Discussion 



tain pure Maya glyphic forms and designs. Recent 

 research has shown that such "Toltec" motifs did ap- 

 pear far back into the Pure phase of the Florescent. 



The Iglesia, attached to the Casa de las Monjas 

 at Chichen, is of Pure Florescent date. Two of the 

 niches in the front facade of this structure con- 

 tain representations in carved stucco of individuals 

 emerging from conch shells (best illustrated by 

 Bolles, 1963). Tozzer has suggested that these might 

 have been later replacements of original carvings, 

 but no such stuccowork is known from the Modified 

 Florescent. A polychrome bowl from the Bliss Col- 

 lection, said to be from Yucatan (Lothrop, 1957. 

 pi. LXXXII), has a beautiful panel representing 

 God N sitting on or emerging from an enormous 

 conch shell. This vessel, of Early period date, may 

 well have been imported from the southern Maya 

 lowlands. 



In the southern area, no less than six different 

 representations of the Old God with the conch shell 

 are found on four pottery vessels from Chama in the 

 Alta Verapaz (Dieseldorff, 1926-33, vol. i, figs. 70, 

 71, 136-137, 237, 239). On two of these vessels, in 

 paired panels, the god is emerging from the conch 

 in one, seated in front of it in the other. These 

 vessels may be assigned to the Late Classic of the 

 south (Late Early period in Yucatan). On the Tab- 

 let of the Foliated Cross at Palenque (also Late 

 Classic), one of the principal figures stands on a 

 representation of God K, the god with the elongated, 

 decorated nose, emerging from a large conch, hold- 

 ing in his hand what is probably growing corn 

 (Maudslay, 1889-1902, vol. 4, pis. 80, 81). This is 

 reminiscent of the gold disk from Chichen Itza men- 

 tioned above. Moholy-Nagy (1963, p. 78) notes that 

 at Tikal, "Four wizened, gnome-like creatures, prob- 

 ably Mams, are shown emerging from what seem 

 to be conch shells along the sides of Altar 4, which 

 is Early Classic in style and type of stone." 



From the above it is clear that shells, or at least 

 conchs, were firmly entrenched in ancient Maya 

 religious beliefs and customs. But — for the same 

 reason that we cannot believe that the Oliva tinklers 

 so frequently used for belt ornaments in the Early 

 period were worn to remind the wearer of the under- 

 world, death, or parturition — we cannot believe that 

 the enormous quantity of unworked shell at Maya 

 sites accumulated for the same reason. Rather, we 

 believe they were also important to the Maya because 

 they symbolized, or at least were reminiscent of, the 



49 



sea. Precisely what the religious or superstitious con- 

 text of this association was, we shall probably never 

 know, but the continuous presence of other forms 

 of marine animals with shells in caches, and other 

 offerings, must be significant. 



In the paragraphs below we shall touch only upon 

 raw shells intentionally introduced as such. Jewelry 

 of shell or shell perforated for use as jewelry are 

 not considered germane to this topic, and will 

 be described in separate volumes on "Tombs and 

 Caches" and "Artifacts." 



Of the many tombs at Dzibilchaltun, only seven 

 have offerings of shells. Two are Formative and five 

 are associated with the Copo complex, one datable 

 to the Late Early period. The species found are: 



Cerithium eburneum (2) 

 Strombus costatus ( i ) 

 Ficus communis ( i ) 

 Area zebra (i pair) 

 Chione cancellata (4) 



None of the seven contained other forms of marine 

 life. At Mayapan, where burials were presumably 

 all of the Decadent period, occasional lots of shell 

 and marine materials were included as offerings, 

 but no identification of the tomb material, as such, 

 was published (A. L. Smith, 1962). At Copan three 

 tombs contained offerings; one held four unworked 

 Oliva porphyria; the second a Spondylus princeps 

 valve, containing pearl, jade, and cinnabar; the third 

 "shell fragments" (Longyear, 1952, pp. 35—50). At 

 Barton Ramie only two burials, both Protoclassic, 

 contained offerings of shell, both the freshwater 

 clam Nephronaias ortmanni (W, fig. 309, l-n). At 

 San Jose only two burials had such material, both 

 probably S.J. IV; one had a large ostreid cupped 

 over the face, the other contained a single Nephro- 

 naias (T, pp. 193—220). At Tikal all the tombs and 

 several of the minor burials contained shell offer- 

 ings, prominently Spondylus. Our working defini- 

 tion of tombs has been "stone-walled and stone-roofed 

 or vaulted areas containing burials." This is at vari- 

 ance with the Tikal Project's definition of tomb, 

 whereby floor space is in excess of the needs of the 

 single interment (M, p. 74). The rare cases where 

 this is true at Dzibilchaltun are away from the major 

 ceremonial structures, and are not relatively richly 

 endowed with offerings of any sort. No rich tombs 

 of the type found at Tikal have appeared at Dzibil- 

 chaltun. Those in ceremonial structures and in 

 thatched dwellings, although numerous, shared the 



