Maya art was configured to deliver information on two levels - in narrative scenes and through the interpretation of accompanying inscriptions. When combined, text and image provided a narrative complex, functioning to communicate information encompassing entire ritual sequences (Schele and Miller 1986: 33). Within the restrictive social structure of Classic Maya society, literacy in hieroglyphic writing was one of the privileges of an educated minority (Houston and Stuart 1992: 592; Marcus 1992b: 224, 230; Houston 1994: 27-50; see also Brown 1991). Although there may have been varying levels of active literacy from site to site, “there is a general accord that not everyone in Classic Maya society could read” (Fash 1998: 216), and writing and the utilisation of written texts were primarily associated with private custom and ritual. As noted by Diego de Landa:
They wrote their books on a long sheet doubled in folds, which was then enclosed between two boards finely ornamented; the writing was on one side and the other, according to the folds. The paper they made from the roots of a tree, and gave it a white finish excellent for writing upon. Some ofthe principal lords were learned in these sciences, from interest, and for the greater esteem they enjoyed thereby; yet they did not make use of them in public (de Landa, 1978: 13).
Scribes used a range of media on which to record texts and depict scenes; these were most prominently limestone panels, tablets, altars, and stelae, in addition to murals and surfaces modeled with stucco. Smaller forms of artistic media that the Maya used to display text and imagery included screenfold books, bones, jade, shells, and polychrome pottery. Archaeologically, the smaller painted, carved, and sculptured pieces most often appear in elite tombs as items either owned by the deceased or placed there as offerings. Wood was also used by the Maya for artistic purposes (e. g., Tikal Temple I and II lintels); however, due to the ephemeral nature of the material, such finds are relatively rare (Coe and Van Stone 2001: 13-14).
Sculptors and scribes would have held considerable status in Maya society, as they were most likely members of royal families. The highest scribal rank was that of aj k’uhuun, meaning “the keeper of the holy books.” These individuals had many important responsibilities, such as royal librarian, historian, genealogist, tribute recorder, master of ceremonies, astronomer, and mathematician. The scribes who had the greatest reputation were given additional titles, such as aj its’aat and aj miats (Coe and Van Stone 2001: 13). The primary purpose of hieroglyphic texts was to record private ownership, dynastic titles, events, and religious rites (Marcus 1992a: 8184; Schele and Mathews 1998: 18; Miller 1999: 107). Designed to be read in double columns, from left to right and from top to bottom, it is the combination of sound symbols and representative symbols that define Maya texts as “logosyllabic” in nature (see Justeson 1989: 25-39). Diego de Landa in Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan (Account of the Affairs of Yucatan) attempted to deconstruct the Maya writing system into an alphabet by defining twenty-nine signs that he believed that the Maya combined to create their written language. Substituting these sound symbols with the Spanish letter equivalent, he obtained not a Maya alphabet, but a list of syllabo-grams (combinations of consonants and vowels) - a syllabification of words being broken up into their sound constituents (syllables). Today, the Maya syllabary comprises a list of some 150 sounds represented by a wide range of symbols or characters. Some of the symbols that comprise the syllabary are variations of similar signs, and others are allograms (alternative spellings) for a single syllable (Coe and Van Stone 2001: 18-20).
Because of limitations in the breadth of literacy it is likely that larger monumental sculpture and iconography functioned, in part, as a form of signage, its purpose to more effectively communicate doctrine concerning religious and sociopolitical order. Maya text and imagery were purposeful in the sense that they were a means by which a ruler could instill obedience and loyalty among his subjects, the art acting as a petition to the gods promoting a ruler’s successes and validating his authoritative position (Marcus 1992a: 14). Furthermore, public monumental art functioned as a historical record reinforcing a common standard of knowledge, “providing emotional security... and psychological cohesion” (Tate 1992: 31).
