[Aztlan] Turtle and tortoises

[Michael J. Fitzpatrick]

At Uxmal there is a building with external turtle sculpture decor known as,
of all things, the House of the Turtles.
http://mayaruins.com/uxmal/j1_1708.html

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:xOTkGxeUaVQJ:www.buriedmirror.com/latest
/2007/05/14/maya-symbology-turtle/+uxmal+turtle&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

Taube suggests that the turtle symbolism is associated with katun ending
periods.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0091-7710(198822)44%3A2%3C183%3AAPMKW%3E2.0
.CO%3B2-7

There are also several tortoise altars at Copan in Honduras.


Michael J. Fitzpatrick
152 North Third St., #800
San Jose, CA 95112
(408) 288-8013
Fax (408) 995-0531
Fitzesq at earthlink.net
 
"There is nothing so powerful as truth, and often nothing so strange." 
Daniel Webster
 

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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2007 10:19:42 -0700
From: "Ted Presler" <presrub at hotmail.com>
Subject: [Aztlan] Zoomorphic Illustrations-Tortoise
To: <aztlan at lists.famsi.org>
Message-ID: <BAY105-DAV19DCD322A4619620FD118BBE090 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"

At Quirigua, there is a carved stone showing a tortoise. Is the tortoise or
turtle commonly used in Mesoamerican cultures like the Maya and if so what
is it significance?
Do we see its use on ceramics as well as carvings?
Any thoughts on the above would be appreciated.
Thanks.