Hypothesis: Mayan Warfare versus Religious Practices

The Maya civilization was well-known for their religious practices and warfare. Mayan cities, including Uxmal, were constructed accordingly to the needs of religious practices, spiritual sanctuaries, and sacred temples. Since the civilization held a strong and conventional beliefs, the ruins of Uxmal (as well as other Mayan cities) suggests that the constructions within the site were built with defensive systems for the possibility of a battle to defend their beliefs. Not only that Uxmal was once enclosed by a defensive wall systems, but also each of the programs were constructed on elevated landscape or platforms for further defenses. Moreover, in a smaller scale of the defensive systems, the threshold and the entry to any of the edifice were constructed in a very narrow and limited manner. These applications of the defensive designs also define the importance of the programs, and reveal the hierarchy among each of the edifices in Uxmal.

On the contrary, many of the Mayan artifacts suggested differently that the Mayan edifices and programs were built specifically for religious practices with less concerns for their defenses. Artifacts, including the weapons, revealed the importance of the symbolism and the meaning of the weapons. Mayans believed that their gods and spirits would being them the victory. The carved stone weapon (as shown in the diagram) “suggests a zoomorph, perhaps a snake in its long, sinuous shape;” and the simplicity of the design is also apparent. This particular artifact shows the design that is inspired by an animal and may perhaps held a certain symbolism or significance, while also provides the user with a simple design to serve its functions. However, since carved stone weapons were used both in daily life, for sacrifices and as a weapon, these purposes suggest that the edifices and the programs were designed not only to hold symbolism and imagery for their gods but also for defensive purposes and daily rituals.

Artifact: Mayan Scepter

The scepter of K'awiil signifies the hierarchy within Mayan culture. The scepter is to scale in the picture above, only the ruler was permitted to carry the artifact. The artifact is carved from white jade, a unique and significant material for the Mayans. The jade emphasizes the rankings within the culture, only the most official were allotted such beautiful stones, such as the rare white jade. The artifact is intricately carved on every facade, showing the physical and mental dedication put into crafting the scepter and highlighting the importance of K'awiil and the ruler holding it. The god K'awiil or God K is a pivotal Mayan deity. God K represents physical and mental fertility and functioned as a god of royal descent, promising 'innumerable generations'. God K is easily identifiable, with the flaming torch rising from his forehead and a serpent for a foot. The scepter of God K was used as a means to transcend realms and conjure the gods to partake in ritualistic dance or allow the ruler to transform into a deity. The transcendence that is taking place is not over time, but rather throughout space. The mortal ruler that is chosen by the divine, conjures God K and he emerges through smoke to participate in the ritual. The dances were mostly for everyone, but the prestigious class within Mayan society stood closest to the activities. The community would fill the vast spaces within Uxmal, gathering to watch the supernatural festivities. The dancers would also transform into supernatural beings or important animals in Mayan culture such as the snake or jaguar. Dancing was an integral part of Mayan life; the scepter was used in more ceremonial forms of dance, but the Mayans danced daily to connect themselves with the otherworldly.

Artifact: Mayan Calendar - facts, thoughts, and theories

          (scale of artifact in relation to observer or "client")

          The Maya calendar is one of the most easily understood versions of Mesoamerican time documentation that has survived the ages. It combines several ideas or systems of time into one artifact. The two main systems used are known as the Tzolk'in and Haab; the Tzolk'n date system revolves around a 260 day cycle, and the Haab consists of a 365 day cycle. The two sync every 52 Haab years, and this period of time is known as the Calendar Round. Mayans used to wait in anxiety to see if the gods would grant them another 52 years of life, so the end of every Calendar Round cycle was stressful in ancient times. The 52 year cycle was later adapted to the Long Count calendar for practicality because previously only one cycle would occur in a lifetime.

          The completion of certain cycles was marked by monuments or dedications, usually in the form of buildings - stelas or twin pyramid complexes. While there are no such specific monuments in Uxmal, the ideas are carried through from the calendar to the ornamentation and style of certain buildings at the site. 

          The relation of this artifact to an occupant or observer is important to consider because of the varying aspects of the artifact itself. The Maya calendar can be found in many different sizes, each relating to a human being at a different scale. The most common size is the one displayed above, where it is shown in an exhibit. The significance of the fact that there are various sizes lies in the possibilities of the calendar's meaning. The calendar is still used to a certain extent today; there is a lot of speculation and fear about the supposed end of the world due to Maya predictions based on the calendar from ancient times. It is amazing to think that an artifact from such a long time ago can be held with such credibility in current times, and it is equally amazing that the Mayans could predict time so many years into the future.

