collection, No. 118. Photograph: N. Muray. d: Two-sided plaque, opaque pale green. Height: 9.5 cm. Thickness: 3 mm. Cenote, Chichén Itzá. Peabody Museum, Harvard University, No. C6683^k Photograph: D. T. Easby, Jr. e: Two-sided plaque. Height: 4.5 cm. Tomb 2, Temple XVIII (ca. 9.13.0.0.0) Palenque. Courtesy of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.

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(After

photo by Robert E. Leslie.)

Slaves, Building A, Group IV, Palenque. (After Ruz.)

the "Tablet of the Slaves" in Building A, Group IV. In each of them, a kneeling figure is offering, to a personage seated cross-legged, a tall headdress with a small grotesque mask attached to it in front. This headdress, shaped something like a brimless opera hat and topped by a tuft of feathers and quetzal plumes, is covered with rows of discs or squares (fig. 8). T h e upper and lower rows seem to be formed of rectangular pieces. On the House E panel, the discs are set edge-to-edge rather than overlapped, and have holes in the center so that they suggest the conventional Middle American jade symbol. Though I have seen no illustrations of such a headdress being worn, the new Tikal Stela 22 shows, above the brow and below the

Essay 5

FIG. 9.

E L I Z A B E T H Κ. EASBY

Drawing of design on pendant, figure 2, b.

69

FIG. 10. Jade ornament from Tonina, (After Squier.)

main part of the headdress, a small mask attached to a cylindrical arrangement of beads or flat pieces in five rows of varying width. Along with each of the two-sided plaques at Palenque were found over 40 jade discs that could have formed either the headdress or band on which it was mounted. Some of those in the sarcophagus still remained in position on the forehead. T o m b 2 of Temple X V I I I also contained five quadrangular plaques each measuring 4.5 centimeters in one of its dimensions. One was perforated in the center while the others had a pair of perforations at one edge that would have been hidden if the plaques were mounted to overlap one another like those in figure 8. The Nebaj tomb contained neither discs nor quadrangular pieces. It does not follow that the Maya never used the two-sided pieces except as diadem or headdress ornaments. T h e monster mask profile is a common motif in Maya art and may appear almost anywhere in a composition.

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Small ones comparable to those worn on the brow may be placed high in a headdress, though these must not have been flat jade ones because they serve to support the climactic fountain of plumes. They may also project from a necklace or loincloth occasionally, or form the head of a scepter. Each of the jade plaques has two or three holes up the back edge for mounting and others for the attachment of pendants, usually in the upper projection, snout, chin, and back of the jaw. They must have been very striking in use, with the pendants moving slightly and light coming through the openwork and thin translucent jade. Openwork is the other distinctive feature of the two-sided plaques. This was achieved at least in part by cord sawing, a technique rarely used by Maya lapidaries. 11 T h e principle is the same as that of a modern silver saw, except that the cutting is done not with a thin steel blade but with a cord impregnated with an abrasive, passed through a drilled hole or begun at an edge. When used for a narrow slit, this method often produces a cut that is narrower than the drilled hole from which it was started, and this narrowing can be seen readily on the Tonina piece, especially the side facing right (fig. 1, b),

where the hook-shaped cut leads from a perforation at the

bottom of the eye. T h e edges of the cut-outs are characteristically striated and uneven, in contrast to the smoothly squared outer edges of the piece. T h e carving on these plaques is not always identical on both sides, though of course it must conform to the same outline and perforations. On the Toniná plaque, not only does the pattern differ slightly from one side to the other but the workmanship as well. T h e side with the profile facing left looks unfinished in comparison with the other, and along the back edge the design disintegrates into formless curves. This, with the character of the perforations, gives a glimpse of the procedure followed by the lapidary. H e must have lost sight of the fact that the piece was to be carved on both sides instead of only one, and in the customary way made the perforations as inconspicuous as possible from the side he was working on at that point. T w o of them are diagonal perforations, made by carefully drilling holes from the edge, only 4 millimeters wide, to intersect the ones that can be seen in figure 1, b, in the jaw and in the upper front corner of the profile that faces right. N o marks appear of course at corresponding points on the other face of the plaque, and on it even the holes for the straight perforations are smaller, including the one already mentioned in the eye. Evidently, the lapidary had begun the work by laying out the profile facing left with a straight saw and tubular drills on the flatter side of the slice of jade and sawed the contour, then drilled the perforations and cut the openwork be-

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fore finishing the work in relief. He left it incomplete, perhaps because of brown-stained areas in the jaw and forehead that could not be ground away, but went on to finish the other side, adjust the contour to it, and polish both. Not many jades show the sequence of work so clearly, but it may be a significant point in working out relationships among jades of different styles and periods. The plaque from the Cenote in figure 6, d, represents the same longnosed deity, earth or sky monster as the one from Tonina, but in a curvilinear style made possible by skillful use of tubular drills. Pits made by very fine solid drills can be seen in various places also. The long perforation behind the snout and part of the open mouth were cut primarily by a series of drillings though a cord saw must have been used too. The surface was nicely ground down and modulated to make the ridges stand out sharply, though the piece is incredibly thin, with a maximum of only 3 millimeters. Both of the Palenque pieces are smaller and differ in style from the other two illustrated here, and from each other, but they are likewise carved on both sides and have prominent upturned snouts, openwork, and perforations for mounting and the attachment of small pendants. Since I have not seen the one discovered more recently, the photograph, figure 6, e, must speak for itself. The pattern on the other side is different in a number of details. The burial in which it was found appeared to be secondary, and so scattered around in the tomb that it was impossible to tell, by their positions, what purpose the two-sided plaque, discs, quadrangular pieces and other jades had served originally. Among the Tonina jades are a pair of flat button-like incised ornaments with central perforations in countersunk circles, and another flat perforated piece with a relief pattern that resembles the four-petaled kin sign (fig. 1, /, g, and h). Representations of similarly decorated ornaments in sculpture suggest that these might have been mounted in ear assemblies or a wide collar, but might better have belonged to a headband that supported the twosided plaque found with them. Judging by tomb finds (at Palenque, Piedras Negras, Uaxactún, and Kaminaljuyu) rather than representations of headbands, the jade pieces used for that purpose by the Maya were collected, not made in matching sets. They sometimes included matching pairs, however, of small flares or countersunk ornaments. These are large enough for earplug assemblies, but there is a pair of standard flares in the Toniná group of jades. The square ear ornaments shown in sculpture probably correspond not to flat pieces like these used in assemblies but to jade flares with the same patterns, which have in fact been found. 12

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The five raised circles on the "button" in figure 1, h, seem to have been cut with tubular drills, the resulting cones rounded by pecking and grinding and their centers hollowed out slightly with a blunt drill. The rest of the relief was worked with a pointed tool rather than a saw. The edge opposite the perforated one shows the septum left from sawing, and all four edges are square-cut. The surfaces were not ground perfectly smooth but have a high polish. Squier wrote of it that "the stones are polished so highly as to appear as if composed of the finest green enamel," a very apt description. The pair of ornaments in figure 1, / and g, was decorated simply with sawed lines and drilled semicircles, without any attempt to soften the tool marks and produce a relief effect except in the countersunk circle at the center. Probably both were cut from the same piece of jade, but their contours and markings do not match closely. The backs are flat and polished like the other surfaces. All the perforations on these pieces and the preceding one are biconical, but drilled mainly from the back. The flares, figure 1, c and d, have been classified by Kidder as Type A, 13 with face curving gradually into the throat. The face is thinned to a squarecut edge less than a millimeter wide, and the stem is likewise cut squarely across, though not precisely parallel to the face. One has a partly broken end, probably the original surface of the jade boulder from which both flares were made. Their faces match in the veining of the jade though not exactly in shape. No marks remain to show that the stems were cut with large tubular drills inside and out, but this was probably so because they are perfectly circular. There are deep cuts on one at the base of the stem left by sawing too deeply parallel to the face to remove the excess stone behind it. Each flare has two perforations, drilled from opposite sides of the stem. One of the more spectacular jades in the group is the rectangular pendant that has a relief figure seated cross-legged with head turned in profile, figure 2, c. Several dozen such pendants are known, all fairly uniform in style and technique as well as subject. The type seems to have no forerunner among Early Classic jades, but there appear to be later Zapotee copies of it. Two examples were found archaeologically, both in Late Classic contexts: the famous Nebaj Plaque,14 and the one from the adoratorio in front of the Palace of the Governor at Uxmal.15 A small piece showing only a profile face but unquestionably of the same style and technique is from Mound A at Chama, dated in the Alta Verapaz II period.18 A number were recovered from the Cenote at Chichén Itzá, and others of more or less certainly known provenience are from Teotihuacán, Tula (carved in mother-of-pearl), and Colipa, near Mizantla, Veracruz.17

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Though large as jades go, these pendants are miniatures of full-scale Maya reliefs, as Squier noted when he illustrated beside his example the wall panel mentioned before in House E of the Palace at Palenque. The pose occurs on other monuments at Palenque, Copan, Piedras Negras, and other cities, and in the Bonampak murals, with dates ranging mostly between 9.12.0.0.0 and 9.18.0.0.0. Though the Proskouriakofï method for dating sculpture was not formulated with carved jades in mind, a graph prepared on the basis of 17 pendants of this type produced an estimate of 9.17.0.0.0 ± 2 katuns. The Toniná piece differs from the majority in several ways, the one that first strikes the eye being its comparative simplicity. Maya art is not notable for open spaces in the composition, but this piece is remarkably free of extra ornament, symbols and miscellaneous vegetation, lacking even a frame or suggestion of a niche. The modest headdress consists of a flaring forehead ornament with a scroll emerging from it, another scroll on top, and a round ornament trailing a single long feather. Much the same arrangement is worn by large relief figures at Palenque and Comalcalco, and on Tikal Throne 1. The jade pendants from Uxmal and Colipa, one of the Cenote pieces, and one in the Bliss Collection, figure 6, e, also have it, but as a rule these figures wear towering arrangements composed of a monster mask and a sheaf of plumes. The position of the hand at right seems to be unique. It is shown palm out, with the forearm foreshortened (and also backward, though this is not unusual). Ordinarily, hands are in side view, with one on the knee and the other, on the side the figure is facing, in some gesturing position, of which this is the commonest. The throne is another unusual feature, shared with the Nebaj, Teotihuacán, and perhaps Bliss pendants, though all four thrones are different. Their presence on certain pieces and not on others, however, may have nothing to do with the date or place of carving but simply with the shape of the original jade block at hand. This probably does account for the unusually regular shape of this pendant, which could have been made perfectly rectangular without much loss in size. Instead, the design was adjusted to fit the stone and its edges cut square (though not polished.) The relief, essentially in two planes, is fairly well-rounded to give a softer, less crisp effect than do most pieces of this sort. Characteristically, much of the carving was done with tubular drills, cleverly used at an angle and in various sizes (2 millimeters to about 1.5 centimeters) so that the forms are not monotonous or mechanical-looking except in the throne-mask. Small

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solid drills produced the pits in certain "corners" of the carving. T h e straight lines run over a little at the ends, showing that they were made with a fine saw rather than a graver. T h e transverse perforation runs across at the level of the mouth and is about 4 millimeters at the ends. In addition, there are three fine diagonal perforations along each edge, an even dozen in all. These connect the edge and back of the piece, making them invisible from the front except for the one at the upper left corner where the thinness of the piece made this system impossible. One of the largest and most elaborate pendants of this type is the one in the Bliss Collection, figure 6, r. 1 8 In style and workmanship it is closer to the majority of those I have seen than the Tonina one, though both show much the same costume, if it can be called that. T h e composition appears to have been especially designed to take advantage of the unusually large slab of jade without removing any more of it than necessary. T h e surface is irregular, with the forms brought out not so much by uniform relief as by their sharply cut edges. T h e large profile mask below the figure may or may not be a throne, since the figure sits in a niche, but it is certainly related to the two-sided, openwork masks just considered. Though it has the same ear ornaments as the Toniná example (on the side that faces right, figure 1, b), it is closer stylistically to the Cenote one (fig. 6, d).

This two-sided plaque has a

human profile at the top notably like that of the figure on the pendant, with its ear and flare shown in side view as they are on a number of other pendants of the type. Another evidently Late Classic pendant, figure 2, a, is representative of its class only in style and technique, certainly not in its basic composition. T h e Maya were nothing if not conservative in the design of their jewels (we are not so different), and pendants showing a face in the center with large ear flares and a semicircular ornament above the forehead appear with great regularity through the whole tradition of Maya jade carving, from the Early Classic styles to the late Oaxaca types that merge with Mixtee figurines. Figure 6, a and b illustrates the same composition in other styles. T h e Toniná pendant is extraordinary in size and the quality of the jade as well as in the excellence of its carving. Technical and stylistic features relate it closely to both the classes of ornaments considered before: the two-sided plaques and the pendants with seated figures. T h e maize leaves and scrolls around the face seem to correspond to forms in monumental art recognized by Proskouriakofï as typical of the Ornate

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Phase of the Late Classic style (9.13.0.0.0 to 9.16.0.0.0). 19 T h e same kind of scrollwork appears on pendants with seated figures, often emphasized more than it is on the two examples illustrated here. Some have circlets along the narrow raised borders, and the crossed-band symbol seen on this pendant and on the two-sided plaques in figures 1, a and b and 6, d. T h e composition suggests that the pendant was conceived as a twodimensional pattern laid over the best surface of the stone, wrapped around its wide upper edge, and adjusted to fit. T h e lapidary did not trim the other edges around the relief forms. H e had sawed the back but had not completely ground down the horizontal septum, or removed the strip of translucent white stone along the right edge. T h e use of tubular drills is obvious but not overpowering. They ranged in size from 5 millimeters for the incised circles to perhaps 3 centimeters for the arc of the chin. Fine drill pits appear characteristically in the mouth, at the centers of the scrolls and necklace petals and between the arms of the crossed bands. A dozen or so others serve no purpose in the finished design and must be signs of preliminary work with the drill. (Some of these can be seen at the left of the mouth and on the forehead.) T h e transverse perforation, at the level of the upper scrolls, measures about 4 millimeters at the outer ends and 2 millimeters at the center where both drillings, badly aimed, broke through the back surface. There are not so many face pendants that truly resemble this one closely enough to be considered contemporary and of the same school. 20 A great many, however, appear to be derived from this type, and may be later versions of the same motif or perhaps less distinguished examples that are roughly the same age. T h e pendant in figure 6, b was found in a rich Post-Classic cache (Period I V ) at Monte Albán. It shares a number of features besides composition with the more ambitious pieces: hooked scrolls with fine drilled pits at the centers, two other "accidental" pits on the right side, narrow raised borders, concentric drilled circles for the flares, and pronounced arches at the sides of the forehead made with a drill. T h e use of straight sawed lines as well as the drilled curves gives strength to the design, though it has a rather mechanical look because the tool marks were not softened much by freehand work. It appears to be a section of a large jade pebble with the edges evened somewhat and the back smoothed but still showing traces of original surface flaws. T h e transverse perforation is just above the forehead, and there are two diagonal perforations in the lower edge in addition to the ordinary biconical one visible under the flare.

