Mayan Exhbition

I have no idea how many times I have been to Mexico City's Anthropology Museum (surely dozens of times), but I returned on Tuesday to view a special exhibition on the Mayas entitled "Mayas - The Language of Beauty".

This exhibit, which is free of charge, will run until November.  It brings together more than 300 Mayan artifacts gathered together from museums throughout Mexico.  It has returned from a successful tour of Beijing, Berlin, and Verona, Italy.

The exhibit deals largely with the Maya's concepts of beauty.  These may seem strange to us, but consider the fact that the hairstyles, tattoos and piercings that are considered trendy today will probably be viewed as odd by future generations.

These two portraits were found in the burial chamber of King Pakal of Palenque.  The first one is of the king; the second one may be of Pakal's wife, or it may be of Pakal as a child.

The "stepped" design the hairstyle was achieved by burning the hair to the desired lengths.

The elaborate topknot on the king is supposed to represent the leaves of a corn stalk, and thus identify him with the corn god.

This sculpture of a seated man shows two common forms of body modifications.

Ears were perforated so that large "ear spools" could be inserted.  The sloping forehead is the result of cranial deformation.  Boards were strapped on the heads of infants, when their skulls were still malleable, to create the desired effect.

The sun god was portrayed with crossed eyes, so having crossed eyes was considered a sign of beauty.

Mothers would have a small ball dangling over their baby's face so that the child's eyes would permanently cross.

Teeth were filed into special shapes, or encrusted with jade or other stones.

Facial scarification was commonly practiced.

If you are easily grossed out, you might want to skip the next three pictures.

This man is gasping in pain because he is performing a bloodletting ceremony in which he is perforating his foreskin.  The noble class commonly performed such acts of blood sacrifice to the gods.

This carving from Palenque shows king Pakal handing his grandson a stingray spine to perform a bloodletting ceremony.

Mayan shamans would ingest hallucinogenic herbs and mushrooms in order to communicate with the gods.  In order to achieve quicker results they would take these substances in the form of an enema, as is shown on the bowl.

Mayan kings and nobles were elaborately dressed with fine clothing, jewelry and headdresses.

The headdress was a form of royal insignia which associated the kings with the gods.

Noblewomen wore beautifully woven fabrics with designs which can still be seen in the Mayan clothing of today.

Scribes were important members of Mayan society.  I did not realize that it was not uncommon for women to be scribes.  The attire of this female scribe attests to her high social rank.

Nor did I realize that there were cases of female rulers.  This carving shows Lady Ix Baah Pak, the ruler of the city of Edzná.

This is just a small sample of the treasures in this outstanding exhibit.  If you are in Mexico City between now and November, I highly recommend it.