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The Ceremonial Bar and Associated Features of Maya Ornamental Art

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Walter W. Taylor
Walter W. Taylor*
Affiliation:
Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
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Extract

In 1913, Spinden published his monumental work on the artistic forms in Maya culture. Since that time, many of his statements have assumed axiomatic character in the literature and discussion of Maya archaeology. However, as was to be expected, new information has tended to modify some of the generalizations put forward in 1913. In the present paper, I would like to offer evidence to support the hypothesis that certain artistic compositions, treated separately by Spinden, actually are members of a single complex, and then to review some of his generalizations in the light of this evidence and Maya chronology.

The complex which I propose to demonstrate consists of the Ceremonial Bar, the Bar Pendant, and the Frieze-mask. It is my thesis that the Bar Pendant is the conceptual equivalent of the Ceremonial Bar and, in actual practice, is substituted for the latter. Similarly, the Friezemask is conceptually connected with the Bar and, thus, directly or indirectly, with the Pendant.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , July 1941 , pp. 48 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1941

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