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An almost identical pendant was found at Chichén Itzá at the foot of the inner Castillo stairway.21 It corresponds to the Monte Alban one even in size and shape (purely fortuitous, of course, but it makes the resemblance more striking), and differs mainly in having a bottle-shaped nose and a drooping mouth formed of two drilled semicircles. Pendants related more or less closely to these have appeared all the way from Honduras and British Honduras to Yucatan, Oaxaca, and the Valley of Mexico. They have not sorted themselves out yet, but some were certainly made in Oaxaca. A forerunner, on the other hand, of the Tonina class of face pendants was found under Stela 3 at Copan, dated 9.11.0.0.0 (fig. 6, a). It may have been already an antique when it was placed in the cache, although two others found with it, now in the Peabody Museum, are similar enough to suggest that all three may have been contemporary with the stela. Styles not far removed from this have been shown, through the Kidders' work on jades from highland Guatemala, to belong to the Early Classic period there.22 Though the design is rather angular, the straight lines are short and do not run over at the ends into other forms, indicating that they were probably made with a graver and not a saw. There is no evidence of the use of tubular drills. The transverse perforation, 4 to 4.5 centimeters at the ends, crosses behind the forehead. This pendant was perhaps made from the broken end of a celt; the form suggests it and the left edge, ground and polished less than the others, shows signs of a break. Even among the sumptuous Tonina jades there was one old and broken piece that had been done over to make it usable again and bring it up to date (fig. 2, d). In its present form it shows a rather large head in profile wearing the same kind of headdress as the seated figures in figures 2, c, 6, c. The relief is sharply cut, mostly with tubular drills. Nevertheless, a close second look reveals some features not at all characteristic of Late Classic work but found on the highland Guatemala jades identified as Early Classic. The back of the pendant is convex and the front unevenly concave, following a thin bright green layer that overlies the pale grayish body of the stone. The diagonal edge shows a broken surface and the striations of perfunctory grinding before the final polish, but the other edges are smoothly rounded with no sign of original surface flaws or of sawing. In addition to the 3 millimeter transverse perforation just above the forehead, there is a vertical one about a quarter of the way in from the left edge, quite different in cutting and size. It measures 8 millimeters at the top and 3 millimeters at the bottom, where it emerges into the broken surface and meets the end of another drilling from the opposite direction, of which only half a centi-

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meter remains. Obviously, the original pendant broke at the joining of its biconical perforation. Many Early Classic jades were drilled the long way of the stone, even though this might make the design carved on it hang sideways. Another Early Classic peculiarity was to carry the forms not just to the edge of the front surface but slightly around it, outlining them on the sides of the stone, often with a continuous shallow groove that follows the green surface layer. There is such a groove on the left edge of this piece, connected to the front surface by three small notches that have no relation to the composition on it now. At several other points there are traces of the original carving. The forms in the lower corner, including a line down the wide border and across the narrow one, are hard to explain in terms of the present composition. The profile is a little unusual, especially in having the neck indicated. The fine diagonal perforations, in the original and the broken edges, are part of the recutting, and the lapidary seems to have had an uncommon amount of trouble with them. H e drilled from the back into the end of the old vertical perforation successfully, but two others between the back and edge broke out, and he apparently gave up the attempt and drilled the five that can be seen from the front. Though these may have been repairs instead, there are further signs of drill difficulty in several other fine pits that were never carried through and a large one just below the right end of the transverse perforation. The final piece in the group from Tonina, figure 2, b, belongs chronologically before the others, with the possible exception of the flares. Though I do not know of any closely comparable pieces, datable or otherwise, it seems to fit somewhere between the Early Classic types mentioned and the later styles that show complete mastery of tubular drilling techniques. It must have been carved at a time when the tubular drill was just beginning to be applied to small carvings, though the technique had been in use previously in the manufacture of ear flares and other large objects. Like many of the early pendants this one has a frontal composition that is not only adapted to an irregularly shaped stone but designed asymmetrically to fit it. The space is entirely filled with interlocking forms (more easily made out with the help of the drawing in fig. 9). The ones below the face and necklace seem to resolve into a large mask that resembles the maskfastening of headdresses on the stelae of the Early Classic, and at Copan the Formative Phase of the Late Classic period. Such headdresses may have the ear flares attached to them as they appear to be in this case. The scroll

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forms resemble those used on the stelae before 9.12.0.0.0.23 The upper section of the design marked off by a line above the circle on the forehead does not look like part of the headdress. It merges with the forms on the left side, which suggest the early centipede symbol, and seems to include other glyphic elements. T h e profile at the right resembles late ones in drawing, but is perhaps comparable to that of the figure incised on a long bead from the Cenote, dated 9.10.10.0.0.24 T h e upper right section is no more than incised, while the technique on the rest of the piece is midway between incising and relief. There are narrow lines as well as wide shallow ones, ground down to give the effect of soft relief. None of these lines appear to have been made with a saw. T h e piece is approximately the same thickness throughout in spite of its irregular shape, with the back sawed in two planes that meet vertically at an obtuse angle, and the front carefully cut to follow the colored layer of the jade over a wide vertical trough. T h e composition continues not only over the whole left side but also extends partly around the other side, top and bottom. All the forms are finished with an incised line or cut in relief at the edges. T h e carved area is highly polished but the rest of the surface only ground smooth. A tubular drill about a centimeter in diameter was used for the flares and the forehead ornament but probably not elsewhere in the design, except perhaps for the arc in the mouth (though this is by no means certain). A few other jades that seem to be of intermediate age have tubular drilling in the larger circles (especially flares and the eyes of monsters) but not in the small ones or the curves. Each of the five circular elements here has a shallow pit in the center produced by a blunt solid drill, a treatment common in early pieces that have no tubular drillwork. T h e perforation, 5 millimeters at the ends, runs across the piece at the line marking the chin of the profile face, so that the design hangs upright as the later pendants do. Along with the eleven pieces now in the Museum collection, Squier published a twelfth, noting only that it seemed to have some hieroglyphical significance. It may have, but the engraving (copied for the record in fig. 10) does not make it clear. T h e engravings suggest that it was about the same size as the three flat "buttons" (fig. 1, /, g, and h) and he dismissed them together in the text as "simple chalchiuitl

ornaments adapted to being fas-

tened to clothing." H e also said that he had one of the beads mentioned earlier and that it measured one and four-tenths inches in diameter. There is no telling, of course, what numbers or kinds of beads, mosaic fragments and minor pieces may have accompanied the jades that still remain together. It seems clear now, even without Squier's word for it, that they do

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represent a single tomb find. As a group or set, they correspond to the major pieces from the few but splendid Late Classic burials discovered since, and the network of relationships among them and with other jades and other forms of art demonstrates that they belong together. Had it been possible to assemble such a group of jades ninety years ago, there would have been little reason to because they were considered curiosities of comparatively small value. (Squier at first believed them to be a variety of green quartz.) Some scrap of information may yet turn up to confirm or expand Squier's report of the discovery, but I can see no reason for doubting it. His description sounds secondhand but far from fictional, and he was an experienced reporter on the archaeology of Peru, Central America and the United States. The confusion of place-names is easily clarified, and surely if the jades came from anywhere near Ocosingo, Tonina is the only site important enough for so grand a burial as they represent. The dating and significance of the jades do not depend on the circumstances of their almost-certain discovery at Toniná; on the contrary, it may add something to present sketchy knowledge of that enigmatic site. The jades, like the city, are predominantly Late Classic. The important thing is that they carry their own internal evidence for more precise dating, which adds to their value as standards of comparison. The inscription on the bead, figure 1, e, firmly fixes it at least at 9.15.0.0.0. This, of course, establishes the date of the burial as being no earlier than that (and few would have doubted it), but leaves the possibility that the burial and some of the other jades in it may have been considerably later than the bead. One bit of evidence, however, argues against this possibility: the bead is carved from a jadeite that appears to be identical with that in the seated-figure pendant, figure 2, c. This material is quite distinctive, showing isolated patches of somewhat opaque medium "emerald" green in a body of pale coarsely crystalline blue-gray. It is common enough for the color and texture of jadeite to vary so greatly within the same boulder or vein that two pieces cut from it might appear to be different material. On the other hand, it is very unlikely that two pieces, worked in a stone as distinctive as this and found together, could have come from different sources and yet match as they do. This is good reason to believe that the two were made at the same time and place. Though it need not have been at Toniná, or at precisely 9.15.0.0.0, it was not far enough away in either sense for the two pieces to have become separated in the course of long travel. None of the other Toniná jades can be identified with these two by material, but their technical and stylistic features provide a means of relating them to the pendant with the seated figure. Consideration of these features

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has already indicated the close relationship among the three classes or types of ornaments exemplified in the Toniná group by this pendant, by the twosided plaque (fig. 1, a and b), and by the face pendant (fig. 2, a). It is clear that these three types are roughly contemporaneous, as is the reçut form of the pendant in figure 2, d. Individually, these pieces may not resemble the pendant with the seated figure closely enough to justify assigning them to the same source, and tying them to the exact date of the inscribed bead. Nevertheless, 9.15.0.0.0 can serve as a workable approximation for these five pieces, without presenting any conflict with the evidence of dated monuments or of other datable jades. The pendant in figure 6, b is considerably older than the other pieces, as noted before, while the flares and the three button-like ornaments cannot be precisely placed without guesswork. T o study these or any other jades only from the standpoint of their style, workmanship, and use as objects is, admittedly, to overlook what may be ultimately one of their principal values to archaeology: their meaning to the people who made and wore them. They hold out particular promise for Maya iconography and epigraphy. A jade can show only a few motifs, compared with a stela, and there are relatively few forms. Some were peculiar to a single period while others, like the frontal face and figure pendants, continued for a long time, changing in style and technique but perhaps not in essential significance. Jade was lasting and very precious, as can be demonstrated by finds that show how long certain pieces had continued in use and how far they had traveled. T h e value of the stone itself is confirmed by the way it was carved, and broken pieces re-used. The Maya lapidary especially showed respect for each individual piece of jade, applying a pattern to it rather than using it simply as raw material for a preconceived design. In such circumstances, each detail carved on a jade, with great labor, must have been meaningful and symbolically correct. Because of the value and portability of jades in both ancient and modern times, the task of establishing chronological and geographical distinctions will be a long one. T h e Toniná jades should be as useful in that undertaking as they are beautiful. In his lecture for the Lyceum of Natural History, Squier was excessively modest and objective about his collection. "I have to lay before the Lyceum," he said, " a most interesting collection of green stones." What he laid before them was in fact the principal jewels of a great Maya personage, who may have been an equal and almost a contemporary of the one whose treasure came to light just a century later when R u z opened the sarcophagus at Palenque in 1952.

ESSAY

by T A T I A N A PROSKOURIAKOFF

Portraits of Women in Maya Art The typical Maya woman is most clearly portrayed in figurines made of clay. These figurines are not the popular cult objects that are associated with earlier stages of civilization in Middle America, for such cult figurines disappeared from the Maya area with the rise of a dominant organized religion. For a long time in Maya history clay figurines were rare, and the practice of making them was revived only when molds were introduced into the manufacture of clay objects at some time during the Classic Period. After that, figurines, often in the form of whistles and rattles, but sometimes also as grave objects, reappear in a wide range of styles and in many different forms. This new plastic art achieved its highest degree of perfection in the lower Usumacinta area and on the coast of Campeche. Figurines from Jonuta, Tabasco, and from Jaina, Campeche, are particularly well known for their naturalistic rendering, which reflects various aspects of daily life. Many figurines appear to be actual portraits, and from them we can get a fairly clear idea of the costumes worn by Maya women on different occasions. The basic garment was a narrow, ankle-length skirt, which probably was the only piece of clothing worn when women went about their daily tasks at home.1 The skirt left the breasts exposed, though in some cases a broad sash was added extending the garment almost to the armpits. For public occasions, over the skirt was worn a tunic or huípil, which was variously cut and draped on the body. In some cases it was shorter in front than in back, open at the sides, and draped low on the shoulders2; sometimes it resembled a cloak open in front 3 ; elsewhere it was stitched at the sides to form a voluminous garment entirely enveloping the figure or reaching to within a few inches of the hem of the skirt. For ceremonial functions, the huípil was richly embroidered with an over-all pattern and edged with cords and fringes. 4 Although the huípil was worn primarily by women, men also draped themselves in long tunics when performing certain religious rites, as is suggested in Eric Thompson's interpretation of the bloodletting scene on

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the murals at Bonampak, 5 where the costume of the principal figure is distinguished from that of the women only by the arrangement of the hair. This makes it difficult to determine the sex of robed figures, especially in monumental art, where sexual characteristics of the feminine figure are invariably suppressed. Observers differ widely in their interpretation of figures on Maya monuments, some even holding them to be representations of gods, rather than portraits of real persons. Many consider the skirted and robed figures as those of priests or of male penitents in ceremonial attire, a view largely based on the theory that monuments were time-markers dealing with matters of the calendar, astronomy, divination and ritual, from which women were strictly excluded. Since the discovery of the Bonampak murals, however, the belief in the completely theocentric preoccupation of Maya art has wavered. In the scenes at Bonampak women are shown seated upon a throne, performing the bloodletting rite, and even assisting at the arraignment of prisoners after a raid. They preserve the female costume in various scenes, and if there remains any doubt whatever that they are women, the fact that a child seems to play a very significant role in the story is sufficient to dispel it. In a recent paper 6 I have shown that at Piedras Negras there is a pattern of dates that strongly suggests a historical record dealing with the succession of rulers, and if this interpretation of the pattern is correct, not only must we regard the sculptured figures on monuments as portraits of actual persons, but we must give added credence to the idea that the robed figures among them are women, for in dynastic matters family connections and descent are bound to play an important part, and there are indications that Maya culture was not without matriarchal traits. According to Roys, 7 descent in Yucatan was traced through the female as well as through the male line, and if this was true also in Classic times, we can reasonably expect that the memory of women of high rank would be perpetuated in sculpture along with that of the men. Since women cannot be recognized by dress or by figure, my aim here is to bring other considerations to bear on the problem of their identification by investigating the contexts in which robed figures occur, their characteristic poses and actions, and certain glyphic passages which distinguish their sex. Figures of women play a particularly important role in the art of the Usumacinta area, where group compositions and secular themes attain prominence in the Late Classic Period. The portraits on Stelae 1 and 3 at Piedras Negras are clearly two portraits of the same woman, associated on the latter monument with the figure of a small child (fig. 8, a ) . These monuments were erected in 9.13.15.0.0 and 9.14.0.0.0, and in each case the feminine

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FIG. 1. Glyphs referring to the woman depicted on Stelae 1 and 3 at Piedras Negras. a: From Stela 1. b: From Stela 3. c: From shells found in Burial 5.

figure is sculptured on the back, where there is also an Initial Series independent of the main record inscribed on the sides. The Initial Series date is followed by an upended frog glyph which shows it to be an initial date, that is, the earliest date about a specific person, probably something in the nature of a birthday or the date of a naming ceremony. This date is about 33 years earlier than the last date on Stela 1, and about 9 years later than the initial date that goes with the male figure on the front, suggesting that the two figures may be man and wife. Another initial date is given on Stela 3 in Calendar Round notation, and this evidently refers to the child figure, for it falls only about 3 years before the erection date of the monument. The upended frog glyph that identifies these dates is in each case followed by at least two glyphs prefixed by human heads with either a strand of hair or a hatched oval on the forehead (fig. 1). By analogy with codex glyphs it can be shown that these are feminine heads, and the repetition of these glyphs after various dates intimates that they refer to the principal subject of discourse and are probably apellatives that identify the sculptured figure. The first of the feminine heads is attached to a hatun sign, and the glyph has been read as a record of 1 \atun. Such a reading is meaningless in this context, however, since the glyph occurs with dates more than a \atun apart. We find that the \atun sign is worn on the headdress by the figure on Stela 1, and is apparently to be construed here as a name or as a title. That such use of the word is legitimate is proved by the fact that a head of a religious order of women in Yucatan was called "Ix Nacan Katun." 8 The next glyph seems

FIG. 2. Glyphs referring to child figure on Stela 3 at Piedras Negras (see fig. 8, a).

