BGuthrie Photos: CA -- San Diego -- Balboa Park -- San Diego Museum of Man

CA -- San Diego -- Balboa Park -- San Diego Museum of Man:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SDMOM_120711_002.JPG: Realm of the Maya: Today there are 7.5 million Maya living in the territory settled by their ancestors: southeast Mexico (Chiapas and the Yucatan Peninsula), Belize, Guatemala, and the west of El Salvador and Honduras. This is an area of around 125, 000 square miles divided into highlands and lowlands. Geologically, the Peten-Yucatan region is a limestone shelf reaching northward into the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. In the south, the terrain is hilly, flattening out toward the north. Major rivers include the Usumacinta draining northwest to the Gulf of Mexico and the Motagua, Belize, and Rio Hondo flowing generally eastward to the Caribbean. A high monsoon forest covers the southern lowlands, home of the Classic Maya. Mahogany trees up to 150 feet high predominate along with sapodillas and breadnut. The climate is hot and humid with a rainy season lasting from May until December. Lakes are rare, especially in the Yucatan Peninsula where the main sources of water are circular sinkholes called cenotes, which are not only major geologic features, but also seen as entrances to the Underworld. The rhythm of tropical life flowed through the experience of the ancient Maya. In the abundance of forest life, in the advent of the rains, and in the deprivation that comes with drought, there is a contrast of life and death, of scarcity and plenty, that teaches life's lessons and the cyclical nature of time with metaphorical force and eloquence. Their major metaphor -- the coming of life-giving rains timed by the summer solstice --contrasts with our spring rebirth times by the equinox. The experience of the ancient villager provided the foundation for monarchy and Maya civilization. The flora and fauna of the forest, the alternation between wet and dry seasons, the rhythms of burning and planting, provided the substance from which kinds shaped the myth, ritual, and pageantry that were celebrated in art and architecture.
2. SDMOM_120711_006.JPG: Who Were the Ancient Maya? The ancient Maya entered the territory known as Mesoamerica 1000BC. The florescence of their civilization occurred during the Classic Period that began about AD 250 and ended with a general collapse of the political and religious centers in most of the Maya region by AD 900. However, a Maya Postclassic way of life continued in northern Belize and in the Yucatan area of Mexico until the Conquest by the Spanish in 1541. The Maya were organized into families that recognized blood ties through males and marriage through females. Authority and inheritance focused on the oldest male child and extended families combined into a lineage that acknowledged a common ancestor. Deification of ancestors soon became a part of their religious belief. The society that emerged had strongly marked classes and hierarchical ranking between families. At the top was the ruler, usually the eldest son of the ranking family. The sublords, or nobles, who shared the genealogy of the ruler held principal political, military, and religious offices. The scribes/artists belonged to the highest class and were often men and women of the royal family. Beneath this class were wealthy farmers, merchants, and artisans. The commoners were the workers, probably holding use rights on smaller parcels of lineage lands. At the bottom were the slaves, often commoners captured in war. The number of Maya kingdoms started with about a dozen in the first century BC and expanded to as many as 60 in the eighth century AD, with an average size of 30,000 to 50,000 subjects. Tikal was one of the largest city-states, estimated to have ruled about half a million people. The cities were separate entities with a complex political geography of rivalries and alliances, much like the city-states of Classical Greece. Extensive trade existed between them as well as numerous military confrontations. Although the ancient Maya were a stone-age people, they developed advanced mathematics, accurate calendars, and astronomical records, skill and proficiency in architecture and arts, and a sophisticated written language. The Maya view of the world was expressed through religion and ritual, which explained the role of humans in nature, the workings of the sacred, and the mysteries of life and death. It encompassed practical matters of politics and economics. For the ancient Maya, experience was manifested in two complementary dimensions: the world of daily life and the domain of gods and ancestors. Periods of Ancient Maya History: Preclassic: 1100 BC - AD 250 Classic: AD 250 - AD 900 Postclassic: AD 900 - AD 1341
3. SDMOM_120711_010.JPG: The Meaning of Maya Architecture: Both houses and temples defined the center of the world -- one for the Maya family, the other for the state. Both were constructed on raised platforms, with low earthen platforms for houses and terraced stucco pyramids for temples. Houses are the oldest known examples of Maya architecture. They provided the basis for all later elaborations in stone and plaster. Minimal interior space was the norm. Corbeled vaults and interior beams reproduced the triangular space of the house. Mayan sacred architecture was a graphic means of expressing their world view. The orientation and location of buildings represented cosmological order: east symbolized birth and life; west, death and the Underworld: north, the celestial realm: south, the earth and the human domain. Temples were sacred mountains with doorways that represented portals (caves) leading to the abode of the gods (the heart of the mountain) and the tree of the world marking the sacred center. The ballgame was played in stone courts that represented both the birth place of the Maize God and an opening to the Underworld. As divine kings built and rebuilt cosmic portals in the same space over centuries, their inner sanctums became ever more sacred. With the passage of time, the gods passed through such thresholds and into the living monarch with increasing facility.
4. SDMOM_120711_019.JPG: What Is A Stela? A stela (plural: stelae) is a tall shaft of carved stone. Among the Maya, a stela might incorporate a lengthy calendar date, a sculptured portrait of the ruler, and hieroglyphic texts recounting historical, mythological, and astronomical events. As a public monument placed most often in an open plaza, a stela commemorated the ending of an important time period in the Maya calendar and reinforced the legitimacy of the ruler's power as a god king. The ceremonial costume worn by the ruler recreates the World Tree, center of the human world -- its trunk and branches are depicted on the apron covering his loins. The ruler is often shown holding a scepter. The Double-headed Serpent Bar symbolizes the sky umbilicus connecting him to the source of supernatural power. The scepter with images of the god K'awil symbolized the king's lineage and royal power.. The scepter with images of the god K'awil symbolizes the king's lineage and royal power. Sometimes, at the top of a headdress, a mask of the Principal Bird Deity is shown perched in the World Tree. Other symbols in the sculpture might reflect mythological and historic messages in the hieroglyphic texts inscribed on the sides of the stela. Dedication in sacred ritual established the stela as a religious and a political symbol. The four stelae represented by casts here in the Museum are part of a group placed in an open plaza at Quirigua, Guatemala. They are the tallest stelae known from the Maya Classic Period. Workmen transported the stela from the quarry: A great deal of manpower would have been necessary to move the bulk and weight of the stela. It was probably done by means of ropes and rollers. Agave and other fibrous plants could have supplied rope materials. Many types of hardwood trees in the Maya area are potential sources of wood rollers. The stela was erected before it was sculpted: A socket lined with masonry was made to fit the stela. Then the stone shaft was pushed into it. An A-shaped frame may have been used to pull the stela upright.
5. SDMOM_120711_031.JPG: Pageantry: Pageantry was a very important part of Maya society and generally took place in the form of elaborate ceremonies involving chants, music, costumes, sacred objects, intoxicants, and ritual dance performed by priests and rulers. Open plazas such as those at Copan and Qurigua and the raised platforms of palaces and temples are thought to have provided the settings for these activities. It was believed that supernatural contact would be made through the performance of pageantry. These religious observances also generated political cohesion and identity. The images from painted ceramics and murals and the sculpture on buildings and monuments portray performances by royalty, priests, and small elite groups. Images also show figures with one heel raised, a symbol for dancing. Performers wore elaborate feature headdresses, back racks, and high-backed sandals, and are shown carrying sacred objects such as scepters and staffs. Large public ceremonies sponsored by the state often went on for several days and nights and included offerings to the gods. The most potent offering was life itself, represented by blood. Kings and nobles performed many rituals themselves, including bloodletting and manipulation of holy objects, while costumed as gods. The figurines below, grave goods found on the island of Jaina in Mexico, illustrate the elaboration of headdress jewelry and costume worn in religious ceremony.