Among the ancient Maya it is likely that iconography functioned as a compensatory mechanism exploited by the upper echelon in society to assist in more effective communication to the broader population. “Scholars... agree that the populace could understand and appreciate the architectural sculpture, which was designed and built to be admired and understood [by all]” (Fash 1998: 216). In support of this proposal, at sites like Palenque and Chichen Itza, the Maya positioned textual monuments predominantly in areas of limited accessibility, arguably, due to the limited capacity for their broader comprehension. “The not-very-subtle icono-graphic adornments [at Chichen Itza] suggest that direct communication with illiterate masses may have been one of the functions of [sculpture on] major buildings” (Lincoln 1986: 154). Furthermore, as variations in proximity of text and imagery indicate, “glyphic monuments had a narrow audience whilst pictorial/iconographic monuments had a much broader appeal” (Lincoln 1986: 155). Glyphic texts identified at Chichen Itza occur most frequently on lintels positioned in contexts that are private. In contrast, sculpture found on columns, wall panels, and benches occur in more readily accessible areas, suggesting that “art seemed to have a potentially wider audience than the Maya glyphs” (Lincoln 1986: 153). Parallels with this observation are found when comparing the relative proportions of text and image on monuments found at Palenque, where a correlation was found between areas of restricted access and the increase in the proportion of text found on monuments. For example, the private internal sanctuaries of the Cross Group all contain higher proportions of text than do the more prominent external sculptural media (for more detail, refer to Chapter 3, Access Analysis of the Palenque Cross Group and Its Sculpture). Examples of monuments that display text exclusively are the panels found in the interior of Palenque’s Temple of the Inscriptions, and the Palace’s Tablet of 96 Glyphs, neither of which has accompanying scenes or iconographic complements. [Note: The terms “text” and “image” are defined here in accordance with Miller (1989), where “image” refers to pictures (figurative or abstract), rendered on flat or three-dimensional surfaces, that do not function as a component of pictographic, ideographic, and logographic writing.
Conversely, the term “text” refers to writing that is ordered linearly on monuments and other media (Miller 1989: 176).]
In a sense, one has to focus on the subject matter of Maya texts to really understand their purposes, whilst avoiding both modern and ethnocentric interpretations as to their function. Maya texts do not cover the multitude offunctions that writing provides in modern society. “The subject matter of the most public inscriptions... is relatively restricted and there is much repetition and redundancy” (Coe and Van Stone 2001: 7). Conversely, texts in modern cultures function to inform and educate intricately on a broad scale, concerning innumerable subjects. The more limited prevalence of Maya text suggests that literacy was not crucial to everyday life among the Maya, that it was not important that the broader plebeian population understood texts. Instead, the context and content of texts suggest that they functioned principally to legitimise the authority of the ruler among his peers (Marcus 1992b: 230).
Due to the limited capacity of texts to communicate to the broader masses in Maya society, it is reasonable to argue that the ruling class used alternative methods of transmitting information to the population at large. Imagery was the primary method of communicating religious and political dogma during the Classic Period. In addition, the purpose of imagery as displayed on monuments and architecture was to signal the function and exclusivity of space in Maya centres. “The Maya singled [the] identities of sacred places and function through sculptural composition. Important architecture was... built from stone, finished with plaster, and decorated with passages of sculpture and paintings that signaled their function to people using them or coming into the spaces they addressed” (Schele and Mathews 1998: 27).
For years, scholars have wrestled with problems of characterising/defining Mesoamerican writing systems; “of primary interest to the art historians [today] are the ways in which ethnocentric ideas of image and text have affected our perception of the Maya and other Mexican groups” (Baddeley 1983: 55). There are three types of texts found in pre-Columbian art; these types may be described as (1) “discrete texts” that do not appear with the image but relate to it; (2) “conjoined text and image,” which are the incorporation of text and image as found on stelae; and (3) “embedded texts,” which are texts that are integrated with imagery, such as those encoded in costumes (Berlo 1983: 13). Early last century there was a tendency for European scholars to define Middle American art as focused on representation rather than the transmission of meaning. Today, iconographers acknowledge more readily that the association between image and text in Mesoamerica did not necessarily parallel that of Europe (Miller 1989: 177). “Mesoamer-ica[n]... systems [of communication] do not allow for an easy distinction between pure text or pure image” (Baddeley 1983: 56), as suggested by the Nahuatl word which means both “to paint” and “to write” (Boone 1994: 3).
