[Aztlan] Palenque artifact?

[Jorge Pérez de Lara Elías]

Nick and others,

 From the description, it appears to me that this person may be  
speaking about the Palenque Temple XXI panel, which shows two (rather  
than several) zoomorphic (arguably rodent-like) supernaturals flanking  
Pakal and his (possible) two grandsons: Ahkal Mo' Nahb III and Upakal  
K'inich Janahb Pakal.

This scene, however, shows no "mother bearing a crown", so I believe  
he/she may be making a mental conflation of the above scene with the  
figural scene above the Palace Tablet, which does appear to show K'an  
Joy Chitam II receiving the crown from his mother's hands or perhaps  
with the one from the Tablet of the Slaves, which depicts a similar  
scene, this time involving Ahkal Mo' Nahb III and his parents.

I personally think the choreographer in question was just showing off  
(my own mother wouldn't let me say "bullshitting") for the Archaeology  
interviewer, as none of the above scenes has anything to do with dance  
and there are very few choreographers in the whole world who would  
actually be able to "study the glyphs" as this person claims to have  
done. Choreographers would find much richer material for their  
purposes in the Yaxchilan monuments, which do show a fair number of  
dance scenes in them.

Eager to being proved a cynic,

Jorge



This scene, however, shows no mother bearing a crown
On May 18, 2008, at 10:59 AM, Nick Hopkins wrote:

> In the May/June 2008 issue of Archaeology magazine, there is an
> interview with a choreographer who is reconstructing precolombian
> Maya dances for the tourist park at Xcaret.  He says one of his
> sources of inspiration is from Palenque:
>
> "For example, at Palenque we were very pleased to be able to study
> the glyphs on a stone that was found about four years ago.  It
> depicts a local chief, his mother bearing a crown, his son, and
> several rats, which symbolize secrets.  From these scenes we begin
> constructing the ceremony..."
>
> Rats?  Can anybody tell me what he is talking about?
>
> Nick Hopkins