Mayan Art

In this article, see pages 164, 166-168 for Stuart's discussion of the Grolier Codex.  It is highly significant that the Mexican State of Chiapas and the Universidad Autonoma de Chiapas chose to include the Grolier Codex as an authentic ancient Maya book in 1985 and make a fine color facsimile available along with the Dresden, Paris, and Madrid codices for further research. 

This review and essay of "Los Codices Mayas" is being posted as a personal tribute to my friend and colleague, the late George E. Stuart, Ph.D. (1935 - 2014) for his great generosity and many extraordinary contributions promoting world archaeology over several generations.

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

Ancient people used architectural space to track the movement of heavenly astronomical bodies and, in the process, create hierophanies. In particular, where and when is visual information dramatized by the hierophantic play of light and shadow on Maya buildings? A famous example can be seen at the Castillo pyramid at Chichén Itzá, where the sun illuminates a north serpent balustrade on March 20–21, the spring equinox, and on September 21–22, the fall equinox. The building may have been built to commemorate the close of the tenth baktun, 7 Ahaw 18 Sip, on March 13, A.D. 830 in our Gregorian calendar (Coggins 1987, 427; Krupp 1997, 267; Stuart 2011, 242). This baktun ending fell a week before the spring equinox. The range of events displayed in the context of architectural space, such as solstice sunrise and sunset or solar zenith and nadir passages in Group E–type complexes, will be discussed to show how and why agents, architects, or audiences observed and celebrated solar movements in urban planning.

Creating art — beauty in physical form — is not only a 20th century instinct. “Certain tendencies are so universal that they have been accepted as instincts. Thus there has always been a stream of art consciousness - an awareness, sometimes conscious, but more often unconscious, of an attempt at, or a desire for, art-expression.”  Artists themselves, whether they were considered as such (based on a modern definition), were important players in Pre-Columbian societies.

Abstract
Many experts assumed its existence for a long time and now it can be shown that the Maya “event” calendar did actually exist and can be found in the Codex Dresdensis on pages 58 and 59.
This paper attempts to explain step by step how to decipher the calendar and how to use it.
The knowledge acquired at the beginning will be expanded, refined and specified more precisely as the treatise continues.
The text on page 58 of the Dresden Codex opens the “instructions for use” on the next two pages. In the interval 39,780 there is a reference to the planets Mars and Venus. The starting date 12.9.11.11.0 4 Ahau 13 Muan and the two ring numbers 251 and 511 lead to the three base dates. The bottom line on page 59 shows the “mathematical” side with the intervals from 13 Manik to 13 Chuen, which are also important for determining dates. Mars fulfills the constant clock here and Venus announces the event. This is followed by the “mathematical” list of this calendar of events or appointments, which comprises the tenth interval of 780 and its multiples. In connection with the date determinations, adjustments are also carried out which are based on Venus and are reduced by one day every 9,360 days, starting from a base date. Presumably the dates set in this way should bring about a positive outcome for the event - be it war, sacrifice, burial or something similar.
Based on historical events, it is proven that not only one base date was used, but three. These dates are located in the years 681 to 683. In the case of 69 events, an attempt was made to demonstrate that the majority of these are dates for campaigns, sacrifices, burials and the like. The fact that this calendar was probably used for centuries can be shown by the 13 dates of battles of the Cakchiquel people, which makes clear not only that the dates were “built up” according to the present calendar but also the fact that the intervals of 78 and its multiples were used between the different dates. Even the destruction of Mayapan by the Totol Xiú on 4 January 1461 can be resolved with this calendar or reveals that the date was selected according to the criteria of this calendar.
The final astronomical section shows how Mars and Venus meet four times (actually five times) in conjunction, starting 156 (2x78) days after the base date JD 1970352, in the mathematical interval 2,340.
Of course, the real astronomical interval duration deviates somewhat from the ideal mathematical interval (2,340), but it balances out every 11,690 days (2,338 x5).
Finally, 35 Star Wars dates are also examined with regard to a possible connection with the present calendar. However, the investigations so far have shown that there is probably no connection between the events mentioned here and the Star Wars dates.
Keywords: Codex Dresdensis, Mayan calendar, Mars table page 58 and 59, astronomy

