The reacquisition by
the Merrin Gallery of a remarkable pair of vases with relief decoration has
prompted research into the relationship between the Maya and the peoples of
Veracruz during the Classic Period (300-900AD). Although these vessels are a
quintessential type of Veracruz pottery, at its most splendid, the type has
heretofore been only scantily studied.1 Examination of the motifs
on these two particular vases will show that the two cultures shared a
common iconography and that the Hero Twins played an important role in the
rich pan-cultural belief system of Precolumbian Mesoamerica.
Both vessels are wide,
deep bowls. The exterior of Vessel 1 has a continuous, broad register of
exquisite bas-relief, framed by plain bands, top and bottom.2 The
surface was slipped brown-black and then burnished to a high lustre. Details
were incised through this dark surface into the buff clay, below, and recessed
areas were daubed with matte red pigment. The interior was also slipped and
then coated with pale green stucco, much of which remains beneath a layer of
encrustation.
Created by a master
ceramicist, Vessel 2, of buff clay emblazoned by red and orange pigment, sea
green stucco on the rim and within, and a red band midway up the interior, is
a rare, double-walled bowl with two layers of relief decoration.3
When the bowls were first studied, examination of Vessel 2 revealed
that the outer wall had been improperly restored. When it was detached in the
process of correcting the mistake, it became apparent that the scene on the
inner wall was virtually identical to that of Vessel 1, indicating the motifs'
importance. Since Vessel 2's relief is slightly smaller and more softly
formed, it was concluded that Vessel 2 had probably been molded from Vessel 1.
The outer wall is composed of individual figures cut from slabs of clay that
were curved to conform to the shape of the vessel. This was reattached,
connected at the top to the projecting band and under the vase at the basal
ring. Although it partially obscures the inner wall, the outer wall does not
touch it.
VESSEL 2
The addition of the
supplemental decoration over the primary motifs is fascinating Might it
signify two of the realms of the cosmos, one superimposed over the other?
Might it indicate the need to keep certain information covert, or might it
have some other, more arcane, meaning?
Rollout photography,
which allows the scenes to be viewed in their entirety, facilitates their
study.4 The presence of glyphs on these vases also aids our
investigation.. As is often the case with Maya artifacts, the personages on
the vases are identified by name glyphs. These names combine a number in the
Mesoamerican bar and dot system in which a bar is five and each dot above it
is one with an animal or object In the rollout of from left to right.
Identified by the name glyph positioned by his feet, Figure A is 9- Jaguar. He
wears a monstrous bird headdress and rides (or grapples with) an animal that
may be a strange peccary or hornless deer, recognized by its cloven hooves and
long ears and snout.5 9-Jaguar also wears ear spools, a
broad collar, a cross-hatched (perhaps net) kilt, and a feather-bedecked
bustle over his hip. A second, perhaps subsidiary, glyphic element is located
below the belly of the animal. This may, in fact, be a ballgame
counterweight.6 Another similar element is found above the
bustle.
The name glyph of
Figure B, 5-Rodent, appears over his head. He also rides an animal, clearly a
deer, with antlers. The animal leaps to the left, its forelegs
intertwined with a sinuous vine that terminates in a serpent head at its base. The pose of the deer
conveys great dynamism. Indeed, the animal seems to be the master of this
vignette, while the human grasps the deer, holding on for "dear" life, while
his head thrusts back and his left arm flails above in an unnatural position,
evocative of a rodeo rider. 5-Rodent, too, wears a broad collar and,
additionally, a buccal mask, an elaborate headdress, and a kilt with sash that
has a huge monster mask, with upturned snout, appended to it.
Figures C and D sit
facing one another in a self-contained, ritualistic scene. These two, together
with Figure E, are the key to the vase's meaning. Figure C, ornately garbed
and in cross-legged pose, reaches for the bird head proffered by Figure D.