6. SDMOM_120711_034.JPG: The Ballgame: The ballgame played an important role in Maya ritual and warfare. In general, the ballcourt was a rectangular playing field with vertical or sloping walls on the two longer sides. It was perceived as a re-creation of the place where the Maize God was reborn. Balls were made of solid rubber and were struck by the elbows, wrists, or hips of the players. These areas were covered by leather pads. Although the precise rules for this ritual game are not known, in many cases the contest culminated in human sacrifice. Xibalba: The ballgame was ultimately related to Xibalba, the Maya Underworld governed by the Lords of Death. It was here that the Hero Twins demonstrated that resurrection and rebirth came through sacrifice, especially decapitation. Here also is where they outwitted the Lords of Death by tricking them into being sacrificed. Utlimately, the ballgame was the arena in which life and death, victory and defeat, triumph and rebirth, were played out.
7. SDMOM_120711_054.JPG: Is 2012 Really the End? Much of the speculation and frenzy that the world as we know it will end on December 21, 2012, centers around the belief that the ancient Maya calendar -- as well as other ancient calendars -- ends on that date. However, a closer look at the calendar and Maya cultural beliefs reveals a much different story. Professor and Mayanist Dr. Mark Van Stone will help us answer a few simple questions about this interesting, and often confusing, topic. What is the Aztec calendar stone? Often mistaken as a Maya calendar, the famous round stone containing ancient glyphs and an imposing face in the center belonged to the ancient Aztecs (1100 to 1521 CE) of central Mexico. Carved around 1502, this Sun Stone original lay flat in the main plaza of Tenochtitlan and was likely an altar of sacrifice. It recounts the story of the five creations, called the Five Suns, which the Aztecs adapted from the Maya and others. Emblems around the outside represent the four cardinal directions, along with eight sunrays and other celestial iconography. The central face represents the sun god, Tenatiuh. Surrounding him are the arms of a giant x-shaped date, 4-Ollin, the time of the fifth and latest creation. Its four arms contain the dates of the four previous creations, all inherently unstable and ending in destruction of some kind. Each of those creations consisted of multiple 52-year cycles. Because our fifth creation is in the center, it is represented as being in balance, with no specific end date predicted. The next possible end date of a 4-Ollin 52-year cycle will be in 2027, the next one in 2079, and so forth. Did the Maya believe the world would end? Current debate about December 21, 2012 results from projections, assumptions, and misunderstanding about the science and beliefs of several ancient cultures of the Americas. The twenty-first century Western worldview is very different from that of ancient Mesoamericans. We tend to project out own ideas and beliefs on others. There is no Maya, Aztec, or ancient Mesoamerican prophecy to suggest they believed in a sudden or major change of any sort in 2012. Maya inscriptions that predict the future consistently show that the Maya expected life to go on pretty much the same forever. Their recorded dates go far past the year 2012. At the ancient Maya site of Palenque, for instance, they predicted that people of the year 4772 CE (of our current Western calendar) would be celebrating the anniversary of the coronation of their great kind Pakal. That's over two thousand years after 2012! So why is the date December 21, 2012 significant at all? In order to answer this question, you need to better understand the Maya calendar. The Maya recorded time mainly by using three interconnected calendars. Tzolk'in (a sacred 260-day divinatory cycle), Haab (equivalent to our 365-day year), and Long Count (a count of years). Long Count dates are written as five one- and two-digit numbers, conventionally rendered, for example, "as "12.19.15.17.0." Each successive number represents a quantity of smaller calendar units, much the way our Western system of writing "2012" means "2 thousands, 0 hundreds, 1 ten, and 2 ones in years since we began counting." Instead of zero or one, however, the Maya Long Count calendar begins at the date 13.0.0.0.0. Then, like a clock at midnight, the date starts over and begins adding up until it once again reaches 13.0.0.0.0. The current cycle began on the arbitrary date of August 11 of the year 3114 BCE (mentioned on Stela C in this exhibit). Over the last 5,125 years, it has been adding up,a nd will reach 13.0.0.0.0 again on December 21, 2012. Other end dates (such as December 23) have been proposed by modern scholars; however, the December 21 date remains the most accepted translation. What did the Maya actually say about 2012? There is only one surviving mention of the 2012 CE end date: Monument 6 from Tortuguero, a Maya Classic Period city, located in today's southern Tabasco, Mexico. Interestingly, almost all mentions of the year 13.0.0.0.0 in ancient Maya script refer to the beginning date of 3114 BCE. Although vague and incomplete, Monument 6's inscription refers to a time when the god/deity of change and warfare, Bolon Yokte', will return. Mayanist scholar Dr. Stephen Houston writes: "Whatever Monument 6 has to tell us pertains to the dedication of the building associated with the sculpture. It has nothing to do with prophecy or the supposed, dreaded events that await us in AD 2012." What is the lesson from all of this? In general, people have interesting views of the end times, and repeated through history are examples of such predictions: the second coming of Christ in 1000 CE, Y2K in 2000. However, before we jump to any extreme conclusions about December 21, 2012 based on information from ancient cultures, let's remember a few things: * There is no mention of destruction, renewal, or improvement connected with the coming 13.0.0.0.0 Maya calendar date. The Maya had no true end date. * The Mesoamericans, including the ancient Maya, had very different concepts of history and reality than we do today. * The information we have from ancient sites is very fragmentary; only a handful of passages from a lost and much longer story. * As in other cultures, the Maya adjusted historical dates to satisfy religious and political criteria, and dates have been found to contain mistakes as well. * End dates vary by culture, have different meanings, and often contradict each other.
8. SDMOM_120711_081.JPG: Gods of Earth and Sky: The gods of the Maya were present in all aspects of nature and daily life. They represented a unity of opposing aspects: good and evil, celestial and underworld, age and youth, male and female, human and animal, day and night. There were different patron gods for the months and the days of the ritual calendar. There were gods for each of the thirteen levels of heaven and the nine levels of the Underworld. There were gods for the four directions of the cosmos. A single god might assume various aspects -- sometimes as many as four -- and often had an animal alter ego. Rulers and priests interpreted the actions and wishes of the gods through visions and auguries. In religious ceremony, blood, incense, and other sacred substances were often offered to insure rebirth of life and regeneration of the seasons and agriculture. Only a limited amount of detailed information about the Maya gods exists today. The hieroglyphic inscriptions and pictorial ceramic vessels offer knowledge from the Classic Period (AD 250-900). Just four Maya Codices (folding screen books on bark), written between the 13th and the 16th centuries, survived the burning of Maya books by the Spanish after the Conquest. These illustrate ritual and astronomical events involving the gods and priestly divinations. A long epic account of mythology, creation, and the role of the gods, the Popol Vuh, was written by Maya priests in the 16th century and translated from Maya into Spanish in the 17th century.
9. SDMOM_120711_084.JPG: Blood for the Gods: Personal bloodletting was an integral part of royal Maya life. Rulers believed that it brought them closer to their gods as well as to placate and nourish them. Bloodletting summons the gods to witness and participate in the ceremonies that were held at every political or religious event from birth to burial. As a supreme act of devotion, Maya rulers used stingray spines, cords strung with thorns, and razor-sharp obsidian blades to pierce their bodies. They drew the spines, blades and cords through the most sensitive body parts such as the tongue and penis. Large shallow bowls lines with bark paper absorbed the royal blood. The ceremony continued by burning the blood-soaked paper along with rubber and tree resin. The heavenward-snaking smoke represented the Vision Serpent, the medium of communication with the gods and ancestors.
10. SDMOM_120711_100.JPG: Maya Ceramics: Maya potters achieved brilliant chromatic effects in their ceramics by firing them at low temperatures, emphasizing aesthetic effect over durability. Classic artists excelled at shaping and decorating pots. Effigy forms included gods, humans, animals, and vegetables. One technique involved carving decorations into the clay after it had dried to a leather-hard consistency. Polychrome vessels of the Late Classic Period, including deep bowls, cylindrical vessels, and footed plates, are often painted with the same narrative skill as murals and may include glyphic texts around the rims. These texts usually follow a prescribed order (Primary Standard Sequence) in which the vessel is said to be presented an blessed, its shape and artistic style identified, and its purpose for containing a named food or drink is stated. Sometimes, the name of the owner, the artisan, or the location is added to the rim text. Illustrations on the cylindrical pots range from revered deities to court scenes to demonic depictions of the Underworld probably drawn from long-lost screenfold books. Painted pictorial vessels were artistic creations intended for use only by royalty or the elite, either in this life or as grave gods to accompany their owners into the next world. These artistic ceramics were also offered as gifts to strengthen political alliances and royal marriages between kingdoms. They were not the utilitarian ware of the commoners.
