[Aztlan] RATS - Thank You

[Justin Kerr]

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I think the rodent from the Toniná stucco wall has been mentioned; you can
find a picture of it at 7236a in The Precolumbian Portfolio
(www.mayavase.com <http://www.mayavase.com/> ). There are also a number of
rodents depicted on vases, whether there are "rats" is on open question but
I think at least K1253 qualifies. However, merely enter Rodent in the search
bar in the Mayavase Database and ask your daughter what she thinks. 

 

The animal on K1253 is identified by Nikolai Grube and Werner Nahm as tilal
hix "tapir jaguar" (but there is no "hix" written). The Toniná animal is
named as k'an bah ch'o "yellow gopher rat". The combination of the words bah
and ch'o in Yucatec describes large varieties of rats: ah ba chho "ratones
grandes que andan como topos debaxo de la tierra" (Bolles,D.)  The above is
from A Census of Xibalba: A complete Inventory of WAY Characters on Maya
Ceramics by Nikolai Grube and Werner Nahm in The Maya Vase Book Volume 4. 

 

Justin Kerr

 

-----Original Message-----
From: aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org [mailto:aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org]
On Behalf Of kim Goldsmith
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 10:10 PM
To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Subject: [Aztlan] RATS - Thank You

 

Hi All!

 

I want to thank all of the people who sent me

information about rats.  I only wish that everyone

would have sent them to the board, because at least I

myself found the replies very interesting and I think

others would have too.

 

Several people sent me scans of the tablet so I could

see it for myself.  The animals are often so highly

stylized in Maya art (as compared to the Valleys of

Teo. and Mexico where I mostly work), that even though

I know a lot about general Meso. iconography it is

often hard for me to distinguish certain things I'm

not familiar with.

 

I got several opinions on whether or not any type of

rat was indeed native to the Americas, so in my mind

that is kind of still pending.

 

Other folks mentioned the rat in the Popol Vuh...duh! 

Don't know how I forgot about that.  But then I got my

copy out thinking that maybe the original translation

might not have been right.  However, the rat is

mentioned in one spot and then the opossum is

mentioned in a totally different spot, so obviously

these are two different animals.

 

The last straw was when I called my 20-year old over

to the computer and asked her cold what animal she

thought the picture was of.  First she said a jaguar

because of the clothing, but I told her to look at the

face.  She immediately said, "a rat".  She's been

around both archaeology AND all kinds of animals here

on the farm all her life, so I guess the rat wins.

 

Nonetheless, I would like to know if anybody knows of

any other rats in Meso ARTWORK, as opposed to strictly

oral history.

 

What do you all say??

 

Just finding it all interesting.................

 

KIM

 

 

      

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