This bird head may be emblematic of the great bird monster deity, Vucub
Caquix (7-Macaw). A glyphic emblem surmounted by a single dot,
between them, depicts a
stylized head wearing a knotted headband and embellished
by three dots (the bottom one eroded) in inverted pyramid arrangement on his
cheek (plate 4). The single dot signifies one, or hun. Further, the
headband and three dot facial markings (holy spots) leave no doubt that this
glyph represents Hunahpú (One Lord or First Lord), also known as a "Headband
Twin", as was his brother. In other words, Figure D is one of the Hero Twins,
a protagonist of the great Maya epic, The Popul Vuh,7
here making a surprising appearance on a classic Veracruz vessel! Among
the heroic exploits of Hunahpú and his twin, Xbalanqué, was the defeat
of Vucub Caquix and the other underworld deities. The hunter's basketry
hat he wears is another of his attributes: he and his brother were known for
their prowess as blow‑gunners.
Although Figure E has
no name glyph, there are other clues to his identity: his striated basketry
hat (nearly obscured by an elaborate headdress) shows him to be a hunter and
the jaguar that leaps downward, obliquely, behind his back may be his way, or
protective, totemic spirit. Therefore, he can be none other than Xbalanqué,
the second Hero Twin. Indeed, another form of his name, "Balam", means
jaguar, and he is generally marked by patches of the spotted pelt of the
jaguar on his body. He thrusts his head back, making him a "sky-watcher",
alluding to his eventual apotheosis as the sun.8 Further, the
sprouting vine that he grasps emerges from a human head appended to his yoke,
the broad belt that identifies him as a ballplayer. These symbols allude to
his playing of the ballgame in the underworld and to his father, Hun Hunahpú,
who was resurrected as the Maya Maize God and whose entire body symbolized the
maize plant, his severed head the harvested ear of corn.9 The
artist's clever conjoining of the yoke and sprouting head shows the direct
relationship between skillful ballgame play and the rebirth of Hun Hunahpú as
the Maize God. 10
The group of figures
(labeled F-J) on the outer layer of Vessel 2 resumes the iconography
established below, although the loss of several elements in this layer means
the reading is speculative. One of the characters that appeared on Vessel 1,
Figure D, reappears on Vessel 2, as Figure H, perhaps here in the
underworld. Wearing a basketry hat, he proffers a dead deer. He is
joined by lxchel, the Maya moon goddess (or Xmucane, the
grandmother of the Hero Twins)(Figure G) and God A, (Figure I), the
skeletal death god. Another deity, possibly God N or K, is seen emerging
from the mouth of the Cauac earth monster, or bearded serpent (Figure J). The
mouth of this creature is propped open by a long stick and the death god
reaches in to pull out the other god. A decapitated head on a vine, Figure F,
reinforces the underworld imagery and refers to the head of the Maize
God.
In retrospect, the
entire programme of the vases appears to represent a metaphor for the exploits
of the Hero Twins. Figures A and B, riding zodiacal animals11
represent their travels through the heavens. Clearly, belief in the Hero Twins
and associated mythology and cosmology was strong in Veracruz. This should not
be so surprising since the Huastecs, a Mayan people whose language derived
from ProtoMayan, inhabited much of the Gulf Coast during the Classic
Period.12 The existence of much Maya thought in an area generally
considered non-Maya is undoubtedly due to the Huastec presence in this region
until 900 AD when they were driven north by the Totonacs. The myth of the Hero
Twins may be considered more broadly Mesoamerican, as it traversed both time
and space. The Hero Twins live in Veracruz!