11. SDMOM_120711_109.JPG: People of Corn: A central theme in all mythology, religion, and art of the Maya is the role of the Maize God, supreme overseer of other ancient gods in creating the Cosmos and fashioning mankind from maize dough in the Fourth Cycle of time. Corn was the agricultural foundation for Maya culture. Originally it was cultivated with slash-and-burn agricultural methods still practiced today in the Maya area. A fire-hardened pointed stick was used for planting between stones and stumps on the uneven ground surface. The Maya had no beasts of burden and did not use the plow. Other staple agricultural food items were squash, beans, and chili peppers. Concentrations of breadnut trees, which produce small nuts that can be ground into flour, are found around lowland archeological sites today. The ancient Maya cultivated them near habitations as a year-round food source. The turkey and the dog were domesticated sources of meat. Hunting and fishing were major supplements to the Maya diet. As Maya civilization flourished in the Classic Period, population in the city centers swelled beyond the ability of slash-and-burn agriculture to support it. Large-scale intensive agricultural techniques were developed in swamp lands and river margins. The mud of swamps was excavated to create a system of raised fields and canals. In this system, fields were adjacent to steady water supplies and the canals became the home for fish, which were sustained by water lilies and other evaporation-retarding plants. Bottom mud became loaded with nutrients from fish excretions, thus providing agricultural fertilizer. This system produced three crops a year. Maya Merchants of Mesoamerica: Maya territory was strategically located on a system of trade routes that ran throughout Mesoamerica and beyond. Midway between Mexico and Central America in a region rich in valuable resources -- jadeite, obsidian, salt, quetzal feathers -- this location established the Maya as essential middlemen. Among other things, the trade network provided exotic products that enhanced the wealth and status of the elite. Goods were transported by canoe and by bearers traveling on packed-dirt paths or on raised roads. Cacao: Cacoa from Tabasco and the Pacific Coast of Chiapas and Guatemala was another important ritual substance traded by the Maya, the first people to create a chocolate drink from cacao beans. We know that the Classic Maya had a Cacao God. The Codices indicate that it played an important role in rituals of the sacred 260-day cycle. We also know that the Post Classic Maya saw a strong association between cacao and blood and that it was one of the most important articles of merchandise traded by the long-distance Putun Maya merchants. It was, in fact, used as currency -- money that grew on trees. Jade: Jadeite, a hard semi-precious stone, was the most valuable substance known to the Maya. Like quetzal feathers, it was sacred because of its blue-green color, which symbolized the sky and watery underworld abodes of the gods as well as the color of corn leaves, the plant of life. Jadeite accompanies the dead to Xibalba. Objects made from jadeite ranged from the elaborate jewelry of the elite to a simple jade bead placed in the mouth of a commoner. The major source for this stone was the Motagua Valley of Guatemala. Quirigua, the Maya city from which the Museum's monument casts were made, was built beside the Motagua River and controlled this valuable jade trade. Lithics: The Maya used a variety of stone materials to produce tools and status goods. Flint and obsidian were shaped by flaking to make sharp cutting and scraping tools, including obsidian blades for domestic use and ritual bloodletting. Ground stone was used for axes and a variety of grinding implements such as the mano and metate. Elaborately chipped ritual flints such as sacrificial knives, scepters, and staff heads are among the finest examples of lithic technology ever produced.
12. SDMOM_120711_117.JPG: Stela E: The tallest stela in the world of the ancient Maya was erected and dedicated in ritual ceremony by K'ak'Tiliw, the ruler fo Quirigua, on January 24, AD 771, to honor the conclusion of an important time period. Two enormous sculpture portraits of the king dressed in ceremonial costume were elaborately carved on opposite sides of the monument. Two long hieroglyphic texts were skillfully inscribed down each side to recount ancient ceremonies of the gods and the heroic exploits of the ruler. The monument reinforces the legitimacy and political power of K'ak'Tiliw in his 46th year of reign. In both portraits on the north and south sides of the stela the ruler is dressed in ceremonial costume, wearing a tall feather headdress adorned with jade masks of deities and the jade jewelry of kinds. In his right hand he holds a scepter with an image of K'awil, the god of royal power and lineage. His total costume is a recreation of the World Tree, center of the Maya world, reaching from the heavens at the top of the headdress to the Underworld of the stone platform upon which he stands. His loincloth displays specific symbols of the World Tree. On the north side he appears holding a Venus shield of warfare in his left hand. On the south side he stands on a base showing Principal Bird Deity emerging from the jaws of the Mountain Monster. The top of his feather headdress is adorned with a mask of the god of sacrificial death, suggesting he is dressed here in the guise of a god. The two sculptural portraits together emphasize his role as a divine rule or god king.
13. SDMOM_120711_127.JPG: The Quirigua Casts: The plaster casts of eight Maya monuments on display in the Museum were made on-site at Quirigua, Guatemala, in 1914 for exhibit at the Panama-California Exposition of 1915. The casts were shipped in sections and reassembled here in the California Building, where they have remained a central focus of the Museum ever since. The original casting was under the supervision of Dr. Edgar Lee Hewett, the first director of the Museum of Man. His student, Sylvanus G. Morley, later a respected Mayanist, was in charge of operations. The casting method involved a three-step process known as glue-mold. First, a thin later of mud was spread over the monument and surrounded by plaster forms. Section-by-section, the mud was carefully removed and a gelatinous molten glue poured into the empty space. Finally, the negative glue mold was filled with liquid plaster reinforced with hemp. All the plaster casts on exhibit are the originals made in 1914 except Stela D -- a fiberglass mold was made to preserve an exact copy of this cast for conservation reasons. A new cast from that mold was put on display in 2002.
14. SDMOM_120711_131.JPG: The Tale of Two Ancient Cities: At the southwestern corner of the ancient Maya region lie the sites of Quirigua, Guatemala, and Copan, Honduras, forty miles apart across rugged hills and deep valleys. For four hundred years, from the 5th to the 9th century AD, their destinies were bound together by claims of their rulers to be members of the royal dynasty founded at Copan by Yax'K'uk'Mo'. The larger site of Copan, located in a wide highland valley, and the small site of Quirigua on the banks of the Motagua River, undoubtedly were ruled by related members of the same elite family. Quirigua, an administrative center located at the crossroad of Maya trade routes, was established by Copan in AD 426, and thereafter controlled the lucrative trade in jadeite and obsidian. Situated on a river with access to the interior of the Maya lowlands and near Lake Isabal, which connects with the Rio Dulce leading to the Caribbean seacoast trade, Quirigua remained a valuable asset in the supremacy of Copan for three centuries. Early hieroglyphic texts state that all rules of Quirigua were installed "under the auspices" of a named Copan ruler until a dramatic event in the 8th century changed the future of Quirigua. In AD 725, K'ak'Tiliw became the god king of Quirigua, installed, according to the hieroglyphic text on Stela E and other texts, "under the auspices" of the 13th ruler at Copan, Waxaklahun-Ubah-K'awil. This elder ruler in his 43rd year of reign had been responsible for new buildings with elaborate sculpture, a large ballcourt, and an impressive plaza with many stelae containing his sculpture portrait at Copan. But in AD 738, thirteen years after his accession at Quirigua, K'ak'Tiliw captured and beheaded Waxaklahun Ubah K'awil in sacrificial ceremony. Circumstances leading to this revolt within the elite ruling family are not known, but the rivalries and alliances among large city-states also affected the smaller sites. A lord from the city of Calakmul may have backed Quirigua's forthcoming challenge for control of this valuable trade route. For some reason, Copan did not retaliate against the much smaller site of Quirigua. Following this audacious act, K'ak'Tiliw maintained independence from Copan for the next 47 years. He launched an ambitious building and sculpture program of his own. Six casts of his public monuments are seen here in the Maya Gallery. In a large plaza at Quirigua called the "Black Water Place" or "pace of the decapitation of Waxaklahun Ubah K'awil," he placed the tallest stelae of the Maya Classic Period. The skill and artistry of the sculptors in creating ornate stelae and zoomorphs commissioned by K'ak'Tiliw established the ruler as a great patron of Maya art. Following the death of K'ak'Tiliw in AD 785, the inscriptions of Zoomorph P record the re-establishment of ties with Copan. A brief 20 years later, the last free-standing monument, Stela K, was erected at Quirigua in AD 805, reflecting the final collapse of political and religious centers throughout the region.