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to differ in the two inscriptions (fig. 1, a, b), but both forms are used in the record on the shells from Burial 5 (fig. 1, c), and it is possible that they are optional or even interchangeable. They have much in common, and the main signs of both occur as elements of a "sky-band" on Stela 10. One of these signs is "akbal," thought to represent night. The other shares with it a lower waved element, above which is a hatched triangle, which may similarly indicate darkness. After the later of the two initial dates on Stela 3 there is a different pair of glyphs prefixed by feminine heads (fig. 2), indicating a reference to another person, probably to the little girl shown sitting next to the main figure. The second glyph of this pair contains the symbol "kin" (day) in contrast to the night symbol of the main inscription. We have no assurance that these glyphs are actually names, but that they make reference in some way to the two figures can hardly be denied, and their evidence is as nearly conclusive proof of the femininity of the figures as we can hope to find, short of actual decipherment of the text. Nor is this association of feminine head glyphs with robed figures unique or even rare. The two occur together constantly, while in inscriptions with male figures, glyphs in corresponding relation to dates take zoomorphic or abstract forms. A close look at the glyphs associated with various figures in the arraignment scene from the Bonampak murals, reveals that here, too, the glyphic groups with feminine figures contain feminine head forms in association with other signs. Where there is no independent text with a robed figure, or where the text is badly eroded, it is often difficult to show that the figure is that of a woman. We must rely mainly on analogy, but I see no reason to exclude such figures as those on the sides of Stelae 2 and 32 at Piedras Negras, or even that on the side of Stela 6 from the category of feminine figures, though the only evidence that can be adduced for them is the somewhat dubious association of the figure on Stela 2 with the carving on the top of the monument. This carving shows a curious small figure seated in some sort of vessel. The face is marred by erosion, but careful scrutiny reveals a rather unusual rendering of a prominent eye, which is similar to that on the child figure on Stela 3, and which may be an attempt to convey the idea of an infantile face. There is a possibility, therefore, that on Stela 2 we have a second instance of the association of a robed figure with that of a child. The subordinate position of robed figures to those of men, their elaborate attire, and their occasional association with children make it a natural inference that these figures represent the wives of the rulers portrayed on the faces of the monuments. A different relation between male and female figures is suggested on

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Stelae 33 and 14. Here the robed figure stands in profile before a man or youth seated high in a doorway of a building or under a canopy (fig. 8, b). The motif is associated with inaugural dates, which begin new sets of records, and which I believe mark the accession of new rulers. Judging by the distance between the initial date and the inaugural date for Stela 33, which begins a very long reign, the ruler must have been a minor when he first took office. The robed figure can hardly have been his wife, and I think it is more likely that she is his mother or a female regent, whose presence in the composition is occasioned by his extreme youth. Unfortunately, we do not have the initial date for Stela 14, but I suspect from the character of the portrait of the incumbent that he also was a boy when he first took office. The inscriptions on these stelae are largely destroyed, and the evidence of the female sex of the robed figures is much weaker than in the case of Stelae 1 and 3. Nevertheless, it seems significant that these figures hold the same sort of object as does the woman on Stela 1, a scroll with feathers issuing from one end, called by Mor ley an "aspergillum." This object is constantly associated with robed figures, and is seen again on Lintel 7 in front of a seated robed figure. Another minor point that may be indicative of the female sex of the figures on Stelae 33 and 14 is the peculiar form of their headdresses. It seems to be a sort of turban tied at the back and placed so high on the head that one concludes it must be fastened to a high feminine coiffure. The designs, however, are not particularly distinctive of women. The hummingbird sucking at a flower on Stela 33 (Morley identifies it as a fish, but surely in this he is mistaken) occurs both with male and with female figures at Yaxchilan. The figure on Stela 14 wears an animal skull, possibly that of a jaguar. While such symbols may be merely allusive and descriptive, some doubtless have family or clan significance and their distribution among figures in different sites deserves more attention than has been given them. The robed figures considered so far, whether wives or mothers of kings, were all important and aristocratic personages. On Lintels 1 and 3, we find a humbler kind of figure, which is peculiar to Piedras Negras, perhaps because it takes part in a scene of larger scope than one usually finds represented at Maya sites. This figure wears only a skirt, without the huipil, but with a broad sash wrapped tightly around its torso. The skirt is narrow and is trimmed with a simple fringe. This appears to be the everyday dress of a woman, and it seems unlikely that a man should wear it, even though ceremonial robes may have been alike for both sexes. The close association of the figure on Lintel 3 with children also suggests a woman's role. The

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FIG. 3. Glyphs identifying initial dates that are inscribed with figures of women but do not refer to them. a: From Lintel 1, Piedras Negras. b: From Stela 24, Naranjo.

children are being led forward into the presence of a chief by a man, while she stands modestly behind them with arms folded on her chest, as might a nurse who is temporarily relieved of her duties (fig. 10, a ) . One must admit that there are some puzzling items that demand an explanation. One is the strip of cloth that hangs below the hem of the skirt, like an end of a loincloth apron. This, of course, may be the end of the sash, but neither here nor on Lintel 1, where the figure is shown from the back, is the relation of this detail to the rest of the costume made entirely clear. The second dubious item is the absence of feminine head glyphs in the passages apparently referring to this figure. If the figure is that of a servant, however, her office may be indicated without reference to her person. The passage on Lintel 1 (fig. 3, a) begins with an upended frog glyph, and this glyph, making reference to the beginning of a lifetime, may in some way impute a relationship between the woman and a child. On both lintels the phrase ends with the glyph for God C, which is associated with the portraits of at least one very prominent lady at Yaxchilan (fig. 5). The women of Yaxchilan are featured on many sculptured lintels and apparently play here a more important social role than at any other site in the Maya area. In many compositions they share the center of attention equally with men, and their magnificently embroidered robes are depicted

FIG. 4. Phrases referring to rulers of Yaxchilan. a: The third katun of the bird-jaguar, from Stela 11 (see fig. 9, a), b: The third katun of the bird-jaguar, from Lintel 31. c: The fifth katun of the shieldjaguar, from base of "human" side of Stela 11.

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in the finest possible detail. Their physical characteristics are never stressed, but it would be a curiously insensitive eye that could ignore, in the portrait on Lintel 26, for example (fig. 10, b), the elegance of a feminine costume that leaves the shoulders artfully exposed. This figure's pose, as she holds a helmet and shield, is so unmistakably uxorious, that even those who have been inclined to interpret other robed figures as figures of priests or suppliants, would probably concede to her the status of a wife. All but a few of the figures of women at Yaxchilan are accompanied by hieroglyphic phrases containing several feminine head glyphs, usually placed close to them in a separate block. It is not as simple a matter as it may appear, however, to identify particular individuals by these phrases. Many contain the same characters, but no two are exactly alike. Evidently, they include not only personal names, but also titles and family names that may be applicable to more than one person, as well as descriptive epithets and kinship terms that may vary for the same person. Such appellative expressions have never been adequately studied, but when their nature is more widely recognized, investigations of the system of Maya nomenclature may enable us to distinguish the persons portrayed on the monuments and perhaps even to determine their familial relations. At present, the unsatisfactory reading of most of the dates at Yaxchilan, due to the fact that they are given only in Calendar Round notation, raises another serious obstacle to the identification of persons. Many of the values suggested by Morley are inacceptable both on stylistic grounds and in consideration of the texts. Berlin's recent work9 on the emblem glyph fortunately contains a pertinent suggestion as to how these dates might be placed in the Long Count. He notes that certain passages commonly occurring on lintels can be divided into two groups, one characterized by a jaguar glyph prefixed by a shield and followed by a glyph containing an Ahau element (fig. 4, c) and the other featuring a jaguar combined with a bird and accompanied by a glyph with a Cauac element (fig. 4, a). On Lintels 30 and 31, the bird-jaguar glyph follows immediately upon the identifying glyph of an initial date: 9.13.17.12.10 8 0c 13 Yax, and on that of an inaugural date: 9.16.1.0.0 11 Ahau 8 Tzec (fig. 4, b). If we follow the historical interpretation suggested for such notations at Piedras Negras, we conclude that the birdjaguar designates a particular ruler of Yaxchilan who took his office in 9.16.1.0.0, and we can expect that all dates associated with his name would be inscribed in the period of his reign, and would fall within his lifetime. There are still certain difficulties involved in the acceptance of this hypothesis, which I have discussed elsewhere,10 but I believe that the discrepancies

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FIG. Glyphs reterring to the companion of the shield-jaguar on Stela 11, Yaxchilan. a: From base of "human side" of Stela 11. b: From upper panel of "deity side" (see fig. 9, a), c: From Stela 10. d: From Lintel 32. e: From Lintel 28.

are not serious enough to invalidate the view that the jaguar phrases refer to the rulers of Yaxchilan. On Stela 11, the inaugural expression is repeated very clearly, though the name of the jaguar is somewhat damaged. The inaugural date 9.16.1.0.0 is inscribed twice in Initial Series. The figure on the so-called "deity side" of this monument, therefore, is almost certainly the portrait of the bird-jaguar ruler himself, especially since the phrase that identifies him occurs in the inscription just above the portrait (fig. 9, a). In an upper panel, flanked by two columns of glyphs, are seated two figures, one male and one female. The column of glyphs next to the male figure is in part destroyed, but one can easily make out the jaguar glyph and the glyph with an Ahau element that always goes with the shield-jaguar. From other inscriptions we know that this jaguar is associated with dates in the previous two katuns and must designate the ruler who preceded the bird-jaguar, and who probably was one of his progenitors. The column of glyphs on the left of the pair apparently goes with the robed figure, and, as one might expect, contains three female head glyphs, the last of which is attached to the head of God C (fig. 5, b). Both phrases, with only minor

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variations, are repeated in the main inscription on the other face of the stela after the notation of the accession of the bird-jaguar (figs. 4, c; 5, a ) . The two figures of the upper panel, therefore, are best regarded as ancestral portraits, documenting the royal descent of the incumbent or his right to the succession. It is more usual at Yaxchilan to present such ancestral portraits in cartouches of the sun, and sometimes of the moon, as on the back of this monument or on Stelae 1, 4, 6, 8 and others. I see no reason to interpret the cartouche as a sign of divinity, except insofar as the illustrious dead may be deemed worthy of special devotion. That the female figure does not represent the moon-goddess is amply proved by the fact that she appears in a solar as well as in a lunar cartouche. Perhaps the reason that the cartouches are omitted on the front of Stela 11 is that the persons were still living at the time, or perhaps for no better reason than that room was required for their names. The name-phrase of the lady seated with the shield-jaguar (fig. 5, b) begins with a glyph containing a \tn element attached to a feminine head. Elsewhere an imix-Yikz form is added, and the glyph appears to be a title or a form of address, since it occurs in various phrases and is omitted seemingly at will. The second glyph, therefore, should be the one to identify the person, but is, unfortunately, not at all clear. Following it is a sky-glyph compound which occurs in appellative phrases both of men and of women. The last glyph is a feminine head with a suffix combined with the glyph for God C. This glyph resembles and may be an "emblem" glyph. It occurs, however, with curious frequency in connection with women. It has been noted on Lintels 1 and 3 at Piedras Negras, and Berlin 11 has pointed it out with nameglyphs on the Palenque Sarcophagus. The phrase ending with the God C glyph on Stela 11 occurs also on Stela 10 and Lintels 28, 32, and 53 at Yaxchilan (fig. 5, c, d, e), where it undoubtedly designates the same woman. Although there is a God C glyph

b FIG. 6. Phrases with feminine head glyphs, the numeral 6, and an i\ element, a: From Lintel 38, Yaxchilan. b: From Lintel 41, Yaxchilan.

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Jtz4

FIG. 7. Appellatives of women from Petén sites, a, b: Phrases from Stelae 24 and 29 at Naranjo referring to the same woman, c: An early reference to a woman from Stela 23, Tikal.

on Lintel 38 also, other name glyphs follow it, and the expression is not clearly the same (fig. 6, a ) . On Lintels 32 and 53, where it is normal, the robed figure stands, holding a large bundle, in front of a man with a manikin scepter. Morley's dates for these two lintels are more than 5 katuns apart, but stylistically they belong together, and I suspect that both record the date 9.15.18.7.13 7 Ben 16 Mac and celebrate the same event. The bundle motif recurs on Lintels 1, 5, 7 and 54 in connection with the rule of the birdjaguar, and probably with dates ranging from 9.16.1.0.0 to 9.16.5.0.0. Here again, I feel we must reject the very early dates given by Morley for Lintels 5 and 7. The name phrases of the women differ on all these lintels, and it is evident that the figures do not represent the wife of the ruler—in any case, not the principal wife. At Bonampak, in the mural of Room 1, Structure 1, the woman who stands near a bundle in front of the throne seems to hold a subordinate place in the family group, and it may be that she is a marriageable daughter, whose dowry or bride-price is symbolized by the bundle. Despite Landa's observation that the women of Yucatan never shed blood in sacrifice,12 feminine figures at Yaxchilan are very often associated with a bloodletting rite. Its actual performance is depicted on Lintels 17 and 24, showing the woman kneeling as she passes a cord with spines through her tongue. The figure on Lintel 24 is undoubtedly that of the woman with the low-cut gown who holds her man's helmet and shield on Lintel 26. A very fine scroll tattooed on her cheek serves to identify her. The ceremony takes place in the reign of the shield-jaguar, apparently in the fourth \atun of his life. While not surely established, this seems to me to be a reasonable interpretation of the 4 ben-ich \atun notation that accompanies the jaguar glyph.

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On Lintel 17, we see a similar sacrifice in the reign of the bird-jaguar, and I believe that this lintel must be later than Morley places it. The presence of an Ix sign prefixed by a feminine head among the glyphs that refer to the woman suggests that she is the same woman that is portrayed on Lintel 43. On this lintel, the blood-sacrifice is not pictured in action, but is symbolized by a dish containing a sacrificial cord. This way of representing the rite often goes with a serpent motif, which is always associated with the glyph of a hand holding a fish. The serpent is represented in various ways, but the significance of the motif apparently resides in the portrait of a man that it usually holds in its jaws. This motif occurs on Lintels 13,14,15, 25 and 55, and in a modified form on Lintels 38, 39, 40 and 51. It suggests to me something in the nature of a sacrifice performed in memory of a deceased person whose portrait appears in the cosmic symbol of the abode of the dead. Symbols of death are very prominent among the hieroglyphs on Lintel 25, which gives the clearest portrayal of this theme (fig. 10, c ) . Moreover, the first date given is 42 years in the past and does not refer to the woman or her sacrifice, which evidently takes place in the fourth \atun of the shield-jaguar, on the date inscribed on the front of the lintel. To be sure, these vague indications are not sufficient to prove the import of these scenes, but an interpretation such as this has at least the virtue of being consistent with the spirit of Maya art, which surrounds an idealized portrait with cosmic symbols. This mode is vividly illustrated by the representation of death on the cover of the sarcophagus in the tomb of the Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque, and one sees on the Yaxchilan lintels exactly this type of idealized portraiture in the person depicted in the jaws of a serpent, who has all the attributes of humanity that in Maya art distinguish the dead hero from the grotesque god. When we turn from the art of the Usumacinta area to that of the Peten, we find a much less expressive style, as well as a distinctly different fashion in women's dress. Fortunately, both the Peten and the native Usumacinta fashions are illustrated at Palenque on tablets of almost identical composition: The Tablero de los Esclavos, the Tablero de El Palacio, and an oval tablet in the west corridor of House E. The theme is essentially the same as on Lintel 26 at Yaxchilan. On the two "tableros" the chief sits in the center while a young man on his right holds his helmet, and a woman on his left, his shield. On the slave tablet, 13 the woman is dressed in a long huípil, and a block of three glyphs just in front of her begins with a feminine head prefix. On the palace tablet 14 she wears a skirt covered by a beaded net, a beaded belt and a short cape, which is the usual costume of women in the

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b

FIG. 8. a: Portrait of woman and child on Stela 3, Piedras Negras, with accompanying record. Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, b: Portrait of incumbent ruler and woman on Stela 14, Piedras Negras. Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.