N.B. The author is
extremely grateful to Barbara and Justin Kerr for their friendship and their
famous scholarly munificence: they not only examined the vases and
"brain-stormed" with the author when her ideas were still germinating, but
also read an early draft of this article and offered their suggestions for
improvement. Gillett Griffin read a more finished version and generously
proposed clarifications, as well as providing the ethnic connection between
the Huastec of Veracruz and the Maya. Many of these points have been
incorporated, but any and all errors are the fault of the author
Cited works:
Agustin Acosta
Lagunes, et al. Museum of Anthropology of Xalapa [ 1992]
Anthony F. Aveni Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico [
1980]
Michael D. Coe The
Maya (Fifth Edition) [19931
The Maya Scribe and His World [ 1973]
David Freidel, Linda
Schele, and Joy Parker Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand
Years on the Shaman's Path [ 1993]
Linda Schele and David
Freidel A Forest of Kings: The Untold
Story of the Ancient
Maya (1990)
Hasso von Winning
"Rituals Depicted on Veracruz Pottery" pp. 31‑36 in Ancient Art of Veracruz
[1971]
Notes
1. Acosta 1992: 155,
bottom left; von Winning 1971: figs. 1-5.
2. 6
3/4 inches (17.2 cm) 0 x 4 1/4 inches (10.8 cm) high.
3. 6
112 inches (16.5 cm) 0 x 4 1/4 inches (10.8 cm) high.
4.
The rollout camera was designed and built by Justin Kerr.
5. A
similar concept is depicted on vase number 66 in Coe 1973.
6.
That this might be a ballgame counterweight was suggested by Gillett Griffin,
personal correspondence, August 27, 1995.
7. The Popol Vul,
a
manuscript discovered among the Quiche Maya during the 19th century, recounts
an intricate, heroic saga. Therein, the first set of twins, the father (Hun
Hunahpú) and uncle (Vucub Hunahpú) of the Hero Twins, was defeated in
the ballgame, tortured, and killed by the Xibalbans, or underworld gods. With
much guile and cunning, the Hero Twins avenged their father and uncle. Hun
Hunahpú was resurrected and apotheosized as the Maize God and the
Headband Twins became the sun and moon, or the sun and Venus. A good synopsis
of the saga may be found in Schele and Freidel 1990: 74‑76.
.
An image of Hunahpú (Hun Ahau) with the characteristic markings of three dots
in inverted pyramid arrangement is seen in ibid: 411, the left-hand figure
marked "Headband Twins".
8. Because the god
known as G111 (a member of the Palenque Triad) has, as one of his
manifestations, the Jaguar God of the Sun, it is logical that Xbalanqué,
marked by the jaguar, should ascend to heaven as the sun. G1, G11, and G111
were brothers born of the creator goddess. Some scholars believe that Hunahpú
joined his brother in the sky as Venus, rather than the moon. G1 is associated
with Venus, an element of parallelism in the creation myth and The Popol
Vuh.
9.
Coe 1993: 179.
10.
Justin Kerr has theorized that the ballgame, itself, may symbolize the
resurrection, if one views the ball court as a split in the earth that is
analogous to the split in the turtle carapace, seen on the Resurrection Plate,
from which the Maize God emerges. (Coe 1993: Fig. 139).
11.
The existence of a Maya belief in a zodiac has been gleaned by Aveni (1980:
199) from a sequence of animals carved in a lintel on the eastern facade of
the east wing of the Nunnery at Chichen Itza that resembles a sequence painted
on the Paris Codex (pages 23 and 24). Both the peccary and deer appear in the
Paris Codex; the peccary is also present on the Nunnery relief, as are many
Venus signs. Aveni posits that this relief may represent the passage of Venus
through a segment of the Maya zodiac.
Schele (Freidel,
Schele, Parker 1993: 85) demonstrates that the Maya identified both Orion and
Gemini as peccary or turtle and cites an image of Itzamná, the original
shamanic god of the Maya, riding the peccary of Gemini, on a painted ceramic
(ibid: 91, fig. 2:26c).
12.
This fact was brought to the author's attention by Griffin, personal
correspondence, (op cit.). Coe traces the linguistic development of
Proto‑Mayan to Huastecan, along with the migration of the Huastec people from
western Guatemala to the Gulf Coast of Mexico (1993: 24).
