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50-533: In Yucatec ethnography, the animal transformation involved is usually a common domestic or domesticated animal, but may also be a ghost or apparition, for example 'a creature with wings of straw mats'. Moreover, in the 16th century, wild animals such as jaguar and grey fox are mentioned as animal shapes of the sorcerer, together with the ah uaay xibalba or 'underworld transformer'. Some sort of 'devil's pact' seems to be implied. The Yucatec way has its counterparts among other Maya groups. In Tzotzil ethnography,

100-525: A Tonina stucco wall carries the severed head of a defeated opponent. Jaguars in Mesoamerican cultures The representation of jaguars in Mesoamerican cultures has a long history, with iconographic examples dating back to at least the mid-Formative period of Mesoamerican chronology . The jaguar ( Panthera onca ) is an animal with a prominent association and appearance in the cultures and belief systems of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican societies in

150-401: A bacterial relative of syphilis . According to study lead researcher Wolfgang Stinnesbeck, "It really looks as if this woman had a very hard time and an extremely unhappy end of her life. Obviously, this is speculative, but given the traumas and the pathological deformations on her skull, it appears a likely scenario that she may have been expelled from her group and was killed in the cave, or

200-616: A certain settlement and the response in Yucatec Mayan was "I don't understand", which sounded like yucatán to the Spaniards. There are many possibilities of what the natives could have actually said, among which " mathan cauyi athán ", " tectecán ", " ma'anaatik ka t'ann " and " ci u t'ann ". This origin story was first told by Hernán Cortés in his letters to Charles V . Later 16th century historians Motolinia and Francisco López de Gómara also repeat this version. In some versions

250-508: A jaguar ear or jaguar attire, and atop a jaguar throne (Benson 1998: 64-65). Not only is the underworld associated with the ancestors, but it also is understood as, where plants originate. In addition, the Maya's source of fresh water comes from underground pools in the porous limestone that makes up the Yucatán, called cenotes . These associations with water and plants further reinforce the notion of

300-616: A jaguar's growl. A sample of this sound is available at the Princeton Art Museum website . In the city-state of Teotihuacan jaguar bones have been found in caches of precious or significant objects, including obsidian and greenstone, in both the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon . These caches were placed in the pyramids as they were being built, likely as part of a ceremony to dedicate

350-563: A jar in Guatemala, attributed to the Maya of the Late Classic Era (600-900 AD), which depicts a musical instrument that has been reproduced and played. This instrument is astonishing in at least two respects. First, it is the only stringed instrument known in the Americas prior to the introduction of European musical instruments. Second, when played, it produces a sound virtually identical to

400-416: A self-decapitating man, a young man within a fire, etc. The animal wayob are likely to be transformative shapes of human beings, the walking skeletons ( Maya Death Gods ) more particularly of the ah uaay xibalba transformers. At times, the name of the way is followed by an 'emblem glyph' giving the name of a specific Maya kingdom (or perhaps its ruling family). The skeletal way prominent on

450-414: A spirit companion or nagual , which will protect the religious figures from evil spirits and while they move between the earth and the spirit realm. In order for the religious authorities to combat whatever evil forces may be threatening, or for those who rely on the religious authorities for protection, it is necessary for some religious authorities to transform and cross over to the spirit realm. The jaguar

500-591: A stoic, seated adult male. The were-jaguar figure is characterized by a distinctive down-turned mouth with fleshy lips, almond-shaped eyes, and a cleft head similar – it is said – to that of the male jaguar which has a cleft running vertically the length of its head. It is not known what the were-jaguar represented to the Olmec, and it may well have represented different things at different times. Tēcuani (and its variants tekuani, tekuane, tecuane) means "jaguar" in Nahuatl . In

550-498: A woman approximately 30 years of age who lived at least 9,900 years ago. According to craniometric measurements, the skull is believed to conform to the mesocephalic pattern, like the other three skulls found in Tulum caves. Three different scars on the skull of the woman showed that she was hit with something hard and her skull bones were broken. Her skull also had crater-like deformations and tissue deformities that appeared to be caused by

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600-574: Is a large peninsula in southeast Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala . The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north and west of the peninsula from the Caribbean Sea to the east. The Yucatán Channel , between the northeastern corner of the peninsula and Cuba , connects the two bodies of water. The peninsula is approximately 181,000 km (70,000 sq mi) in area. It has low relief and

650-758: Is almost entirely composed of porous limestone . The peninsula lies east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec , the narrowest point in Mexico separating the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, from the Pacific Ocean. Some consider the isthmus to be the geographic boundary between Central America and the rest of North America , placing the peninsula in Central America. Politically, all of Mexico, including

