Analysis and Conservation of a Wooden Figurine
Recovered from Xmuqlebal Xheton Cave in Southern Belize, C.A.

Interpretation of the Figurine

The figurine recovered from subop-2 at Xmuqlebal Xheton is a unique artifact. Preservation of wooden artifacts, especially portable art, is rare in moist tropics. Many wooden figurines that survived the Spanish predilection for destroying idols may have been secreted away (Gann and Thompson 1937:136), possibly in caves, but likely did not survive except in the rarest of environmental conditions.

The Xmuqlebal Xheton figurine measures 23 cm in length, and depicts a male clad in a belted skirt or loincloth (Figure 8). He is carved in relief, and the back of the object is deeply fluted. This fluting likely facilitated affixing the figurine to a staff.

The artifact possesses a number of characteristics described for Manikin Scepters. The individual depicted on the figurine is holding what is likely a fan under his left arm, while grasping the handle (Figure 9), a feature not uncommon in Late Classic iconography (Schele and Miller 1986:143, 152). While there remains a possibility that the object may be a shield, its position tucked under the arm matches numerous objects depicted on ceramics and monuments that have been interpreted as fans. Coggins and Ladd (1992:270) note that one of the figurines recovered from the Cenote of Sacrifice at Chichén Itzá may be holding a handled fan in the right hand. In Late Classic iconography a clear image of such a fan tucked under the arm is shown on the Chama vase from the University Museum of Philadelphia (Kerr Archive, Vase K593) shown here in Figure 10.

Click on image to enlarge

In the figurine’s right hand it is clear that the individual was once holding an object that has since broken away (Figure 11). A manikin scepter from the Cenote of Sacrifice is grasping what may be a rattle in a vertical position (Coggins and Ladd 1992:270, 272 figure 8.45b). While there is no indication of what the object that the Xmuqlebal Xheton figure was holding was, the position of the hand and vertical direction of the cavity created when the object broke off might indicate that it was a staff, rattle, or other type of sticklike object. It is entirely possible that the object once held in the right hand was itself a figurine. The niche where the figurine was recovered was carefully searched for the missing object, but it was not found.

There are a series of design elements on the front of the figurine’s garment, which may have been glyphic elements (personal communication, P. Wanyerka 2000), but they are too eroded to be read with any confidence (Figure 12). Stuart notes that a looted figurine reported to have come from the upper Bladen Branch also had a design element on a belt or garment. He interprets this element, which is on the individual’s back in the lumbar region, as being a jaguar head (Stuart and Houseley 1999:2-4). On the Xmuqlebal Xheton figurine the design element is on the front of the individual, affixed to or part of the garment the individual is wearing.

The hair of the individual is pulled back and wrapped in a turban headdress or cloth headband (Figure 13). Similar headdresses have been depicted in iconography from Copán and shown on a polychrome vase that likely originated from Pusilhá, located less than 50 km to the southwest (see Kerr Maya Vase Collection, Vase 8089, click here). Both earlobes are drilled, likely to facilitate the attachment of some type of ornament, though none was recovered.

A review of the literature reveals that there have been at least two other reports of Late Classic wooden figurines being recovered from the Maya Lowlands. In 1964 one was reported as part of a museum collection at the Museum of Primitive Art in New York. The figure is a seated male that may have originated in southern Tabasco near the Usumacinta River. It was radiocarbon dated to the middle of the 6^th century A.D. (Ekholm 1964). Another figurine depicting a seated individual is reported to have been looted from a cave in the Bladen Branch of the Monkey River, likely near the sites of Ek Xux or Muklebal Tzul. It dates to between A.D. 230 and A.D. 560 (Stuart and Houseley 1999). This date that is congruent with several radiocarbon assays we have taken from Ek Xux and surrounding caves.

Postclassic examples of wooden figurines are also known from Mesoamerica. Several are reported in collections dredged from the Cenote of Sacrifice at Chichén Itzá (Coggins and Ladd 1992). Two figurines are reported from the basin of México, near modern Texcoco. They were found together and radiocarbon dated to approximately the 14^th century A.D. (Nicholson and Berger 1968). Three other unprovenienced figurines originated in México. Two may date to the 19^th century (Nowotny 1949), and the third may have originated from a cave in Puebla (Nicholson and Berger 1968:6; Nowotny 1961).

Thomas Gage reports a curious encounter with a wooden figurine during his 17^th century travels in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. He describes finding the idol in a cave:

"…standing upon a low stool covered with a linen cloth. The substance of it was wood, black shining like jet, as if it had been painted or smoked; the form was of a man’s head unto the shoulders, without either beard or mustachios. His look was grim with a wrinkled forhead and broad startling eyes"  (Thompson 1958:281).

In general it is thought that these types of wood artifacts only survive in dry caves or sealed structural chambers with ideal conditions for wood preservation, or in waterlogged contexts where anaerobic conditions favor preservation. Most prehispanic and early historic wood artifacts have long since deteriorated. If ethnohistoric accounts are any indicator, it is likely that wooden figurines were common paraphernalia in ancient Mesoamerican ceremonial or religious settings. During the early historic period they are well documented from central México (Motolinía 1903:32-34; 86-89) and were frequently recorded as central elements in household and public ritual activities in Yucatán (Farriss 1986:289-290). Landa’s accounts indicate that there were thousands of idols and most of them were made of wood. These wooden figurines were considered heirlooms and "the most important part of inherited property" (Tozzer 1941:110-111).