Petén. The inscription does not make direct reference to her, but with the figure on the House E tablet, similarly dressed, except for a huípil worn under the cape, there are two human head glyphs, both probably feminine. Moreover, one of these glyphs is prefixed by a modified \in sign, which often opens phrases that refer to women at Yaxchilan. The Palenque compositions clearly show that the beaded costume is

FIG. 9. a : "Deity side" of Stela 11, Yaxchilan. Figure of bird-jaguar and subjects below. Above, shield-jaguar and consort. Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, b: Portrait of woman on Stela 24, Naranjo, and accompanying glyphs. Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.

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equivalent to the robe or huípil, and a combination of the two is worn by the figure on the back of Stela 1 at Cankuen, which, like Stela 3 at Piedras Negras, depicts a woman sitting on a throne on the back of the monument, with a standing male figure on the front. Instead of the short cape that usually goes with beaded costumes, this woman wears a more ample huípil of the same netted or beaded fabric as the skirt. In her hands she holds a ceremonial bar, which suggests that this symbol does not designate a particular office, but indicates some ceremonial act or a general status of nobility. T h e composition of skirted figures in the Peten is formal and devoid of any suggestion of action or of the relation of the figure to others. A long hanging of beads suspended from a bat-and-shell ornament on the belt has misled some observers to identify the figures as those of men, but the analogy with skirted figures at Palenque and the repeated use with such figures of feminine head glyphs removes any possible doubt that they are women. Unfortunately, in the one scene, on the back of Stela 19 at Naranjo, in which a bloodletting rite is depicted, the costume of the figure is not clear. On most monuments at Naranjo, the motif is merely indicated by the object the figure holds. On Stela 3, this object is the "aspergillum" like those that distinguish portraits of women at Piedras Negras. On Stelae 24 and 29, which probably represent the same woman, it is a bowl filled with some sort of ceremonial paraphernalia. A cord with one large bead in front, worn on the neck by the figure on Stela 24, is like those associated with scenes of sacrifice at Yaxchilan, and may imply an analogous rite (fig. 9, b). Although the Naranjo stela presenting a female figure shows it standing alone, there is almost always a monument with a male figure that has the same terminal date and can be paired with it. Thus, Stelae 22 and 24, 30 and 29, 28 and 31 and 2 and 3, form definite couples. This pairing of skirted figures with those of men is very suggestive of the two sexes, and the contrast in the glyphic passages that go with the two kinds of figures makes the nature of the distinction doubly clear. On Stelae 24 and 29, evidently portraying the same woman, one combination of three glyphs occurs over and over again (fig. 7, a): a) a female head glyph with a postfix in the form of a reversed numeral 6, which occurs also with the woman on Lintel 41 at Yaxchilan (fig. 6, b) and which may be equivalent to the Cauac glyph with a coefficient of 6 on Lintels 15 and 38; b) a so-called "sky-glyph" which recurs constantly in appellative passages both with men and with women; and c) the emblem

glyph for Tikal, identified by Berlin. 1 5 These three

glyphs follow the first, third, and fourth or last dates inscribed on the sides of Stela 24, showing that these dates all concern the same subject. T h e second

b

c

FIG. 10. a: Lintel 3, Piedras Negras, depicting an audience before a dignitary. At right, a family group including a woman. Courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, b: Lintel 26, Yaxchilan. Portrait of man and wife. Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, c: Cast (imperfect in some detail) of Lintel 25, Yaxchilan. The serpent motif with kneeling woman. Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.

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date, on the other hand, is followed by a zoomorphic head and the

emblem

glyph most common at Naranjo (fig. 3, b). This date is the initial date which begins the inscription on the companion monument, Stela 22, and it clearly concerns the male figure. There is no corresponding initial

date for the

woman, but since an earlier date refers to her, she is doubtless older than the man, and one may infer that the relationship implied could be that of a mother and son. T h e inscription on the front of Stela 24 includes, in addition to the three glyphs used on the sides, a God C glyph and the glyph that was observed on the House E tablet of Palenque: a female head prefixed by a sign with a kin element (fig. 7, b). It is difficult in our present stage of ignorance about such glyphs to gauge the full significance of the astonishing similarity of this clause to some appellative expressions at Yaxchilan, especially that on Lintel 38 (fig. 6, a), but it certainly demonstrates conclusively the analogy between robed and skirted figures, and suggests a close relationship between the ruling families of distant cities. It is evident that all the figures discussed so far share in a single complex that identifies the Maya woman. W e can define this complex by listing its features in the order of their importance: Costumes: a) Narrow, ankle-length skirt b) Long robe or huípil c) Beaded skirt with short cape Association with other figures: a) Pairing with male figures in equal or subordinate role b) Association with figures of children, in the rare cases when these occur Hieroglyphs: a) Phrases including one or more feminine head glyphs b) Association with initial dates of other persons Motifs a) b) c) d) /) g) h)

and significant objects: "Aspergillum" or scroll with feathers Bowl or basket containing ceremonial objects Bloodletting rite or cord in vessel Large bundle, sometimes marked with glyphs Serpent with human figure in jaws Throne Serpent bar (rare)

Minor and occasional details: a) Low-cut gown, exposing shoulders (Lintel 26, Yaxchilan)

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b) Abnormally high placing of the headdress (Stelae 33 and 14, Piedras Negras) c ) Central part in hair (Stela 3, Piedras Negras) T h e r e remain a number of skirted figures of whose sex I am somewhat in doubt. A m o n g these are the figures on Stelae 11 and 34 at Naranjo. These figures wear long skirts, but in addition strips of featherwork that completely cover the front of their garments. T h e figure on Stela 11 carries a staff and a shield, and what may be the end of a loincloth projects beneath the skirt. T h e glyphs on the front of this monument give no indication that the figure represents a woman. Figures with long skirts are particularly ambiguous in Yucatan, where there is some reason to think that skirts were assumed by certain priests, possibly in deliberate imitation of the feminine costume. In Toltec times, skirted figures holding dishes of offerings were often carved on the pillars of buildings or painted on their walls. T o z z e r , 1 6 in a characteristically thorough study of these figures, came to the conclusion that most of them are men, and I can see no cogent reason to question his view. These figures he classes as Maya, but the origin of the costume and the tradition remains obscure. Possibly, it goes back to such figures as that on Stela 1 at T u l u m , which may represent a man in woman's garb. O n the other hand, the figure on Stela 28 at Calakmul, which has many similarities to the T u l u m figure, is clearly paired with its male companion on Stela 29, and shows in addition the outlines of a feminine head glyph in its badly eroded inscription. T h e skirted figures of the Coba region are so like normal male figures in every respect, that Chariot described the long skirt as the norm for the male costume, 1 7 ignoring the fact that the figures on Stelae 3, 6, 8, 15, 20 and 21, and the figure on the front of Stela 5 as well as others, probably, now badly eroded, wear only a short skirt or none at all. T h e long skirt is by no means the normal costume of men in this region, and I am rather inclined to class the long-skirted figures of Coba as feminine in spite of their ceremonial regalia. T h e aberrant Stela 17 almost certainly represents a woman. It is not paired with any male figure, but its unusual position suggests that it had been reset, and perhaps Stela 13, though it stands in another group, was originally a companion monument to it. I can bring no glyphic evidence to bear on the sex of the well-known figure on Stela H at Copan, which some observers regard as the portrait of a woman, and others as that of a man. I can only point out that it is definitely paired with Stela A , facing it across the plaza in the same way as Stela 24

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at Naranjo faces Stela 22. The inscription consists of only 8 glyphs and commences with a date which is mentioned also on Stela A, and is its earliest date. There is no justification for moving this date one calendar round ahead in order to read it as a tun ending, as Morley does in the Inscriptions at Copan. 18 The "dedicatory" date on Stela A applies to both monuments, and it may even be that the inscriptions on both are to be read as one record. All the figures of women mentioned so far, with the possible exception of that on Stela 17 at Coba, are of Late Classic date. Women do not appear on very early monuments and even among the profile figures that were erected at Tikal between 9.1.10.0.0 and 9.3.0.0.0 there are no portraits of women. They first begin to come in at this site with a drastic change of style that produced such monuments as Stelae 23, 25, 10 and 12, the earliest of which probably dates from about 9.4.0.0.0. The Initial Series on Stela 23 gives an initial date followed by a feminine head glyph with a twisted element and the emblem glyph for Tikal (fig. 7, c). The main figure, unfortunately, is too badly destroyed to show whether it represented a man or a woman, but in any case this seems to be the earliest attempt we know of group figure composition, for full-sized figures are presented on the sides. One of these may be a woman, for it has the peculiar stance of the figure on Stela 17 at Coba, and that on Stela 33 at Piedras Negras, which evidently prompted Morley to describe it as showing "pronounced steatopygia." 19 There are not enough examples of this pose, however, to establish it as particularly characteristic of women. It is more certain that the figure on the preserved side of Stela 25 is that of a woman, for it is shown wearing a typical beaded costume. These monuments, although they fall within the span of the Early Classic Period have many other traits that become dominant as the Late Classic Period progresses. The archaeological sequence in Structure A-V at Uaxactún 20 reveals in this transition a gradual replacement of temples by buildings of the palace type and the appearance of women and children in burials, which clearly bespeaks the growth of secular powers. Such a trend is usually grounded in the consolidation of a hereditary aristocracy that lays stress on lineage, and we should not be surprised to find women playing an increasing role in ceremonial affairs. Debarred from most public exploits, they have an even greater stake than men in the prestige conferred by a distinguished kinship, and dynastic rivalries are often resolved by the marriage union, which in such circumstances acquires a public importance. In the past there has been a tendency to reject summarily interpretations based on a simple and realistic view of Maya representations and to stress the

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mystic nature of their religious symbolism. It is true that a heavy overlay of symbolic forms often obscures the Maya figure, but in the dual mode of Maya art the two are always quite distinct, and the simple realism of the figures addresses us in a universal idiom. T h i s channel of communication should not be blocked by unnecessary preconceptions. It leads us directly to historical themes, to the struggle for power that characterizes all rising civilizations. O n this simple assumption of a very common motive of monumental works, the simultaneous observation of texts and figures opens a broad field of study that has long lain fallow, and that may yield us a rich return in better understanding of what the Maya artist sought to express.

ESSAY

£

by A. LEDYARD SMITH

Types of Ball Courts in the Highlands of Guatemala The ball court was one of the first structures of ancient Middle American architecture that could be assigned a function. Carl Sapper and Edward Seler recognized their purpose; some thirty years later Robert Burkitt discussed the problem and in 1932 Frans Blom wrote his general survey of the Maya ball game in which he listed the courts in the Maya area. Ball-court structures date from the Classic Period to the Spanish Conquest although the game itself is of great antiquity going well back into Pre-Classic times. Roman Piña Chan 1 shows a figurine from Tlatilco, in the Valley of Mexico, which depicts a ball player with a kneepad on right leg and what appears to be a ball in his right hand. The ball game, in various forms, also had a wide distribution in native America, extending into South America, the Antilles, and North America as well as Middle America. The present paper is limited to a discussion of the various types of ball courts found in the highlands of Guatemala. When Blom published his paper on the Maya ball game, thirty-nine ball courts were known in the Maya area with only eleven in the Highlands of Guatemala. Since that time at least 132 ball courts, most of which fall into five categories or types, have been found in the Guatemala Highlands. In classifying them, Jorge Acosta, Linton Satterthwaite, and Acosta and Moedano have used as criteria the differences in structural profiles. I have used both profiles plus the over-all shape of the court in my classification. The five types found in the Highlands of Guatemala have been called open-end, open-end a, enclosed, enclosed a, and "palangana." In an earlier publication2 I distinguished four types: open-end, open-end a, enclosed, and intermediate. This classification has been changed for the present article. Two new types, see above, have been added and the "intermediate" classification has been replaced by the term "miscellaneous," a category that takes care of ball courts that are borderline cases and cannot be considered as belonging

b FIG. 1. Chalchitan and Huil. a: Looking south at ball-court group at Chalchitan, Dept. of Huehuetenango. Open-end a type ball court. Restoration drawing by Tatiana Proskouriakoff. b: Looking southeast at Huil, Dept. of Quiche, showing open-end a type ball court. Restoration drawing by Tatiana Proskouriakoff.

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to a definite type. These types will be defined below and discussed separately in detail. T h e nomenclature of the various parts of a court is shown in figure 9; and for the different profiles of court types, see figure 8. T h e table at the end lists the 106 sites and the 133 ball courts upon which the types have been based. It gives, where possible, the ceramic periods of pottery recovered from sites, the type of ball court, and the main source of information. It should be understood that most of the pottery collections are from the surface; therefore, dating is open to revision. Time spans of the ceramic periods and a short definition of the several ball court types are also given in the table. In discussing types of courts certain data are referred to. These data pertaining to courts are taken mostly from Acosta and Moedano. They are: 1) geographical area; 2) location; 3) period; 4) form of court; 5) cross-section; 6) longitudinal sections; 7) orientation; 8) degree of slope of playing wall; 9) stone rings; 10) tenoned heads set in playing walls or benches; 11) alley markers; 12) mortises to hold markers; 13) hole in center of playing alley; 14) niches; 15) sculptured stones; 16) stairs; 17) buildings on ranges or at ends of courts; 18) material used in construction; and 19) relation of court to other structures. In the case of orientation there does not appear to be any definite pattern or custom so no further mention will be made concerning this datum. Benches at the face are from 20 to 80 cm. high. There seems to be no difference in this feature between the types except that in the open-end a ball courts benches never exceed a height of 50 cm. Another measurement that need not be mentioned later is bench width which may be anywhere from 1.20 to 3.60 m. T h e type that consistently has the narrowest bench is the enclosed type where the width never exceeds 1.80 m. All other types have benches from 1.80 to 3.60 m. wide. T h e only exception is the court at Tzicuay, one of the miscellaneous courts, where the bench width is only 1.55 m. wide. OPEN-END TYPE BALL COURTS T h e open-end ball court is the simplest of the types found in the Highlands of Guatemala (fig. 4, a, b). It consists of two parallel ranges of equal height and length bordering the playing alley. T h e ranges are from 24 to 32 m. long and, with the exception of the ball court at Nebaj, Group A, which has ranges about 9 m. high, average between 2.5 and 3 m. in height. T h e playing alley varies from 6 to 8 m. across from bench face to bench face. There are no walls defining end zones. It is possible that end zones were delimited by lines marked on the ground, but none were found. T h e profile

b FIG. 2. Chutixtiox and Vicaveval. a: Looking north at Chutixtiox, Dept. of Quiché, showing enclosed type ball court. Restoration drawing by Tatiana Proskouriakoff. b: Looking southwest at Vicaveval, Dept. of Quiché, showing enclosed type ball court. Restoration drawing by Tatiana Proskouriakoff.