700-451: Is often a nagual because of its strength, for it is necessary that the religious authorities "dominate the spirits, in the same way as a predator dominates its prey" (Saunders 1998:30). The jaguar is said to possess the transient ability of moving between worlds because of its comfort both in the trees and the water, the ability to hunt as well in the nighttime as in the daytime, and the habit of sleeping in caves, places often associated with

750-450: Is read as way ( wa-ya ) by Houston and Stuart. These authors assert that a glyph representing a stylised, frontal 'Ahau' ( Ajaw ) face half covered by a jaguar-pelt represents the way , with syllabic wa and ya elements attached to the main sign clarifying its meaning. Many way animals are distinguished by (i) a shoulder cape or scarf tied in front; (ii) a splashing of jaguar spots or other jaguar characteristics; (iii)

800-569: Is the site of the Chicxulub crater impact, which was created 66 million years ago by an asteroid of about 10 to 15 kilometers (6 to 9 miles) in diameter at the end of the Cretaceous Period . In 2020, an underwater archaeological expedition led by Jerónimo Avilés excavated Chan Hol cave, near the Tulum archaeological site in the state of Quintana Roo on the peninsula, and revealed the skeleton of

850-423: The way (here called wayihel or chanul ) is more often an animal companion and refers not only to domestic animals, but also to igneous powers such as meteor and lightning. In Tzeltal Cancuc , the nagual animal companion is considered a 'caster of disease'. Other names found are: lab , labil , wayixelal or vayijelal , way and wayxel or wayjel . A Classic Maya hieroglyph

900-584: The New World , similar to the lion ( Panthera leo ) and tiger ( Panthera tigris ) in the Old World . Quick, agile, and powerful enough to take down the largest prey in the jungle, the jaguar is the biggest felid in Central or South America , and one of the most efficient and aggressive predators. Endowed with a spotted coat and well-adapted for the jungle , hunting either in the trees or water, making it one of

950-540: The Maya ruins of Tulum and Coba . The population of the Yucatán Peninsula is very different throughout each part of the Peninsula. Population density and ethnic composition are two factors that play into the total population. The most populated area is Mérida in Yucatán state and the surrounding region, contrasted by the state of Quintana Roo, the least populated part of the peninsula. In terms of ethnic composition,

1000-401: The Maya. Not only did Maya kings wear jaguar pelts, but they also adopted the jaguar as part of their ruling name, as a symbol of their might and authority. One such ruling family to incorporate the jaguar into their name is known as, Jaguar Paw, who ruled the Maya city of Tikal in the fourth century. Jaguar Paw I was ousted by central Mexicans from Teotihuacán , and it was not until late in

1050-511: The Yucatán Peninsula any time of year. Although these storms pummel the area with heavy rains and high winds, they tend to be short-lived, clearing after about an hour. The average percentage of days with rain per month ranges from a monthly low of 7% in April to a high of 25% in October. Breezes can have a cooling effect, humidity is generally high, particularly in the remaining rainforest areas. Due to

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1100-645: The Yucatán Peninsula is an unconfined flat lying karst landscape. Sinkholes, known locally as cenotes , are widespread in the northern lowlands. According to the Alvarez hypothesis , the mass extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs at the transition from the Cretaceous to the Paleogene Period, the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (K–Pg boundary), 66 million years ago was caused by an asteroid impact somewhere in

1150-516: The Yucatán Peninsula was largely a cattle ranching, logging, chicle and henequen production area. Since the 1970s, the Yucatán Peninsula has reoriented its economy towards tourism, especially in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Aside from tourism, another source of income that is important in the Peninsula is logging as well as chicle industries specifically in Belize. Oil was also found in certain parts of

1200-411: The Yucatán, bringing in more economic opportunities. Once a small fishing village, Cancún in the northeast of the peninsula has grown into a thriving city. The Riviera Maya , which stretches along the east coast of the peninsula between Cancún and Tulum , houses over 50,000 beds. The best-known locations are the former fishing town of Playa del Carmen , the ecological parks Xcaret and Xel-Há and

1250-408: The Yucatán, is generally considered part of North America, while Guatemala and Belize are considered part of Central America. The proper derivation of the word Yucatán is widely debated. 17th-century Franciscan historian Diego López de Cogolludo offers two theories in particular. In the first one, Francisco Hernández de Córdoba , having first arrived to the peninsula in 1517, inquired the name of

1300-450: The aforementioned "Ring of Cenotes", as well as the presence of impact debris such as shocked quartz and tektites , a type of glass formed during meteorite impacts . The Arrowsmith Bank is a submerged bank located off the northeastern end of the peninsula. The peninsula has a tropical climate, which ranges from semi-arid in the northwest to humid in the south. Average annual rainfall ranges from less than 800 mm (30 inches) in

