Chac Mool

Chac Mool

Chac Mool statue from Chichen Itza displayed at the National Museum of Anthropology

Chac Mool statue on-site in Chichen Itza

Chac Mool statue from Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan

Another Chac Mool statue from Cempoala

Chac-Mool is the name given to a type of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican stone statue. The Chac-Mool depicts a human figure in a position of reclining with the head up and turned to one side, holding a tray over the stomach. The meaning of the position or the statue itself remains unknown.

Chac-Mool statues are found in or around temples in Toltec and other post-Classic central Mexican sites, and in post-Classic Maya civilization sites with heavy Toltec influence, such as Chichen Itza.

The ancient name for these type of sculptures is unknown. The name Chac-Mool is attributed to Augustus Le Plongeon, who excavated one of the statues at Chichen Itza in 1875. Le Plongeon named it Chaacmol, which he translated from the Maya as "thundering paw." Le Plongeon claimed the statue was a depiction of a former ruler of Chichen Itza. Le Plongeon's sponsor, Stephen Salisbury of Worcester, Massachusetts, published Le Plongeon's find, but revised the spelling to "Chac-Mool."^[1]

Chac-Mools should not be confused with Chaac, one of the leading deities in Maya mythology associated primarily with the phenomena of rain and thunder, and with whom they are not associated.

Chac-Mools can be found throughout Central Mexico and Yucatán. In addition to Tula and Chichen Itza, sites known for Chac-Mools include Mexico City, Cempoala, Tlaxcala, and Quiriguá^[2] in Guatemala.

Alternative meanings

Chacmool is the name of an annual conference held by the Archaeology Students' Association of the University of Calgary, located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

• "Chac Mool" is a short story in Los días enmascarados by Carlos Fuentes.
• "Chac-Mool" is a character in "The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea" by Cherríe Moraga.
• "Chac Mool" is the 9th track on Rodrigo and Gabriela's 2009 album 11:11.
• Chac Mool is regarded as a secondary mascot of the online imageboard 420chan.
• Chac Mool is a cenote in the Playa del Carmen (22km south of) district of Mexico.

See also

• Chaac
• Maya
• Toltecs

Notes

1. ^ Salisbury (1877, p.80).
2. ^ Martin & Grube 2000, p.225.

References

Martin, Simon; and Nikolai Grube (2000). Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya. London and New York: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05103-8. OCLC 47358325. 

Salisbury, Stephen Jr. (1877). "Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan". Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 69: pp.70–119. 

External links

• "Chacmool," by Lawrence G. Desmond, Peabody Museum, Harvard University