There are also several accounts of the making of wooden figurines. Landa notes that contact period Maya "earned a great deal by making idols out of clay and wood" for ceremonial occasions (Tozzer 1941:94). Hayden (1987:164 Figure 5.1, 177) speculates that detailed carving of idols required specialized tools, such as rodent mandibles. The Madrid Codex illustrates at least four examples of wood being carved into idols (pages 95d, 96d, 97b, 98b) as well as the cutting of trees with axes (89c, 98a) (Roys 1965:xiv; Villacorta and Villacorta 1930:403, 415-421). In early contact Yucatán these idols were almost always made of Cedar, which may have been related to the Yukatec name for cedar, ku che, or "god tree" (Tozzer 1941:160; R. Roys cited in Tozzer 1941:160, n. 824). This is especially interesting in light of the identification of the Xmuqlebal Xheton figurine material as being cedrella sp. (cedar).

Attempts to identify the individual depicted on the Xmuqlebal Xheton figurine have been problematic. Similar objects, manikin scepters, depicted on Classic period monuments and ceramics have been identified as the possessions of rulers and emblems of divine authority. Most are described as depicting God K, who is associated with dynastic descent and rulership and as the god of lightning (Taube 1992:79). However, our figurine lacks physical features associated with God K. The Classic Period God K generally has a mirror on his brow with a smoking axe or mirror emanating from it (Milbrath 1999:231; Schele and Miller 1986:49). In addition, when God K appears as the Ka’wiil scepter he is often shown as having a serpent-shaped foot (Read and Gonzalez 2000:250), a feature of scepters identified in Classic Period iconography. This feature is not present on the late Postclassic scepters recovered from the Cenote of Sacrifice at Chichén Itzá, and Coggins and Ladd (1992:270) feel that they are stylistically and functionally more akin to Middle Postclassic Chen Mul Modeled incense burners that have modeled figures on the fronts of the burning chambers.

The Xmuqlebal Xheton figurine cannot be clearly identified as any member of any known Maya pantheon. It may be that he represents a local deity or variant of a known God. It is also possible that he could be the portrayal of a historical figure. This does not, however, preclude the object from having functioned in a manner consistent with Manikin Scepters depicted in Late Classic iconography. Coggins (1988) notes that there are multiple manifestations of deities represented on Manikin Scepters, and that they all represent divine lineage and the continuity and legitimacy of rulership. In referring to these objects she notes that Manikin Scepters were "an essential component of a cluster of integrated signs and symbols" that constituted the authority legitimating symbolism of Maya rulers (Coggins 1988:143).

We must also entertain the possibility that this object artifact did not function in the same manner as those ’manikin scepters’ depicted on Late Classic iconography. Other artifacts found in association with the figurine cannot be clearly classified as markers of elite status, and its context of recovery, cached in the dark zone of a difficult to access cave raises additional questions as to its function. Cave dark zones are thought to have been the location of restricted and private ritual activities under the auspices of religious specialists. Conversely, semi-light zones of caves, cenotes, and rockshelters were arenas for public displays of ritual (Brady 1989), many of which were likely associated with the legitimatising of political authority (Prufer 2001). In many, though not all, cases, the activities of dark zone religious specialists may have had little to do with larger issues of rulership (Prufer n.d.).

Clearly, in the Postclassic and early historic period figurines and idols were associated with non-political aspects of Maya religion, and often these objects were kept well hidden (Farriss 1986:292; Gann and Thompson 1937:136). Thompson reports that in Postclassic México ceremonial staves and fans were associated with merchants (1970:136-137). At Chan Kom some santos, or figurines, can be privately owned and are distinguished from the community patron. There, several santos are reported to have mysterious origins in caves, including the village patron San Diego. While some santos are community guardians, others are thought by religious specialists to have special functions related to the hierarchy of deities, and all play a role in the healing and illness complex (Redfield and Villa Rojas 1934:107-109). The association with shamanic individuals, figurines, and caves is important here. There is considerable historic evidence that ritual specialists involved in cave-focused activities often operate outside of conventional community sanctioned religious institutions, even where these institutions are indigenous (Prufer n.d.; 2001).

In summary, while it is probable that the figurine recovered from Xmuqlebal Xheton cave functioned as an actual Manikin Scepter akin to those depicted in Classic Period iconography, it is also possible that it may have functioned as the possession of ritual specialist as part of the illness and healing complex. In any event, it likely represents the possession of a formidable individual from the nearby site Muklebal Tzul, which was occupied contemporaneously to the figurine. At some point the object was cached in the niche in the dark zone of the cave. Radiocarbon analysis from other nearby burnt contexts also date to the Late Classic and may be associated with the object. Its recovery near heavily burned areas is congruent with those ethnographic and ethnohistoric accounts of the use of idols in conjunction with the burning of incense (Tozzer 1941:160).

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