Abstract
In past and present Maya imagery, native beeswax and honey, especially that from Melipona beecheii, have had a profound symbolic significance. Several pre-Columbian images allow us to identify the existence of this tradition for over two millennia and are the material evidence of its religious importance. In this paper we show and analyze some examples of bees and hives. Modeled in clay and in paintings of small format made on bark paper, they exemplify variety in technical resources used by ancient Maya artists and testify to the millennial Maya tradition of handling native stingless bees. Of special interest is the Tro-Cortesianus Codex, with images that allow us to recognize Maya aesthetic values and the meaning that native bees had in Maya cosmology, especially during the Late Postclassic period (1250–1500 CE).
On 7 Caban honey was first created, when we had none.
The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel
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Notes
- 1.
Modern Maya call jobón a man-made hollow piece of tree trunk that can shelter a Melipona hive.
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We acknowledge the financial support for our research by the Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, UNAM (Ixtli 400610) and PASPA.
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Sotelo Santos, L.E., Alvarez Asomoza, C. (2018). The Maya Universe in a Pollen Pot: Native Stingless Bees in Pre-Columbian Maya Art. In: Vit, P., Pedro, S., Roubik, D. (eds) Pot-Pollen in Stingless Bee Melittology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61839-5_21
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