7 DECEMBER, 2020 – 21:47 JENNIFER AND AL…

Maya Animation? Breathing Newfound Vitality into Ancient Maya Art

This article presents a major breakthrough in Maya art and archaeology, revealing the sophisticated way that Maya artists animated ancient artworks. There is a lot of excitement surrounding the contemporary Mexican animator Jorge Gutierrez’s latest project, a Netflix series called Maya and the Three, a modern anime that visualizes the pre-Columbian world, which fits in nicely with our research. 

This is because the Maya had their own ancient anime. Studying Maya moving pictures unlocks a forgotten philosophy of time-space not to be missed by those interested in ancient history and archaeology. The rollout photograph above is of a Maya ceramic which has converted the 3D ceramic to a flat 2D image. However, the image was never intended to be seen all at once in this manner. 

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The geometric chevron band – visible on the rollout image of the original late classic Chama-style polychrome vase seen in the main image above – urges the directional rotation of the vase following the arrow points. Turning the ceramic vase animates an attendant to bow before an enthroned ruler, simultaneously highlighting the transformation of his headdress. The animation was extracted and adapted from The Metropolitan Museum of Art; http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/318662. (Jenny and Alex John / The Maya Gods of Time)