CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 17Historical Studies in Central AmericaLatin American history and cultureHistorical and Architectural Studies

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 52 of the 53 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Classic Maya mirror conjurors of Waka', Guatemala

Open access
Freidel, David A., Navarro-Farr, Olivia C., Rich, Michelle E., Meléndez, Juan Carlos, Pérez, Juan Carlos, Robles, Griselda Pérez, Kelly, Mary Kate·2024·Ancient Mesoamerica
DOI 10.1017/s0956536122000141
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

The Classic period lowland Maya used iron-ore mosaic mirrors and deposited mirrors in the burials of rulers and other people. Depictions of mirrors suggest that they were used for scrying, as were mirrors in Mesoamerica at the time of the Spanish arrival. Maya mirror users of this kind were conjurors, who used a variety of other divining and conjuring instruments and materials, including plates and shallow bowls. Three rulers at El Peru-Waka', now called Waka' by researchers at the site, an ancient city in northwestern Peten, Guatemala, were buried with mirrors and associated divining and conjuring materials. Following a brief introduction to the city and its temples, we describe the arrangement of mirrors and associated materials in three royal tombs. We suggest that the mirrors in these tombs were used in conjuring supernatural beings into existence, particularly Akan, a death god and wahy spirit who was a patron of the Waka' realm. We propose that the rulers and mirror conjurors of Waka' were oracles and that Waka' was known for prophecy. References to Sihyaj K'ahk' in text and iconography at Waka', and his association with oracular paraphernalia such as mirrors, lead us to propose a prophetic aspect of the visit of Sihyaj K'ahk' to the site eight days prior to his famous arrival at Tikal in a.d. 378. We suggest that the three rulers we discuss were mirror oracles sustained by the prestige of the prophecy of Sihyaj K'ahk'.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1017/s0956536122000141

