Mythic Time ReCORDed: Ropes, Sacrifice, and World Renewal in Late Postclassic Maya Murals

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Ties That Bind: Cordage, Its Sources, and the Artifacts of Its Creation and Use" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Ropes and cords in the form of twisted vegetal fibers, or entwined vegetation or serpent bodies, are a common component of Mesoamerican iconography from the Formative period (1500 BCE–250 CE) into the contact era. They serve a variety of functions such as measuring/framing devices, bindings for captives or animals, and portals or pathways connecting celestial and/or underworld locations. This presentation explores examples of cords from Late Postclassic (1250–1520 CE) murals and codices from the northern Maya region. A particular focus is on painted frescoes documented on the outer walls of Structure 1 from Santa Rita in Chetumal, Belize, which portray a series of figures connected by ropes that encircle their wrists. These deity and ancestral beings are situated in specific places within the ritual-mythic world that correspond to dates marking the completion of 360-day periods. Various interpretations of the rope iconography have been presented, which I suggest involves setting time in motion in conjunction with foundation rituals linked to establishing or birthing place. Following Amos Megged (2010:244), I explore the idea that cords represented in narrative scenes may have cued readers to what he calls “future memory” by connecting otherworldly events of the remote past with present and future reenactments.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Ties That Bind: Cordage, Its Sources, and the Artifacts of Its Creation and Use   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38463.0