Introduction
Often in museums, the arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Ancient Americas are bundled into one section. Furthermore, items from the Americas are sometimes placed together with no clear delineation. How many times have we heard people confuse the term Aztec with Inca? Or Maya with Aztec? There are many distinct civilizations that each deserve their own acknowledgement. Dedicating a website to a grouping of objects from the Maya civilizations is a way to recognize this distinction. When material culture from diverse societies of the Moesoamerican world is combined under one exhibition, viewers may be left witth a very general yet unstructured and fragmented understanding of any one of these numerous cultures (Olmec, Zapotec, Totonac, etc.). This site focuses on a specific aspect of only one culture to provide a more in-depth look at the depictions of individuals in order to understand more about their lifestyle and rituals. As museums make plans to re-strategize and re-configure gallery layouts, this will take time. The digital world moves faster and is the perfect platform for this in the interim.
Adornment, Ritual, and Sacrifice
This collection demonstrates the Maya use of bodily adornment and its significance with respect to self-representation. The special regalia worn for the performance of rituals reflects the Maya understanding of the natural world and the role of kings and queens in perpetuating the cycles of the agricultural and rainfall seasons to ensure the prosperity of the community.
This collection of items from the Maya culture is intended to provide viewers with a better appreciation for the purpose of rituals, rather than what is popularly depicted in the media and movie industry. The chosen objects have been carefully selected to assist viewers in making connections between the objects used for ornamentation and the rituals and mythoological beliefs. Viewers will learn that rituals involving sacrifices were considered necessary for securing provisions of food and water. The collection displays reliefs of figures wearing regalia as well as examples of the ornaments themselves (such as a necklace, earflares, etc.). This will help viewers to make a visual link between the object and its use.