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of this type ball court has a sloping bench face, a level bench top, and a sloping playing wall which sometimes had a vertical molding measuring .30 to .40 m. high, at the top (fig. 8, a, b). The slope of the playing wall varies from 45 to 59 degrees. This style profile is fairly similar to Acosta's Type A.3 In some instances the benches extend around the ends of the playing walls. An example of this is shown in the ball court at Chichén which is situated on the west edge of that site (fig. 4, è). In those cases where it has been possible to note such details the backs of the ranges were terraced. There are 19 open-end ball courts listed in the table at the end of this report of which two, Las Tinajas and Bucaral, are questioned, the former because it was badly cut away by farming activity, the latter because it was sketched from memory. Most of these courts are situated in valleys and were probably constructed in Late Classic times. An exception to this is La Lagunita where only Post-Classic pottery was found. Open-end ball courts are usually located at the edge of building groups but they occur, occasionally, near the center of building clusters (fig. 4). Because of their valley locations which are also the most desirable places for farming, many have been badly damaged and undoubtedly some completely razed. This type ball court has a wide distribution, being found in the Departments of Huehuetenango, Alta Verapaz, and Progreso as well as in the Sacapulas, Nebaj-Cotzal-Chajual, and San Andres Sajcabaja regions of the Department of Quiche. Where masonry was visible it usually consisted of an outer facing of rough flat stones laid against a fill of earth or water-rolled stones. Although found in only a few cases, most ball courts probably had plaster surfaces. In some instances well-cut stones were used in the construction. The bestpreserved open-end ball court is the one on the west edge of the ruins of Chichén. Here the masonry is a mixture of worked and unworked blocks. Large slabs were used in the playing walls, some extending from the bench to the vertical upper molding, 1.80 m. above. The central slab in the west playing wall has the profile of a bird carved on it. This carved stone has the same position as the ones in the playing walls of Strs. R-lla and R-llb at Piedras Negras4 and may well have served as a marker also. The only other marker found in an open-end type ball court was a stone jaguar head with a large tenon found at the base of the center of the south side of the southernmost court at Chalchitan, Strs. 35 and 36.® No traces of superstructures were seen on the ranges of this type of court. OPEN-END " A " T Y P E BALL COURTS

This type is an open-end ball court with one extremity leading into an adjoining plaza which normally has an altar platform in its center (fig. 1,

b FIG. 3. Xolchun and Zaculeu. a: Looking south at Xolchun and Pacot on hill beyond, Dept. of Quiché. Ball court is in the miscellaneous group. Restoration drawing by Tatiana ProskouriakoíT. b: Looking northeast at Zaculeu, Dept. of Huehuetenango from top of Structure 2. Ball court is in the miscellaneous group. Courtesy of United Fruit Company.

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a and b). Often the plaza is completely surrounded by walls giving the impression of a sunken court as at Chalchitan (fig. 1, a ) . The ranges of all but Chalchitan vary from 17 to 26 m. in length and average between 2 and 3.50 m. in height. Chalchitan has ranges 5 m. high. The playing alley, where it was possible to get an accurate measurement between the bench faces, is a fairly consistent 6 to 7 m. across. With the exception of the two ball courts at San Francisco del Norte, and possibly at Acihtz, which have low enclosing walls forming end zones at that end of the court not leading into the adjoining plaza, there are no walls defining end zones connected with open-end a ball courts. These end walls at San Francisco del Norte are the only feature that differentiates these courts from others of the open-end a type. As suggested for the open-end ball courts, end zones may have been marked out with lines on the ground. The profile of this type, which is quite similar to that of the open-end courts, has, with one exception, a vertical bench face. This face rises to a level or a slightly sloping bench top. The sloping playing wall has a vertical upper molding that projects 4 or 5 cm. from the playing wall and rises from 40 to 75 cm. above it (fig. 8, d). The exception is the court at Chalchitan, where the bench face is sloping (fig. 8, c). The playing wall of this court has a slope which varies from 45 to 65 degrees. This playing wall was built over an earlier wall of the Chalchitan court.6 In two instances, Huil and Oncap, benches extend around the ends of the playing walls. Stairways occur on the ends and backs of ranges. One of the most elaborate stairways is on the back of the ball court at Huil. This is a stairway flanked by balustrades and divided in the center by a ramp with masonry block half way up the structure and another at the upper end of the ramp ( f i g . l ,b). At six sites the court ranges had the remains of construction on top. At Acihtz and Chichel one of the ranges supported a low platform, and at Caquixay one carried a platform with the foundation walls of a superstructure on three sides. At Chipai there was evidence of a superstructure on both ranges. These had long narrow rooms opening on the side and overlooking the playing alley. The base of what had once been a stucco figure rested in the center of the top of the southwest range. At Chalchitan each range carries a long platform 40 cm. high that probably served as the foundation for buildings (see fig. 1, a). Both ranges at Huil had superstructures facing on the playing alley. The one on the southwest side is a long narrow room with

a

FIG. 4. Río Blanco and Chichén. a: Plan of Río Blanco, Dept. of Quiché. Structures 4 and 5 are the two ranges of an open-end ball court, a, small stone monument. b: Looking south at Chichén, Dept. of Alta Verapaz, showing two open-end ball courts, one on the west edge of the site and the other on the east. Rendering by Kisa Noguchi Sasaki of restoration by Stephen F. Borhegyi.

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a doorway in the center of the back wall. Except for a small section of wall at either end, the front of this room was open. In the center of the room, in line with markers on the playing walls, is a round altar supporting a human figure lying on its back with legs hanging over the edge. Both altar and figure are of stucco. T h e superstructure on the northeast range at Huil consists of two long narrow rooms with a common medial wall but no front wall. One room looks on the playing alley and the other on a small court to the northeast of the ball court. With the exception of two courts, Huitchun and Mutchil, which are on hills, the 18 open-end a type ball courts recorded are located in valleys or on side slopes of valleys. From the ceramic evidence they were constructed in either Post-Classic or Protohistoric times. Fourteen of these courts are in the Nebaj-Cotzal-Chajual region of the Department of Quiche. O f the remaining four, two are in the Department of Huehuetenango, one in the Department of Alta Verapaz, and one in the Department of Quiche in the San Andres Sajcabaja region. In the courts of this type where masonry could be seen, it was of rough stone slabs laid up in mud mortar and covered with a smooth layer of plaster. At Pantzac, block masonry, nicely faced on the exposed surface, was used. T h e only paint on an open-end a ball court was found on the vertical molding above the playing wall of the southwest range at Oncap. Here are the remains of a red line, 2.5 cm. wide, with a row of dots, 5 cm. in diameter, above it. There are several instances of markers located in the center of the two playing walls where they meet the upper molding. At Chalchitan, two stone jaguar heads, one still with its tenon intact, were found at the base of the playing walls near the center of the court. A hole in the middle of the playing wall of the east range, just below the vertical molding, probably held the head (figs. 1, a and 8, c, 1 ) . At Caquixay in the center of each playing wall, starting on the upper vertical molding and carrying onto the low sloping area, were the remains of what apparently were large stucco human heads with feathered headdresses and earplugs. At Huil, stucco markers adhered to the ranges of the court in the same position as those at Caquixay (figs. 1, b and 8, d, 2 ) . At Oncap, a rectangular hole in the center of the vertical upper molding of the playing wall may have held a marker. An interesting feature in the open-end a ball court at Chalchitan is a circular depression 60 cm. in diameter and 25 cm. deep 7 in the plaster floor exactly in the middle of the playing alley. Both Theodore Stern 8 and Alfred Tozzer 9 mention a central opening in the playing field. Although such a

c Fio. 5. Guaytan and Chijolom. a: Ball court 1 at Guaytan, Dept. of Progreso enclosed a type. A, remains of playing alley floor (?). B, remains of bench floor of hard gray adobe. C, gravel and dirt fill with a few large stones, b: Ball court at Guaytan, Dept. of Progreso. Ball court is in miscellaneous group. A, natural rock. 1-5, tennoned serpent heads, c: Looking south at Chijolom, Dept. of Alta Verapaz. Ball court is in the miscellaneous group. Rendering by Kisa Noguchi Sasaki of restoration by Stephen F. Borhegyi.

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hole has not previously been uncovered in the course of archaeological excavations, according to Stern it is mentioned in certain Spanish accounts and is shown in some of the Codices. ENCLOSED-TYPE BALL

COURTS

These ball courts have high walls defining end zones from which stairways lead out. The ranges are always higher than these end walls and measure from 3 to 5 m. in height. The end walls are about 1 to 2.10 m. Although the two ranges of a court are of the same height, this is not always true of the end zone walls. For example, in the enclosed ball court at Chutixtiox, the walls of the end zones are 2.10 m. at one end and only .95 m. at the other. The width of the playing alley from bench face to bench face may be anywhere from 6 to 9.50 m. across, and the ranges vary from 20 to 30 m. long. End zones measure anywhere from about 9 to 19 m. across and 2.50 to 7.50 m. in depth. The plan of the enclosed ball court, with its long narrow playing alley and expanded end zones, takes the form of a "capital I" (figs. 2, a, b; 6, a, b; 7, a, b). The profile consists of a vertical bench face, a level bench top, and a sloping playing wall with a vertical upper molding that projects a few centimeters from the playing wall and rises from .45 to 1 m. above the playing wall (fig. 8, e). With the exception of the ball court at Chutixtiox, which has a sloping bench face (fig. 8, /), all the enclosed-type courts have the same profile which might be placed under Acosta's Type A. The slope in the playing wall varies from 64 degrees at Chutixtiox to 85 degrees at Mixco Viejo. The average angle of the playing wall is steeper in this type than in any other except the enclosed a which has a vertical playing wall. Benches may or may not extend around the ends of the playing walls. Stairways were used to enter the end zones and to reach the top of the ranges. The former were placed in the center of the back wall of the end zones and the latter might be at the ends of the ranges, as at Comitancillo (fig. 7, b), or on the back of a range, as at Chuitinamit (fig. 6, b). Range backs were usually terraced and in most cases could have been used as means of access to the top. Only four enclosed ball courts show evidence of superstructures on their ranges. At Chutixtiox and Comitancillo these were long narrow buildings indicated by low walls on three sides. The open side faced the playing alley (figs. 2, a; 7, b). At Chuitinamit the ball court in Group C has four small rectangular platforms, 40 cm. high, in line with, and equally spaced along, the top of the ranges (fig. 6, b). In the court in Group Β at Mixco Viejo both ranges have a summit wall extending almost the whole length of the

b FIG. 6. Chuitinamit, Dept. of Baja Verapaz. a: Ball court, Group H, plan and sections. Enclosed type, a, drain, b, loose slabs placed along top of playing wall to make vertical upper zone or molding, b: Ball court, Group C, plan and sections. Enclosed type. X, mortise.

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side farthest from the playing alley. Against this wall is a bench of the same length (fig. 7, a). Of the 15 enclosed-type ball courts all but three, Comitancillo, Xolchun, and Patzac, are on hilltops and are defense sites. Even these three are on plateaus which could be defended. There is little doubt that all these courts were constructed in Protohistoric times. They are usually located on the edge of the group of buildings with which they are associated; but in a few cases, such as at Utatlan and Vicaveval, they are more centrally placed. Their distribution in the Highlands of Guatemala is fairly wide. They are found in the Departments of Guatemala, Chimaltenango, Huehuetenango, Baja Verapaz, and Quiche, especially in the Sacapulas region of the latter. Many of the enclosed-type ball courts were in a very good state of preservation. Possibly, this is because they are located in fairly inaccessible places which are not well-suited to agriculture or grazing. Masonry of the courts varies a good deal in the type of rock used. Presumably, this depended upon what was available. For example, at Comitancillo, Xolpacol, Chutixtiox, Pacot and Vicaveval the masonry consists of rough slabs. At Mixco Viejo the slabs were well worked. At Xolchun well-cut stone blocks were used while at Chuitinamit schistose slabs were laid up horizontally. At Patzac, although the buildings were stripped, quantities of well-cut and faced tufa blocks were found. All stones were laid in mud mortar, and the walls were surfaced with one or two layers of thick plaster. At Comitancillo, traces of a design in red, yellow and blue were found on and directly below the vertical molding above the playing wall. No markers occurred in or near the ball courts but they all had, when the wall was intact, mortises in the center of the playing walls, either in the upper vertical molding or just below it. The only possibility of a marker was the remains of a plaster-covered stone "adorno" below the hole in the playing wall at Comitancillo. These holes or mortises average about 40 cm. deep and from 20 to 40 cm. high and wide. The fact that in not one instance was a tenoned stone found in a court is interesting because it adds some weight to Blom's theory that portable markers (he says rings) may have been used. 10 In the exact center of the early floor of the playing alley of the ball court at Xolchun, Department of Huehuetenango, there is a hole 20 cm. in diameter and 35 cm. deep. 11 This is the second case of a hole being found in this position; the other was in the open-end a court at Chalchitan. It is obvious that these enclosed courts must have had some method of disposing of water. Drains were found in the corners of the end zones, at Xolpacol, Xolchun, and Chuitinamit. Other

a

Γ ìffl FIG. 7. Mixco Viejo and Comitancillo. a: Looking north at Group B, Mixco Viejo, Dept. of Chimaltenango. Enclosed type ball court in foreground. Rendering by Kisa Noguchi Sasaki of restoration by Stephen F. Borhegyi. b: Comitancillo, Dept. of Quiché, ball court, plan and sections. Enclosed type. 1, mortise. 2, reconstruction of possible type of carved stone and tenon set into mortise.

