The Moon in Meso-America

What is known about the Moon among the ancient Maya of southern Mexico and Guatemala and the Nahuatl-speaking people of central Mexico, especially the Aztecs who lived in the Valley of Mexico and their neighbors in Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley, has been obtained from records related to astronomy and lunar cycles inscribed on Classic Maya monuments dating between ad 250 and 850/900. Modern scholarship focusing on the mathematical units and glyphic writing has helped in deciphering the records. Postclassic Maya codices dating from 1300 to 1500, sent to Europe shortly after the Spanish conquest, also have lunar tables that have been decoded by study of the lunar cycles and glyphs. Painted books dating prior to the conquest in 1521 are also known from central Mexico, but these can only be understood with the help of books that were painted by native artists later in the 16th century and annotated with texts written in Spanish and Nahuatl. These glosses provide information about lunar deities and beliefs about the Moon. Furthermore, knowledge of the Moon in Meso-America is greatly enhanced by ethnographic studies and study of iconographic representations of deities representing different lunar roles and phases.

6. Conquests

“Conquests” gives a history of the Spanish invasions of late Postclassic Maya states in the sixteenth century. Whether these invasions could be called conquests at all is debatable. These incursions were protracted and incomplete. The fragmentary, plural nature of Maya city-states made conquest a challenge. Spanish conquistadors only managed to establish colonies with the aid of former Aztec warriors and other Mesoamerican allies. Historically, the Maya had disappeared into the rainforest to escape undesirable political or environmental situations and continued to use tactical migration as another form of resistance. Their susceptibility to New World diseases such as typhus, measles, smallpox, and influenza decimated the Maya population.

A Late Postclassic (ca. AD 1350–1521) Border Shrine at the Site of Tayasal, Petén, Guatemala

Shrines were a regular component of ceremonial architecture in the public plazas of Postclassic Maya centers. Small shrines and natural landmarks such as caves and outcrops at the borders of settlements or in wilderness locations also served, and in some cases continue to serve, as important ritual loci for Maya peoples. These more peripheral locales were not only critical access points to the supernatural, but also served to delineate places. Because these border features, which represent only a given moment in a constantly shifting social and political landscape, are sometimes unmodified or are inconspicuous, they are relatively ephemeral and difficult to identify in the archaeological record. This paper documents a Late Postclassic shrine paired with a natural feature, a small hill, from the site of Tayasal in Petén, Guatemala. We argue that it served as a border shrine. Paired with the small hill, the two embodied a liminal frontier, not only between earthly and spiritual realms but also between settled and unsettled space.

Supernumerary Teeth from Two Mesoamerican Archaeological Contexts

Supernumerary teeth are uncommon but have been well documented clinically. The majority of cases are isolated anterior teeth; examples of multiple or posterior supernumerary teeth are less common. This paper describes two examples of supernumerary teeth from archaeological contexts in Mesoamerica. The first case is of three individuals with supernumerary posterior teeth found in skull rows and pairs in a Postclassic Maya temple at the site of Ixlú in northern Guatemala. Two of these individuals exhibited bilateral supernumerary mandibular teeth. The second context is a Zapotec burial from the Jalieza site in Oaxaca, Mexico. This individual exhibited a single supernumerary tooth. The paper reviews supernumerary teeth with regard to frequency, ontogeny, and mode of inheritance and discusses the cases’ relevance for biological distance analyses.

SOULS OF THE ANCESTORS: POSTCLASSIC MAYA ARCHITECTURE, INCENSARIOS, AND MANA

In this article, we consider how the Postclassic Kowoj Maya of the central Peten lakes region of El Petén, Guatemala utilized mana in conjunction with their ritual objects and spolia to mediate between the natural and supernatural worlds. In many cultures worldwide and throughout time, mana (magical or spiritual powers that provide people and objects with a living force) transforms the ordinary into the spiritually powerful. The Kowojs imbued incense burners and buildings with mana, thus facilitating a connection with their ancestors. We examine the manufacturing recipe of a group of incense burners and the civic-ceremonial buildings at Zacpeten to argue that the Kowoj used these objects to mediate among the living, the dead, and the supernatural realms. Ultimately, by empowering these objects with mana, the Kowoj constructed a universe where they regularly communicated with their ancestors and built structures that ensouled their historical consciousness.