1350-416: The attribute of an upturned 'jar of darkness'; and (iv) fire elements. The Classic wayob include a far wider array of shapes than the 20th-century ones from Yucatán (insofar as the latter have been reported), with specific names assigned to each of them. They include not only many mammals (especially jaguars) and birds, but also apparitions and spooks: hybrids of deer and spider monkey, walking skeletons,

1400-457: The coastal margins. The thousands of sinkholes known as cenotes throughout the region provide access to the groundwater system. The cenotes have long been relied on by ancient and contemporary Maya people. The vegetation and plant communities of the peninsula vary from north to south. The Yucatán dry forests occupy the dry northwestern peninsula, and include dry forests and scrublands and cactus scrub. The Yucatán moist forests occur across

1450-563: The deceased ancestors. The concept of the transformation of a religious authority is well-documented in Mesoamerica and South America and is in particular demonstrated in the various Olmec jaguar transformation figures (Diehl, p. 106). Yucat%C3%A1n Peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula ( / ˌ j uː k ə ˈ t ɑː n , - ˈ t æ n / YOO -kə- TA(H)N , UK also / ˌ j ʊ k -/ YUU - ; Spanish : Península de Yucatán [peˈninsula ðe ʝukaˈtan] )

1500-743: The driest parts of the northwest up to 2,000 mm (80 inches) in the Petén Basin to the south. Rainfall varies seasonally, with August and September generally the wettest months. Like much of the Caribbean , the peninsula lies within the Atlantic Hurricane Belt, and with its almost uniformly flat terrain it is vulnerable to these large storms coming from the east, and the area has been devastated by many hurricanes, such as Hurricane Gilbert , Hurricane Emily , Hurricane Wilma , and Hurricane Dean . Strong storms called nortes can quickly descend on

1550-519: The east along the Caribbean Sea. The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System is an immense coral barrier reef which stretches over 1,100 km (700 miles) along the eastern coast of the peninsula. The peninsula comprises the Mexican states of Yucatán , Campeche , and Quintana Roo , as well as Guatemala 's Petén Department and almost all of Belize . In the late historic and early modern eras,

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1600-589: The existence of at least two morphologically diverse groups of people living separately in Mexico during the transition from Pleistocene to Holocene . The Yucatán Peninsula constitutes a significant proportion of the ancient Maya lowlands and was the central location of the Maya Civilization. The Maya culture also extended south of the Yucatán Peninsula into Guatemala , Honduras , and the highlands of Chiapas . There are many Maya archaeological sites throughout

1650-565: The expedition is not the one captained by Córdoba but instead the one a year later captained by Juan de Grijalva . The second major theory is that the name is in some way related to the yuca crop, as written by Bernal Díaz del Castillo . Others theories claim that it is a derivative of Chontal Tabascan word yokat'an meaning speaker of the Yoko ochoco language, or an incorrect Nahuatl term yokatlan as supposedly "place of richness" ( yohcāuh cannot be paired with tlán ). The Yucatán Peninsula

1700-419: The extreme karst nature of the whole peninsula, the northern half is devoid of aboveground rivers. Where lakes and swamps are present, the water is marshy and generally unpotable. Due to its coastal location, the whole of the peninsula is underlain by an extensive contiguous density stratified coastal aquifer , where a fresh water lens formed from meteoric water floats on top of intruding saline water from

1750-513: The few felines tolerant of water, the jaguar was, and remains, revered among the Indigenous Americans who live in its range. All major Mesoamerican civilizations prominently featured a jaguar god, and for many, such as the Olmec , the jaguar was an important part of religious practice. For those who resided in or near the tropical jungle, the jaguar was well known and became incorporated into

1800-565: The fifth century that the Jaguar Paw family returned to power (Coe 1999: 90). Other Maya rulers to incorporate the jaguar name include, Scroll Jaguar, Bird Jaguar, and Moon Jaguar, just to name a few (Coe 1999: 247-48). In addition to the ruling class, the jaguar also was associated with warriors and hunters. Those who excelled in hunting and warfare often adorned themselves with jaguar pelts, teeth, or claws and were "regarded as possessing feline souls" (Saunders 1998: 26). Archeologists have found

1850-413: The gods the Maya revered and it is no coincidence that these gods often have jaguar attributes. As stated earlier, the jaguar is said to have the ability to cross between worlds, and for the Maya daytime and nighttime represented two different worlds. The living and the earth are associated with the day, and the spirit world and the ancestors are associated with the night. As the jaguar is quite at home in

1900-424: The greater Caribbean Basin . The deeply buried Chicxulub crater is centered off the north coast of the peninsula near the town of Chicxulub . The now-famous "Ring of Cenotes," a geologic structure composed of sinkholes arranged in a semi-circle, outlines one of the shock-waves from this impact event in the approximately 66-million-year-old rock. The existence of the crater has been supported by evidence including