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courts must have had drains, but were not seen as their corners were covered with debris. The ball court at Chinautla, not far from Guatemala City, is questioned in the table because although Shook says it is of the late type, it has open ends. 12 Chinautla is a hilltop defense site and has pottery and architecture that belong in the Protohistoric Period. Discussing this with Shook, he told me that it was possible that the court once did have enclosed end zones because one end had broken away when the edge of the ravine caved in, and the other may well have been completely destroyed by agriculture. The court in figure 6, a, in Group H, at Chuitinamit, is shown because it was still under construction when the site was abandoned, indicating that this type of structure was being built right up until the Spanish Conquest. It is almost identical to the other ball court at the same site (fig. 6, b), but it has no benches, no plaster surfacing anywhere, and no vertical upper molding. There are slabs, however, laid along the top as if they were to be used for this purpose. ENCLOSED " A " TYPE B A L L

COURTS

Very little excavation has been carried on in this type ball court. A trench was dug across the middle of Ball Court I at Asuncion Mita 1 3 and Ball Court I at Guaytan, 1 4 but no court was thoroughly dug so, although we have data on the most essential parts, our information is not as complete as it might be. The end zones are usually small but well defined by low walls about .50 to 2 m. in height. In a few instances one end may be as high as the ranges which are always the same, from 2 to 3 m. The width of the playing alley from bench face to bench face varies from 6 to 9 m., and the ranges measure from 18 to 36 m. in length. The end zones are from 3 to 8.50 m. deep and 11 to 19 m. wide. Like the enclosed-type ball court, the enclosed a type has the shape of a "capital I" (fig. 5, a). The profile (fig. 8, g ) consists of a vertical bench face, a sloping bench top, and a vertical playing wall which is similar to Acosta's Type B. 15 The slope of the benches varies from 17 to 23 degrees and the vertical playing wall has a fairly consistent height of 1 m. In two cases a small mound about 1 m. high is located in a central position on top of a range. On a mound set back from, but connected to, the south range of Ball Court I at Guaytan (fig. 5, a ) , slightly west of its center, is a low rectangular platform which may once have carried a structure overlooking the playing alley. All of the eight enclosed a type ball courts are located in valleys, one near San Pedro Pínula in the Department of Jalapa, two near Asuncion Mita, in

Essay 7

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Figure 8

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Figure 9

FIG. 8. Sections through center of one side of various types of ball courts, a, Chuchun, open-end type, b, Chichén, Structures 1 and 2, open-end type, c, Chalchitan, Structures 23 and 24, early phase, open-end a type, d, Huil, open-end a type, e, Xolchun, Dept. of Huehuetenango, enclosed type, / , Chutixtiox, enclosed type, g, enclosed a type, h, a possible section of the "palangana" type. 1, probable portion of stone jaguar head with tenon. 2, remains of stucco figure. 3, mortise. 4, probable position of stone snake head with tenon in enclosed a type ball court. 5, probable position of stone head with tenon in "palangana" type ball court. FIG. 9. Schematic ball court with nomenclature, a, playing alley, b, bench face, c, bench top. d, playing wall, e, range. /, end zone, g, mortise, h, vertical upper zone or molding of playing wall.

the Department of Jutiapa, and five in the Motagua Valley in the Department of Progreso. Most of these sites are small groups with the ball court either on the edge or near the center. T h e r e does not seem to be any particular position. These courts were probably constructed in Late Classic times. N o t much can be said about the masonry used in enclosed a ball courts as little was showing. I n Ball Court I at Asunción Mita the bench face is built of slate slabs laid in clay mixed with lime, 1 6 and the sloping bench tops are paved with fist-sized, brown lava cobbles except for the top of the bench face which is paved with slate slabs. A t Guaytan, Ball Court I, the benches were faced with thin slabs of schistose rock set vertically. T h e only trace of surfacing on the bench tops was a layer of hard gray adobe 10 cm. thick. Stone markers were found with several courts. At San Pedro Pínula a stone head with a tenon was discovered lying in the center of the ball court. T h e head is of a snake with a human face in its open mouth. 1 7 T h e tenon

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is constructed to fit into the center of the playing wall as shown in figure 8, g. A serpent head with a tenon made in the same manner as the one at San Pedro Pinula was found just outside the west wall of Ball Court II at Asuncion Mita. 18 No markers were found in Ball Court I at Asunción Mita, but two parrot heads with a human face in the open beak, in the nearby town, are said to have come from the site. These heads are made to stand vertically as do the Copán marker heads.19 One of the four unnamed Motagua Valley sites has a tenoned stone snake's head with a human face in its open mouth associated with its ball court. Fragments of two human heads sculptured in tufifaceous rock lay on the surface of Ball Court I at Guaytan, but their original position is unknown. They are quite unlike the tenoned heads found in the other courts and probably were not used as markers.20 " P A L A N G A N A " TYPE B A L L C O U R T S

Little excavation has been carried on in the "palangana" type ball court. The name "palangana" (wash basin) has been used because it is the name by which this kind of construction is known among the inhabitants of the area in which most of them occur. Only four of these courts have been tested; three at Kaminaljuyu and one at Zacualpa. These excavations consisted of trenching across the center of the courts. The "palangana" court is a rectangular enclosure, with no indication of end zones, surrounded by walls that normally are of the same height. According to Shook,21 who located most of them, the ball court at Cotio is typical of 35 other "palanganas" in the Guatemala Valley. Its playing field is about 9.50 m. across and 33 m. long, and the surrounding walls rise 1.50 m. Courts A and Β at Kaminaljuyu are larger than the average court, the former having a playing field 10 by 42 m. and the latter 16 by 44 m. The walls of Ball Court A are about 4.50 m. above the court floor. What may be the largest "palangana" court is not far from Kaminaljuyu Court A. According to Lothrop's plan,22 its playing field measures 45 by 110 m., about twice the size of the Great Ball Court at Chichén Itzá. If it truly is a ball court, and there is no reason to believe it is not as it has all the features of the typical "palangana," it is the largest of all ball courts so far reported from Mesoamerica. Three huge stone statues found at the southwest end of the court, and part of a large carved stone altar on the southeast side, were probably not in their original position. The former may have been originally on the mound enclosing the southwest end and the latter on top of the southeast range. Though no exact measurements of the profile of a "palangana" were

Essay 7

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obtained, we were able, from our excavations, to get a few hints as to what it may have been like. It consisted of a vertical bench face, a wide sloping bench top, and a vertical playing wall (fig. 8, h). T h i s profile is very much like the profile of the enclosed a type ball court and Acosta's Type B . 2 3 There are 52 recorded "palangana" type ball courts, two-thirds of which are in the Guatemala Valley. T h e rest, with the exception of a few in the Department of Guatemala, are located in the Department of Sacatepéquez, Chimaltenanga, Jalapa, Santa Rosa and in the Zacualpa and San Andres Sajcabaja regions of Quiche. F r o m the ceramic evidence these ball courts were constructed during the late Classic Period. In all but a very few instances "palangana" courts were made without the use of stone and were probably surfaced with adobe plaster. In eight cases, including the extra large court at Kaminaljuyu, "palangana" courts have mounds on one side; and in one case, Ball Court A at Kaminaljuyu, a mound rests on the enclosing wall at the end. These mounds are located near the centers of the walls, and probably they were platforms supporting buildings of perishable materials. As all the "palangana" courts are completely enclosed, they undoubtedly had drains. W e found one in Ball Court Β of Kaminaljuyu. Stone markers were found in Ball Courts A, Β and C at Kaminaljuyu. These markers were carved in the forms of parrot, snake and human heads. All had tenons constructed to fit in the playing wall as shown in figure 8, h. It is likely that excavation of other courts of this type would yield more markers of this kind. MISCELLANEOUS B A L L COURTS O f the 132 ball courts considered in this report 20 have been placed in a miscellaneous group because they do not fit any of the five types into which the rest have been divided. In most cases it is the plan rather than the profile that is difficult to place in a type. In discussing these courts I suggest the types which they most closely resemble. T h e ball court at Zaculeu in the Department of Huehuetenango 2 4 has a profile similar to the enclosed-type court at Chutixtiox; but, although its end zones are well defined, giving it the shape of a "capital I," it is not completely closed. A wide gap exists at one end between the walls forming the end zones and the two ranges. Ceramic evidence places its construction in PostClassic time. It resembles the enclosed type more closely than any of the others, and it may be a precursor of that type. Three other sites, also in the Department of Huehuetenango, have ball courts resembling the enclosed

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type. They are: Piol, 2 5 where the end zones are marked by low walls; Xetenan, 2 6 with the end zones defined with low walls but not completely closed at one end; and Uaxac Canal, 2 7 with possible low walls defining the end zones and a small platform at each end. T w o other courts, also with low walls marking end zones and resembling the enclosed-type court, occur at Pantzac and Patzac in the San Andres Sajcabaja region of the Department of Quiché. 2 8 These courts all date from the Post-Classic and Protohistoric periods. T h e ball court at Tzicuay, Department of Quiché in the Nebaj-CotzalChajul region, was probably built in Post-Classic times. 2 9 Its profile is similar to that of the enclosed-type court, and it has low walls defining end zones. T h e southern extremity has a gap between the west range and the wall on the west end of the end zone. Benches extend around the extremities of the ranges. Chuitinamit, also in the Department of Quiche but in the Sacapulas region, has a ball court that resembles the enclosed type. 3 0 It is a defense site with Post-Classic and Protohistoric pottery. T h e end zones of the court are defined by a combination of high walls and terrace edges. Another site in the Sacapulas region, Xolchun, is closest to the open-end a type. 3 1 Before it was partly cut away by the river there had been an end zone at the east defined by a wall and the side of another building. T h e west end opens into a plaza with an altar platform in line with the playing alley. T h e plaza, however, is not as clearly associated with the court as is the case with the open-end a type. Although the ball court at Chijolom, in the Department of Alta Verapaz, 3 2 has one enclosed end zone, it is more like the open-end court on the east edge of the ruins of Chichén (fig. 4, b). T h e limestone masonry, the most beautifully cut and fitted I have seen in any part of the Guatemala Highlands, was laid without the use of mortar and had no plaster facing. Like Chichén, the benches extend around the ends of the ranges, and the faces of the playing walls are made of huge single stones extending from bench top to the vertical upper molding. There are two ball courts at Iximche, Department of Chimaltenango, the ancient capital of the Cakchiquels. Being a conquest period site, these were most certainly constructed in Protohistoric times. According to Pollock 3 3 both courts are the same: small, completely enclosed, and without end zones. In this respect they are like the "palangana" type, but they differ in that the side mounds are considerably higher than the end mounds. N o profile is given, but it is stated that the inner surfaces of the side mounds may have been vertical. T h e remaining eight miscellaneous ball courts are all in the Motagua

Essay 7

Α. L E D Y A R D

SMITH

119

Valley between Progreso and Zacapa. Their profiles, where visible, are of the enclosed a type, but the shapes of the courts vary. At Guaytan, Ball Court 2, the end zones are defined by a combination of walls and terrace edges (fig. 5, b). At El Terrón one end has a well-defined end zone enclosed by walls and the other has only a partly enclosed end zone. 34 At La Vega de Coban one end of the court is open and the other has an enclosed zone. 35 Another court at one of the five unnamed sites in the valley is like that at La Vega de Coban; three others have parallel ranges and unattached mounds at either end; and one is open at both ends. This last was not considered an open-end court, however, because its profile resembles the enclosed a style. In fact all eight of these courts are closest to this enclosed a type.36 Several of the miscellaneous ball courts had construction on one or both of their ranges. At Zaculeu both ranges had long structures formed by low walls with the open sides of the buildings facing the playing alley (fig. 3, b). At Tzicuay the east range supported the low walls of a long narrow room with a square platform in the center.37 At Chijolom both ranges carried long platforms (fig. 5, c), and at El Terrón there was a square platform on the east range at its south end. 38 The only markers associated with the miscellaneous courts were in Ball Court 2 at Guaytan. Here five sculptures of tuffaceous rock were found in the court in the positions shown in figure 5, b. They represent tenoned snakes' heads, three with human heads in their open jaws. 39 Probably, they were tenoned horizontally into the vertical wall as shown in figure 8, g. One would assume that originally there were six heads, three on a side, but we were able to find only five. SUMMARY

Several features found in ball courts elsewhere are lacking in the ball courts in the Highlands of Guatemala. No stone tenoned rings such as were used in the Mexican Highlands and occasionally in the Maya Lowlands were found. The possibility of portable rings or other type markers that might have been used in the mortises in the enclosed-type courts has already been mentioned. Also lacking are altar-like stones set in the center and at the ends of the playing alley flush with the floor. These markers occur in the Monjas Court at Chichén Itzá, Yucutan; Lubaantun, British Honduras; Tenam Rosario, Chiapas; Yaxchilan, Chiapas; Piedras Negras, Guatemala; and Copan, Honduras. Niches, set generally in the faces of end walls, found at Azompa, Oaxaca, at Tula, and at Monte Alban were absent in all the courts investigated.

120

PRE-COLUMBIAN ART AND

ARCHAEOLOGY

Markers occur in ball courts in the Guatemalan Highlands in the form of stone tenoned heads set horizontally in the center of the playing walls near the top in all types except open-end and enclosed. Sometimes elaborate stucco heads were attached to the center of the playing wall where the vertical upper molding begins in open-end a type courts. There is also one case of a carved stone laid flat in the lower central part of the playing wall of an open-end court (Chichén). A n interesting feature found, as far as I know, only in two courts in the Highlands of Guatemala, is a hole in the exact center of the playing alley. Tozzer 9 explains it as conceivably being the entrance to the underworld. In discussing it Stern (1948, p. 54) says: It is striking, therefore, to find Alvarado Tezozomoc, the scion of Aztec royalty, describing the court as having a hole in the center, larger than a bowling ball in diameter, called the itzampan (Seler translates this as "place of the skull"). When the court is divided in half he continues, a triangle is drawn about the hole, which is termed the well of water. The details of the play he mentions indicate that both hole and triangle function together in a manner identical with the paired rings described by other writers. There have been more structural ball courts reported in the Highlands of Guatemala than in any other area of equal size and in this area the Guatemala Valley has the greatest concentration. The most common court is the "palangana" type of which 52 have been found, most of them in the valley of Guatemala. These courts were built in Late Classic times, a period when the ball game must have reached a high point of popularity for it was during this same period the open-end and enclosed a type courts were being constructed. With the exception of the two early ball courts at Copán which Stromsvik places in the Early Classic Period (1952), I know of no structural ball courts before the Late Classic Period. In the Late Classic Period, however, they spread all over the Guatemalan Highlands. The open-end court, which in profile is not unlike ball court R - l l at Piedras Negras, 4 was fairly well distributed throughout the area whereas the "palangana" and enclosed a types had definite areas where they were concentrated more than others, the former, as mentioned above, in the valley of Guatemala and the latter in the Motagua valley between Progreso and Zacapa. The open-end a court first made its appearance in post-Classic times and continued on into the Protohistoric period. It, too, had its area of concentration which was in the Nebaj-Cotzal-Chajul region of the Department of Quiche. Finally, we come to the enclosed-type ball court which was the style

Essay 7

Α. L E D Y A R D

121

SMITH

court of Protohistoric times and was being built right up to the Spanish Conquest. T h i s type court had a fairly wide distribution throughout the Guatemalan Highlands, although over half of them occur in the Department of Quiche. It is an interesting fact that during the Late Classic Period ball courts were usually in sites that were in valleys and that by Protohistoric times it was the general rule to build sites, most of which had ball courts, on hill tops and protect them with defense walls. T h i s certainly would indicate a change from a more peaceful existence in Late Classic times to a warlike state in Protohistoric times. It is strange that in both the Highlands of Guatemala and in the Highlands of Mexico the game was so popular in Protohistoric times and that in the Maya Lowlands it seems to have been abandoned. W e have plenty of architectural evidence of its popularity in the Guatemalan Highlands and many records and descriptions of ball courts in the Mexican Highlands. Sahagún mentions two courts at Tenochitlan and shows a plan. In the lowlands, such late sites as T u l u m and Mayapan have no ball courts. If the game had been an important factor here it seems logical that Landa would have said more about it. H e does describe a large house open on all sides where young men came to play various games, among them ball games, 4 0 but, as T o z z e r says, this probably does not refer to a game in a ball court. 4 1 SITES W I T H B A L L IN

H I G H L A N D S OF

Site

Ceramic Period

COURTS

THE GUATEMALA

Ball Court Type

Reference

DEPARTMENT OF GUATEMALA

Agua Caliente Amatitlan Aycinena Balsamo Castillo Cemeterio Cerritos Chinautla Clara Colonia Abril Conception Cotio Cristina Cruz

Late Classic Late Classic Late Classic Late Classic Late Classic Pre- and Late Classic Late Classic Pre-Classic through Protohistoric Late Classic Late Classic

(?)

Late Classic Late Classic Late Classic

"Palangana" "Palangana" "Palangana" "Palangana" "Palangana" "Palangana" "Palangana" Enclosed ( ? )

0) (2) (1) (1) O) (1) (O (1)

E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E.

M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M.

