NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Mesoamerican world tree

"World trees" are a prevalent motif occurring in the mythical cosmologies, creation accounts and iconographies of the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica. World trees embodied the four cardinal directions, which also serve to represent the four-fold nature of a central world tree, a symbolic axis mundi which connects the planes of the Underworld and the sky with that of the terrestrial realm.^[1] Izapa Stela 5 is considered a possible representation of a World Tree. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (433x766, 107 KB) Summary The following is an image of the Mayan Sacred Tree growing from the body of the Mayan ruler Pacal II. The image is free to be posted anywhere. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (433x766, 107 KB) Summary The following is an image of the Mayan Sacred Tree growing from the body of the Mayan ruler Pacal II. The image is free to be posted anywhere. ... The Palace, Ruins of Palenque Palenque is a Maya archeological site near the Usumacinta River in the Mexican state of Chiapas, located at about 130 km south of Ciudad del Carmen (see map). ... Pacal II, also known as Pacal the Great (the name is sometimes rendered as Pakal) (26 March 603 - 31 August 683), was king of the Maya kingdom of Palenque. ... Mesoamerican creation accounts are the collection of origin beliefs attributed or documented for the various cultures and civilizations of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. ... Look up Iconography in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the Americas continent. ... Location of Mesoamerica in the Americas. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Mount Kailash, depicting the holy family of Shiva and Ganesha The axis mundi (axis of the world or world axis), in religion or mythology, is the world center and/or the connection between heaven and Earth. ... Izapa Stela 5 is one of a number of large, carved stelae found in the ancient Mesoamerican city of Izapa in 1941 by Smithsonian archaeologist Matthew W. Stirling. ...

Depictions of world trees, both in their directional and central aspects, are found in the art and mythological traditions of cultures such as the Maya, Aztec, Izapan, Mixtec, Olmec, and others, dating to at least the Mid/Late Formative periods of Mesoamerican chronology. Among the Maya, the central world tree was conceived as or represented by a ceiba tree, and is known variously as a wacah chan or yax imix che, depending on the Mayan language.^[2] The trunk of the tree could also be represented by an upright caiman, whose skin evokes the tree's spiny trunk.^[3] The Maya civilization is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its spectacular art, monumental architecture, and sophisticated mathematical and astronomical systems. ... It has been suggested that Mexica be merged into this article or section. ... // Overview Izapa was a very large pre-Columbian site located in Chiapas, Mexico, often placed in the Late Formative period. ... Codex Zouche-Nuttall, a pre-Columbian piece of Mixtec writing, now in the British Museum The Mixtec (or Mixteca) are a Native American people centered in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. ... Monument 1, one of the four Olmec colossal heads at La Venta. ... Mesoamerican chronology The chronology of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica is usually divided into the following eras: Paleo-Indian Period c. ... Species About 10-20 species, including: Ceiba aesculifolia Ceiba glaziovii Ceiba insignis Ceiba pentandra Ceiba speciosa Ceiba trichistandra Ceiba is the name of a genus of many species of large trees found in tropical areas, including Central and South America, The Bahamas,the Caribbean, West Africa, and Southeast Asia. ... The Mayan languages are a family of related languages spoken from South-Eastern Mexico through northern Central America as far south as Honduras. ... Genera Alligator Caiman Melanosuchus Paleosuchus Alligators and caimans are reptiles closely related to the crocodiles and forming the family Alligatoridae (sometimes regarded instead as the subfamily Alligatorinae). ...

Directional world trees are also associated with the four Yearbearers in Mesoamerican calendars, and the directional colors and deities. Mesoamerican codices which have this association outlined include the Dresden, Borgia and Fejérváry-Mayer codices.^[4] It is supposed that Mesoamerican sites and ceremonial centers frequently had actual trees planted at each of the four cardinal directions, representing the quadripartite concept. The Pre-Columbian people of Mesoamerica kept track of time with calendars which had ritual and religious meaning. ... The traditions of indigenous Mesoamerican literature extend back to the oldest-attested forms of early writing in the Mesoamerican region, which date from around the mid-1st millennium BCE. Many of the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica are known to have been literate societies, who produced a number of Mesoamerican... Maya codices (singular codex) are books written by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, using the Maya hieroglyphic script. ... Quetzalcoatl in human form, using the symbols of Ehecatl, from the Codex Borgia. ... First page of the Codex FejÃ©rvÃ¡ry-Mayer The Codex FejÃ©rvÃ¡ry-Mayer is an Aztec Codex of central Mexico. ... First page of the Codex Argenteus A codex (Latin for block of wood, book; plural codices) is a handwritten book, in general, one produced from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages. ...

World trees are frequently depicted with birds in their branches, and their roots extending into earth or water (sometimes atop a "water-monster", symbolic of the underworld).

The central world tree has also been interpreted as a representation of the band of the Milky Way.^[5] This article refers to the Milky Way galaxy, for the Milky Way as the hazy band of white light visible from Earths surface, see Milky Way (astronomy) For other uses, see Milky Way (disambiguation). ...

Alien hypothesis

Erich von Däniken proposed the alternative interpretation that the sarcophagus of Pacal depicts the king departing the Earth in a space craft. This speculation is discounted by all Mayanist researchers, who from the iconography and Maya inscriptions are able to read the depiction as a representation of the ruler and a world tree. Erich von DÃ¤niken Erich Anton Paul von DÃ¤niken (b. ... Pacal II, also known as Pacal the Great (the name is sometimes rendered as Pakal) (26 March 603 - 31 August 683), was king of the Maya kingdom of Palenque. ... Mayanist is a term which has been in widespread use from the late 19th century onwards, to refer to scholars who have specialised in research and study of the Central American pre-Columbian Maya civilization. ... Maya glyphs in stucco at the Museo de sitio in Palenque, Mexico The Maya script, commonly known as Maya hieroglyphs, was the writing system of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica, presently the only deciphered script of the Mesoamerican writing systems. ...

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Alien hypothesis

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Alien hypothesis