15. SDMOM_120711_141.JPG: Ritual Warfare: Raiding for captives between rival kingdoms was a long-standing practice among the Maya. The royal hunt for sacrificial victims to offer to the gods and the personal testing of one's fate were part of the accepted social order. Captive sacrifice was something that was expected of the nobility as part of their ritual duties. The blood sacrifice of noble captives nourished the gods, just as royal bloodletting did. War, conquest, and sacrifice were associated with the ballcourt. It was seen as the portal into the Underworld where the sacred contests of the Hero Twins could be replicated and sacrificed messengers sent to the realm of the gods and ancestors. Initially, warfare was highly ritualized, associated with the cycles of Venus and the taking of captives without conquering territory. However, changes in attitudes towards war emerged following the introduction of the Mexican war and rain god Tlaloc from Teotihuacan in the Early Classic Period. Sacking of defeated cities occurred in the Late Classic Period when population growth brought intense competition for economic resources. In some areas such as the Petexbatun, this led to siege warfare which disrupted trade routes, upset population distribution, destroyed crops, and killed large numbers of Maya farmer-warriors.
16. SDMOM_120711_149.JPG: Stela K: Stela K, July 24 AD 805, is the last dated free-standing monument erected at Quirigua. It reflects the decline and final end of the political and economic structure of the Classic Maya cities. In his sculpture portrait on the east side of the stela, the ruler K'ak'Jolow is dressed in ceremonial costume wearing a large feather headdress decorated with the mask of an important deity. He holds a double-headed serpent bar from whose jaws emerge small K'awil god, symbols of supreme royal power and lineage. On the west side (not visible in the Museum), the ruler, K'ak Jolow is shown dressed in the costume of a royal warrior. He holds a war shield in his left hand and a K'awil scepter, the image of the patron god of royal power and lineage, in his right hand. His feather headdress is adorned with the masks of two deities. He wears the jewelry of kings: jade earflares with sun symbol, a trilobe jade pectoral, and ornate decoration at the hells of his sandals.
17. SDMOM_120711_158.JPG: Zoomorph B (south side): This giant boulder carved in the shape of a supernatural Cosmic Monster floats in the primordial sea of the Underworld that surrounds and lies beneath the Earth. The masterful carving in deep bas-relief contains intricate symbols indicating that the crocodilian monster also represents the third stone of Creation, the Water Throne Stone. It is a symbolic throne for the ruler K'ak'Tiliw, who erected and dedicated the monument on December 2, AD 780. A human head with small beard, typical of the ruler K'ak'Tiliw, is seen emerging from the jaws of the monster. He is dressed in ceremonial costume with a feather headdress and the jade jewelry worn by royalty. The rulers' source of power comes from within the earth, the mythological Mountain of Creation where the gods derive their strength. In the night sky, the Maya saw the Cosmic Monster in the Milky Way when it lies in an east-west orientation. Modern astronomers confirm that the Milky Way was positioned overhead in this direction at the time of the dedication.
18. SDMOM_120711_169.JPG: Stela C (south side): The sculpture portrait of K'ak'Tiliw, the powerful 8th century ruler of Quirigua, shows him dressed in the ceremonial costume of warfare. The small profile heads at the top of his feather headdress are marks of the Lightning God, Chaak, often associated with warfare. At the sides of the headdress are small triangular banners of warfare. The ruler wears jade earflares and the jade ornaments of kinds. He holds a jaguar throne scepter symbolizing the first of the three throne stones of Creation, mentioned in the hieroglyphic text on the east side of the stela. His headdress includes the triple-knot symbols for the rites of bloodletting.
19. SDMOM_120711_176.JPG: Stela D: Quirigua Monument 4: North and West Sides: Stela D is an historic marker from the reign of the 8th century ruler of Quirigua, K'ak'Tiliw. Erected and dedicated by the ruler on February 19, AD 766 to honor the ending of an important time period in the calendar, the text also refers to the celebration of his 40th anniversary in reign that took place two years before in AD 764. During his sixty-year reign, K'ak'Tiliw successfully established independence for Quirigua from the larger site of Copan and launched an ambitious building and sculpture program that earned his place as a major patron of the arts. The ruler is shown wearing a tall feather headdress, jade earflares and jade necklace. His elaborate ceremonial costume represents the three layers of the Maya universe. He stands on a base with a large mask of the Venus God of the Underworld. At the top of his feather headdress is a mask of the moon shown as a skull, indicating its dark phase at the time of the dedication. In his left hand he holds a scepter with the image of K'awil, patron god of royal authority and lineage. His loincloth, carries symbols of the World Tree.
20. SDMOM_120711_188.JPG: Zoomorph P: Quirigua Monument 16: West Side: The bas-relief sculpture of this large boulder, called a zoomorph, contains intricately carved symbols placed over the entire body of a crocodilian monster. This Cosmic Monster of mythology floats in the primordial sea of the Underworld. The monument was erected and dedicated by the Maya ruler Kuch X'ib' on September 15, AD 795 to honor the ending of a five-year time period in the Maya calendar. It is also intended to represent the third stone of the Cosmic Hearth, the Water Throne Stone, as well as a symbolic throne for the ruler. This side of the monument clearly illustrates the versatility and skill of the sculptors at Quirigua in the late Maya Classic Period at the end of the 8th century, Covering the entire side of the monster's body in rich and detailed imagery symbols for the planets, constellations, and mythological animals pouring water on the Water Throne Stone. Twisted cords of heaven frame symbols of astronomy.
21. SDMOM_120711_195.JPG: Stela D (south and east sides): Stela D was erected and dedicated by the Quirigua rule K'ak'Tiliw on February 19, AD 766 to commemorate the ending of an important time period in the calendar and the creation of a new time period. The sculpture portrait of the ruler on the south side shows him dressed in elaborate ceremonial costume with a tall feather headdress, jade ear flares and jade necklace. He holds the royal shield of warfare. The imagery on the shield, although somewhat eroded, appears to be that of the Skeletal War Serpent. The total figure of the rule represents the three levels of the universe. At the top of the feather headdress is an image of Principal Bird Deity in the heavens. The stone base upon which he stands contains an upside-down mask of the Maize God who resides with the gods in the Underworld. The body of the ruler, clad in a loincloth with imagery of the World Tree, represents the earthly realm.
22. SDMOM_120711_198.JPG: Zoomorph P (north side): Dedicated on September 15, AD 795, this intricately carved boulder is an extraordinary example of the beauty and skill found in the bas-relief sculpture of the late Maya Classic Period. It is called a "zoomorph" because it is shaped as a mythical animal, the Cosmic Monster, a waterbeast that swims in the primordial sea of the Underworld.. The numerous symbols of aquatic imagery indicate that it also represents the thirds stone of the Creation, the Water Throne Stone. Scrolls from the mouth of the crocodilian monster surround small images of the Lightning God, Chaak. Several mythological animals pour water over the throne. Waterlily leaves with flowers adorn the snout of the monster. The ruler Kuch Xib' dedicated the zoomorph to commemorate the ending of an important time period in the Maya calendar. He is seated in the maw of the monster dressed in ceremonial costume holding a serpent scepter with the image of K'awil, the god of royal authority. At the top of his feather headdress is an image of the patron god of the Maya mouth Pax. He wears the jade jewelry and earflares of royalty. Kuch Xib' is seated at an opening into the center of the sacred Mountain of Creation from where the gods and rulers derive their power. Hieroglyphic Inscription: Surrounding the image of the Quirigua ruler are 14 cartouches (glyphs in oval frames) which mention the establishment of a ruling dynasty at the Maya site of Copan in AD 425. Members of this elite dynasty founded by Yax K'uk'Mo', rules both Copan and the nearby smaller site of Quirigua for nearly 400 years during times of political alliance and independence. The hieroglyphic text flows from one cartouche to the next around the eyes and mouth of the monster from left to right and lists the names of early rulers at Quirigua and those deified in mythology. It concludes with reference to recent history by mentioning K'ak'Tiliw, the powerful king who preceded Kuch Xib'.