          Time is an integral part of any civilization, and thus this artifact is relevant across the ages. It allows for the creation of a sort of itinerary through time and guides people through their lives. Having a consistent, reliable method of telling time and separating one day from the other is something that will always be historic, contemporary, and futuristic all at once.

The ballcourt marker, winner takes all

The ballcourt, the site where the first organized team sport took place, was a place of high tension and tough competition, to the death. It was considered to be a ritualistic and religious aspect of Mayan society as well as a place of competition.

The ballcourt marker was placed in the center of the court and embedded in the ground. It divided the two teams and provided a center for the court. The players adorned themselves with protective gear, as well as ornamental jewelry and headdresses. The games were often long and exhausting, resulting in a winner and a loser, the latter being painted in red stripes and sacrificed as part of the ritual.

The players on each team view one another as equals but the tension between the opposing teams remains evident and unmasked. The atmosphere that surrounds the scene of a ball court is one of great excitement, but also carries with it a looming sense of anxiety, for each player knows that upon entering the court, their lives are at stake. Every action that surrounds the ball game is full of intent and passion, never hesitant or trivial. The ball court marker is the apex of all passion, intent and tension that revolves around the sport since it will ultimately divide the winners, victorious in the glory of their win, from the losers, who will be sacrificed in a ritualistic ceremony.

Artifact: Fabric Remnant

The slowly rising hills support a constructed system that influences and forms to the conditions. As the Mayans constructed their own landscapes, mountainous structures rise along that skyline, while platforms elevate articulated constructions. Valleys and plateaus are utilized to their potential for living and structure organization. The system of constructions and voids insinuate functionality and detail describes the culture of inhabitants.
The insight provided from detail is potent with ideas needed to construct a society. Preserved in a presumed sacrificial well, a fabric remnant was discovered. Due to the fragile nature of such a material, it is very rare to find such an artifact. It is a cotton piece, woven, brocaded, dyed. It is an irregular piece, frayed. However the brocaded pattern is still dense with fibers. The pattern illustrates a fraction of the pattern that originally existed across the whole clothing piece at one time.
The fabric piece will complete a larger garment. It will wrap itself gracefully and structurally around the client. Due to its location when found, the artifact must have belonged to a woman sacrificed and left in the well. The client was wearing the garment as a part of the last experience of life on Earth. It was a nicer garment of a lower woman in society. As the sacrifice, the woman chose to represent herself properly in this garment. The sacrifice would either, grant clemency or continue to rule the world in the minds of the Mayans. This garment was properly adorned by this woman in her time of accepting death as the sacrifice.
The construction would provide a confined reflection area, proper for self realization and concentration. Peripherally, a meeting area for a small groups will provide gathering space in support of the counsels’’ decision.

Artifact: Jade Burial Mask: Inspirations and Relations

A jade encrusted skull found in Oaxaca, Mexico conjures stratification-themed thoughts. The Oaxaca inhabitants existed prior to Uxmal settlement; perhaps Jade Mayan masks at Uxmal were inspired by jade encrusted skulls at Oaxaca. Jade was, after all, imported. Theoretically, contact may have occurred via trade routes.

The skull itself is a layer of information; it further informs human skin stretched across its surface. In this sense, actual skin aforementioned in "Artifact: Jade Burial Mask" is merely a mask overlaying the skull. Mayan jade masks at Uxmal, therefore, are essentially a third layer of information; the skull is the original structure. With each layer--skull bone, flesh, jade mask--additional information and details are added and subtracted.

Oaxaca inhabitants inlaid small jade pieces as a mosaic directly into skulls of the deceased. Dissimilarly, Mayans at Uxmal placed masks loosely atop facial flesh of the deceased. The mask therefore shifts as the flesh disintegrates and a layer of information is slowly removed over time.

This method of decay corresponds to the Uxmal burial space in which the mask exists. More specifically, the burial chamber's construction includes elements designed to mask space for a set amount of time before decomposing. Once the main structure of the chamber is constructed, an opaque cloth is stretched across the opening of the chamber. This cloth--which will eventually decompose--blocks workers' view of the deceased as they construct the chamber's closure. Closure takes the form of a thrice layered ceiling. Thus, the chamber's structure mimics the relationship between the human skull, flesh, and mask; disintegrating, "masking" cloth is analogous to disintegrating human facial flesh.

http://anthropology.net/2007/06/01/damien-hirsts-diamond-encrusted-skull-jeweled-skulls-in-archaeology/

