Those Mayan Masochists

From The Times
January 13, 2009
The Maya suffered for their looks
Norman Hammond, Archaeology Correspondent


We may think we make sufficient sacrifices for our idea of beauty,
what with false eyelashes, body perforations supporting various bits
of metalwork from earrings to tongue studs, toupees and hair
extensions, Spanx and padded bras. The Ancient Maya went much farther,
however, reshaping their children’s skulls and inlaying their own
teeth with jade.


“The Maya went to extreme lengths to transform their bodies,”
Professor Mary Miller reports in the new year issue of Archaeology,
the US journal. “They invested vast wealth and endured unspeakable
pain to make themselves beautiful.”


As an example, Professor Miller cites K’inich Janaab’ Pakal, who ruled
the western Maya city of Palenque from AD615 to 683, and after his
death at the age of 80 was interred in a great carved sarcophagus
below the Temple of the Inscriptions. His skeleton shows that soon
after his birth, his head was strapped between two cradle-boards to
compress it from back to front, not unlike the crystal-skulled aliens
in the recent Indiana Jones film.


This left an indentation above his browline, which was emphasised by
an artificial nasal bridge, probably of clay or plaster, built up on
to his forehead. Although this does not survive in the burial, a
stucco portrait head found below the sarcophagus shows it clearly. The
head also shows that Pakal’s hair was cut in a series of bluntly
trimmed tresses, with longer strands on top flopping forward, which
Professor Miller interprets as imitating the leaves and corn silk on a
maize plant: at the site of Cacaxtla, Maya-style murals show maize
cobs on the plant as human heads. Pakal was shown as ever-youthful,
like the maize that springs up anew each year.


Pakal’s front teeth were filed into an inverted T-shape, marking him
as also being the Sun God, something shown on his jade burial mask as
well. For many Maya, notably those of the elite, dental decoration was
seen as highly desirable.


Teeth, especially the upper incisors and canines were filed and
notched in a variety of designs, giving in some cases a distinctly
crooked smile. Most striking, however, were the dental inlays: a
shallow hole was drilled into the front face of the tooth enamel
(using a reed or bone hollow drill and an abrasive such as sand or
jade dust), sometimes reaching the dentine within.


Small discs of jade, obsidian or haematite were then cemented into the
holes: the plant adhesive was so powerful that many burials found by
archaeologists today still have the inlays firmly in place. Up to
three discs were inserted into a single tooth, and jade and the other
materials were combined to give a flash of apple-green, dull red and
shiny black across the mouth; inlays and filing were also combined.
Dental decoration was probably applied as a rite of passage to
adulthood, according to Professor Stephen Houston, of Brown
University, Rhode Island.


The Maya also painted their bodies, in life and in death. Narrative
scenes on polychrome vases show pigments applied to face, chest and
buttocks. In death, Pakal’s corpse was treated with alternating layers
of red and black pigments, Professor Miller reports. Red to the Maya
was the colour of the sunrise, black of the sunset, alternating with
each other in the diurnal cycle.


Some facial designs are in the form of long strings of dots,
especially around the mouth, and when this is shown in sculpture or
vase-painting it may be intended to show tattooing rather than just
make-up. “Beauty was a way to display social, if not moral, value
among the ancient Maya,” Professor Miller concludes. “The wealth they
invested and pain they endured to create bodies that reflected their
social beliefs make our modern-day obsession with beauty seem less
excessive.”

Those Mayan Masochists