Photographed with the permission of the Museo Popol Vuh, Universidad
Francisco
Marroquin, Guatemala City. Photographed with a KAIDAN
Magellan 1000 Object Rig.
Find out more about KAIDAN's
QuickTime VR Products and associated software from Roundaboutlogic.
The blue color of this figurine is a rare pigment
known as " Mayan Blue." Use the search engine to locate
books on thousand-year old Maya painting methods from the Art
and Archaeology Book Service.
This figurine is hollow, since solid clay would fracture in
the process of heating in the kiln and subsequent cooling. At
the back of the figure you can see holes; at the bottom is a mouthpiece
to blow on. Most of these figures are whistles or ocarinas (again,
to get literature on any subject, such as Maya music, use the
search engine within
this Web site to locate books
on this and other topics).
Figures of this class are best known from the sacred burial
island of Jaina, Campeche, Mexico. Almost every museum in the
world, and most ever art book on Maya archaeology, pictures Jaina
style figurines. This particular figure, however, is from Guatemala.
This individual wears a special outfit used in the favorite
sport of the Classic Maya, the sacred
rubber ballgame. Our Book Service
has tons of books on the native games of pre-Hispanic cultures.
Also, our institute offers colorful slide shows on this exciting
sport.
This game was played using rubber from the rubber trees, which
is a local species in the tropical rain forest. Rubber was also
used in religious rituals, to make dolls, and to burn (sort of
like incense). Hopefully native Maya rubber smelled somewhat better
than old tires today. Of course their rubber was natural, not
chemical, and not vulcanized.
This page will take almost 10 minutes on a 28.8
modem. If you enjoy Mayan archaeology it will be worth the wait.
If you are unable to open another browser window and will be staring
at this page for the next ten minutes you might want something
to read. Or maybe you are wondering what is a QuickTime VR object
and why should I wait for this huge file to download.? QuickTime
VR is part of Apple Computers Media layer technology. This object
was created from 36 photos (35mm) spaced 10 degrees apart. By
clicking and holding down the mouse on the object you can rotate
it through 360 degrees of horizontal motion. This allows anyone
in the world to examine this rare and precious artifact simply
by downloading this page. If you have put off upgrading your browser
technology, or the QuickTime plug-in, this would be a good reason
to do so. There are thousands of QuickTime files on the world
wide web. Future QuickTime files will feature audio, interactivity,
and increased resolution with smaller file sizes. If you cannot
experience this object we have provided a link to a GIF
animation(296.7K) of the object in motion. Most browsers can
display GIF anims. You will not however be able to control or
interact with the object. The entire animation will take 210 seconds
to download with a 28.8 modem.
index
of all internal links for www.maya-art-books
Maya
archaeology directory (for www.maya-archaeology.org)
updated March 7, 1998
by James L Robinson