Book contents
- World Archaeoprimatology
- Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology
- World Archaeoprimatology
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- World Archaeoprimatology
- Part I The Americas
- 1 Monkeys in the City of Gods
- 2 Monkeys and the Ancient Maya
- 3 Monkeys on the Islands and Coasts of Paradise
- 4 Mirroring Desert Societies with Monkeys
- 5 Alterity, Authority, and Ancestors
- 6 Representations of Primates in Petroglyphs of the Brazilian Amazonia
- 7 Nonhuman Primates in the Archaeological Record of Northeastern Brazil
- 8 Lice in Howler Monkeys and the Ancient Americas
- Part II Europe
- Part III Africa
- Part IV Asia
- Index
- References
2 - Monkeys and the Ancient Maya
Using Biological Markers and Behavior for Primate Species Identification in Maya Iconography
from Part I - The Americas
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 August 2022
Book contents
- World Archaeoprimatology
- Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology
- World Archaeoprimatology
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- World Archaeoprimatology
- Part I The Americas
- 1 Monkeys in the City of Gods
- 2 Monkeys and the Ancient Maya
- 3 Monkeys on the Islands and Coasts of Paradise
- 4 Mirroring Desert Societies with Monkeys
- 5 Alterity, Authority, and Ancestors
- 6 Representations of Primates in Petroglyphs of the Brazilian Amazonia
- 7 Nonhuman Primates in the Archaeological Record of Northeastern Brazil
- 8 Lice in Howler Monkeys and the Ancient Americas
- Part II Europe
- Part III Africa
- Part IV Asia
- Index
- References
Summary
Understanding how a culture classifies and assigns meaning to nature can provide key insight into that culture. The ancient Maya used images of monkeys in many ways. This study tests whether individual species of monkeys can be identified in Maya imagery and, if so, whether the Maya used images of different species in unique and separate ways or associated with different “human” activities. We identified nine features that could discriminate between the three genera found in the Maya area (Alouatta, Ateles, and Cebus) and scored 106 primate images from Maya pottery. Most images were identifiable as Ateles (65%) with 9% identifiable as Alouatta, a few tentatively identified as Cebus, and 22% unidentified generic monkeys. Ateles were associated more with performance, dancing, and cacao handling, while Alouatta were depicted more in scribal activities. Results indicate that the Maya distinguished between the genera on symbolic levels, associating them with different behaviors and activities.
Keywords:
Human–nonhuman primate interaction, Maya, Primate symbolism, Platyrrhine, Mesoamerica, Neotropics
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- World ArchaeoprimatologyInterconnections of Humans and Nonhuman Primates in the Past, pp. 48 - 62Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
References
Adams, R. E. W. (1971). The ceramics of Altar de Sacrificios. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 63(1). Cambridge: Harvard University.Google Scholar
Baker, M. (1992). Capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus) and the ancient Maya. Ancient Mesoamerica, 3, 219–228.Google Scholar
Benson, E. P. (1994). The multimedia monkey, or, the failed man: the monkey as artist. In Fields, V., ed., The Seventh Palenque Round Table, 1989. San Francisco: The Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, 137–143.Google Scholar
Bergeson, D. (1996). The positional behavior and prehensile tail use of Alouatta palliata, Ateles geoffroyi, and Cebus capucinus. Unpublished PhD thesis, Washington University.Google Scholar
Boileau, A., Delsol, N., & Emery, K. F. (2020). Human-animal relations in the Maya world. In Hutson, S. R., & Ardren, T., eds., The Maya World. New York: Routledge, 164–182.Google Scholar
Bricker, V. R. (1973). Ritual Humor in Highland Chiapas. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Cant, J. G. H. (1986). Locomotion and feeding postures of spider and howling monkeys: Field study and evolutionary interpretation. Folia Primatologica, 46(1), 1–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chapman, C. A. (1988). Patterns of foraging and range use by three species of neotropical primates. Primates, 29(2), 199–194.Google Scholar
Coe, M. D. (1977). Supernatural patrons of Maya scribes and artists. In Hammond, N., ed., Social Process in Maya Prehistory. London: Academic Press, 327–347.Google Scholar
Coe, M. D. (1982). Old Gods and Young Heroes: The Pearlman Collection of Maya Ceramics. Jerusalem: The Israel Museum.Google Scholar
Cormier, L. A., & Urbani, B. (2008). The ethnoprimatology of spider monkeys (Ateles spp.): from past to present. In Campbell, C. J., ed., Spider Monkeys: Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution of the Genus Ateles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 377–403.Google Scholar
Culbert, T. P. (1993). The Ceramics of Tikal—Vessels from the Burials, Caches, and Problematical Deposits: Tikal Report 25A (Vol. 81). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, J. F., & Kuehn, R. E.. (1966). The Behavior of Ateles geoffroyi and Related Species. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections.Google Scholar
