Animal Figures in the Maya Codices

Animal Figures in the Maya
Codices, by

Alfred M. Tozzer and Glover M. Allen This eBook is for the use of
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Title: Animal Figures in the Maya Codices
Author: Alfred M. Tozzer and Glover M. Allen
Release Date: August 14, 2006 [EBook #19042]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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FIGURES IN THE MAYA CODICES ***

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Transcriber's Note
A number of typographical errors and inconsistencies have been
maintained in this version of this book. They have been marked with a

[TN-#], which refers to a description in the complete list found at the
end of the text.
The following codes are used for characters that are not able to be
represented in the text format used for this version of the book.
[)a] a with breve [c] open o [[c].] open o with dot under [=h] h with
stroke [p.] p with dot under [^q] q with circumflex [vs] s with caron
[vs.] s with caron and dot under [t.] t with dot under [ts.] ts with dot
under [+] Dagger [++] Double dagger

PAPERS OF THE PEABODY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN
ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY
VOL. IV.--No. 3.
ANIMAL FIGURES IN THE MAYA CODICES
BY
ALFRED M. TOZZER, PH.D. AND GLOVER M. ALLEN, PH.D.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. PUBLISHED BY THE MUSEUM
FEBRUARY, 1910

Salem Press: THE SALEM PRESS CO., SALEM MASS. 1910.

NOTE
It has been thought desirable, for the advancement of the study of Maya
hieroglyphs, that the interpretation of the conventionalized animal
figures, which so frequently occur in the Maya codices, should be
undertaken. The Peabody Museum Committee on Central American
Research therefore requested Dr. A. M. Tozzer to prepare a paper on

the subject, and to secure the valuable cooperation of Dr. Glover M.
Allen, a zoologist familiar with the animals of Mexico and Central
America, to aid in the identification of the various species of animals
which under varying forms are used in connection with the glyphs.
While it is possible that some of the determinations given in this paper
may require further confirmation, it is evident that the combined
studies of Dr. Tozzer and Dr. Allen cannot fail to be useful to students
of the Maya hieroglyphic writing.
F. W. PUTNAM. HARVARD UNIVERSITY, August, 1909.

KEY TO THE PRONUNCIATION OF MAYA WORDS
The vowels and consonants have their continental sounds with the
following exceptions:--
=[)a]= like u in hut =ai= like i in island =k= (Beltran's c) ordinary
palatal k =q= (Beltran's k) velar k =[[c].]= (Beltran's [c]) ts explosive or
fortis =[c]= (Beltran's tz) ts non-explosive =[vs]= (Beltran's x) like sh in
hush =t[vs]= (Beltran's ch) like ch in church =[ts.]= (Beltran's c[=h])
ch explosive =[p.]= (Beltran's pp) p explosive =t= (Beltran's t[=h]) t
explosive

LIST OF PLATES
Plate. 1. Mollusca: Fasciolaria gigantea, Oliva. 2. Insecta: Honey bee
(Melipona). 3. Insecta and Myriapoda. 4. Arachnoidea, Arachnida,
Crustacea. 5. Myriapoda, Pisces. 6. Pisces. 7. Amphibia. 8. Amphibia,
Reptilia. 9. Reptilia: Rattlesnake (Crotalus). 10. Reptilia: Serpents. 11.
Reptilia: Serpents. 12. Reptilia: Iguana, Lizards. 13. Reptilia: Crocodile
14. Reptilia: Turtles. 15. Aves: Herons, Frigate-bird. 16. Aves:
Ocellated Turkey (Agriocharis ocellata). 17. Aves: King Vulture
(Sarcorhamphus papa). 18. Aves: King Vulture (S. papa), Black
Vulture (Catharista urubu). 19. Aves: Vultures. 20. Aves: Harpy Eagle

(Thrasaetos harpyia). 21. Aves: Yucatan Horned Owl (Bubo
virginianus mayensis). 22. Aves: Yucatan Horned Ow[TN-1] (B. v.
mayensis). 23. Aves: Yucatan Screech Owl (Otus choliba thompsoni).
24. Aves: Quetzal (Pharomacrus mocinno). 25. Aves: Blue Macaw
(Ara militaris). 26. Aves: Parrots, Turkeys. 27. Aves: Miscellaneous.
28. Various animals. 29. Mammalia: Armadillo and miscellaneous. 30.
Mammalia: Deer, Hare. 31. Mammalia: Yucatan Deer (Odocoileus
yucatanensis). 32. Mammalia: Yucatan Peccary (Tayassu angulatum
yucatanense), Yucatan Deer (O. yucatanensis). 33. Mammalia: Yucatan
Peccary (T. a. yucatanense). 34. Mammalia: Jaguar, Puma. 35.
Mammalia: Jaguar, Coyote, Bear. 36, 37. Mammalia: Dog (Canis). 38.
Mammalia: Leaf-nosed Bat (Vampyrus or Phyllostomus). 39.
Mammalia: Monkey (Cebus) and miscellaneous.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT
FIG. 1. Top of Altar T, Copan (Mandslay,[TN-2] I. Pl. 95) 320
2. Pottery whistle from Uloa Valley, Honduras, representing a vulture.
Peabody Museum Memoirs. I. No. 4, fig. 15 332
3. } 4. } Glyphs of Maya month Moan showing moan-bird 5. }
characteristics 339 6. }
7. Quetzal from the bas-relief of the Temple of the Cross, Palenque 341
8. } 9. } Glyphs for Maya month Kankin (Ribs of dogs) 364 10. }
11. } 12. } 13. } Glyphs for Maya month Zotz (Bats) 365 14.