Classic Maya pottery

The pots made during the collapse of Maya civilization show actual eye-witness scenes of the people involved. The hieroglyphic descriptions describe the historical personages who were present as the great Maya city-states were experiencing their decline and fall.

The rollout at the left is from the largest and most complex Terminal Classic scene yet recorded.

This remarkable scene is one of two. Each scene is completely different. Every individual is named by an adjacent hieroglyph.

The rim band includes a large elaborate PSS text, one of the fanciest such PSS inscriptions known for a Terminal Classic vase. We have given the rollout of the PSS text to a capable epigrapher and hence do not show it here.

The original rollout is precise enough to enlarge this scene to a yard high by two yards long. Such enlargements are easier with the computerized direct digital rollout system perfected by Better Light. The FLAAR Photo Archive has served as beta tester for the successful prototype version of this turntable rollout system.

The Terminal Classic vessel at the right is from the study collections of the Museo Popol Vuh. The FLAAR Photo Archive did rollouts of all the Tepeu 3 vases in this museum during the 1997 season. That year we spent six months doing rollouts of all the better vases and bowls of the extensive holdings of the Museo Popol Vuh.