Some scholars have sought a “reformation of the definition of writing that considers both verbal and nonverbal systems of graphic communication” (Boone 1994: 4). More specifically, they argue for a “semasiographic” (meaningful graphic) definition, which sees writing as “the communication of relatively specific ideas in a conventional manner by the means of permanent, visible marks” (Boone 1994:15). Verging on iconic in nature, in semasiographic modes of communication there is a natural correspondence between the image portrayed and the object to which it refers. The power of imagery as a communicative medium, whether iconic or otherwise, is its capacity to communicate its message without “a detour through speech” (Boone 1994: 15). Furthermore, the strength of such a system lies primarily in the fact that when one understands the logic that drives and orders it, meaning is conveyed irrespective of the language that one speaks (Boone 1994: 15-16) and irrespective of the level of education that one has received.
Maya sculpture and iconography have a semasio-graphic/iconic ingredient used by Maya rulers as a form of “signposting,” used in part as a means of signaling the function and hierarchical division of associated space in Classic Maya city centres. Within this communicative system, standardisation of Maya imagery would have been fundamental to the clear and effective transmission of information to the broader population, as there was little freedom for artisans to explore their artistic versatility. Design in sculpture was predetermined, controlled by education, and standardised by strict traditions (Schele and Miller 1986: 33). For example, even where regional variation in sculptural style is apparent at different centres, depictions of people were “regularised” to fit ideals ofhuman appearance (Tate 1992: 50-51). Human beings portrayed in Maya sculpture were generally depicted proportionately accurate with a standardised quality to their rendering. Artists, when portraying individuals, tended to focus their attention on characteristic attributes of a person’s appearance with depictions verging on caricature (Schele and Miller 1986: 66). According to Schele and Miller, because of limitations in artistic freedom, the artist’s general creativity was asserted primarily through the quality of sculptural execution (Schele and Miller 1986: 33).
Although text and image both have the capacity to transmit information, they represent different modes of communication that, by their nature, vary in communicative precision. Because of the multivariate forms, Maya imagery is considered more nebulous in the way that it conveys meaning. Subsequently, Maya imagery stands in stark contrast to the more concise linear organisation of written texts that make them less “context dependent” (Miller 1989:186). While acknowledging this fact, however, it remains that many of the insights that we have today concerning Maya behaviour and custom come from the interpretation of rendered scenes as displayed in palaces, temples, and tombs. Information - such as time, action, place, and individuals portrayed - are said to be the subject of text, whilst scenes primarily provide displays of action and ritual (Schele and Miller 1986: 66).
Maya scribes and sculptors presented narrative imagery in a number of different ways; one method was in “snapshot,” in which an important or characteristic moment of a ritual was captured in a single image (Schele and Miller 1986: 38). There were three moments within a ritual sequence of events on which Maya artisans focused: the inceptive, the progressive, and the completive. The term “inceptive” refers to an instant recorded pictograph-ically just before or just after a sequence of events begins; the “progressive” refers to the moment recorded in the midst of ritual proceedings; and the “completive” is the moment caught at the time of completion of the sequence of events. Snapshots in Maya iconography could be combined into a series of “stills,” suggesting a progression in action, where the separate scenes depict different episodes of a ritual (as is apparent in the Bonampak Murals, see Miller 1986). An alternative was to record the ritual as a “simultaneous narrative,” a narrative in which an image presents a number of events as a single moment, such as where a captive is portrayed at the instance of his capture already stripped and marked for sacrifice (Schele and Miller 1986: 38; see also Weitzmann 1970 and Reents-Budet 1989).
World History
