The pieces were delivered by 76-year-old Luis Arana, whose father, Hector Arana, one of the first tourist guides in the mountainous region of Yucatan state, built the collection between 1930 and 1960, or before the founding of INAH.
Although the archaeological context in which the pieces were discovered is unknown (they were given to Hector Arana by people who found them and knew of his interest in collecting), expert Ricardo Rodolfo Antorcha said in a statement that most came from the Puuc region and belonged to the Cehpech ceramic complex.
The pieces turned over to the INAH Center in Yucatan state are believed to date to between the end of the Mayans’ Late Classic period (700-750 A.D.) and the latter stage of the Terminal Classic period (1000-1,100 A.D.).
The collection is highlighted by a batch of 54 slate ceramic pieces that include plates, earthenware bowls and jars and are shiny in appearance.
“There also are black obsidian knives; in this case, we’re talking about a material of volcanic origin that probably came from Guatemala or El Salvador, in the south of the Mayan area. There also are flint and obsidian knives, as well as macerators and crushers made of material from the Yucatan peninsula,” Antorcha said.
Most notable among the collection delivered by Arana are a hundred copper rattles that likely served as some type of adornment, perhaps to wear as a pectoral, he said.
The collection also includes several heads of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures, as well as a shell that was used as an inkwell by a scribe or painter – a hypothesis based on some pre-Columbian Mayan texts that show the use of these recipients.
In addition to this valuable collection of artifacts, Arana also preserved photographs, letters, maps and other documents, several of them relating to the travels of famed American archaeologist Sylvanus Morley (1883-1948).
The letters contain correspondence between Hector Arana and Morley, according to expert, who said the material could eventually complement the archaeological collection once it has been studied and classified.
Source: Latin American Herald Tribune [February 09, 2012]
