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2 - Monkeys and the Ancient Maya

Using Biological Markers and Behavior for Primate Species Identification in Maya Iconography

from Part I - The Americas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2022

By
Katherine E. South  and
Susan M. Ford
Edited by
Bernardo Urbani ,
Dionisios Youlatos  and
Andrzej T. Antczak
Bernardo Urbani
Affiliation:
Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research
Dionisios Youlatos
Affiliation:
Aristotle University, Thessaloniki
Andrzej T. Antczak
Affiliation:
Universiteit Leiden
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Summary

Understanding how a culture classifies and assigns meaning to nature can provide key insight into that culture. The ancient Maya used images of monkeys in many ways. This study tests whether individual species of monkeys can be identified in Maya imagery and, if so, whether the Maya used images of different species in unique and separate ways or associated with different “human” activities. We identified nine features that could discriminate between the three genera found in the Maya area (Alouatta, Ateles, and Cebus) and scored 106 primate images from Maya pottery. Most images were identifiable as Ateles (65%) with 9% identifiable as Alouatta, a few tentatively identified as Cebus, and 22% unidentified generic monkeys. Ateles were associated more with performance, dancing, and cacao handling, while Alouatta were depicted more in scribal activities. Results indicate that the Maya distinguished between the genera on symbolic levels, associating them with different behaviors and activities.

Keywords:

Human–nonhuman primate interaction, Maya, Primate symbolism, Platyrrhine, Mesoamerica, Neotropics

Type
Chapter
Information
World Archaeoprimatology
Interconnections of Humans and Nonhuman Primates in the Past
 , pp. 48 - 62
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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