Shook, Shook, Shook, Shook, Shook, Shook, Shook, Shook,

1952 1952 1952 1952 1952 1952 1952 1952

"Palangana" "Palangana" "Palangana" "Palangana" "Palangana" "Palangana"

(1) (O (1) (1) (1) (1)

E. E. E. E. E. E.

M. M. M. M. M. M.

Shook, Shook, Shook, Shook, Shook, Shook,

1952 1952 1952 1952a 1952 1952

PRE-COLUMBIAN ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY

122 Site

Ceramic

Period

Ball Court

Type

Reference

Eucaliptos Falda

Late Classic Pre-, Early and Late Classic

"Palangana" ( 1 ) "Palangana" ( O

Ε. M. Shook, 1952 Ε. M. Shook, 1952

Fuentes Garland

(?) Pre- through Late Classic Late Classic Pre- through Late Classic

"Palangana" ( 1 ) "Palangana" ( 1 )

E. M. Shook, 1952 Ε. M. Shook, 1952

"Palangana" ( 1 ) "Palangana" (12) 0) (1) (1) (1) (1)

E. M. Shook, 1952 Shook and Smith, 1942 E. M. Shook, 1952 E. M. Shook, 1952 E. M. Shook, 1952 E. M. Shook, 1952 E. M. Shook, 1952

"Palangana" ( 1 ) "Palangana" ( ? ) "Palangana" ( 1 )

E. M. Shook, 1952 0 ) E. M. Shook, 1952 E. M. Shook, 1952

"Palangana" ( ? )

( 1 ) E. M. Shook, 1952

Guacamaya Kaminaljuyu Lavarreda Palmita Pelikan Ross Sanja San Rafael Taltic Villanueva Vuelta Grande

Φ Late Classic Late Classic Pre- and Late Classic Pre- through Late Classic Late Classic Late Classic Pre- through Late Classic (?) D E P A R T M E N T OF

Chacula Chalchitan Chicol Chilipe Cuja Huitchun

(?) P r e - ( ? ) , Early, Late, and post-Classic Early and perhaps Late Classic (?) (?) Classic ( ? ) and Protohistoric

Piol (?) Tu'Kumanchun Late Classic Uaxac Canal (?) Uaxac Canal (?) Ventana Group Xetenan Φ Xolchun Protohistoric Early Classic through Zaculeu Protohistoric D E P A R T M E N T OF

Florencia Pompeya

Pre- through Late Classic Pre- through Late Classic

"Palangana" "Palangana" "Palangana" "Palangana" "Palangana"

HUEHUETENANGO

Open-end Open-end Open-end Open-end

(1) (1) a (1) (1)

E. Seier, 1901 A. L. Smith, 1955 A. L . Smith, 1955

Open-end a ( 1 )

E. M. Shook, 1947 La Farge and Byers, 1931 A. L. Smith, 1955

Miscellaneous (1) Open-end ( 1 ) Miscellaneous ( 1 ) Open-end ( 1 )

A. L. Smith, 1955 S. Miles, field notes E. Seler, 1901 E. Seler, 1901

Miscellaneous ( 1 ) Enclosed ( 1 ) Miscellaneous ( 1 )

A. L . Smith, 1955 A. L . Smith, 1955 Woodbury and T r i k , 1953

Open-end ( 1 ) Open-end ( 1 )

SACATEPÉQUEZ

"Palangana" ( 1 ) "Palangana" ( ? )

E. M. Shook, 1952 ( 1 ) S. F. Borhegyi, 1950

Essay 7

Α. L E D Y A R D Site

Ceramic Period DEPARTMENT

Utatlan

D E P A R T M E N T OF Q U I C H E :

Kukul Zacualpa

(?)

SANTA C R U Z

Chutixtiox Comitancillo Pacot Rio Blanco Xecataloj Xolchun Xolpacol

Acihtz Caquixay Chichel Chipai El Tigre Huil Kalamte Mutchil Nebaj Oncap Pulai San Francisco San Francisco del Norte Tixchun Tuchoc Tzicuay

REGION

C. Sapper, 1897

JOYABA-ZACUALPA

REGION

Enclosed (1)

Early Classic through Protohistoric

Classic Post-Classic (?) and Protohistoric Protohistoric Protohistoric Protohistoric Late pre-, Early Classic, Protohistoric Classic, post-Classic, Protohistoric Protohistoric D E P A R T M E N T OF

Reference

Enclosed (2)

Ε. M. Shook, 1944 field notes "Palangana" (?) (1) R. Wauchope, 1948

D E P A R T M E N T OF Q U I C H E :

Chuchun Chuitinamit

123

Ball Court Type

OF Q U I C H E :

Classic through Protohistoric

SMITH

SACAPULAS

REGION

Open-end (1) Miscellaneous (1)

A. L. Smith, 1955 A. L. Smith, 1955

Enclosed Enclosed Enclosed Open-end

A. A. A. A.

(1) (1) (1) (1)

Post-Classic and Protohistoric (?) (?) (?) (?) Early, Late, and post-Classic Protohistoric (?) (?) (?) Post-Classic (?) Early, Late, and post-Classic

Smith, Smith, Smith, Smith,

1955 1955 1955 1955

Open-end (1) Miscellaneous (1)

A. L. Smith, 1955 A. L. Smith, 1955

Enclosed (1)

A. L. Smith, 1955

QUICHE: NEBAJ-COTZAL-CHAJUAL

Protohistoric Late Classic and Protohistoric

L. L. L. L.

REGION

Open-end a (1) Open-end a (1)

A. L. Smith, 1955 A. L. Smith, 1955

Open-end a (1) Open-end a (1)

R. Burkitt, 1930 A. L. Smith, 1955

Open-end Open-end Open-end Open-end Open-end Open-end Open-end Open-end Open-end Open-end

A. L. Smith, 1955 A. L. Smith, 1955 C. Sapper, 1895 A. L. Smith, 1955 Smith and Kidder, 1951 A. L. Smith, 1955 A. L. Smith, 1955 R. Burkitt, 1930 A. L. Smith, 1955

(1) a (1) a (1) a (1) (1) a (1) a (1) (1) a (1) a (2)

Open-end a (1) Open-end a (1) Miscellaneous (1)

A. L. Smith, 1955 A. L. Smith, 1955 A. L. Smith, 1955

124

PRE-COLUMBIAN Site

ART AND

Ceramic Period

Vicaveval Vitenam

ARCHAEOLOGY

Ball Court Type

Protohistoric

Enclosed (1) Open-end (1)

(?) D E P A R T M E N T OF Q U I C H E :

La Lagunita

Post-Classic

Llano Grande Pantzac

Late Classic Post-Classic

Patzac

Late Classic (?) and Protohistoric

SAN ANDRES

Chijolom Las Tinajas Tampoma

Iximche La Garrucha La Merced Mixco Viejo

OF A L T A

Late pre- through post-Classic Late Classic and post-Classic Late Classic Late Classic

Miscellaneous (1)

A. L. Smith, 1955

Open-end (?) (1) Open-end a (1)

A. L. Smith, 1955 A. L. Smith, 1955

OF C H I M A L T E N A N G O

Protohistoric (?)

Miscellaneous (2) "Palangana" (1)

(?) (?) Late Classic and Protohistoric

"Palangana" (1) Enclosed (2)

Miscellaneous (1)

Guaytan

Early and Late Classic (?)

Enclosed a (1) Miscellaneous (1) Enclosed a (4)

(?)

Miscellaneous (5)

D E P A R T M E N T OF

H . E. D. Pollock, 1937 field notes E. M. Shook, 1948 field notes E. M. Shook, notes A. L. Smith, 1955

PROGRESO

Open-end (?) (1)

(?)

(?)

A. L. Smith, 1955

A. L. Smith, 1955

Late Classic

El Sare

A. L. Smith, 1955

VERAPAZ

El Teron

Four Motagua Valley Sites Five Motagua Valley Sites

A. L. Smith, 1955 A. L. Smith, 1955

Open-end (2)

D E P A R T M E N T OF

Bucara]

A. L. Smith, 1955

REGION

Enclosed (2)

DEPARTMENT

REGION

"Palangana" (?) (1) Open-end (1) "Palangana" (?) (1) Open-end a (1) Miscellaneous (1) Enclosed (1) Miscellaneous (1)

(?) DEPARTMENT

Chichén

A. L. Smith, 1955 A. L. Smith, 1955

SAJCABAJA

D E P A R T M E N T OF B A J A VERAPAZ: RABINAL

Chuitinamit

Reference

E. M. Shook, 1944 field notes Smith and Kidder, 1943 Smith and Kidder, 1943 A. L. Smith, 1940 field notes A. L. Smith, 1940 field notes

JALAPA

"Palangana" (1)

E. M. Shook, 1943 field notes

Essay 7

A. L E D Y A R D Site

Ceramic Period

San Pedro Pínula

(?)

Xalapan

(?)

125

SMITH Ball Court

Type

Enclosed Λ (1) "Palangana" (1) "Palangana" (1)

Reference

G. Stromsvik, 1952 Ε. M. Shook, 1943 field notes

D E P A R T M E N T OF ZACAPA

La Vega de Coban

(?)

Miscellaneous (1)

Smith and Kidder, 1943

D E P A R T M E N T OF JUTIAPA

Asunción Mita

Late Classic

Enclosed a (2)

G. Stromsvik, 1952

D E P A R T M E N T OF SANTA ROSA

El Prado

(?)

"Palangana" (1)

Utzumazate

(?)

"Palangana" (1)

E. M. Shook, 1942 field notes E. M. Shook, 1942 field notes

Ceramic Periods Post-Classic A.D. 900-A.D. 1200 Protohistoric A.D. 1200-A.D. 1525

Late pre-Classic Early Classic Late Classic

500 B.C.—A.D. 300 A.D. 300-A.D. 600 A.D. 600-A.D. 900

Open-end Open-end a

No end zones defined by masonry walls. Open-end court with one end leading into an adjoining plaza that normally has an altar platform in its center. High walls defining end zones, with stairways leading out at either end. Profile has a level bench top and a steeply sloping wall with a vertical molding at the top (fig. 8, e and /) Walls defining end zones. Profile has a sloping bench top and a vertical playing wall (fig. 8, g). Rectangular enclosure with surrounding walls of even height. No end zones. Ball courts that do not fit into any of the above types. Carbon copies of the field notes of Pollock, Shook and Smith are in the Peabody Museum, Harvard University. The numbers following the ball court type indicate the number of ball courts at the site.

Ball Court

Enclosed

Enclosed a "Palangana" Miscellaneous

Types

ESSAY by S T E P H A N F . de B O R H E G Y I

Ball-game Handstones and Ball-game Gloves The so-called "stone weight," "padlock stones" and "sling stones" of ancient Mexico and Guatemala have long been something of an enigma to Middle American archaeologists. Their odd shape, usually resembling a common padlock, with spherical body and loop handle, suggests a specific function and has stimulated many a discussion of how they might have been used. This paper will attempt to shed some light on the possible use and distribution of these enigmatic stone objects, and proposes to assign them to a particular chronological horizon in Middle American prehistory. As early as 1907, Walter Fewkes called attention to a group of "spherical stone objects" in the private collection of the well-known pre-revolutionary governor of Veracruz, Teodoro Dehesa. Several, he suggested, had the shape of loop-handled stoppers for bottles, or flasks. According to Fewkes, the local Indians referred to them as chimalles, a general Nahuatl name for shields or weapons. Consequently, he classified them as "sling stones," used probably in warfare, and stated that those in the Dehesa collection had been found in the Cempoalan and Xico area in Veracruz, Mexico, along with various "paddle-shaped stones" (referred to today as palmate stones), stone yokes and "stone heads" (thin stone heads). The idea that these loop-handled and carved handstones were actually weapons, used by Mayan and Mexican Indians in prehistoric times, was further developed by Follett in his study of "War and Weapons of the Mayas." 1 He noted that slings were rather generally used by the Indians of ancient Mesoamerica. They were usually made of fiber and cord, and held a stone about the size of a hen's egg. However, according to Follett, "the Maya also used large stones cut to receive the hand and these were thrown like hand-grenades at the enemy." To prove this point, he illustrated the same handstones from the Dehesa collection to which Fewkes had referred earlier. Samuel Lothrop, in his report of the excavations at Zacualpa (Department of Quiche in Highland Guatemala), mentions finding several "stone

Essay 8

S T E P H A N F. de B O R H E G Y I

127

balls with handles" and illustrates one. 2 He groups them with other enigmatic stone objects from the same site and avoids calling them "sling stones." However, it is a well-known but unfortunate fact that, once a term gets into the scientific literature, it is hard to change. Although these loop-handled handstones were probably never used as weapons by the Mexicans or the Mayas, they have, since Fewkes' report, frequently been referred to as "sling stones." Dutton and Hobbs 3 called attention to three fragmentary "sling stones" from Tajumulco (Department of San Marcos). J. Eric Thompson 4 described and illustrated a nicely executed "sling stone" from Finca Buenos Aires (Department of Quezaltenango, Guatemala) in the Montes collection and also referred to similar objects, in the Robles collection, which were found at Finca El Paraíso and Finca Rosario Tinhuinlinhuitz, near Quezaltenango, Guatemala. Later, when excavating Finca El Baul (Department of Escuintla, Guatemala), Thompson again found examples of these "socalled sling stones." 5 One was in the form of an exquisitely carved jaguar paw. 6 C. W . Weiant, excavating at the Ranchito site at Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, Mexico, found four fragments. 7 Covarrubias, in his study of "Indian Arts of Mexico and Central America," also illustrated a slightly different type of "puzzling" padlock-stones which, according to him, looked like functional implements for unknown purposes, or like stone replicas of modern machine parts. 8 (See fig. 1, second row.) One of the curious facts that seems to tie together these widely distributed finds of loop-handled handstones is their frequent association with palmate stones, stone yokes and thin stone heads. This has already been noted by Thompson, 9 who states that a "polished stone object of the so-called slingstone type in the collection at Hacienda El Baul . . . is an artifact, like yokes and flat stone heads, which is widely distributed in eastern Mexico." Beside the fact that the handstones seem to have a close relationship with these items of ball-game paraphernalia, the specimens illustrated by Fewkes, Thompson and Lothrop do not show signs of breakage or chipping. This would likely be the case had they been used in warfare, as suggested by Follett, and especially if hurled against the enemy as hand grenades. Of course, this is not to suggest that the Indians of pre-Columbian Middle America did not use slings made out of fiber and cord, or hurl uncut stones in battle. There are several references to this effect in the Spanish chronicles. As a matter of fact, the Aztec ruler, Moctezuma, is known to have died of a wound caused by a stone thrown at him from a sling, when he appeared with Cortez on the wall of his palace. 10 The writer simply wishes to indicate here that the loop-handled handstones illustrated by Fewkes and others

EMM

All drawings in this Essay by Lee Tishler, Milwaukee

Public

Museum.

