Maya

For nearly 3,000 years prior to European colonization, ancient Maya society evolved across parts of Central America and the Yucatán Peninsula, which archaeologists have divided into three broad phases: the Pre-Classic, Classic, and Post-Classic periods. By the end of the Classic Period, around 800-1,000 CE. , many Maya cities in the southern lowlands, such as Palenque, Tikal, and Calakmul, had been abandoned, leaving behind impressive architectural ruins that became enshrouded by tropical forest in the subsequent centuries. Popularly known as the Classic Maya Collapse, this significant transformation was the result of a complex process of human environment interactions that included deforestation, drought, population growth, and socio-economic stress, where no single cause can account for the widespread changes that ensued.

The decline in the southern Maya lowlands coincided with a shift in power to the Northern Yucatán and coastal waterways around the peninsula during the Post Classic Period. Here, Maya city states such as Mayapan and Tulum thrived, developing distinctive architectural and material cultural traditions. When Spanish explorers arrived in the 16th century, they encountered a number of smaller autonomous city-states across the northern lowlands. Despite the 9th century collapse of Classic Maya civilization and Spanish colonization from the 16th century onward, millions of indigenous Maya peoples continue to inhabit parts of southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador today.

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Painted and Modeled Funerary Urn

AD250-900

William P. Palmer III Collection

Jaguar spots adorn the central face and with the addition of large earspools, the iconography suggests that it is a depiction of Xbalanque, one of the hero twins. The skulls flanking the face connect the vessel with the Underworld.

Maya Polychrome  Hacha

AD 250-900

William P. Palmer III Collection

The connection between the ballgame and the death is evident in this skeleton shaped ball court marker.

Hacha

AD 200-1100

William P. Palmer III Collection

This piece of ballgame gear depicts Life and Death-a dualism that appeared often in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican art.

Image of a stone carved with Maya glyphs

Limestone Glyph Panel

AD 600-900

William P. Palmer III Collection

This piece, probably a temple stair riser, was one of a series of at least 20 panels from a site on the Usumacinta River. The panel depicts only a portion of a larger text. The panels date, 13 Kan 2 Kankin, appears in the second row of glyphs from the bottom.

Jaina Island-style Warrior Figurine

AD 600-900

William P. Palmer III Collection

This figure would have been one of an assemblage of figurines placed in the tomb of an elite Maya.

Greenstone Pendant  

AD 250-900

William P. Palmer III Collection

The pendant depicts a seated ruler with elaborate headdress.

Greenstone Necklace 

William P. Palmer III Collection

The pendant of this necklace depicts Camazotz, the bat god who symbolizes night, death, and sacrifice.

Cylinder Vase

AD 600-900

William P. Palmer III Collection

A ruler seated on a throne gestures toward a kneeling figure that may represent a bound captive destined for sacrifice. Kneeling trumpeters are depicted on the reverse.

Vase with Battle Scenes 

AD 250-900

William P. Palmer III Collection

This Vessel depicts warriors and dismembered victims.

Cylinder Vase with stylized Bat Heads

AD 600-900

William P. Palmer III Collection

Bat Rattle

William P. Palmer III Collection

The imagery may relate to the House of Bats, which is referenced in the Popul Vub, a K’iche Maya text chronicling history, recounting creation legends and the exploits of the Hero Twins.