Animal Figures in the Maya Codices

Part 1

Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Transcriber's Note

A number of typographical errors and inconsistencies have been maintained in this version of this book. They have been marked with a [TN-#], which refers to a description in the complete list found at the end of the text.

The following codes are used for characters that are not able to be represented in the text format used for this version of the book.

PAPERS OF THE PEABODY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY

VOL. IV.--No. 3.

ANIMAL FIGURES IN THE MAYA CODICES

ALFRED M. TOZZER, PH.D. AND GLOVER M. ALLEN, PH.D.

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. PUBLISHED BY THE MUSEUM FEBRUARY, 1910

Salem Press: THE SALEM PRESS CO., SALEM MASS. 1910.

NOTE

It has been thought desirable, for the advancement of the study of Maya hieroglyphs, that the interpretation of the conventionalized animal figures, which so frequently occur in the Maya codices, should be undertaken. The Peabody Museum Committee on Central American Research therefore requested Dr. A. M. Tozzer to prepare a paper on the subject, and to secure the valuable cooperation of Dr. Glover M. Allen, a zoologist familiar with the animals of Mexico and Central America, to aid in the identification of the various species of animals which under varying forms are used in connection with the glyphs.

While it is possible that some of the determinations given in this paper may require further confirmation, it is evident that the combined studies of Dr. Tozzer and Dr. Allen cannot fail to be useful to students of the Maya hieroglyphic writing.

F. W. PUTNAM. HARVARD UNIVERSITY, August, 1909.

KEY TO THE PRONUNCIATION OF MAYA WORDS

The vowels and consonants have their continental sounds with the following exceptions:--

=[)a]= like u in hut =ai= like i in island =k= (Beltran's c) ordinary palatal k =q= (Beltran's k) velar k =[.]= (Beltran's _) ts explosive or fortis == (Beltran's tz) ts non-explosive == (Beltran's x) like sh in hush =t= (Beltran's ch) like ch in church =[ts.]= (Beltran's c[=h]) ch explosive =[p.]= (Beltran's pp) p explosive =t= (Beltran's t[=h]) t_ explosive

LIST OF PLATES

Plate. 1. Mollusca: Fasciolaria gigantea, Oliva. 2. Insecta: Honey bee (Melipona). 3. Insecta and Myriapoda. 4. Arachnoidea, Arachnida, Crustacea. 5. Myriapoda, Pisces. 6. Pisces. 7. Amphibia. 8. Amphibia, Reptilia. 9. Reptilia: Rattlesnake (Crotalus). 10. Reptilia: Serpents. 11. Reptilia: Serpents. 12. Reptilia: Iguana, Lizards. 13. Reptilia: Crocodile 14. Reptilia: Turtles. 15. Aves: Herons, Frigate-bird. 16. Aves: Ocellated Turkey (Agriocharis ocellata). 17. Aves: King Vulture (Sarcorhamphus papa). 18. Aves: King Vulture (S. papa), Black Vulture (Catharista urubu). 19. Aves: Vultures. 20. Aves: Harpy Eagle (Thrasaetos harpyia). 21. Aves: Yucatan Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus mayensis). 22. Aves: Yucatan Horned Ow[TN-1] (B. v. mayensis). 23. Aves: Yucatan Screech Owl (Otus choliba thompsoni). 24. Aves: Quetzal (Pharomacrus mocinno). 25. Aves: Blue Macaw (Ara militaris). 26. Aves: Parrots, Turkeys. 27. Aves: Miscellaneous. 28. Various animals. 29. Mammalia: Armadillo and miscellaneous. 30. Mammalia: Deer, Hare. 31. Mammalia: Yucatan Deer (Odocoileus yucatanensis). 32. Mammalia: Yucatan Peccary (Tayassu angulatum yucatanense), Yucatan Deer (O. yucatanensis). 33. Mammalia: Yucatan Peccary (T. a. yucatanense). 34. Mammalia: Jaguar, Puma. 35. Mammalia: Jaguar, Coyote, Bear. 36, 37. Mammalia: Dog (Canis). 38. Mammalia: Leaf-nosed Bat (Vampyrus or Phyllostomus). 39. Mammalia: Monkey (Cebus) and miscellaneous.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT

FIG. 1. Top of Altar T, Copan (Mandslay,[TN-2] I. Pl. 95) 320

2. Pottery whistle from Uloa Valley, Honduras, representing a vulture. Peabody Museum Memoirs. I. No. 4, fig. 15 332

3. } 4. } Glyphs of Maya month Moan showing moan-bird 5. } characteristics 339 6. }

7. Quetzal from the bas-relief of the Temple of the Cross, Palenque 341

8. } 9. } Glyphs for Maya month Kankin (Ribs of dogs) 364 10. }

11. } 12. } 13. } Glyphs for Maya month Zotz (Bats) 365 14. }

15. Pottery whistle from Uloa Valley, Honduras (Peabody Museum Memoirs, I, No. 4, fig. 14), representing an ape 366

16. } 17. } 18. } Glyphs for Maya day Chuen 367 19. }

Part 2

20. } 21. } 22. } Glyphs of God C. (Schellhas, Peabody Museum Papers, IV, 368 23. } No. 1) 24. }

INTRODUCTION.

