Animal Figures in the Maya CodicesTozzer, Alfred M. (Alfred Marston)
History
Animal Figures in the Maya Codices
Tozzer, Alfred M. (Alfred Marston)
Mayan languages -- Writing; Mayas -- Antiquities
The glyph of the king vulture has already been discussed. There are
other glyphs which seem to show the black vulture, although it is quite
possible that no sharp distinction was made between the two in regard
to the glyphs at least. In one case (Pl. 18, fig. 18), the wrinkled skin
of the head and neck is indicated much as in the case of the king
vulture. A few other glyphs are shown (Pl. 18, figs. 16, 19, 22, 27), as
well as a variety from the Nuttall Codex in which the minute hair-like
feathers of the head are variously represented, usually much exaggerated
as a sort of crest or comb. Pl. 18, fig. 22, is interesting as being the
only case in the Maya codices where the whole figure is shown in the
glyph. As noted in the case of the glyphs of the king vulture, the
greater number of these occur quite alone. They seem to indicate that a
full drawing of the bird is meant to be understood as occurring below.
Several of the carved glyphs (Pl. 19, figs. 8-10) show the black vulture
heads in some detail with the conspicuously open nostril and hooked
beak. A carving of the entire bird may be shown on Stela D from Copan
(Pl. 28, fig. 5), where the naked head and neck are marked off by lines
indicating wrinkled skin. The same lines on the neck of the bird
depicted on Pl. 28, fig. 2, will probably identify it as a vulture, and,
if the square ornament above the beak certainly is part of the figure,
it is unquestionably the king vulture. The knob is not, however, clearly
on the bird's beak. There are two interesting glyphs which occur on the
eastern façade of the Monjas at Chichen Itza. The glyphs in this
inscription are unlike the usual Maya hieroglyphs, although several of
the so-called constellation signs can be made out. The two glyphs in
question represent the entire body possibly of a vulture, that on Pl.
17, fig. 13, probably the king vulture, and that on Pl. 18, fig. 14, the
black vulture.
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