Dig It - 3/25/24

Well Seekers, today we are going south, way down to Mexico and Guatemala. You know Native Americans did not stop at the border, they go all the way down to Tierra Del Fuego. The Old Prospector used to go down that way and it is beautiful. In general, the Contemporary Mayan are truly wonderful people and boy have they been oppressed by their Spanish conquerers and the subsequent governments for the last 400 years.

This vase goes back about twelve hundred years to when the Maya were Lords of Mesoamerica. The vase depicts a Mayan Lord seated on his bench-like throne. He wears jade ear spools, and a jade bead pectoral. His headdress consists of a paper or cloth foundation with a jaguar fur turban and a jawless, carved serpent upper headdress ending in quetzal feathers. Protruding from the front of the headdress are two paint brushes showing that he is a scribe. His right hand is extended either as a royal gesture or the source of the blood which is dripping on the bundle of codex (folded paper books) beneath it. To his left are a number hieroglyphs possibly the rulers name or the place where this scene takes place. Further left is a supplicant with his arms folded in a subservient manner. He also wears an elaborate headdress, depicting an open mouthed serpent. 

Some of the early American archaeologists to study the ancient Maya thought of them as the peaceful, highly civilized, “Classical Greeks” of the New World. In terms of being peaceful, nothing could be farther from the truth. You will note that on the supplicants sash are two flayed heads. The ancient Greeks, especially the Spartans, were also pretty warlike. These pictorial cups were primarily used for drinking Cacao or chocolate on special and solemn occasions. Cocoa anyone?