23. SDMOM_120711_214.JPG: Zoomorph B (south side): This giant boulder carved in the shape of a supernatural Cosmic Monster floats in the primordial sea of the Underworld that surrounds and lies beneath the Earth. The masterful carving in deep bas-relief contains intricate symbols indicating that the crocodilian monster also represents the third stone of Creation, the Water Throne Stone. It is a symbolic throne for the ruler K'ak'Tiliw, who erected and dedicated the monument on December 2, AD 780. A human head with small beard, typical of the ruler K'ak'Tiliw, is seen emerging from the jaws of the monster. He is dressed in ceremonial costume with a feather headdress and the jade jewelry worn by royalty. The rulers' source of power comes from within the earth, the mythological Mountain of Creation where the gods derive their strength. In the night sky, the Maya saw the Cosmic Monster in the Milky Way when it lies in an east-west orientation. Modern astronomers confirm that the Milky Way was positioned overhead in this direction at the time of the dedication.
24. SDMOM_120711_220.JPG: Stela C (east and north sides): The elaborate sculpture that appears on many monuments in the Plaza designed by the Great 8th century ruler K'ak'Tiliw contains portraits of him in ceremonial dress. An exception if the profile view of the patron god of the month Pax in which the stela was dedicated, depicted here on the north side of Stela C. The god is shown with toe down and heel up, dancing in sacred ceremony and holding in his hands the twisted cords of heaven, which connect mankind to the gods. These cords also represent the pathway in the sky through which the sun, moon, and planets travel. A canopy of heaven extends over his head. He stands on a stone platform with an inscription of a sacred date that mentions the Hero Twins of mythology, sons of the Maize God. The imagery that surrounds the god refers to the Maya belief in sacrifice, rebirth, and the regeneration of life. The Creation Myth (east side): When the ruler K'ak'Tiliw dedicated this stela in ritual ceremony on December 29, AD 775, he added a unique contribution to his ambitious building program. The hieroglyphic text on the east side of the stela contains the most extensive account of the Creation myth of the universe written during the Maya Classic Period. The hieroglyphic text begins with the date for the Creation of this fourth cycle of time on August 13, 3114 BC using the Maya units for past calendar time expressed in five glyph blocks. It is followed by the month and day name for this date, 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk'u. On that day, Six Sky Lord commanded ancient gods to set up three stones to create the Cosmic Hearth, seen by the Maya as a triangle of stars in the constellation of Orion. The first was called the Jaguar Throne Stone, the second, the Serpent Throne Stone; and the third, the Water Throne Stone. Then Six Sky Lord raised up the lying-down sky to create the universe.
25. SDMOM_120711_238.JPG: Lintel 3: Towering above the trees of the rain forest are the famous pyramids of Tikal. The tallest is Temple IV, rising 215 feet above the plaza, although the opposing Temples I and II in the Great Plaza are widely recognized symbols of Mayan architecture. The panel is a reproduction of an intricately carved wooden lintel placed above an interior doorway in Temple IV, a magnificent example of Maya Classic Period artistic skill. The wood is from the Zapote (or Sapodilla) tree, which is dense and heavy and resistant to decay. The sap is collected from chicle used in chewing gum and latex. The original wood lintel is now in the Museum fur Volkerkunde, Basel, Switzerland. The scene depicts the richly costumed ruler, Yik'in Kan K'awil, seated beneath a gigantic, double-headed feathered serpent, the Sky-Snake. The mouth of the snake head on the left disgorges an image of God K'awil, patron of royal power and lineage. The ruler holds a spear and a shield with the sign for death. In his feathered headdress appears a jade mosaic skull. Behind his ear is a large sign for the star Venus, an important symbol of warfare. Topping the headdress is a mask of Itzam Ye, Celestial Bird Deity of magic. The hieroglyphic text on the left and right sides mentions the dedication of Temple IV in AD 741 and the important military victory by Tikal over an ally of El Peru in AD 743. The ruler, Yik'in Kan K'awil, reinforces his legitimacy by mentioning that he is the son of the great ruler Hasaw Kan K'awil and Lady 12 Macaw. In the victorious battle, the palanquin or ceremonial litter of the enemy was captured. Effigies of a ruler's patron gods were carried on palanquins into battle to offer supreme power and protection. In this scene, Yik'in Kan K'awil is shown seated upon the recently captured palanquin of El Peru after destroying the images of their patron gods. Yik'in Kan K'awil not only succeeded in his military campaigns against enemies allied with the superpower Calakmul, long the main rival of Tikal, but also completed a most ambitious building program during his reign in 8th century Tikal, Temple IV was a crowning achievement.
26. SDMOM_120711_245.JPG: Altar L: The overall design of this unique rhyolite disc is the Maya day sign for Ajaw, contained in a large cartouche or frame. The Maya word for Lord is also Ajaw. The original use of the disc is not known since it was moved from its original location and later used as an altar table. It may have been a ball court marker or the marker for a new building at Quirigua. The style appears to be that of local artisans, unlike the more skilled carvings of Copan, but similar to the Giant Ajaws found at Caracol. Altar L was dedicated on June 2, AD 653, by the Lord of Quirigua, seen seated cross-legged in the center of the disc, wearing jade ornaments and a headdress adorned with the symbol for Venus. A pair of glyphs beneath him states that he danced in ceremonial ritual, and the glyphs to the right of the figure give his name as K'awil Yo'at, Divine Lord of Quirigua.
27. SDMOM_120711_254.JPG: Altar M: With the muzzle of a jaguar, the teeth and hooded eyes of a reptile, and the spotted ear of a deer, this supernatural animal head represents the hieroglyphic name for a sacred location or a ritual structure. At the back of the beast's head is a short hieroglyphic text with the date with the powerful rule of Quirigua, K'ak'Tiliw, set up the monument, September 154, AD 734. It is the earliest known example of the extensive sculpture program that the king would sponsor during his lengthy reign. Several titles accompany the name of the ruler, among them that of a five-year ballplayer, although its significance to royal ritual is not made clear. The original location of the monument is unknown since it had been moved before the time of its first discovery.
28. SDMOM_120711_264.JPG: Gigantopithecus A Giant Among Primates: This species is the largest known primate. It lived between 9 million and 400,000 years ago in what is now India, Pakistan, China, and Vietnam. In China, its remains have been found along with those of Homo erectus. Scientists have proposed that Homo erectus was partly responsible for this giant primate's extinction -- possibly by hunting it. Sized from Teeth and Jaws: Teeth and lower jaws are all that have been found of Gigantopithecus, but they reveal much about this ape. The wear pattern on the teeth suggests it ate bamboo and fruit. Judging from the size of its jaws, a male Gigantopithecus was about 10 feet (3 m) tall and 1,200 pounds (544 kg) -- nearly twice the size of a modern male gorilla. This primary may have been related to orangutans.
29. SDMOM_120711_319.JPG: What Is A Mummy? Basically, it's any preserved dead body -- human, animal, or insect. Mummies had been found all over the world. Some were preserved intentionally, as in Egypt, which others happened accidentally because of the environment. Mummies are mini-time capsules. They can tell us about the biology and culture of past people. Through the study of mummies we can learn about diet, health, disease and death as well as religion, art, and technology. The word "mummy" derives from an old Persian word mummia, which referred to a rare asphalt or bitumen, used in Roman times to heal fractures and to cure toothaches, dysentery, and gout. In the Middle Ages, travelers to Egypt thought the dark resin used on mummies was the same substance, thus the word mummia became linked with the preserved body.
30. SDMOM_120711_333.JPG: A Womb with a View: Who was the Lemon Grove Mummy? Direct observation indicated that the mummy was female and possibly pregnant. CAT scans of the mummy confirmed that she was 7-8 months pregnant at the time of her death. Skull bones and ribs of the fetus can be seen. Her hip and pelvic bones were dislocated -- perhaps from a fall or simply by the weight of time. To "see inside" the mummy without harming her, 38 CAT scans were taken by scientists. ... Other Research Methods and Tools: Scientists who examined the Lemon Grove Mummy employed many scientific methods and tools to learn about her and her culture: * Carbon-14 dating: She lived around AD 1040-1260. * Radiographs (X-rays): She was about 5 feet 2 inches tall. * Blood typing of tissue: Her blood type was "O", the most common type in Mexican populations. * Hair follicle analysis: She probably suffered from acute protein-calorie malnutrition. * Scanning electron microscope: Fibers used in her string skirt are hemp; her anklets are cotton. Her hair ornament is made of nollina, a yucca-like plant.
