Abstract

VARGAS PACHECO, Ernesto. Legitimizing royalty among Late Preclassic Maya. The masks from El Tigre-Campeche. Estud. cult. maya [online]. 2010, vol.36, pp.11-35. ISSN 0185-2574.

The images of Maya dignitaries take the most important places in monumental art during Classic period, and all other representations occupy a secondary position in that context. This paper pretends to demonstrate that Maya kings tried to duplicate their conception of the Universe on civic architecture since Preclassic period, or even before; they used huge mask representations to transmit the sacred condition of their ancestors, their gods and their selves. At El Tigre site, in Campeche, have been explored several stucco masks of Late Preclassic date, showing human faces that may represent ancestors of the kings who tried to deify them in order to legitimate Maya royalty.

Keywords : Maya; Campeche; stucco masks; sacred royalty; Late Preclassic.