Essay 8

S T E P H A N F. de BORHEGYI

129

had some other purpose than weapons. It should be noted that they are absent during the late Post-Classic period (A.D. 1300-1500) when warfare in Middle America reached its peak. One would also doubt that such lavish carvings as human and jaguar heads would appear on an object intended for a single use as a missile (see figs. 7, 5 - 8 ; 8), particularly when any ordinary, uncarved stone would be just as effective. In warfare, the chances of recovery of such an elaborately carved stone by its owner would be limited and there would seem to be little practical advantage in having a hole carved to fit the hand. If not weapons, then what were they? Could they have been used as pestles or pounders? Their shape is certainly similar to the "poi" pounders of Hawaii, or to those stirrup-shaped rubbing stones illustrated from the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica 1 1 and the Northwest Coast of North America. The fact that Dutton and Hobbs 1 2 noted red pigment on some of their specimens, as did Weiant, 13 may argue for such a hypothesis. Weiant even suggests that they may have been used for some "ironing or smoothing operation." Notwithstanding the above-mentioned possibilities, the writer considers it worth-while to probe the association of handstones with ball-game paraphernalia, above and beyond the fact that they all seem to be restricted to the same Classic time horizon. Rubbing and grinding implements would be expected to occur during all time horizons in ancient Mesoamerica. The walls of the great ball court at Chichén Itzá, Yucatan, have six stone relief panels of fourteen human figures each, a total of 84 figures, all representing ball-game players. Each panel, whose details differ only slightly, seems to represent a human decapitation, probably the aftermath of a mock contest between two teams of seven ball players each. Perhaps one represents a Maya and the other a Toltec ball-game team. All the players depicted on these panels wear a nosebead, a round ear disc with a long tubular bead, a back shield, and essentially the same equipment most often associated with the game—arm pads, kneepads and the "slipper type" of sandal with a "puff." In addition, each figure wears a tunic. Over this is a carved yoke. Sticking upward from its front is an elongated carved object, possibly a palmate stone, which usually ends in a skull, a serpent head or a monkey head. Each player, except the one who has made the sacrifice, but even including the one who has lost his head, holds in his right hand a "flattish boxlike object" with a carved jaguar head in front (fig. 2). According to Tozzer, 1 4 this "boxlike object" may represent a wooden yoke shown with a loop handle, by means of which it was carried. Tozzer gives a detail

130

PRE-COLUMBIAN

ART

AND

ARCHAEOLOGY

FIG. 2. Chichén Itzá Great Ball Court Relief. Sacrifice on the ball court. Each ball-game player, with exception of sacrificer, holds object in shape of jaguar head in right hand, right knees padded, yokes open to left. ( A f t e r Tozzer, 1957, fig. 474.)

of this object in his figure 483 (reproduced here as fig. 3) and postulates that this "wooden yoke" was the one that may have been used during the play itself, whereas the considerably heavier "ceremonial stone yokes" (some weighing as much as fifty pounds) were only worn during processions or ceremonies connected with the sacrifice on the ball court.15 While in the Guatemalan Museum, where the writer made a study of different types of handstones, he noted one particularly well-carved handstone specimen, in the form of a jaguar head with loop handle (fig. 8, 1). An almost identical specimen, said to be from Veracruz, was located in the J. C. Left collection in Philadelphia (fig. 8, 2-3). Both are strikingly similar to the "boxlike" objects held in the right hands of the Chichén Itzá ballplayers illustrated by Tozzer. No such jaguar-head-shaped stone objects have ever been reported from Chichén Itzá. However, the writer is of the opinion that the flattish "box-shaped" objects, in the form of jaguar heads, were ball-game handstones, probably used to deflect the rubber ball, to steady the player during the game and to protect the hand from injury, rather than "wooden yokes" as suggested by Tozzer.

FIG. 3. Detail of jaguar-head object in player's right hand (cf. fig. 8). ( A f t e r Tozzer, 1957, fig. 483.)

Essay 8

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The collection of various polished plain and carved handstones with loop handles in the Guatemalan National Museum (fig. 7) varies in height from about 12 to 27 centimeters, in width from 13 to 24 centimeters, and thickness from 12 to 13 centimeters. They can be carried easily by their loop handles and are about the shape and size necessary to deflect the solid rubber balls, reportedly 12 to 20 centimeters in diameter and weighing from one-half pound to five pounds. No matter how hard the solid but elastic ball was, it could not have left noticeable damage on the volcanic stone, just as it did not mar other known items of ball-game paraphernalia, such as stone yokes, thin stone heads and palmate stones. According to various eyewitness accounts of the ball game as it was played at the time of the Spanish Conquest, the ball was not permitted to come in contact with the bare hands, calves and feet of the players. It was struck with the hips and thighs to within four inches of the knee. To protect the player from serious injury, a leather or basketry belt was worn about the waist. In the course of the game, in order to strike a low ball, it was

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FIG. 5. Miscellaneous sculptured stone No. 10 from Piedras Negras, Guatemala. Depicts two ball-game players with ball-game handstone-like objects. About A.D. 800.

frequently necessary for the player to throw himself to the playing floor of the ball court, which usually was made of plaster and masonry. For this reason, pads were provided for the arms and knees to protect them from injury. One of the Spanish eyewitnesses, Duran, 16 has given us the following account: "All those who entered this game, played with leathers placed over their loin-cloths and they always wore some trousers of deerskin to protect the thighs which they all the time were scraping against the ground. They wore gloves in order not to hurt their hands, as they continuously were steadying and supporting themselves on the ground. . . ." Sahagun, another eyewitness, adds further information: 17 "They did not play with the hands but with the buttocks; to oppose the ball they wore for playing some gloves on the hands, and a belt of leather on the buttocks to strike the ball." Unfortunately, none of these chroniclers describes in detail either the shape or the material from which these "gloves" were made. According to the Popul Vuh,i% each ball player owned the equipment he used in the game, which comprised the ball ( q u i q ) , ring {bate), hip-leather (tzuun), glove (pachgab), headgear (yachvach) and a face net or mask (vachzot). In the Quiché language, gab (or cap) means "hand" or "arm," while pack means "to cover" or "to arm." 19 Recent authors on the Mesoamerican ball game, however, have preferred for pach-gab the more convenient translation "glove," 2 0 assuming that the fists of the players were protected or covered with some sort of a glove rather than armed with an additional implement. If we assume that the loop-handled ball-game handstones were used as an additional "armament" to deflect the ball, protect the hand and steady the player when he threw himself to the ground, a hitherto unintelligible and

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confusing sentence in the Popul Vuh may be explained. As we have seen, some of the handstones have been found in the form of carved jaguar and other feline heads. When the Maya-Quiché culture heroes, Hun-Came and Vucub-Came, descend into the underworld or Xibalba, they are immediately surrounded by the Lords of the Night who urge them to play ball. There is some indecision as to whose ball they will use, their own or that of the Lords of Xibalba. The boys then cry out words to the effect, "Let the head of the puma speak," or "Let the head of the jaguar, rather than that of the puma, rule here." 2 1 This reference may allude to puma- and jaguar-head-shaped ball-game handstones and may represent a kind of pre-game bragging between the opposing team members. After a study of ball-game handstones in the Guatemalan National Museum and in private collections and an examination of the literature, the writer has identified eight distinctive types of loop-handled ballstones. Chart 1 lists the provenience of all handstones studied by the writer and their possible counterparts in the hands of ball-game players depicted on stone monuments, pottery figurines and in the codices. However, other types of hand protection were also used in the ball game, either in place of or in connection with handstones. The following major types of hand protectors have been noted : a) quilted wrappings b) spiral bandage-type bindings c) short, square protective pads Their identification on stone monuments, stone objects, pottery figurines and vessels and in the codices is shown in Chart 2. These wrappings very likely had the same function as the ball-game handstones, that of deflecting the ball and protecting the hand and wrist from injury when the player dived to the playing floor to strike a low ball (see fig. 9, 2). When the occurrence of ball-game handstones and their representations on Pre-Columbian stone monuments and pottery figurines is plotted on a map of Mesoamerica, the result is a curious distribution from Panuco (Veracruz) and Chichén Itzá on the East Coast of Mexico to El Baúl on the South Coast of Guatemala (see map, fig. 6). They seem to be absent from an area more or less comprising the rain forest sections of Tabasco, northern Chiapas, Peten, and British Honduras, where apparently the hand-wrapping or spiral-binding method of wrist protection was preferred. To be sure, there is some overlapping of the two types of hand protection at such places as Copán (Honduras) and Lubaantun (British Honduras). It also seems

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that the use of the "padlock type" of handstone, which apparently was not represented on stone monuments and pottery figurines, was restricted to the Cempoala area in Veracruz and to Oaxaca, Mexico. Apparently, it was never carried as far as Yucatan or Guatemala. Looking at this distribution from a chronological point of view, it seems that the ball-game handstones associated with other items of ball-game paraphernalia, such as stone yokes, thin stone heads, etc., spread from Central Veracruz during Classic (about A.D. 300-1000) times. They were probably carried to Yucatan and Guatemala by Mexican or Mexican-influenced groups. The "weeping-eye" handstones (see fig. 7, 6 and 8) undoubtedly illustrate the god, Quetzalcoatl, in much the

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same style as he is depicted on stone monuments at El Baúl, Guatemala. 2 2 T h e spiral binding or wrapping type of hand protection seems to be a Lowland Maya rain forest characteristic and apparently flourished only during the Classic period (A.D. 300-900). T h e two forms of hand protection— ball-game handstones and bindings—apparently had an independent origin and may have been associated with different types of competitive rubber ball games, different ball courts and different types and sizes of balls. It would also seem that the elaborate stone carving of ball-game paraphernalia was a Veracruz or East Coast Mexican trait that developed into an unusual highly sophisticated artistry. On the other hand, in the rain forest area, the protective paddings were made not of stone but of basketry, leather and cotton cloth. Similar, but much simpler, protective wrappings were in use at the time of the Conquest in Mexico, according to the codices and the Spanish chronicles. What could have caused the discontinuance of stone ball-game paraphernalia during the Post Classic period is a complex problem beyond the scope of this article. One explanation may be that the stone items were connected with the religious and ceremonial aspect of the game. They may not have been used at all during the game. If so, then they may have gone out of use during the more secular period that followed the Classic, when the ball game gradually lost its sacred aspect. Another interesting side result of the present study is the observation of a remarkable regularity in the ball players' dress. If the player carries in his right hand a ball-game handstone or handstone-like object, or has his right hand protected with a "glove" or pad, he is usually depicted with his right knee padded or kneeling on his right knee. In each case, the yoke or yokelike girdle he wears is open to the left side (see fig. 9 ) . T h e opposite is true when the player has his left hand protected with a ball-game handstone or "glove" (e.g., see items 1, 2, 5 and 6 in Chart 2 ) . This regularity in the ball players' dress suggests that the players were assigned to certain fixed positions in the ball court, comparable to those of modern volleyball. T h e purpose of the ancient Mesoamerican competitive ball game was to keep the ball bounding from one player to another, with scoring occurring when the ball touched the floor of the opposing team. T h e aspect of gaining ground, as in modern soccer and football, was not evident. It is possible that those Mesoamerican ball players who played on the right side of the ball court found it more advantageous to use their right fist to deflect a high ball. Also they must have used a ball-game handstone and their right knee to steady themselves while striking the ball with their right hip. Those on the left side must have made similar use of their ball-game handstones, left fist,

FIG. 7. Loop-handled ball-game handstones; plain, and in form of human heads. 1: Type C. Finca El Baul, Escuintla, Guatemala. (Thompson, 1948, fig. 18, /'.) Height, 27 cm. Width: 23 cm. 2: Type A. Stone ball-game glove; plain, undecorated, unperforated variety, Guatemala National Museum No. 7541 b. Guatemalan Highlands, exact provenience unknown. Height 15.5 cm. Width: 15 cm. 3: Type C. Guatemala National Museum No. 4426. Los Cerritos, Santa Rosa, Guatemala. Height: 23 cm. Width: 16.5 cm. 4: Type B. Guatemala National Museum No. 2816. Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala. Height: 20 cm. Width: 13 cm. 5: Type E. Patzún, Chimaltenango, Guatemala. Hannstein Collection. Height: 22 cm. Width: 13 cm. 6: Type E. Guatemala National Museum No. 2146. Guatemalan Highlands. Exact provenience unknown. "Weeping-eye" face may represent Quetzalcoatl. Height: 22.5 cm. Width: 15.5 cm. 7: Type E. Guatemala

FIG. 8. Loop-handled ball-game handstones in form of jaguar heads. 1: Type F. Guatemala National Museum No. 7541. Guatemalan Highlands. Exact provenience unknown. Jaguar head. Height: 13 cm. Width: 12 cm. 2: Type F. Totonac-Veracruz area. J. C. Leff Collection No. 410. Jaguar head. Height: 14 cm. Width: 14 cm. Top view. 3: Same as above, side view. National Museum No. 2189. Guatemalan Highlands. Exact provenience unknown. Height: 19.3 cm. Width: 15.5 cm. 8: Type E. Guatemala National Museum No. 2147. Guatemalan Highlands. Exact provenience unknown. "Weeping-eye" face similar to number 6. Height: 23.5 cm. Width: 14 cm. All photographs in this Essay by Leo Johnson, Milwaukee Public Museum.

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left knee and left hip. Such an explanation is more consistent with the relatively high proportion of "left-handed" ball-player representations than the "artistic license and dictates of symmetry" explanation proposed by Stern. 2 3 Such an explanatinon also suggests that in the pre-Columbian ball game neither the knee nor the elbow was used to strike the ball, as has been suggested by some authors. These areas were covered so that they would not be injured when the player made one of his frequent dives to the playing floor in pursuit of a low ball. In conclusion, it may be said that the evidence presented in this paper suggests that the loop-handled handstones were not used as weapons, but were most probably used to deflect the ball, protect the hand and steady the player in the pre-Columbian ball game. T h e size and shape of the more elaborately carved "padlock stones" 2 4 suggests that they may have served a similar purpose in a restricted area in southern Mexico. T h e ball-game handstones, along with other stone ball-game paraphernalia, seem to be Mexican in origin and, more specifically, from the Central Veracruz area. They were probably carried by Mexican-speaking groups during Classic times (A.D. 300-1000) to such Maya areas as Yucatan, Mexico and the South Coast and Highlands of Guatemala. They were used either in connection with the g a m e itself, along with the carved stone yokes, thin stone heads, and palmate stones or in pre- and post-game religious ceremonies. It may be added that the palmate stones, like the "padlock-stones," apparently never penetrated the southern Maya area, for some reason not yet known. Undoubtedly, these various Mexican-introduced items of ball-game paraphernalia brought with them drastic changes in the native Maya game. It is likely that the change in shape of the ball courts, themselves (in Yucatan the vertical-walled court with horizontally tenoned stone rings and in the Highland Maya area the so-called "sunken" ball courts), may have come about as a result of such new type of ball-game equipment as stone yolks, thin stone heads and ball-game handstones.

FIG. 9. Representations of ball-game handstones and protective arm paddings on stone sculptures and pottery objects. 1 : Pottery effigy whistle depicting ball-game player. Guatemala National Museum No. 5898. Dieseldorfï Collection. Alta Verapaz. Player's right knee is padded, he kneels on right knee, and yoke opens to left. Height: 25.2 cm. 2 : Effigy jar representing ball-game player reclining on left side. Santa Cruz, Quiche ( ? ) , Guatemala. Museum of American Indian, Heye Foundation, N o . 12.3347. Left

Figure 9 hand of player is bandaged. H e has pads on both knees. Y o k e opens to right. 3: Tattooed ball-game player, pottery, effigy whistle with deer headdress, padded knees, bandaged right wrist and yoke. Player holds handstone depicting a feline head in left hand (cf. fig. 8 ) . Height: 18 cm. Gilcrease Collection, Tulsa, Oklahoma. 4: Stone monument from South Coast of Guatemala, Guatemala National Museum No. 2009. Depicts squatting individual holding human head-shaped ball-game glove in left hand (cf. fig. 7, 6 and 8). Height: 71 cm. W i d t h : 67 cm. 5: Totonac palmate stone. Gilcrease Collection. Ball-game player with yoke and palmate stone holds box-shaped ball-game handstone in left hand, left knee padded. Height: 54 cm.

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