Museum Expedition 1903, Museum Collection Fund

By exchange

A. Augustus Healy Fund

Gift of Dr. John H. Finney

Frank Sherman Benson Fund and the Henry L. Batterman Fund

Museum Expedition 1904, Museum Collection Fund

Museum Expedition 1907, Museum Collection Fund

Alfred W. Jenkins Fund

Neck ornament made of 18-19 strings of cylindrical beads creating a wide, circular necklace that fits close to the neck. The beads are threaded on fibre strands, held together by seven strips of hide interspersed at regular intervals, with thin hide ties at the ends. The beads are decorated with incised lines, and possibly lacquered?

This Maya effigy vessel depicts the head and torso of a hunchback human figure wearing a full jaguar-skin costume. Small teeth are visible near the fangs, and hands appear above the paws. Hunchbacks and dwarves were highly respected among the Maya, frequently serving as attendants to rulers. Like the jaguar-skinned dancers depicted on cylindrical vessels, this figure may be impersonating the God of the Underworld, with the scarf around his neck symbolizing human sacrifice and death.


Esta vasija efigie Maya representa la cabeza y torso de una figura humana jorobada vestida completamente con la piel de un jaguar. Pequeños dientes son visibles al lado de los colmillos, y manos aparecen sobre las garras. Los jorobados y enanos eran muy respetados entre los Maya, frecuentemente sirviendo como asistentes de los gobernantes. Como los danzantes vestidos con piel de jaguar representados en vasijas cilíndricas, esta figura puede estar imitando al Dios del Inframundo, con el pañuelo alrededor de su cuello simbolizando sacrificio humano y muerte.