The Nebaj region lay in the green, mountainous highlands of what is today southern Guatemala. Although the K'ichee' (often spelled Quiché) Maya had occupied this region for centuries, much of what we know today about their ancient society comes from Postclassic archaeology and colonial literature. The striped designs in their ceramic style can be readily appreciated here, with these two fascinating pieces. These burners feature a front-facing person, a man emerging from the toothed jaws of a great monster and a grinning figure with a bat's upturned nose. Also notice the little heads that make up the vase legs for both pieces.
National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
This polychrome vessel is also K'ichee', and a human figure occupies each of the four sides. The advantage of this image's perspective is that you can see how the body appears flat when facing forward, but from the side view it can be seen to arch outward, forming the vessel's handles. The spiked rows are common in incense burners across Mesoamerica, and it probably symbolizes the spikes of the pochote tree, whose resin can be ceremonially burned as incense.
National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Historical linguistic evidence suggests that the K'ichee' ancestors may have immigrated into the Guatemalan highlands by the early Formative, but their introduction to the central highlands may have occurred over a thousand years later, by the 4th century AD, according to Peter Mathews and Linda Schele. This ceramic brazier has an almost cartoon-like quality to its four squat standing figures. The figure on the left resembles an opossum, but the one at right is more human.
National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
This stone altar comes from Juil, in the Department of Huehuetenango, Guatemala. Four-legged animals radiate from the one in the center, whose back is indented with a small cavity, perhaps to hold ceremonial items. What is also interesting is that the uppermost animal actually projects from the altar's perimeter with its snout and left leg.
National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Kumaarcaj is K'ichee' for the "Place of the Rotting Cane," whose unflattering name was in fact given to their citadel. Colonial sources also refer to this place by its Nahuatl name Utatlan. The migration of the K'ichee' to Kumaarcaj and their political establishment there is cited in the famous K'ichee' mythical history, the Popol Vuh or "Book of the (Council) Mat." I really like this Kumaarcaj vase, especially for its bold paint. An abstract human face peers from the rim.
National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
The menacing feline, appearing ready to pounce, is another example of K'ichee' ceramic brazier art. This piece is from La Lagunita in the Guatemalan highlands. It is dressed in female attire, and it bears heavy spools similar to those worn at the earlobes by the Maya nobility. I'm not sure what the objects in its hands are, but they strongly remind me of comal grilling plates with three small tortillas in each.
National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology