Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T15:57:15.499Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

LITTLE HELPERS, COMPANIONS, AND ANCESTORS: MINIATURE FIGURES IN THE MAYA LOWLAND REGION DURING THE LATE PRECLASSIC AND CLASSIC PERIODS (AD 15–800)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2018

Lisa M. Johnson
Lisa M. Johnson*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California, 2251 College Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94720 ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This report discusses miniature anthropomorphic figures found in ritualized contexts across the Lowland Maya region, dating to AD 15–800. Crafted with minimal detail to indicate humanlike features, anthropomorphic miniatures have been found in offerings placed alongside the dead, within temples and ballcourts, and beneath stone monuments. Their form, often with arms over the chest, is similar to bundled bodies and may reference those that reside in other worlds. This paper considers, through their form, archaeological contexts, and ethnographic comparisons, these anthropomorphic miniatures as active agents in their roles as ritual helpers, small companions, and materialized ancestors.

En este informe se analizan las figuras antropomorfas en miniatura halladas en contextos ritualizados a lo largo de las tierras bajas Mayas y que datan entre 15 y 800 dC. Las miniaturas antropomorfas están elaboradas con detalles mínimos para indicar rasgos humanos y se han encontrado en ofrendas funerarias, al interior de templos y canchas de juego de pelota y debajo de monumentos de piedra. Su forma, a menudo con los brazos sobre el pecho, es similar a los fardos funerarios y puede hacer referencia a los que residen en otros mundos. A partir de su forma, contextos arqueológicos y comparaciones etnográficas, en este trabajo se consideran estas miniaturas antropomorfas como agentes activos, en su papel de ayudantes rituales, pequeños compañeros y antepasados materializados.

