Maya Indian Artifacts

Maya Indian Artifact. The content of Maya Indian artifacts is very rich and can be summarized only in the briefest style.

The ruin themselves are breathtaking in their glory and permanence. Abandoned for centuries, torn by tree roots and choked by jungle, these Maya Indian artifacts nevertheless retain the essence of their original purpose; to impress the beholder.

The artifacts consist of large pyramidal mounds and platforms made of earth and rock fill, usually faced with cut limestone blocks set in lime mortar. Many of Maya Indian artifacts are tremendously high and amazingly steep.

Maya Indian great artifact is expressed in the media of full round stone sculpture (at Copan ), in relief carvings in stone and on wooden lintels ( as at Piedras Negras or Tikal ), in stucco sculptures ( Palenque ), and in wall painting ( Bonampak ).

Decoration was applied to roof tombs and facades of building, to room interiors, to cornices, moldings and balustrades of buildings and mound, and to free standing stelae and altars.
A mask panel of mosaic carvings or stucco frequently adorned the exterior of structures. The panel bore a serpent head, highly stylized and with various human, jaguar and bird attributes and additions. Human figures of rulers, priest, soldiers and captives sometimes were realistically portrayed.

Without benefit of metal tools, beasts of burden, or even the wheel, the Maya Indian were still masters of architecture, building elaborate pyramids and sprawling cities. Maya Indian carvings have withstood the test of time. The Maya Indian terra cotta figurines and polychrome vases are admired not only for their historical value, but as works of art.

A great deal of Maya Indian artifact also was bound up with god-representations and with hieroglyphic writing.