Herons maya

The warm weather in the maya area is about to come to an end. We are in the last days of summer, and soon we will delve into the first part of the rainy season.

These days, others are hot and humid, make us remember one of the animals most fascinating that exist in the maya area: the white heron. These birds thrive in places with a lot of water and moisture, so that abound in the central Petén and in the maya lowlands.

Are birds solemn and dazzling, so it is not surprise that will cause a huge fascination in the artists ancient maya.

In this publication we make a collection of various vessels painted in where they appear herons and waterfowl. These birds were represented consistently in ceramic art and it seems that they were a popular motif in art classic maya.

Here we leave you a brief explanation of each image:

1. A noble interacting with a white heron.

2. Heron or cormorant standing on a glyph that represents a stream of water.

3. A heron with a fish in its beak (note that your chest has the face of a deity old).

4. A heron standing on a glyph that represents a body of water.

5. A heron or cormorant with a fish in its beak.

6. A vessel with a repeated pattern of herons.

© Images taken from the photographic archive of Justin Kerr, available at the initiative HOLLIS of the University of Harvard.