31. SDMOM_120711_337.JPG: Tomb With A View: Who: Ancient Peruvians When: AD 1,000 - 1,500 Where: Central Andes, South America What: Seated upright in wakeful posture, bodies of the dead were wrapped with cotton cloth and placed in burial houses or special caves. The dry, cold air of the highlands rapidly mummified the bodies. Between one and 100 corpses were placed in each mortuary locale, and the entryway sealed. Why: Religious beliefs considered the dead as messengers between the world of the living and the world of the spirits. The living cared for the dead and, in return, the dead brought well-being and good crops to the living.
32. SDMOM_120711_353.JPG: Peruvian Mummies: The five mummies in this case are from a burial cave near Lupo in the Peruvian Andes. They are preserved naturally by the dry environment and date to the early historic period, about 550 years ago. The largest mummy, a young female, was about 18 years old when she died. We can estimate her age by the unfused growth plate in her upper arm bone. The four children range in age from infancy to 5 years. The mummies were brought to San Diego in 1915 for the Panama-California Exposition by Dr. Ales Hrdlicka of the Smithsonian Institution. The mummied had been discarded by vandals who had ransacked the cave for valuables. The artifacts are from the nearby area and include a sewing basket complete with thread, bobbins, and spindles. The pottery and textiles are typical of Inca culture.
33. SDMOM_120711_360.JPG: The Headless Mummy: This tomb holds the mummified body of an Egyptian male from the Ptolemaic Period (332 to 30 BC), resting in the lower half of a wooden coffin. During the mummification process, the linen bandages were secured with a gummy resin that has since become hard and black. Radiographs show that the arms were placed over the body and that there are broken ribs and fractured long bones. These breaks may be due to rough handling after mummification. Sometime in the past, vandals stole the mummy's head and toes. The tomb includes objects that would have been used by the deceased in the afterlife. There are small glazed figures, called ushabtis, which were placed in the tomb to work for the deceased. Ideally, there would be 365 of them, one for every day of the year. Jars, a plate, and spindles are included for use in the afterlife. The replica of a boat model shows the mummy being transported to the sacred cemetery at Abydos on the west side of the Nile River. Boat models were common in Egyptian tombs. Thirty-five boats of various types and sized [sic] were found in King Tutankhamon's tomb, all pointing to the west. Mummy on loan from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
34. SDMOM_120711_364.JPG: Mummy Science: Dead people do tell tales and modern science is helping to unlock their secrets. Using invasive procedures (unwrapping, cutting, probing, taking samples) and non-invasive procedures (CAT scans, X-rays, observation of physical features, taking measurements), we learn about: Diseases of the past, lifespan, eating habits, work stresses, physical appearances, DNA, surgical treatments, religious beliefs, knowledge of the environment, wealth, and social status.
35. SDMOM_120711_391.JPG: Headhunting cultures existed in various parts of the world, but only one group practices the art of shrinking heads. The Shuar, a subgroup of the Juivaroan Indians from the tropical rain forests of Ecuador and Peru, made battle trophies from the heads of their slain enemies. Called tsanstas, these shrunken heads were believed to hold magical powers that could increase a warrior's own power, known as arutam. By taking an enemy's head as a trophy, the Shuar warrior believed he assumed the victim's power and exacted blood-revenge for his ancestors. The headless person's soul was considered a threat to the victor and his community until the head was shrunk, which destroyed the victim's soul in the afterlife. Shrinking a victim's head involved several steps. First, the back of the head was cut and the skull discarded. Next, the skin was turned inside out and cleaned of soft tissue. Then the head was simmered in a large pot of water. The skin was turned outside in and fastened shut, as were the eyes and lips. The head was then filled with hot pebbles and sand and smoked over a fire, which completed the shrinking and drying. Finally, the face was polished and blackened with charcoal. Shuar warriors often wore these victim's head on a cord around their necks as symbols of honor during tsansta feasts. The Shuar also shrank the heads of tree sloths, which were believed to posses an avenging spirit. If a Shuar warrior killed a relative in another village, he was morally required to substitute a tree sloth's head for the human head. Sloth heads also were used in boys' initiation ceremonies to represent a boy's first tsantsa. The practice of tsansta was banned by Ecuador and Peru in the last century. Taxidermists and other counterfeiters, however, continued using the heads of deceased humans and monkeys to make tsanstas for the tourist trade.
36. SDMOM_120711_421.JPG: Earliest Intentional Mummies: Who: The Chinchorro people. When: 5,000 - 2,000 BC. Where: The south coast of Peru and the north coast of Chile, South America. What: The Chinchorro laid out their dead full length, removed the internal organs and muscles, and packed the bodies with clay and fibers. They reinforced the joins with sticks and glass cords, then modeled facial and body features with clay, finally painting the body black and decorating it. In their last 500 years of mummy making, the Chinchorro modified their techniques by removing the brain and painting the body red. Why: Archeologist Bernardo Arriaza believes that their mortuary practices developed out of a profound sense of grief coupled with abundant resources to support their mummification practices.
37. SDMOM_120711_425.JPG: Bogged Down. Who: Ancient Northwestern Europeans When: Ice Age Where: Peat bogs What: Bog bodies are natural mummies; people who were placed in the sponge-like mossy muck of acidic bogs. The bog chemistry stops bacterial growth and tans the skin, hair, and nails of the body, while sometimes dissolving the bones. The absence of oxygen in the bog retards decomposition of the soft tissues. Dried peat has long been used as a source of fuel. The bog cutters who found the first bog bodies thought they were recent murder victims because they were so well preserved. Why: Bog mummies are victims of ritual sacrifice or punishment. Many were strangled, stabbed, decapitated, or otherwise maimed.
38. SDMOM_120711_433.JPG: Child's Coffin Ptolemaic Period, ca 305-30 BC This very rare wooden anthropoid (human-shaped) coffin for a child is one of only seven known to exist in museum collections worldwide. Unless they were from a wealthy family, children did not receive this type of elaborate coffin but instead would be bundled in linen wrappings or palm-frond mats and placed in a deep depression in the sand, placed in a communal tomb, or simply floated down the Nile River in a carved box. Many adults would save money their whole lifetime to have a finely crafted coffin such as this.
39. SDMOM_120711_443.JPG: Making a Mummy: The word "mummy" comes from mumlya, an Arabic word for bitumen, a tar-like substance not actually used in the embalming process. Mummification consisted of a complicated series of processes and rituals that lasted seventy days. First, the body was washed and the internal organs were removed since these decayed more quickly. The brain was extracted by means of a metal hook inserted through the nostrils and apparently discarded. An incision was made in the abdomen through which the lungs, stomach, liver, and intestines were removed and these were embalmed separately. The body was then covered with natron, a natural salt that absorbed all remaining moisture from the tissues. After drying, the skin was coated with resins and the body cavity packed to return it, as much as possible, to its former appearance. Finally, the body was wrapped in yards of linen for protection. During the wrapping process, priests placed amulets between the layers of linen and recited magical spells for the protection of the mummy. The most important amulet was a large scarab to protect the heart, which was not removed during the embalming process. The internal organs, each of which was protected by its own god, were put into special jars and placed with the mummy in the tomb.
40. SDMOM_120711_450.JPG: Death on the Nile: Why a Mummy? The earliest Egyptians buried their dead ni the hot desert sand, which dried out the body, producing a "natural" mummy. As tombs came into use, the dry sand no longer came in contact with the body, so it would begin to decay. With the development of complicated religious beliefs, the Egyptians formed their concepts of life after death. They believed that when a person was born, a double called the ka ("vital spirit") was also born and had identical wants and needs. When a person died, the ba ("soul") was released. Depicted as a human-headed bird, the ba needed to return to the body at night. Through magical spells, the mummy was transformed into an akh, an entity that enabled the dead person to exist in the underworld. To supply the needs of these three spirits, it was essential that a person's body and name be preserved, that a tomb be properly outfitted, and that the necessary mortuary rites be performed.