"Descrizione: The survey, developed in this Book illuminates a time range broad enough. It starts with a period unclear of the middle ages, namely the delicate transition from Romanesque to Gothic architectural style, to come to explore extraordinary civilization which, unexpectedly, the Mayans and Egyptians Ancient passing by the Essenes and for the Templars. The identification of important geometric systems, based on uniform image of the Hexagram and applied to known holy sites, is the key that enables you to restate much of recorded history...

L’indagine, sviluppata in questo libro, illumina un intervallo temporale abbastanza ampio. Si parte da un periodo poco chiaro dell’Età di Mezzo, ossia il delicato momento di passaggio dallo stile architettonico del Romanico al Gotico, per giungere ad esplorare, inaspettatamente, civiltà straordinarie quali i Maya e gli Egizi Antichi passando per gli Esseni e per i Templari. I risultati ottenuti sono quantomeno interessanti. L’individuazione d’importanti sistemi geometrici, fondati sull’euritmica immagine dell’Esagramma ed applicati a noti luoghi sacri, è la potente chiave di lettura che consente di rideterminare una buona parte della Storia conosciuta. Anzi. Permette quasi l’integrale cambiamento di paradigma necessario per comprendere il nostro passato, finalmente senza misteri e senza strane congetture. Il lavoro si fonda essenzialmente su notizie note, acquisite ed asseverate dagli studiosi già da diverso tempo. Mediante l’attenta riconsiderazione di queste informazioni si è individuato un doppio, robustissimo filo rosso. Combina indissolubilmente numerose culture in prossimità di due elementi di fondamentale importanza per la vita dell’Uomo: l’Acqua ed il Sole. La sintesi di simili concetti è precisata mediante il pregiato simbolo euritmico cui si è accennato. L’Esagramma è però tanto famoso quanto sconosciuto nella sua essenza. La Stella a sei punte nasconde insospettabilmente sistemi geometrici straordinari. Si sono individuati. Ricostruiti. Tre protocolli principali definiscono le strutture fondanti i sistemi in discorso: il "Protocollo Staffarda", il "Protocollo Uxmal" ed, infine, il "Protocollo el-Giza". Già soltanto questi possiedono il crisma della scoperta straordinaria. Ben lontano da strani esoterismi e formulazioni comprensibili soltanto agli addetti, le evidenze riportate nel libro consentono una buona visione di un passato niente affatto sfiorito, ricco anzi di un patrimonio culturale da salvaguardare. Da non dimenticare. Da non sottovalutare.

Jun p'éel chan ts'íibil ichil ka'a p'éel t'aano'ob yóok'lal ba'ax u k'áat u ya'al, yetel bix u páajtal u meyaj yetel le ka'anal t'aano' "cha'anil" u tia'al u muuk'kansik máasewáal t'aano'ob. // Un brevísimo artículo en lengua maya yucateca y español que aborda el significado y el potencial de uso del concepto maya "cha'anil" para el fortalecimiento de las lenguas indígenas en México.

Llanes Ortiz, Genner (2015). Yaan Muuk' Ich Cha'anil / El potencial de Cha'anil. Un concepto maya para la revitalización lingüística. Ichan Tecolotl / La Casa del Tecolote; año 26, número 301. Pp. 28-30. México DF.

The May 1983 Science 83 news article covering the authentication of the Maya Grolier Codex by University of Maryland professor John B. Carlson, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Archaeoastronomy.  Carlson's findings indicate that no fabricator (at the time the Codex was found) could have known the existence of the Venus evening star figure Carlson discovered when he realized that Grolier Codex pages 10 and 11 were both parts of page "10". The manuscript is of special importance as it is the only pre-Columbian Mayan manuscript that remains in Mexican hands.