1950-470: The jaguar as a god of fertility . The jaguar is further associated with vegetation and fertility by the Maya with what is known as the Waterlily jaguar, which is depicted as having water lilies sprouting from its head (Benson 1998:64-67). No doubt, the jaguar's brilliant coat made it quite desirable, however, not all were allowed to don the jaguar pelt as it became the identification of the ruling class for

2000-703: The largest continuous tracts of tropical rainforest in Central America . However, these forests are suffering extensive deforestation . Mangroves occur along the coast, with the Usumacinta mangroves around the Laguna de Términos in the southwest, the Petenes mangroves along the west coast, Ría Lagartos mangroves along the northern shore of the peninsula, and the Mayan Corridor mangroves and Belizean Coast mangroves to

2050-410: The lives of the inhabitants. The jaguar's formidable size, reputation as a predator, and its evolved capacities to survive in the jungle made it an animal to be revered. The Olmec and the Maya witnessed this animal's habits, adopting the jaguar as an authoritative and martial symbol, and incorporated the animal into their mythology. The jaguar stands today, as it did in the past, as an important symbol in

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2100-626: The lives of those who coexist with this felid. Integration of the jaguar into the sacred and secular realms of the Maya peoples is proven in the archaeological record. The Maya, whose territory spanned the Yucatán Peninsula all the way to the Pacific coast of Guatemala , was a literate society who left documentation of their lives (mostly the lives of the aristocracy) and belief system in the form of books and bas-relief sculpture on temples, stelae, and pottery. Often depicted on these artifacts are

2150-538: The middle and east of the peninsula, and are characterized by semi-deciduous forests where 25 to 50% of the trees lose their leaves during the summer dry season. The Belizian pine forests are found in several enclaves across central Belize. The southernmost portion of the peninsula is in the Petén–Veracruz moist forests ecoregion, an evergreen rain forest. Northern Guatemala ( El Petén ), Mexico ( Campeche and Quintana Roo ), and western Belize are still occupied by

2200-456: The nighttime, the jaguar is believed to be part of the underworld; thus, "Maya gods with jaguar attributes or garments are underworld gods" (Benson 1998:64). One such god is Xbalanque , one of the Maya Hero Twins who descended to the underworld, and whose entire body is covered with patches of jaguar skin. Another is God L , who is "the primary lord of the underworld" and often is shown with

2250-493: The peninsula; some of the better-known are Chichen Itza , Coba , Tulum , and Uxmal . Indigenous Maya and Mestizos of partial Maya descent make up a sizable portion of the region's population, and Mayan languages are widely spoken there. The peninsula is the exposed portion of the larger Yucatán Platform , all of which is composed of carbonate and soluble rocks, being mostly limestone although dolomite and evaporites are also present at various depths. The whole of

2300-423: The pyramids. Analysis of the animal bones has shown that while some of the jaguars had been wild shortly before burial, many had lived in captivity for a long time prior to being placed in the dedicatory cache. The Olmec civilization was first defined as a distinctive art style at the turn of the nineteenth century. The various sculpture, figurines, and celts from what now is recognized as the Olmec heartland on

2350-500: The so-called transformative pose, kneeling with hands on knees, to figures that are nearly completely feline. One of the most prominent, distinctive, and enigmatic Olmec designs to appear in the archaeological record has been the " were -jaguar". Seen not only in figurines, the motif also may be found carved into jade "votive axes" and celts, engraved onto various portable figurines of jade, and depicted on several "altars", such as those at La Venta . Were-jaguar babies are often held by

2400-408: The south-center of Mexico the "danza de los tecuanes" is performed in at least 96 communities. In this region jaguar dances are very popular. There are many variants of jaguar dances. Some of the most popular are the "tecuanes dances", "tlacololeros dances" and "tlaminques dances" The jaguar is important for certain religious authorities in many Mesoamerican cultures, who often associate the jaguar as

2450-425: The southern Gulf Coast, reveal that these people knew their jungle companions well and incorporated them into their mythology. In the surviving Olmec archaeological record , jaguars are rarely portrayed naturalistically, but rather with a combination of feline and human characteristics. These feline anthropomorphic figures may range from a human figure with slight jaguar characteristics to depictions of figures in

2500-536: Was left in the cave to die there". The newly discovered skeleton was 140 meters away from the Chan Hol 2 site. Although archaeologists assumed the divers had found the remains of the missing Chan Hol 2, the analysis soon proved that these assumptions were erroneous. Stinnesbeck compared the new bones to old photographs of Chan Hol 2 and showed that the two skeletons represent different individuals. Due to their distinctive features, study co-researcher Samuel Rennie suggest

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