Rollout photograph of polychrome Maya vase which pictures scene from the sacred Maya myth of the Popol Vuh. Special digital rollout equipment from Better Light.

This vase was painted sometime in the 7th or 8th centuries A.D., in or near the Chama region of Highland Guatemala. According to the myth of the Popol Vuh of the Quiche Maya, the head of Hun Hunahpu sprouted from a calabash tree.

Calabash is a gourd-like fruit about the size of a small human head. The fruit is unusual in that it sprouts directly from the main section of the tree, somewhat like cacao or papaya. Since calabash grows mainly from the upper branches and is round, and as cacao sprouts most noticeably from up and down the entire lower trunk, most captions to this image suggest cacao fruit is pictured on this particular vase.

Of course the book of the Popol Vuh is a 16th century version of a pan-Maya sacred legend. It is possible that cacao was the tree in the Chama area, which is perhaps 100 kilometers from the Quiche homeland of the Popol Vuh. Photographed and used in this nonprofit educational web site courtesy of the Junta Directiva, Museo Popol Vuh, Universidad Francisco Marroquin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related links
Volunteer opportunities to study Maya iconography directly with ancient Maya art in Guatemalan museums	Other Maya vase rollouts, of the Mat Symbol, pop, from the Museo Popol Vuh
Rollout of Late Classic or possibly Terminal/Post Classic Tiquisate Escuintla vase, Guatemala	Many more polychrome rollouts on another web site from www.digital-photography.org
Links to many more polychrome Maya vase rollouts on a different web site, www.maya-art-books.org	Even more links to Maya art and archaeology from another web site, www.maya-art-books.org
Direct digital rollout by Nicholas Hellmuth with Better Light system.	Rollout of 8th century Maya bat-man from Tikal
Desktop publishing (how best to print your reports, class notes, publish in your own office)