THE MAYA: LATE
• FORMATIVE
Who are the Maya? Their location and world view
•
•
•
•
•
Use of glyph syllabics
Architecture of the Maya Lowlands
Mayan cosmology
The Hero twins
The world tree
The Maize god
Painting as a main form of expression
The Pyramid of the Paintings, San Bartolo
West wall
North wall
Stela and altar combinations
Other stelae
Map of Meso- and Central America
Map of Maya Territories
Key terms:
Late Formative;
Archetype/ Chiapas;
Guatemala; World
Tree; Long count;
Accession
Examples of phoenetic Maya glyphs
Maya, Structure E-7 sub (L) & drawing
(R), Uaxactun, Guatemala; (Late
Formative)
(*Note the Mayan pyramid style during
the Late Formative)
Key terms: stepped pyramids; stucco; large mask forms;
central staircases
Maya, Structure 5; Cerros, Belize
(Late Formative)
Key Terms: Stucco jaguar heads with Solar attributes
Maya, Drawing for Lintel 8, Yaxchilan,
Ocosingo Chiapas, Mexico; (Late Formative)
Key terms:
”Flower Mountain”
“Demonstrating the use of the Long Count”
Maya, Diagram of Stela 1; Nakbe,
Guatemala (Late Formative)
Key Terms:
Hero Twins: Xbalanque
& Hunahpu; Popol Vuh;
Maize God; Xibalba
Maya, Stela 5 (L) & Drawing (R); Izapa, Chiapas,
Mexico (Late Formative)
Maya, Maize God, Copan, Honduras; ceramic,
(Late Formative)
Maya, Drawing of “Pyramid of the Paintings”
(Structure 1); San Bartolo, Guatemala (Late
Formative)
Key Terms: 2001, William Saturno; 100BCE
Maya, **West** wall polychrome stucco
mural, Structure 1 sub-1 chamber, San
Bartolo, Guatemala; (Late Formative)
Key Terms: Pyramid of the Paintings; Bloodletting; baby jaguar sacrifice; Maize god
Maya, **West**Drawing of (Southern half) wall
Polychrome stucco mural, Structure 1 sub-1 chamber,
San Bartolo, Guatemala; (Late Formative)
Key Terms: Four lords; Supernatural guise; Four sacrificial offerings (deer,
flowers, turkey, fish); Four Principal Bird Deities; Fifth World Tree; Maize
God
Maya, **North** wall polychrome stucco
mural, Structure 1 sub-1 chamber, San
Bartolo, Guatemala; (Late Formative)
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
A= Split flowering Gourd
E= Maize God
B= Axe-bearing figure
F= Two Maize goddesses
C= Maize goddess, sitting
G= Noble virgin
in a cave bearing tamales
H & I= Two turbaned assistants carrying blood
offerings
D= Turbaned assistant holding a
J= Quetzalcoatl, the feathered
serpent Flowering gourd
A
B
Maya, North Wall Mural at
San Bartolo
(Late Formative)
A= Split flowering gourd
With 5 babies
B= Individual with axe
Key terms:
Gourd; Umbilical cord;
Axe; Quincunx;
Central axis
Maya, North Wall Mural, (Middle Section) San Bartolo, (Late Formative)
C
D
E
F
C= Maize goddess
bearing tamales
D= turbaned
attendant with
Flowering gourd
E= Maize God
F= Two Maize
goddesses
Key Terms: Maize God; Olmec features; Maize goddesses; Turbaned Males;
Blood scrolls; Tamales; Flower Mountain; Cave stalactite; Jaguar
Maya, North Wall Mural (End section), San Bartolo, (LateFormative)
G
H
I
J
G= Noble
Virgin sacrifice
H & I= two
Turbaned
Attendants
Holding blood
Offerings
J=
quetzalcoatl
Key terms: Maiden; Spondylus shell; Tufts of yellow feathers; Quetzalcoat; Blood scrolls;
Footprints; West to East; East to West; ”pregnant gourd”
Maya, **North** wall polychrome stucco
mural, Structure 1 sub-1 chamber, San
Bartolo, Guatemala; (Late Formative)
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
A= flowering Gourd
E= Maize God
B= Axe-bearing figure
F= Two Maize goddesses
C= Maize goddess, sitting
G= Noble virgin sacrifice
in a cave bearing tamales
H & I= Two turbaned assistants carrying blood
offerings
D= Turbaned assistant holding a
J= Quetzalcoatl, the feathered
serpent Flowering gourd
Maya, Stela 1 with Altar 1, Izapa,
Chiapas Mexico; (Late Formative)
Key terms: Chaak; Reptilian snout;
“Zoomorphic feather;” Creel; Frog;
Transitional creature
Maya, Stele 11 (R) & Drawing (L), Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala;
(Late Formative)
Key Terms: Fluorescence;
Deified lord; Profile silhouette;
Toponym; Glyph; 250CE;
Teotihuacan; 250-550CE;
Tikal & Uaxactun; Guatemala;
378CE; 6th C
Maya, Monument 65 (L) & Drawing (R);
Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala (Late Formative)
Maya, Drawing of Stela 2, Takalik Abaj, Guatemala
(Late Formative)
Maya, Stela 5 (L) & Drawing (R), Takalik
Abaj, Guatemala (Late Formative)
Lecture Synopsis:
• The Maya were a loose collectivity of city states with people who shared customs,
beliefs, iconography, language and genetic ancestry. They were never a unified
empire, but occasionally made temporary alliances for the purposes of attacking
weaker Mayan city-states.
• The Late Formative period represents a significant period of development during
which the Maya first emerged and developed archetypal Mayan style in culture and
art.
• During the Late Formative we also see primary cosmological beliefs emerging as
well as the use of syllabic glyphs and the Long Count. A new style of pyramid is
developed that is much broader and more squat, with stucco face masks on either
side of centralized staircases.
• The Maize God appears as a primary Mayan deity, showing up during the Late
Formative era in sculpture and in murals. One very important mural referring to
Mayan origins and ritual life was located in San Bartolo; it highlights the role of the
Maize God in Mayan ritual and to the origins of Maya ancestry.
• Chaak, the Rain god, also appears with some frequency in Mayan art during the
Late Formative period.
• The Olmec appear to have had greater influence on the Maya than previously
assumed.
• As elsewhere in Mesoamerica, we continue to see reptiles, birds and felines
represented as supernatural, transitional creatures in Mayan art.
• The greatest fluorescence in Late Formative Mayan culture takes place at
Kaminaljuyu, where the classic stela form of the profile lord is developed.
• The Maya enter a period of great prominence approximately
250CE when the early practices from the Late Formative era are
widely disbursed among Maya city states.
• Between 250-550 CE major growth is limited to Tikal and
Uaxactun in
N. Guatemala. This is largely because of the political and
economic backing of Teotihuacan, which invaded both cities and
married into Mayan elite families.
• The Mayans in Tikal and Uaxactun adopted Teotihuacan modes of
dress and other cultural behaviors to the point that by the 6th
century CE, they were considered entirely Mayan and no longer
foreign.