The various peoples inhabiting Mexico and Central America in early pre-Columbian times were accustomed to record various events, especially in regard to their calendar and the religious ceremonials in relation to it, on long strips of skin or bark. These were usually painted on both sides and folded together like a screen. Several of these codices are still in existence from the Nahua and Zapotec areas in Mexico, but only three have come down to us from the Maya region which is included in the peninsula of Yucatan, the states of Tabasco and Chiapas in Mexico, and portions of Guatemala and Honduras. These three manuscripts are the Dresden Codex in the Royal Public Library at Dresden, the Tro-Cortesianus (formerly considered to have been two, the Troano and the Cortesianus) in the National Archaeological Museum at Madrid, and the Peresianus in the National Library at Paris. These pre-Columbian manuscripts have all been published in facsimile. (See bibliography.)

These remains of a once extensive literature show evidence not only of considerable intellectual attainments on the part of their authors but also of a high degree of artistic skill in the drawings and hieroglyphics. The frequent occurrence in these manuscripts of representations of animals showing various degrees of elaboration and conventionalization has led us to undertake the task of identifying these figures as far as possible and studying the uses and significance of the several species, a field practically untouched.[284-*] Förstemann in his various commentaries on the Maya codices (1902, 1903, 1906), Brinton (1895), and deRosny[TN-3] (1876) have only commented briefly upon this side of the study of the manuscripts. Seler (1904a) and some others have written short papers on special animals. During the preparation of this paper there has appeared a brief account by Stempell (1908) of the animals in the Maya codices. The author has, however, omitted a number of species and, as we believe, misidentified others. In making our identifications we have given the reasons for our determinations in some detail and have stated the characteristics employed to denote the several species.

We have not limited ourselves entirely to the Maya manuscripts as we have drawn upon the vast amount of material available in the stone carvings, the stucco figures, and the frescoes found throughout the Maya area. This material has by no means been exhausted in the present paper. In addition to the figures from the Maya codices and a comparatively few from other sources in the Maya region, we have introduced for comparison in a number of cases figures from a few of the ancient manuscripts of the Nahuas and the Zapotecs to the north. The calendar of these two peoples is fundamentally the same as that of the Mayas. The year is made up in the same way being composed of eighteen months of twenty days each with five days additional at the end of the year. There is therefore a more or less close connection as regards subject matter in all the pre-Columbian codices of Mexico and Central America but the manner of presentation differs among the different peoples of this region.

FOOTNOTES:

SYNOPTIC CONSIDERATION OF THE MEANING AND OCCURRENCE OF ANIMAL FORMS

Before taking up the different animals in the codices it may be well to consider some of the more common ways in which the figures occur and their connection with the surrounding figures.

MANNER OF REPRESENTATION. The entire body of the animal may be represented realistically or the head alone may be shown. The animal head is frequently attached to a human body. The animal may appear conventionalized to a greater or less extent and the head in turn may change in the same way until only a single characteristic of the animal remains by which to identify it as, for example, the spots of the jaguar or the feathering around the eye of the macaw. In the case of the glyphs, a term employed to designate the regular and usually square characters appearing in lines or columns throughout the codices and inscriptions, we find both the realistic drawing and that where conventionalism has come in.

THE TONALAMATL. The Maya codices are made up, for the most part, of the records of the sacred period of two hundred and sixty days, a period called in Nahuatl, tonalamatl, and other numerical calculations. The tonalamatl was used for purposes of divination in order to find out whether good or bad fortune was in store for an individual. It is not necessary at this place to go into the different means taken to record this period of time or its methods of use. It may be well, however, to explain the usual distribution of the pictures in the codices, including those of animals, in connection with the representation of the tonalamatl. A normal period is shown in Dresden 6c-7c. A column of five day signs occurs in the middle of 6c with a single red dot over it. To the right of this column stretches a horizontal line of numbers consisting of alternate groups of black and red lines and dots. Under each pair of red and black numbers there is usually a human form and over each pair a group of four glyphs belonging to the figure below. Schellhas (1904) has classified the various figures of gods appearing in these vignettes of the tonalamatl and lettered them. References throughout the paper will be made to the gods by letters and the reader is referred to Schellhas' paper. Animal figures often take the place of these gods as in the second picture in Dresden 7c where the screech owl is shown with human body. The greater number of animal figures in the codices occur in some connection with these tonalamatls.

Continue reading Animal Figures in the Maya Codices free in the Wunder reader →