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Artifacts
The Maya of the Classic period (A.D. 250-900) developed a sophisticated artistic tradition, producing sculpted stone, painted ceramics, clay figurines, and screen-fold bark books of drawings and hieroglyphic writing.
Maya ceramic artists were highly educated members of the elite. They used slip paint, a mixture of finely ground pigment, clay, and water, to decorate their pottery with images of rituals, myths, geometric motifs, and hieroglyphs. Ceramics were used as tableware, currency, symbols of status, and as offerings to the dead. Clay pots were also made for cooking and storing food.
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Gold monkey bell
from sacred cenote |
Gold masks
from sacred cenote |
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Jade pendant, late classic period
from sacred cenote |
Maya vase
from Altar de Sacrificios |
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Serpent head column
from Temple of the Warriors |
Relief carvings of water lily motif
from the Venus Platform |
Sacred Designs
The traditional brocaded designs of the Chiapas Maya are drawn from local history and mythology. Diamond designs refer to the shape of the earth and sky. Undulating designs, often called snake or flower, symbolize the fertile earth with its abundance of holy plants and animals. Patterns with three vertical lines connote the ancestors or the trickster monkeys. Representational figures, such as the saints and toads, are icons of the rain god and the Catholic Saints who watch over the world and make it flower.
Stone Architecture
The Mayans enter history with the diffusion of certain architectural styles including stelae (stone, flat columns) and corbelled vaults.
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| The Castillo |
The Upper Temple of the Jaquars |
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| Aerial view of Temple of the Warriors |
The Caracol |
Language (Glyphs)
The Maya developed a highly complex system of writing, using pictographs and phonetic or syllabic elements. A complete discussion of their writing system is beyond the scope of this paper. Their writing was highly sophisticated, probably only members of the higher classes were able to read their symbols. The Maya carved these symbols into stone, but the most common place for writing was probably the highly perishable books they made from bark paper, coated with lime to make a fresh white surface. These "books" were screen-folded and bound with wood and deer hide. They are called codices, codex is singular. Because of their perishable nature and zealous Spanish book burning, only four codices remain today.
You may be interested in learning to write your name in glyphs, although I found the process quite time-consuming.
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