|
|
|
|
Izapa The site of Izapa is located along the Pacific coastal piedmont of Chiapas in a location that sat at the juncture between Mixe-Zoquean-speaking peoples to the West and Mayan-speaking peoples to the East. Although there is evidence of occupation at the site during the Early Formative, the site reached its height during the Late Formative period (300 BC - AD 250). The site is most famous for the many stelae that were erected in combination with carved and plain altars. These were placed within large quadrangular plazas that were bounded by pyramidal mounds. Themes from several of the stelae recall those from Middle Formative monuments. For example, Izapa Stela 5, the largest and most complex stela at the site, depicts an enormous World Tree that bisects the composition. The tree stretches from a watery basal layer at the bottom to a celestial band at the top. A series of mythic and quasi-historical scenes appear on either side of the tree, while the bodies of two zoomorphic beasts frame the scene on either side. |
||
 |
Stela 6 depicts an enormous toad whose back is marked by pitted parotid glands that identify it as a Bufo marinus. Altar 2 depicts another Bufo marinus toad in three-dimensional form. These representations of Bufo marinus toads may be references to the types of hallucinogenic journeys that were performed by Late Formative rulers at Izapa. |
 |
 |
The Landscape of Creation
The triadic arrangement of the pillars was the earthly equivalent of the Three Hearthstones of Creation, which were also reflected in the night sky in the three stars in the belt of the constellation Orion. |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
Maize God Imagery Although the original location of Izapa Stela 67 is unknown, its imagery
provides further information about the nature of Late Formative rituals.
By comparing the scene on Stela 67 to later Classic Maya imagery, it is
clear that it depicts the transportation and rebirth of the Maize God.
The imagery also had its analog in the night sky, when the Milky Way was
positioned from East to West in the night sky in a conformation known
as the "Canoe." This position of the Milky Way, like others, signaled
a specific passage from the creation story.  |
|
 |
Doing the Bird Dance Perhaps the greatest amount of information about Late Formative rituals of rulership can be gleaned from the series of "bird-dancer" stelae at the site. Izapa Stela 4 depicts a ruler engaged in an act of avian transformation. Such imagery enables scholars to recreate the rituals and performances of shamanic journeys that were choreographed within the centers of Late Formative sites. Other evidence for these bird transformation rituals comes to us from hieroglyphic information, like that recorded on La Mojarra Stela 1, and from the archaeological record as at the site of Kaminaljuyú. These avian transformation rituals also invoke passages from the Popol
Vuh, the K'iche' Maya creation account. This is demonstrated by Izapa
Stela 25. According to the Popol Vuh, the Principal Bird Deity was a vain macaw that claimed to rule the world during the prior creation. In order to usher in the present creation, a set of Hero Twins needed to shoot the Principal Bird Deity from its perch in a tree. This encounter between the twins and the macaw is depicted on a Classic Maya vessel known as the "Blowgunner Pot" and on Izapa Stela 25. This story was also reflected in the night sky through the movements of the Milky Way and the Big Dipper, or Ursa Major, which was the astronomical counterpart to the Principal Bird Deity. In fact, Stela 25 should be understood as a map of the night sky that depicts this specific passage from the creation story. |
 |
 |
|
Bibliography
|
|
The
quadrangular plaza of Group B was the focus of ritual activity by 300
BC. While the Group B plaza contains many stela-altar combinations, it
is most famous for its triadic arrangement of pillars. Each of the three
pillars, measuring about 130 cm tall, holds a stone sphere that is about
70 cm in diameter.