When you attempt something ambitious you’re bound to make some mistakes along the way. I’m sure the book I’m working on will have its fair share (recently I realized I had confused the Mughal painters Bichitr and Bishandas). But sometimes a mistake is so stunning that it’s hard to recover from.

I was finding Charles H. Parker’s Global Interactions in the Early Modern Age, 1400-1800 generally interesting and credible. Then I came upon this sentence:

The lack of any indigenous pack animals, except for the llama, and the absence of a wheel meant that humans formed the primary source of portage in Mesoamerican trade.

Probably another reason Mesoamericans depended on humans for portage is that the nearest of their “indigenous” llamas was nearly 2000 miles away in the South American Andes.

This reminds me of a visit to the market in Chichicastenango in Guatemala a few decades ago. The blanket vendors all touted their blankets as pura lana, which means “pure wool.” At the market I met a foolish young Spanish-challenged gringo carrying a blanket he had bought. He’d paid a high price, but it was worth it, he assured me, proudly proclaiming it “pure llama!”

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Image from felipe ascencio‘s photostream.

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Howlers

The portion of this painted ceramic drinking vessel that is shown in this image shows a well-turned- jaguarsporting a knotted scarf and a deer antler. He is a wayob’ – the companion spirit of a Maya ruler. Other wayob’ shown on the other sides of this vessel are a toad and a serpent (the young man at right is emerging from the serpent’s jaws). The vessel, from the southern Campeche area, is in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

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Drinking Vessel, 600-800 CE. Mexico, Southern Campeche. Ceramic with cream, red, and black slip, H: 5 3/8 in., D: 5 1/8 in. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of the 2006 Collectors Committee.

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Drinking vessel, 600-800 CE

This photo from Izamal in the Mexican Yucatan comes from larry&flo’s photostream.

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Photo Wednesday: Water delivery

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Back soon

This image of the Aztec calendar wheel — also known as the Stone of the Sun — that was excavated in the Zócalo (main square) in Mexico City comes from Drogdon’s photostream. The basalt stone is about twelve feet in diameter. It is now in the collections of the National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City.

It’s possible that this is a photo of a replica, as it doesn’t look sufficiently aged to be the real stone. (If anyone knows, please leave a comment.)

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Photo Wednesday: The Stone of the Sun

Christine Delsol identifies ten revolutionary Maya foods.

1. Chocolate
2. Vanilla
3. Corn
4. Chiles
5. Tomatoes
6. Black beans
7. Avocado
8. Sweet potato
9. Squash
10. Papaya

Pretty good list. Read what she has to say here.

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image from a Chiapas market from 10b travelling’s photostream

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Maya foods that changed world cuisine

• A fine collection of Mexican colonial art : In Davenport, Iowa?
• San Francisco’s putative Mexican Museum gets $250,000 : Will it ever actual open?
• The Mixed Blessings of Mexican Dual Citizenship : Double military obligations anyone?
• The Lost Murals of Miguel Covarrubias : At the San Jose (California) Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival
• Maya altar from classic period to be reconstructed : Few objects from this period have been found in northern Yucatan

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Friday roundup

This photo of hanging plants at the Hotel Lunata in Playa del Carmen on the Mayan Riviera comes from theilr’s photostream

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Photo Wednesday: Hanging plants

• Natural Guatemalan Color Palette : It goes with caldos
• Jade sheds light on Guatemala’s geologic history : I’ts more complicated than had been thought
• Guatemala stops ex-officials from leaving country : But did it do the same for the cocaine?
• Plants of the Ancient Maya : Identification of important plants to the ancient Maya is still in its early stages
• Lo cruel que es el discurso de ricos y pobres : “Si no fuera cruel, sería sólo cínico”
• J.D. Smith’s top 5 mariachi links : Volver volver volver

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Friday roundup

I hope to return to more regular blogging soon. We might as well start with our regular feature, Photo Wednesday. This image of hammocks against a bright wall comes from CasaDeQueso’s photostream. CasaDeQueso says that the hammocks were for sale at a roadside souvenir shop, near Coba, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

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Photo Wednesday: Colorful hammocks