An Animal Kingdom at Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico

Author(s): Cynthia Kristan-Graham

Year: 2019

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Animal Symbolism in Postclassic Mesoamerica: Papers in Honor of Cecelia Klein" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

At the Postclassic Maya city of Chichen Itza, buildings, planned spaces, and imagery blend with the landscape to form meta-narratives. One instance is the Sacred Cenote, a limestone sinkhole that was a major focus of rituals. The cenote rim features frogs/toads carved from the living rock, and at one time sculptures of jaguars and snakes were also there. These animals allude to fertility, rulership, and the night. Ceramics in the nearby temple and fauna that inhabit cenotes echo these concerns and also are associated with watery worlds and death.

Cite this Record

An Animal Kingdom at Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico. Cynthia Kristan-Graham. Presented at The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Albuquerque, NM. 2019 ( tDAR id: 451664)

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Keywords

General
Chichen Itza, Yucatan • Iconography and Art • Iconography and epigraphy • Maya: Postclassic

Geographic Keywords
Mesoamerica: Maya lowlands

Spatial Coverage

min long: -94.197; min lat: 16.004 ; max long: -86.682; max lat: 21.984 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23138