Type
Report
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 616 - 622
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by the Society for American Archaeology 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Cabrera Cortés, Oralia 2002 Ideología y Política en Teotihuacan. Ofrendas de Rocas Semipreciosas de la Pirámide de la Serpiente Emplumada. In Ideología y Política a Través de Materiales, Imágenes y Símbolos: Memoria de la Primera Mesa Redonda de Teotihuacan, edited by Ruiz Gallut, María Elena, pp. 75–99. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México, DF.Google Scholar
Caso, Alfonso 1965 Lapidary Work, Goldwork and Copperwork from Oaxaca. In Archaeology of Southern Mesoamerica, edited by Wiley, Gordon R., pp. 896–930. Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 2, Robert Wauchope, general editor, University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Chase, Arlen F., and Chase, Diane Z. 2006 Before the Boom: Caracol's Preclassic Era. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 3:41–67.Google Scholar
Chase, Arlen F., and Chase, Diane Z. 2014 Ancient social Integration in a Maya Neighborhood: Investigation of Adjacent Residential Complexes near Caracol's Epicenter. Report submitted to the Belize Institute of Archaeology.Google Scholar
Chase, Diane Z. 1988 Caches and Censerwares: Meaning from Maya Pottery. In A Pot for All Reasons: Ceramic Ecology Revisited, edited by Lackey, Louana, and Kolb, Charles, pp. 81–104. Laboratory of Anthropology, Temple University, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D. 1975 Death and the Ancient Maya. In Death and the Afterlife in Pre-Columbian America, edited by Benson, Elizabeth P., pp. 87–104. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Coe, William R. 1959 Piedras Negras Archaeology: Artifacts, Caches, and Burials. The University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Coggins, Clemency, and Shane, Orrin 1984 Cenote of Sacrifice: Maya Treasures from the Sacred Well at Chichén Itza. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Edmonson, Munro S. 1965 Quiché-English Dictionary. Middle American Research Institute, Publication 30. Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Frühsorge, Lars 2015 Sowing the Stone: Sacred Geography and Cultural Continuity. Economy among the Highland Maya of Guatemala. Estudios de Cultura Maya XLV:171–189.Google Scholar
Gillespie, Susan D. 2008 Embodied Persons and Heroic Kings in Late Classic Maya Imagery. In Past Bodies: Body-Centered Research in Archaeology, edited by Boric, Dusan and Robb, John, pp. 125–134. Oxbow Books, Oxford.Google Scholar
Guernsey, Julia, and Reilly, F. Kent 2006 Sacred Bundles: Ritual Acts of Wrapping and Binding in Mesoamerica. Boundary End Archaeology Center, Barnardsville, North Carolina.Google Scholar
Guiteras-Holmes, Calixta 1961 Perils of the Soul: The World View of a Tzotzil Indian. The Free Press of Glencoe, New York.Google Scholar
Harrison-Buck, Eleanor 2004 Nourishing the Animus of Lived Space through Ritual Caching. In K'axob: Ritual, Work and Family in an Ancient Maya Village, edited by McAnany, Patricia, pp. 65–86. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Healy, Paul, Awe, Jaime, Iannone, Gyles, and Bill, Cassandra 1995 Pacbitun (Belize) and Ancient Maya Use of Slate. Antiquity 69:337–348.Google Scholar
Joyce, Rosemary A. 2007 Figurines, Meaning, and Meaning-Making in Early Mesoamerica. In Material Beginnings: A Global Prehistory of Figurative Representation, edited by Renfrew, Colin and Morley, Lain, pp. 107–116. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Lomitola, Lisa M. 2012 Ritual Use of the Human Form: A Contextual Analysis of the “Charlie Chaplin” Figures of the Maya Lowlands. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Central Florida, Orlando.Google Scholar
Maudslay, Alfred Percival 1889 Biologia Centrali-Americana; or, Contributions of Knowledge of the Fauna and Flora of Mexico and Central America. Archaeology Vol. V. R.H. Porter, London.Google Scholar
Moholy-Nagy, Hattula 1985 The Social and Ceremonial Uses of Marine Molluscs at Tikal. In Prehistoric Lowland Maya Environment and Subsistence. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 77, edited by Pohl, Mary, pp. 145–158. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Moholy-Nagy, Hattula, and Coe, William R. 2008 The Artifacts of Tikal: Ornamental and Ceremonial Artifacts and Unworked Material, Tikal Report No. 27A. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Montgomery, John 2002 Dictionary of Maya Hieroglyphs. Hippocrene Books, New York.Google Scholar
Nuttall, Zelia 1975 The Codex Nuttall: A Picture Manuscript from Ancient Mexico: The Peabody Museum Facsimile. Dover Publications, New York.Google Scholar
Orellana, Sandra L. 1981 Idols and Idolatry in Highland Guatemala. Ethnohistory 28 (2): 157–177.Google Scholar
Paddock, John 1966 Ancient Oaxaca: Discoveries in Mexican Archaeology and History. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.Google Scholar
Pitarch, Pedro 2013 La Cara Oculta del Pliegue: Ensayos de Antropología Indígena. Artes de Mexico, México, DF.Google Scholar
Quirarte, Jacinte 1979 The Representation of Underworld Processions in Maya Vase Painting: An Iconographic Study. In Maya Archaeology and Ethnohistory, edited by Hammond, Norman and Willey, Gordon R., pp: 116–149. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Ricketson, Oliver G., and Ricketson, Edith B. 1937 Uaxactun, Guatemala: Group E 1926–1931. Carnegie Institute of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Sherer, Andrew K. 2015 Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya: Rituals of Body and Soul. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Stanton, Travis W., Freidel, David A., Suhler, Charles K., Ardren, Traci, Ambrosino, James N., Shaw, Justine M., and Bennett, Sharon 2005 Archaeological Investigations at Yaxuná, 1986–1996: Results of the Selz Foundation Yaxuna Project. BAR International Series 2056, Archaeopress, Oxford.Google Scholar
Taschek, Jennifer, and Ball, Joseph 1999 Las Ruinas de Arenal: Preliminary Report on a Subregional Major Center in the Western Belize Valley (1991–1992 Excavations). Ancient Mesoamerica 10 (2):215–235.Google Scholar
Tedlock, Dennis 1996 Popul Vuh: the Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings, revised edition, 2nd ed. Touchstone, New York.Google Scholar
Thompson, Edward H. 1938 The High Priest's Grave, Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Thompson, John Eric Sidney 1931 Archaeological Investigations in the Southern Cayo District British Honduras. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.Google Scholar
Thompson, John Eric Sidney 1939 Excavations at San Jose, British Honduras. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Urcid, Javier 1993 The Pacific Coast of Oaxaca and Guerrero: The Westernmost Extent of Zapotec Script. Ancient Mesoamerica 4:141–165.Google Scholar
Wauchope, Richard 1975 Zacualpa, El Quiche, Guatemala, an Ancient Provincial Center of the Highland Maya. Vol. 39. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Zeitlin, Judith Francis 1993 The Politics of Classic-Period Ritual Interaction: Iconography of the Ballgame Cult in Coastal Oaxaca. Ancient Mesoamerica 4:121–140.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Johnson supplementary material

Johnson supplementary material 1

Download Johnson supplementary material(File)
File 30.4 KB
Supplementary material: Image

Johnson supplementary material

Figure S1

Download Johnson supplementary material(Image)
Image 5.5 MB
Supplementary material: Image

Johnson supplementary material

Figure S2

Download Johnson supplementary material(Image)
Image 299 KB