(Carlson presented his research findings both at the 44th International Congress of Americanists, Manchester, England in 1982 and the American Astronomical Society in Boston, January 1983 in the research manuscript "The Grolier Codex: A Preliminary Report on the Content and Authenticity of a Thirteenth-Century Maya Venus Almanac".)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Grolier Codex.

El aprendizaje de los textiles mayas, permite conocer a las personas que los han portado y desarrollado a través de siglos. Ellos los han hecho para cubrirse y, a la vez, los han llenado de significado y detalles. Este significado está impregnado desde el momento de su concepción, ya que una tejedora debe saber qué diseño y estructura tendrá el traje que se dispone a tejer (tipo de tejido y colores), antes de tender el telar; además, el significado en los símbolos y figuras usadas, ya que éstos provienen tanto de sus antepasados, como de las cosas que los rodean y, representan gráficamente su cultura, herencia, y manera de ver el mundo.

EcoCentrix: Indigenous Arts, Sustainable Acts
International Exhibition of Indigenous Art and Performance
Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, Southbank, London
25 October – 10 November 2013
Alive to the power of performance, contemporary indigenous artists merge the familiar with the unexpected, the traditional with the experimental, creating new forms and objects along the way. They provoke dialogues about resources, social justice and stereotypes, and show the triumphs and failures of our times.
EcoCentrix: Indigenous Arts, Sustainable Acts [brought] to London the work of more than 40 artists from the Americas, Australia, the Pacific and South Africa. Uniquely comprised of both live performance and the traces it leaves behind in images, digital media, sounds, texts and crafted objects, this interactive exhibition [offered] fresh ways of grasping what sustainable can mean.
Chief Curator: Prof. Helen Gilbert
Assistant Curator: Dani Phillipson
Film Curator: Charlotte Gleghorn
Designers: Lucy Algar, Dani Phillipson
Digital Designer: Jamie Griffiths
Curatorial Assistants: Sergio Huarcaya, Genner Llanes-Ortiz, Dylan Robinson

Maya Blue is an unusual blue pigment used on pottery, sculpture, and murals from the Preclassic to the Colonial period. Until the ate 1960s, its composition was unknown, but chemists working in Spain, Belgium, Mexico, and the United States identified Maya Blue as a combination of indigo and the unusual clay mineral palygorskite (also called attapulgite). A source of palygorskite in the Maya area was unknown for years; then ethnoarchaeological research in the mid-1960s demonstrated that the contemporary Maya recognized the unique physical properties of palygorskite and used it as an additive for pottery temper and for curing certain types of illnesses. Because of its importance in Maya Blue, pre-Hispanic sources of the mineral were then suggested based on ethnoarchaeological data. One of these sources was the cenote in the town of Sacalum, Yucatan. This paper briefly reviews the history of the Maya Blue research from an anthropological perspective and presents evidence of a second possible pre-Hispanic mining site for palygorskite at Yo’ Sah Kab near Ticul, Yucatan. Archaeological and technological approaches have demonstrated the use, distribution, composition, and characteristics of Maya Blue, but ethnoarchaeology has related it to Maya language and culture and to possible pre-Hispanic sources of one of its constituents, palygorskite.

In ancient Maya cities, "E Groups" are sets of buildings aligned with the movements of the sun. This volume presents new archaeological data to reveal that E Groups were constructed earlier than previously thought. In fact, they are the earliest identifiable architectural plan at many Maya settlements. More than just astronomical observatories or calendars, E Groups were gathering places for emerging communities and centers of ritual--the very first civic-religious public architecture in the Maya lowlands. Investigating a wide variety of E Group sites in different contexts, this volume pieces together the development of social and political complexity in the ancient Maya civilization.