Emery, K. F. (2007). Assessing the impact of ancient Maya animal use. Journal of Nature Conservation, 15(3), 184–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emmons, L. H., & Feer, F. (1997). Neotropical Rainforest Mammals: A Field Guide. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Gossen, G. H. (1974). Chamulas in the World of the Sun: Time and Space in a Maya Oral Tradition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hunt, E. (1977). The Transformation of the Hummingbird: Cultural Roots of a Zinacantecan Mythical Poem. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Kaufman, T. S., & Norman, W. M. (1984). An outline of Proto-Ch’olan phonology, morphology, and vocabulary. In Justeson, J. S., & Campbell, L., eds., Phoeneticism in Mayan Hieroglyphic Writing, Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, no. 9. Albany: State University of New York at Albany Press, 77–166.Google Scholar
Kerr, J. (2019). The Maya Vase Database. Available at: www.famsi.org, Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Electronic database, Available at: http://research.mayavase.com/kerrmaya.html (Accessed August 28, 2019)Google Scholar
La Farge, O., & Byers, D. S. (1931). The Year Bearer’s People. Middle American Research Institute Publication, no 3. New Orleans: Tulane University.Google Scholar
Mazariegos, O. C. (2017). Art and Myth of the Ancient Maya. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Milbrath, S. (1999). Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Miller, M. E., & Taube, K. (1997). An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. London: Thames and Hudson.Google Scholar
Mock, S. B. (1997). Monkey business at Northern River Lagoon: a coastal interaction sphere in Northern Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica, 8, 165–183.Google Scholar
Nicholson, H. B., & Keber, E. Q. (1983). Art of Ancient Mexico: Treasures of Tenochtitlan. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art.Google Scholar
Nisbett, R. A. (1995). The functional ecology of howling monkey positional behavior: proximate effects of habitat structure, tree architecture, phenopause, and body size upon Alouatta palliata foraging in discrete forest and crown types. PhD dissertation, University of Iowa.Google Scholar
Perera, V., & Bruce, R. D. (1985). The Last Lords of Palenque: The Lacandon Mayas of the Mexican Rain Forest. Boston: Little, Brown Publishers.Google Scholar
Reents-Budet, D. (1994). Painting the Maya Universe. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Rice, P. M., & South, K. E. (2015). Revisiting monkeys on pots: a contextual consideration of primate imagery on Classic lowland Maya pottery. Ancient Mesoamerica, 26(2), 275–294.Google Scholar
Ringle, W. M. (1988). Of Mice and Monkeys: The Value and Meaning of T1016, The God C Hieroglyph. Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing 18. Washington, DC: Center for Maya Research.Google Scholar
Robicsek, F., & Hames, D. M. (1981). The Maya Book of the Dead: The Ceramic Codex. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Rylands, A. B., Groves, C. P., Mittermeier, R. A., & Cortés-Ortiz, L. (2006). Taxonomy and distributions of Mesoamerican primates. In Estrada, A., Garber, P. A., Pavelka, M. S. M., & Luecke, L., eds., New Perspectives in the Study of Mesoamerican Primates: Distribution, Ecology, Behavior, and Conservation. New York: Springer Press, 29–79.Google Scholar
Saunders, N. J. (1994). Predators of culture: jaguar symbolism and Mesoamerican elites. World Archaeology, 26(1), 104–117.Google Scholar
Saunders, N. J. (1998). Icons of Power: Feline Symbolism in the Americas. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Schele, L., & Miller, M. E. (1986). The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. Fort Worth, TX: Kimbell Art Museum.Google Scholar
Sharer, R. J., & Traxler, L. P. (2006). The Ancient Maya. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
South, K. E. (2005). Monkeying around the Maya region: a four-field look at primate iconography and the Maya. MA thesis Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Google Scholar
Smith, R. E. (1955). The Ceramic Sequence of Uaxactún, Guatemala. Middle American Research Institute Publication No. 20. New Orleans: Tulane University.Google Scholar
Strier, K. B. (1992). Atelinae adaptations: behavioral strategies and ecological constraints. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 88(4), 515–524.Google Scholar
Stross, B. (2008). K’U: the divine monkey. Journal of Mesoamerican Languages and Linguistics, 1(1), 1–34.Google Scholar
Tedlock, D. (1985). Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. E. S. (1970). Maya History and Religion. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Urbani, B., & Cormier, L. A. (2015). The ethnoprimatology of the howler monkeys (Alouatta spp.): from past to present. In Kowalewski, M., Garber, P., Cortés-Ortiz, L., Urbani, B., & Youlatos, D., eds., Howler Monkeys. New York: Springer, 259–280.Google Scholar
Vogt, E. Z. (1976). Tortillas for the Gods: A Symbolic Analysis of Zinacanteco Rituals. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar