Mayan Art Megathread

Balamku: House of the Four Kings- Earth Monster

Smaller Mayan ruin in the Peten (Mexico) known for its large and detailed stucco frieze known as the Earth Monster, located in the temple known as the House of the Four Kings.



Cant help but think that right about the monster's face is perched a slann...

Spoiler: House of the Four Kings

Jaguar in stucco

Spoiler: Drawing Art

 

That does have the right body type for slann! These ruins are so awesome. I hope to get to check them out some day.

 

Time for some more Mayan cities, specifically in the Rio Bec artitechtural style, characterized by fantastically detailed stucco facades, false temples, fake doors, and snake archways.

Starting of course with the ruins of Rio Bec, as they are today:



Artists' reproduction, supposedly of the same site but I only see one doorway on the picture above, not three...

Spoiler: Rio Bec

 

Turns out the ruins with the one door are Rio Bec, the ones with three doors are at the location called Xpuhil; much more intact than at Rio Bec.



Apparently there are some cool faces still remaining on the ruins; a terrain model could easily be edited to look like a lizardman carved them...

Spoiler: Xpuhil

Aerial shot, turns out the ruins are right next to a river. Most of the main ruins-epicenter have been cleared, but not to long ago I am sure they were choked off by the jungle trees surrounding them.

 

Ruins of Tabasqueno; complete with snake-doorway high up on the temple.



First picture is pre-Restoration, just how they found it in the middle of the jungle.



And here it is today!

Spoiler: Tabasqueno

 

Lovely stuff! Next time I´m projectless, I´ll start some scenery! 5 pages of buildings to replicate!!
Awesome stuff!

 

Coatlicue

So this one is Aztec, not Mayan, but a very interesting (and creepy) statue. Coatlicue, known as a "primordial earth goddess," gave birth to the moon and stars, as well as the Aztec war-god Huitzilopochtli, who burst from her womb fully grown and armed for battle to fight his enemies. She is also known as a "snake woman" and referred to as "our grandmother."



The particular statue in question is a terrifying visage. Her head is formed by two snakes, facing each other. She wears a necklace made up of human hands, heads, and skulls. She also wears a skirt of snakes. Check out this quote from our friendly neighborhood Wikipedia:

"Most Aztec artistic representations of this goddess emphasize her deadly side, because Earth, as well as loving mother, is the insatiable monster that consumes everything that lives. She represents the devouring mother, in whom both the womb and the grave exist."



Bottom line the goddess Coatlicue is no joke. In fact the statue of her that was recently found in Mexico City, and now resides in the museum, was originally discovered in the 1700s and scared the crap out of the Europeans, but the natives started to worship it. The statue was deemed so demonic and terrifying, it was immediately reburied and "lost" for a few more centuries until the modern era where it was re-excavated. In real life the statue is 8 feet tall!

Spoiler: Coatlicue

Another modern artist's depiction of the Coatlicue motif. Does a good job capturing the terrifying aspect of the goddess.

 

Couple quick mood-pictures of some relatively unknown sites:

Pechal



Amazing amount of detail; looks like it might by Chac-mask carvings (rain god) judging by the curled snouts. Also like how lifelike the eyes look in the bottom picture, like the ruins are staring back at you.





Uitzina

Mostly like this picture for the color: the ruins appear dark green and mysterious, plenty of overgrowth. Probably chameleons lurking around here somewhere...

 

Chicanna- House of the Serpent Mouth

Amazing example of Rio-bec style, highly detailed artwork. The gate itself is begging to be re-created into a Lizardmen temple city.





Picture of the temple of Chicanna itself, presumably behind the gateway somewhere:

Spoiler: more details of Chicanna

 

Next time I make lizardmen scenery I´ll definitely check out this whole thread!

 

A couple of random mayan-esque pics to offer to the Old Ones (the middle one specifically to the Chameleon God)

 

Some Mayan/Aztec-esque inspired art, courtesy of deviantart:

Lady Xook (by plumed serpent)



War God Huitzilopoctli (team4taken)



Emperor's New Guard (Evil Santa)- Looks more incan, maybe inspired by Emperor's New Groove? Still looks cool; would love to see a temple guard with this color scheme. Or even a unit of saurus, could look cool with the right paint job and basing.



Three pieces of Aztec gods done by Adrian Wall; some really cool mood pieces. The last one makes me think Lustrian Necromancer...

Cihuateteo



Huitzilopochtli



Mictecacihuatl

 

Some Mayan-looking landscapes, potential hidden Lizardmen temple sites:



By Gycinn (made from a composite of the temples of Tikal and other real-world Mayan cites):

 

Tikal Stela 31

Very detailed Stela, built at the height of Tikal's power after a recent victory over its arch-rival city-state Calakmul. The stela ("stone-tree") represents the ruler Siyaj Chan K’awiil, dressed in stereotypical Mayan-ruler garb.



Two other stela flank this one, interestingly they are not Mayan dressed, but rather dressed as warriors from the West (central mexico, probably Teotihuacan).


I would love to make a Lizardmen stela with half this much detail...

Spoiler: Tikal Stela 31 pics

Pic from the shield of one of the two flanking non-Mayan warriors, depicting Tlaloc I believe (Teotihuacan god of war)

 

man i love this your just manly posting about my ancestors lol my grandmother has a sacrificial dagger back home from a jaguar warrior. I have been really into this part of history since I was a kid. The level of math they had was just amazing

 

That is neat! I have a tiny-fraction of native American ancestry, but nothing so far south as Mexico or the Mayans. Love the art!

Speaking of art...



Exquisitly painted vase; Motul de San Jose Area. Depicts the birth of the Maize God at "Na-Ho-Chan Witz-Xaman." Artist who painted this thing was pretty good.

 

Ya man i love this history i have been to most of these places and i am planning a trip to the
Naica Crystal Cave Mexico

its going to be awesome

 

Wow. Didn't know this place was real.





It looks like something out of star trek. Or the dinotopia sunstone caves.

If you get to go take lots of pictures!

 

Just some stone trees.

Stelae B from Copan. Definitely a favorite. This is one of the old original pictures, probably one of the first photographs taken of this particular monument.

Spoiler: more stelae

Back of a Copan stelae, don't remember which one.


Quirigua stelae

 

Awesome, glad I found this thread.