41. SDMOM_120711_526.JPG: Known as the "Heretic Pharaoh," Akhenaten broke with Egypt's religious traditions, which called for the worship of many gods. He declared the solar deity Aten to be the one true god. Aten was depicted as the disk of the sun with radiating rays ending in human hands holding the ankh, symbol of life. In order to provide Aten with a home where other gods had not been worshiped, Akhenaten built a new capital city which he named Akhenaten, "Horizon of the Aten." It was here that he lived with his queen, Nefertiti, and their six daughters. After Akhenaten's death, the city was abandoned during the reign of his son-in-law, Tutankhamen, who reverted to the old religious beliefs. Later rulers, in an attempt to erase all memory of the heresy, demolished Akhenaten's city and reused its stone blocks for other sanctuaries.
42. SDMOM_120711_530.JPG: The Neanderthal Man: In 1856, workmen quarrying limestone from caves in the Neander Valley of Germany discovered a fossilized skeleton. They saved the long, low skull cap and the robust and curved limb bones. The quarry owner thought it was a cave bear skeleton and gave it to a local high school teacher. Recognizing its importance, the teacher turned it over to an anatomist from Bonn University. Neanderthals were in existence from approximately 200,000 years ago until approximately 30,000 years ago. The skeleton found in the limestone quarry in 1856 dates from 40,000 years ago. However, at the time of the discovery, no ancient human skeletons had been recognized; therefore, scientists had only modern skeletons for comparison. No one believed that there was such a think as "fossil humans," so they called the skeleton pathological and abnormal. One scientists suggested that the bowing of the leg bones was a result of horseback riding and that the individual had been a Cossack horseman who had crawled into the cave to die. Another said that the heavy brow ridges were evidence of prolonged frowning. By the turn of the century, similar fossils were found in France, Belgium, Italy, and Croatia, strengthening the claim for ancient humans.
43. SDMOM_120711_535.JPG: "Lucy" Australopithecus afarensis A Spectacular Find: When Lucy's skeleton was found in 1974, it was the most complete and best-preserved early hominid ever found. Scientists knew nothing about this species before Lucy. With a partial skeleton -- nearly 40% complete -- they could tell a lot about her and how her species lived. Many bones tell a more complete story: From Lucy's arm and finger bones, scientists could tell that she spent time in the trees. The length of her arms and legs were more like those of chimps. However, her foot was not chimp-like and her spine, pelvis, knee, and foot bones showed that she walked upright on two legs, more like today's humans. She was a mosaic of ape and human traits. Lucy's name Her nickname came from the Beatles' song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which was playing at the researchers' camp when they returned with the fossil. Lucy's Ethiopian name is Dinquinesh, which means "wonderful thing." "Lucy" Reconstruction Artist: William Munns Lucy was a full-grown adult about 3.5 feet (1 m) tall and weighed about 60 pounds (27 kg). Her small size indicated that she was female (males were larger). She spent some time in trees, but on the ground she walked on two legs.
44. SDMOM_120711_544.JPG: "Handy Man" Reconstruction Artist: William Munns The word "habilis" means handy or skillful, and so Homo habilis means "handy man." This species was so named because stone tools have been found near Homo habilis fossils, making this the earliest known stone tool maker. Homo habilis lived in what is now East Africa over 2 million years ago, at the same time as other hominid species.
45. SDMOM_120711_550.JPG: Sculptural replica of fossil skull Homo rudolfensis Found in Koobi Fora, East Turkana, Kenya, in Africa, in 1972 by Richard Leakey's team Age: 1.8 million years Replica by Bone Clones, Inc. Sculptural replica of fossil skull Homo habilis Found in Koobi Fora, East Turkana, Kenya, in Africa, in 1973 by Richard Leakey's team Age: 1.9 million years Replica by Bone Clones, Inc.
46. SDMOM_120711_555.JPG: Homo sapiens Today Homo ergaster 1.8 to 1.5 million years ago
47. SDMOM_120711_559.JPG: The Cro-Magnon Man: (Homo sapiens) One of the most famous discoveries of fossil humans was made at the Cro-Magnon Rockshelter, at Les Eyzies in the Dordogne region of France. The name Cro-Magnon has two possible origins. Cro or croze means "cave" or "rockshelter" in the local dialect. "Magnon" may have come from the name of a hermit named Magnou who once lived there. An alternative origin may be the Latin word magnum meaning "big". In 1868, railroad workers found five skeletons buried at the back of the rockshelter. One of the skeletons, called the Old Man of Cro-Magnon, was in his late forties, and suffered a severe fungal infection in his bones. Stone tools, seashells, carved antlers, ivory pendants, and bones of mammoths, lions, and reindeer were in the same layer as the bones. Shells and animal teeth had perforations for stringing. The skeletons were anatomically modern, but the geological layers and the animal bones gave evidence of great age (approximately 25,000 years old). A controversy arose because many scientists and the public were not ready for the concept of humans living at the same time as prehistoric animals.
48. SDMOM_120711_565.JPG: The Man of Galley Hill (Homo sapiens) In 1888, portions of a skull and several other bones were found in the Ice Age gravels of Galley Hill, near Kent, England. The gravels, located about 100 feet above the Thames River, contained flint spear points. No geologists were present when the bones were found, thus the exact location was never established. At that time, scientists believed the bones to be as old as 200,000 years, even though they were anatomically modern (Homo sapiens). The skeleton's age has not stood the test of time and is now considered to be of recent origin. A radiocarbon test gave the age as 3,310 + 150 years before the present.
49. SDMOM_120711_571.JPG: The Man of Combe Capelle -- Homo aurignacensis (Homo sapiens) The Combe Capelle skeleton was found in 1909 in the Dordogne region of France. The burial was ornamented with seashells and lay beneath layers of sediment which held flints, stone tools, and bone needles. At first it was named Homo aurignacensis, but this was later changed. The burial was found by Otto Hauser, a wealthy German-Swiss amateur archeologist who sold his discovereies to museums and private collectors. He sold the Combe Capelle skeleton to the Ethnological Museum in Berlin for 125,000 gold francs. The French archeologists were furious when their fossils were taken to Germany, but they were delighted when the Swiss bank holding Hauser's money "went broke." Accounts tell that once a year Hauser visited the museum and placed flowers on the cases holding the two skeletons. During World War II, the Ethnological Museum was looted and the skeletons disappeared. The 35,000-30,000 year old skull of Combe Capelle is reported to be in the German Academy of Science, Berlin, but the rest of the skeleton is lost.
50. SDMOM_120711_578.JPG: 1915 Reconstructions of Ancient Humans: Ten sculptured reconstructions of human evolution, as known in 1915, were displayed at the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego. They were modeled by the Belgian sculptor Louis Mascre, under the direction of Professor A. Rutot of the Natural History Museum of Brussels. The busts were sculpted in Belgium and then shipped to America during the opening days of World War I. This may be the only complete set in existence, as some of the original molds were destroyed during the war. Perceptions of Early Hominids: In 1915, the public perceived early humans as fantasy figures or "cave men" who walked with a stopped and shuffling fate. Only a few human fossils had been discovered, and Mascre's reconstruction of their heads and faces was based on fragmentary skeletons. For example, he worked from a skull cap to reconstruct Java Man, and Heidelberg Man was based on a lower jaw. The weapons, tools, and ornaments seen with the busts are reproductions of those found with the bones or are appropriate for the cultural period. At the time, the customary view of human evolution was a linear one, where hominids were thought to have evolved in a single-line progression. Researchers believed that only one species of ancient humans lived at a time. Today, we recognize that human evolution was, and is, much more complex. Several species existed at the same time; some became extinct, and others flourishing for thousands of years. We now have nearly a century of scientific discoveries upon which to base our view of early humans.