Cites

52 of 52 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

Cites

Research works printed but not linked: 50

  1. Martin, 2000, La guerra entre los antiguos mayas: Memoria de la Primera Mesa Redonda de Palenque, 107
  2. Martin, 2008, Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya
  3. 10.2307/j.ctvwvr3fd.16 · DOI
  4. Freidel, 2006, Sacred Bindings of the Cosmos: Ritual Acts of Bundling and Wrapping in Mesoamerica, 59
  5. Stuart, 2018, A Preliminary Analysis of Altar 5 from La Corona, PARI Journal, 19, 1
  6. Taube, 2018a, Studies in Ancient Mesoamerican Art and Architecture: Selected Works, 174
  7. Rich, 2007, In Proyecto Arqueológico El Perú-Waka': Informe no. 4, temporada 2006, 217
  8. Navarro-Farr, 2016, Ritual, Violence, and the Fall of the Late Classic Maya Kings, 243
  9. Stuart, 2021, Sorcery in Mesoamerica, 179
  10. Wanyerka, 1996, A Fresh Look at a Maya Masterpiece, Cleveland Studies in the History of Art, 1, 72
  11. 10.5876/9781646421329 · DOI
  12. Navarro-Farr, 2014, Archaeology at El Perú-Waka': Ancient Maya Performances of Ritual, Memory, and Power
  13. Taube, 2018b, Studies in Ancient Mesoamerican Art and Architecture: Selected Works, 204
  14. Nielsen, 2017, Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire, 138
  15. Vázquez López, 2018, Tiempo detenido, tiempo suficiente: Ensayos y narraciones mesoamericanistas en homenaje a Alfonso Lacadena García-Gallo, 687
  16. Guenter, 2014, Archaeology at El Perú-Waka': Ancient Maya Performances of Ritual, Memory, and Power, 147
  17. Rich, Michelle 2011 Ritual, Royalty and Classic Period Politics: The Archaeology of the Mirador Group at El Perú-Waka', Petén, Guatemala. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas.
  18. Meléndez, Juan Carlos 2019 A Contextual Study of Ancient Maya Greenstone Mosaic Masks. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis.
  19. Stuart, 1988, Maya Iconography, 175
  20. Rich, 2010, An Olmec-Style Figurine from El Perú-Waka', Petén, Guatemala: A Preliminary Report, Mexicon, 17, 115
  21. Trik, 1963, The Splendid Tomb of Temple I at Tikal, Guatemala, Expedition, 6, 2
  22. Looper, 2002, Ancient Maya Women, 171
  23. Grube, 1994, The Maya Vase Book, 686
  24. Hellmuth, Nicholas M. 1967 Structure 5D-73, Burial 196, Tikal, Peten, Guatemala: A Preliminary Report. Submitted to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfilment for the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors, Harvard College. Electronic document, http://www.maya-archaeology.org/FLAAR_Reports_on_Mayan_archaeology_Iconography_publications_books_articles/14_Tikal-Burial-196-Tomb-of-the-Jade-Jaguar_Structure-5D-73_Peten-Guatemala_Vol_1_Nicholas-Hellmuth-Harvard-thesis.pdf, accessed April 26, 2023.
  25. Taube, 1983, The Teotihuacan Spider Woman, Journal of Latin American Lore, 9, 107
  26. Stuart, 2000, Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacán to the Aztecs, 465
  27. Freidel, 2013, Millenary Maya Societies: Past Crises and Resilience, 235
  28. Guenter, 2005, Proyecto Arqueológico El Perú-Waka': Informe no. 3, temporada 2005, 359
  29. Navarro-Farr, 2020c, A Forest of History: The Maya After the Emergence of Divine Kingship, 67
  30. Kelly, 2020, Proyecto Arqueológico Waka': Informe no. 17, temporada 2019, 282
  31. García, 2012, El jade y otras piedras verdes: Perspectivas interdisciplinarias e interculturales, 115
  32. Meléndez, Juan Carlos 2014 Contextualizing Burial 37 from El Perú-Waka', Petén, Guatemala . Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis.
  33. Guenter, 2007, On the Emblem Glyph of El Perú, PARI Journal, 7, 20
  34. Navarro-Farr, 2021b, Proyecto Arqueológico Waka': Informe no. 17, temporada 2019, 11
  35. Coe, 1998, The Art of the Maya Scribe
  36. Robb, 2017, Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire
  37. Houston, 2014, The Life Within: Classic Maya and the Longing for Permanence
  38. Just, 2007, An Incised Slate Belt Plaque at the Princeton University Art Museum, Mexicon, 24, 62
  39. Kelly, 2019, Proyecto Arqueológico Waka': Informe no. 16, temporada 2018, 349
  40. Lee, 2014, Archaeology at El Perú-Waka': Performances of Ritual, Memory, and Power, 85
  41. Navarro-Farr, Olivia C. 2009 Ritual, Process, and Continuity in the Late to Terminal Classic Transition: Investigations at Structure M13-1 in the Ancient Maya Site of El Perú-Waka', Petén, Guatemala. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas.
  42. Freidel, 2018, Play and Belief in Evolution and Early Human Societies, 101
  43. Marken, 2019a, XXXII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2018, 531
  44. Headrick, 2003, Seeing through Sahagun: Observations on a Mesoamerican Staff of Office, Mesoamerican Voices: Journal of the Chicago Maya Society, 1, 23
  45. Stuart, 2004, Understanding Early Classic Copan, 215
  46. Milbrath, 2000, Chalchihitl in quetzalli: Precious Greenstone, Precious Feather. Essays on Ancient Mexico in Honor of Doris Heyden, 31
  47. MacLeod, 1994, Painting the Maya Universe: Royal Ceramics of the Classic Period, 107
  48. Moholy-Nagy, 2008, Tikal Report 27 Part A: The Artifacts of Tikal: Ornamental and Ceremonial Artifacts and Unworked Material
  49. Piehl, 2010, Proyecto Arqueológico El Perú-Waka': Informe no. 4, temporada 2006, 188
  50. Escobedo, 2007, Proyecto Arqueológico El Perú-Waka': Informe no. 4, temporada 2006, 89

Cited by

Sorted by citations

See all 17

Related

See all

Metadata

Authors
Freidel, D. A., Navarro-Farr, O. C., Rich, M. E., Meléndez, J. C., Pérez, J. C., Robles, G. P., & Kelly, M. K.
Affiliations
  • Washington University in St. Louis (US)
  • College of Wooster (US)
  • Dallas Museum of Art (US)
  • Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • Proyecto Arqueológico Waka'
Corresponding author
Freidel, David A.
ORCID
Venue
Ancient Mesoamerica
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published
2023-09-14
Volume
35
Issue
1
Pages
6-28
ISSN
  • 0956-5361 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-1787
DOI
10.1017/s0956536122000141
OpenAlex
W4386744065
Cited by
17
References
53
Citations by year
2025: 1 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 3
FWCI
104.52
Type
journal article
Language
en
Update notices
correction (2023-09-14)
Open access
Licence
Locations
Ancient Mesoamerica (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Alphawood Foundation
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Historical Studies in Central America
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Latin American history and culture
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology (arts and humanities) › Historical and Architectural Studies
Keywords
Classic Maya, divination, waka poetry, royal burial, oracles, prophecy, Maya rulers, Maya religion, Maya iconography

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review