The fourth known pre-Columbian Maya codex—the only one discovered in the 20th century—was found by looters in the mid-1960s. First exhibited in New York in 1971, what has come to be known as the Grolier Codex is half of a hybrid-style 20-page, 104-year Mesoamerican divinatory Venus Almanac. With new radiocarbon dates that place it in the 13th century CE, it is likely to be the oldest surviving book on paper from the Americas as well as the only ancient Maya codex now residing in Mexico. Although most Mayanists have accepted it as authentic, based in part on the author’s 40 years of research,* it remains an unacknowledged Mexican national treasure as it has never been officially recognized except in the State of Chiapas. Mesoamerican Venus Almanacs were widely used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica to regulate practices of sacred warfare and ritual sacrifice, the goal of which was to obtain captives whose blood was shed to invoke the personified forces of rain and fertility. The Grolier Codex offers unique images of 10 of the 20 manifestations of Venus (named in the Maya Dresden Codex), greatly enriching our knowledge of these traditions documented in four other pre-Columbian codices as well as numerous archaeological and ethnohistoric sources. This talk includes a brief history of accounts of the discovery of the Grolier Codex and allegedly associated artifacts; photographic history; outlines the author’s comprehensive program of research, including several new scientific discoveries leading to an interpretation of the Codex—based on the Dresden Codex and other sources; and offers a new Latinized name that recognizes that the “Codex Mayano-Mexicanus” is an authentic ancient book deriving from the Maya culture and now properly residing in Mexico.

*See <http://umd.academia.edu/JohnBCarlson>.

Also utilized as part of this talk are TWO 1983 historical STUDY GUIDE documents which can be viewed at the following academia.edu links:

• GROLIER CODEX Page Study Guide: Pages 1-9 and Reconstructed Page 10/11 (1983): 

https://www.academia.edu/7911420/GROLIER_CODEX_Page_Study_Guide_Pages_1-9_and_Reconstructed_Page_10_11

• GROLIER CODEX Comparative Study Guide (1983): Grolier pages 1-9 and reconstructed page 10/11 with Maya Dresden Codex Venus Almanac page numbers 48/1 – 50/2 with Venus Station and Directional Associations; Names (on Dresden Rows 17 & 22) of the associated Venus Impersonators; and Initial (1983) interpretations of the Grolier Codex scenes & iconographic interpretations. Over the three decades since 1983, some of the glyphic and iconographic interpretations have changed, as discussed in the presentation. The details are in press:

https://www.academia.edu/9208071/GROLIER_CODEX_Comparative_Study_Guide_1983_

*****

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

Museum exhibits carry weighty responsibility, acting as teachers and translators for everyone that walks through their portal.  "Now an exhibition often bears the burden of being representative of an entire group or region.  With multiplied opportunities, each exhibition will be just one assertion in an ongoing discussion."  Moreover, any single exhibition illustrates the intellectual knowledge of the curators and researchers only at that point in time.  At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Jan Mitchell Pre-Columbian Gold Collection is presented "as a collection," with an entire room dedicated to the beauty and creativity of such objects.  This essay reviews various pieces of the collection, how they are displayed, the history of the objects, issues of provenance, and our quest for understanding these regal cultures.

This paper attempts to show how very subtle Mayan compositions were.  The use of Form, Imagery, and Gesture signs to create the structural organization of the composition can be almost subliminal. The imagery can distract from the composition's actual meaning at least for present day researchers.

In ancient Maya cities, &quot;E Groups&quot; are sets of buildings aligned with the movements of the sun. This volume presents new archaeological data to reveal that E Groups were constructed earlier than previously thought. In fact, they are the earliest identifiable architectural plan at many Maya settlements. More than just astronomical observatories or calendars, E Groups were gathering places for emerging communities and centers of ritual--the very first civic-religious public architecture in the Maya lowlands. Investigating a wide variety of E Group sites in different contexts, this volume pieces together the development of social and political complexity in the ancient Maya civilization.