51. SDMOM_120711_582.JPG: The 1915 Panama-California Exposition: In 1909, San Diego announced it would celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal in 1915 with a world's fair. The county's population was only 61,000, but with the first deep-water port on the West Coast north of Mexico, many thought the publicity would increase local business and population. San Diego was the smallest city to propose a world's fair, and six months after it presented its plans, San Francisco, a city with over 400,000 people, announced a federally approved, official exposition. The citizens of San Diego did not waver and courageously continued toward their goal. San Francisco planned a commercial and industrial fair; thus San Diego proposed an artistic and educational exposition. The 1400-acre City Park, future site of the Exposition, was renamed Balboa Park in 1910 and a magnificent city of Spanish Colonial architecture arose. The Smithsonian Connection: The Exposition committee assigned Edgar L. Hewett, of the School of American Archeology, to put together a comprehensive exhibition called "The Story of Man Through the Ages." He enlisted the help of the Smithsonian Institution and two of its staff members: William H. Holmes for the ethnographic and archeological content, and Alex Hrdlicka for the physical anthropology component. Hrdlicka was instructed to mount the largest physical anthropology exhibit ever assembled. Hrdlicka sent field workers to Africa, the Ukraine, Alaska, and the Philippines, which he traveled to Peru, Europe, Mongolia, and Siberia to collect skeletal material, casts, and photographs for the exhibition. The result was a five-room gallery in which one of the rooms was devoted entirely to human evolution. Its centerpiece was a series of ten large plaster reconstructions of early fossil humans. The Exposition was a great success and was extended through 1916. The San Diego Museum Association (which later became the Museum of man) was incorporated and became the owner of the collections.
52. SDMOM_120711_593.JPG: Sculptural replica of fossil skull Kenyanthropus platyops Found near Lake Turkana, Kenya, in Africa, in 1999, by Meave Leakey and her team. Age: 3.5 to 3.2 million years Kenyanthropus platyops means "flat-faced man in Kenya."
53. SDMOM_120711_598.JPG: New Fossil Find: 3.5 to 3.2 million years ago Kenyanthropus platyops This specimen has been identified as a new genus and species. If the classification proves true, it indicates that there was a separate line of hominids living at the same time as Lucy and her kind, Australopithecus afarensis. Like Lucy, this species had a small brain and thick tooth enamel. It also had small ear holes like those of chimpanzees and other australopithecines. However, the flat sloping face, raised cheekbones, and flat browridges were more like those of a later hominid, Homo rudolfensis. Some scientists believe Kenyanthropus platyops gave rise to our genus, Homo. Only time, and more analysis, will tell where this find fits in the story of hominid evolution.
54. SDMOM_120711_604.JPG: Timestone 8 2.3 to 1.3 million years ago Australopithecus boisei Discovery of the "Zinj" specimen in 1959 was a critical event in paleoanthropology. It helped focus attention on East Africa as a rich source for early hominid discoveries. A broad, flat face, prominent cheekbones, and a sagittal crest (bony ridge at the top of the skull) were the main characteristics of this species. The massive molars (four times the size of ours) and large premolars (bicuspids) were covered with thick enamel. This increased the chewing surface and strength of the grinding teeth. This line of hominids is not ancestral to our genus Homo, and eventually became extinct.
55. SDMOM_120711_607.JPG: "Zinj" Reconstruction Artist: William Munns This robust australopithecine is nicknamed "Zinj" (from the original name Zinjanthropus, meaning East Africa man). The artist used the fossil skull and mandible and his knowledge of primate and human anatomy to reconstruct Zinj. Skin color and hair were left to the artist's imagination.
56. SDMOM_120711_617.JPG: Timestone 7 2.5 million years ago Australopithecus aethiopicus This species is an example of diversity in hominid evolution. This hominid line seems to have no relationship to our genus Homo, but represents one of several hominid species living around 2.5 million years ago. The Black Skull, so named because minerals in the soil stained the fossil, showed the small brain case typical of australopithecines. The sagittal crest (bony ridge at the top of the skull) was an anchor for large muscles, which supported huge jaws and teeth. Scientists believe these East African hominids were the ancestors of Australopithecus boisei, which was widespread for over a million years before becoming extinct.
57. SDMOM_120711_620.JPG: "Black Skull" Reconstruction Artist: William Munns This early robust hominid shows the extreme features of a skull and jaw designed to chew tough foods. From the shape of the skull, we know this hominid had a broad, flat face.
58. SDMOM_120711_626.JPG: "Taung Child" Reconstruction "Mrs. Ples" Reconstruction Artist: William Munns The Taung Child and Mrs. Ples are called "gracile" australopithecines, as opposed to their "robust" relatives. That does not mean they were more slender or graceful, but that their skulls were not large and rugged. Gracile fossils show smaller, more modern-looking teeth and more delicate jaws. They did not have the massive chewing structures of their robust relatives, and so they probably ate softer foods.
59. SDMOM_120711_634.JPG: Cast of fossil skull Australopithecus africanus-Mrs. Ples Found in Sterkfontein, South Africa, in 1947 by Robert Broom and John T. Robinson Age: around 2.5 million years Replica by Bone Clones, Inc. Cast of fossil partial skull with jaw and endocast (cast of the inside of the skull) Australopithecus africanus-Taung Child Found near Taung, South Africa, in 1924 by M. de Bruyn, and analyzed by Raymond Dart Age: around 2.5 million years. Replica by Bone Clones, Inc.
60. SDMOM_120711_637.JPG: Timestone 6 3 to 2.5 million years ago Australopithecus africanus The Taung Child fossil was found in 1924 and was the first named australopithecine. Many scientists thought the small skull was that of an ape and it was not until the 1940s that it was accepted as a hominid. The discovery in 1947 of a hominid skull nicknamed Mrs. Ples (from the original name Plesianthropus) led scientists to accept the Taung Child as a hominid. At the time Mrs. Ples was the most complete australopithecine skull. It showed both ape-like and human-like features. Even though the brain was small, the skull showed that these primates were bipedal.
61. SDMOM_120711_640.JPG: Laetoli Footprints: Australopithecus afarensis The Tracks of Early Hominids: About 3.7 million years ago, a volcano spread ash over the ground near what is now Tanzania in Africa. Then, rain fell. Before the wet ash hardened, three hominids like Lucy crossed the ash, leaving their footprints behind. The long track of footprints, discovered in 1978, was attributed to Australopithecus afarensis . A Key Step in Human Evolution: From fossil bones, scientists knew that hominids had been walking upright by 4.4 million years ago. The discovery of the Laetoli footprints showed scientists how hominids walked millions of years ago. The footprints show a strong heel strike followed by a transfer of weight forward and over the ball of the foot, ending with the toes, a step very much like that of a modern human.
62. SDMOM_120711_643.JPG: Cast of fossil footprints Australopithecus afarensis Found in Laetoli, Tanzania, in Africa, in 1978 by Mary Leakey and her team. Age: 3.7 million years.
63. SDMOM_120711_658.JPG: Ruins of Chichen Itza Yucatan, Mexico Carlos Vierra "Chichen Itza" is one of a set of six paintings of prehistoric Maya cities painted for the 1915 Exposition in Balboa Park. It and its companion mural (to the right) portray the Maya architectural style known as Puuc, named for a range of nearby hills. Central to this painting is the round building, known as the Caracol, which functioned as an observatory. Behind it lies the ballcourt, the largest such ritual playing field in Mesoamerica. To the right is the sacred cenote, the well of sacrifice.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: San Diego Museum of Man
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The San Diego Museum of Man is a museum of anthropology located in Balboa Park, San Diego, California. The museum's collections and permanent exhibits focus on the pre-Columbian history of the western Americas, with materials drawn from Native American cultures of the Southern California region, Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Maya, and the Andean civilizations such as the Moche. The museum also holds a collection of Ancient Egyptian antiquities, and several others from around the world. Total holdings number over 72,000 artefacts across all collections, together with some 37,000 historical photographs, mainly of Native Americans.

The museum traces its origins to the Panama-California Exposition, which opened in 1915 on the occasion of the inauguration of the Panama Canal. The central exhibit of the exposition, "The Story of Man through the Ages", was assembled under the direction of noted archaeologist Dr. Edgar Lee Hewett of the School of American Archaeology, who organized expeditions to gather pre-Columbian pottery from the American Southwest and to Guatemala for objects and reproductions of Maya civilization monuments. Numerous other materials were gathered from expeditions sent by anthropologist Aleš Hrdlicka of the Smithsonian Institution, which gathered casts and specimens from Africa, Siberia, Alaska and Southeast Asia. Osteological remains and trepanated crania from Peruvian sites were also obtained.
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