Artifact: Fabric - Just Blogging Thoughts

Many artifacts are made from natural materials. The fabric is made of cotton. It was found preserved in a sacrificial well in Chichen Itza. It is woven together. The spaces between the threads are large, due to it being worn and old or maybe it is a very small piece and the camera is zoomed in very close. Edges are frayed in an irregular pattern; however it is less frayed when the darker sections meet the edge. The pattern is just a fragment. You never see a portion of the whole pattern. You can tell from the piece that the pattern is regular and repeating. It reminds me of a tortoise shell. The gaps between the threads are not visible in the darker areas that form the pattern. Did the weaver use more threads in these areas to create the pattern? Is the pattern brocaded on and thus as time progressed it did not deteriorate as much or deterioration is less visible due to the density of threads. The caption from the book I got this artifact from states that the fabric was dyed. Was the pattern dyed? Was the base fabric woven, and then dyed, the pattern sown or woven in? Was the base fabric woven, pattern included, and then was the whole thing dyed? This remnant could be a fragment of a large garment with this pattern totally saturating the entire thing. It could also have been just a small detailed piece of a larger plain garment.

Artifact: Carved Stone Weapon

Carved stone weapons were used both in daily life, sacrifice and warfare, but also are also found in cemetery, burials, and ritual site. Mayans' weapons were not particularly designed for the efficiency of warfare usage but were concentrated on the symbolism, meaning and imagery of the god and goddess, as well as the decorations and articulations of each weapon. “Maya artisans prized flint for their weaponry,” and the artisans were more concerned with the meaning of the weapon more than the efficiency. However, since most of the weaponry kept a very simple design, the function and the efficiency of the usage came naturally. As such, this carved stone weapon “suggests a zoomorph, perhaps a snake in its long, sinuous shape;” and the simplicity of the design is also apparent. This particular artifact shows the effectiveness of the simple design to serve its functions, while the design is also inspired by an animal and may perhaps held a certain symbolism or significance.

Artifact: Jade Burial Mask

A mask is an overlay of inspired information; all masks are essentially informed skin. Standing alone, ornamentation on this undulating surface suggests it might lock into another configuration (namely, the human face). Specifically, these cues take the form of apertures. Personal space is created when the mask is activated, or worn. By overlaying the mask on the face, a small space is created: the space between. Here, in this limited space, daily functions take on greater meaning. Warm breathing patterns are recognized; line of vision restricted by the mask-boundary becomes realized. Ultimately, fleshy functions gain appreciation. Registration of facial features between the two layers--real skin and constructed skin--creates strong spatial projections from facial orifices. Eyes, mouth, and occasionally nose project through mask apertures, not in form but rather in function (i.e. line of vision, forced air movement to the nose and mouth).

Masks protect, entertain, and are used ceremonially. To Uxmal inhabitants, facial features of the deceased inform mask designs. Masks often made of jade--the precious Mayan equivalent of gold--with shell inserts may be found in royal burial chambers. The intimacy between human skin and mask manifested as small-scale spaces is proportionally relative to the entire human body and the burial space; it is the intimacy of the space between.

Analysis of Geometric Topology and How It Creates Spatial Figure Grounds

The interaction between the constructs and the ground of the site create what is known as a spatial figure ground. The embedment of the constructs in the ground cause an axial figure ground to appear where the mind perceives the spaces between the constructs as mass and the actual constructs as part of the ground. In my analysis I built and edge emphasizing the southeast corner of the nunnery quadrangle. This location is important in that it lies at the intersecting of the main vertical axis and the horizontal axis. In addition to this, a smaller scale figure ground is created within the quadrangle of the nunnery. I composed the model of a number of vertical and horizontal linear elements to represent the general shape of the figure ground and the nunnery while the angular planar elements create a contrast representative of the topography of the site.

Governor's Palace Edge and Relation to the Great Platform Part 2

South Group Edge Construct Diagram: Part 2

This diagrammatic edge shows the rising elevations and growing dimensions of the superimposed, layered constructions of Uxmal. Each new layering of structure completely envelopes the one below, creating an entirely new set of spaces. The diagrammatic edge extends and branches out from the South Temple to show its skewed alignments with the surrounding constructions.

Itinerary Through an Edge Condition

 

The site of Uxmal consists of a series of intersecting paths which create an itinerary for the occupant. The section of the site surrounding the Governor's Palace and the southern group of constructions has many strong paths that are centered around the entrance to the governor's palace and the intersection of the space between the south group and the palace. These are emphasized through a strong edge condition that leads to a threshold between the two complexes.

The Pyramid As an Edge of Path

Exploration of the Nunnery Quadrangle as an Edge

Topographical Integration with Contruction

This diagram analyzes the highly constructed and articulated edge of the Governors Palace and the great platform. The integration of constructed edge and natural topography is studied via the valley that extends past the Great Platform and then slowly rises into the Nunnery Quadrangle.

South Group Edge Construct Diagram