[Aztlan] Another Palenque Mystery

[Elaine Schele]

Thank You Allen,

Excellent observation about the cache object in question as being an
ensouling of the building. I just love that metaphor! I believe that
the objects were placed in each of the buildings of the Cross Group to
ensoul them and thus to animate them.

Also, its good to have the confirmation (others on the list have
stated something similar) on the origin of the word. I think that we
can pretty safely say that the object that Del Rio writes about was
obsidian.  There was one eccentric obsidian point from the Del Rio
excavations (in the Madrid Museum). Del Rio writes (in the English
version) that there were two of these "hearts", but there is only one
at the musuem.  I have posted a picture of it to this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/elaineschele/DelRioCacheObjects#5283456408656903586.
 I discuss its shape in the next paragraph.

Again regarding the obsidian point, I should think that when a
European looked that the obsidian shape, they would not have thought
of it as in the shape of a heart, even though we might now see it as a
"bleeding heart" as seen in some of the Teo drawings like the one
here: http://picasaweb.google.com/elaineschele/DelRioCacheObjects#5283546142087618082.
 At this point in time, however I have reason to believe that perhaps
Del Rio might not have described it as a "heart".  Why? See the
paragraph below:

Yesterday I found a reference to the Del Rio caches written in Spanish
describing the challa object as shaped like an egg, but I do not know
if that description were truly Del Rio's words or if it was an
erroneous translation from the published English version.  Del Rio
wrote his account and description of the caches in 1787 and they were
not published in English until 1822 (translated by Caberra).  And
then, Del Rio's original Spanish version was not published until 1855.
 I have been trying to find his original Spanish report and I believe
that I am very close to finding it.

I will keep the list posted if I learn anything new about the object
or about the "two conical pyramids".

Thanks to everyone and have a blessed holiday,
Elaine


On Thu, Dec 25, 2008 at 1:56 PM, Allen Christenson
<allen_christenson at byu.edu> wrote:
> Hi Elaine:
>
> My guess on the challa would be obsidian.  In all highland Maya languages ch'ay is obsidian (or less-commonly sharpened flint).  Often the Maya put such objects which they refer to as "hearts" in objects they wish to ensoul, such as within santos in the church.  Best, Allen
> ________________________________________
> From: aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org [aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org] On Behalf Of Elaine Schele [elaineschele at gmail.com]
> Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 10:19 PM
> To: Aztlan
> Subject: [Aztlan] Another Palenque Mystery
>
> Felize Navidad Listeros!
>
> I have another mystery to unravel and I need your help.  This time it
> relates to the caches found by Del Rio (in 1787) in the Palenque
> Temples of the Cross and Sun.  In each of those buildings, he found
> caches with certain objects that he describes in exactly the same
> manner: "two small conical pyramids with the figure of a heart in dark
> crystallized stone (which is very common in this kingdom and know by
> the name of challa)".   What does he mean by "two conical pyramids"
> and what do you think he means when he states "a heart of dark
> crystallized stone" (challa?).  FYI - I was able to find pictures of
> other items from the caches, such as vases and the Tableritos, etc.
> (there were at least 26) at the Madrid Museum website, but the items I
> quoted above don't seem to be there, so perhaps they were made of
> perishable material.
>
> Please reply off-line if you have any suggestions or ideas!
>
> Blessings to you all,
> Elaine
> --
> http://gispalenque.blogspot.com/
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