Skyband or Roofband ?

Date of writing 6 and 7 May, 2008.

The vases discussed in this essay are listed on pages 3 and 4 of the topical list for myths and gods, in approximately the order of the following discussion. Please click here. Those included here which were not tagged by Kerr as "skyband" include K5367 (very large symbols in band at the bottom) and two which have step-frets, a symbol not occurring in Skybands (K0868, K6495), one of which is the most obvious example of a Roofband rather than a Skyband. Also not included by Kerr were vases probably showing a loss of function as true skybands. These last have all K'IN glyphs (K2978), all K'AN glyphs (K5082), or a mixture of the two (K7912), some unique combinations (K4923, K4577), or simple spacers with no symbols remaining (K1782, K3699)

What have been called Skybands are bands of symbols occurring extensively on Mayan stelas and other monuments, even in the codices. The symbols are most often K'IN (day, Sun), AK'BAL (night), STAR (or "Venus"), SUN, MOON, and several others in the same meaning range, including a few whose interpretation is not known.

Such skybands also occur on Mayan pottery, in at least four locations. The point of this essay is to suggest that we can distinguish Skybands from Roofbands (on the edge of the eves of a palace or temple roof), and from Thronebands (on the edges of thrones). These distinctions can be used to separate the human world from the celestial world of the Gods, and thus interact with our interpretations of scenes in which they occur.

On one, possibly four vases, we have an analog to the use of Skybands as the throne or base on which deities sit. These are K8497 (the best match), and possibly K4717, K5365, and K5454. Compare with the first of these the Dresden Codex D46a, D47a, D49a, D50a (all in the Venus Table); D66c-1, D68a-1, D29b-1, D32c-2, D34c-1, D35c-2, D37c-1, D40c-3. Compare with the other three D68b-3. These types are rare or nonexistent in the Madrid Codex.

Roofbands can be distinguished from Skybands in several ways. On K5371, there is a Roofband consisting of black triangles pointing upwards, along a roofline supported by a pillar. This is part of an overall symbol of a palace or temple well known in Mesoamerican cultures, and very commonly used in Mixtec codices. We have an extra assurance that this row of triangles is not a Skyband because such triangles are not one of the traditional symbols in skybands nor one of the forms which can be seen to have developed from such traditional symbols. On this vase, the types of symbols which occur in Skybands actually occur on the pillar of the palace, not in its roofline. Similar Skyband symbols occur in the pillars framing the rooms of K7999.

The step-fret is another symbol which does not normally occur in verifiable Skybands. It occurs in a very interesting way on K0868, along the upper rim just where it represents the edge of a palace roof. The remainder of the rim of this vase has glyphs presumably from the PSS (Primary Standard Sequence). Again we have both the choice of symbol and the iconographic arrangement confirming that this is a Roofband, not a Skyband. An added confirmation on this vase is the occurrence of draperies tied up to the roof of a palace. In the imagery of Mayan vases, draperies alone can signal internal space (a palace room) and distinguish it from external space (unroofed). [add citations to vases where draperies alone signal this, and add a topical list of vases with such signals] For these reasons, we can class the upper and lower rims of vases K6495 and K0509 as probably not Skybands.

A vase which contrasts a Skyband with a Roofband on about the same leel is K3007. The fairly traditional and standard Skyband extends across the right 3/4 of the vase just below the PSS. In the left 1/4, there is the roof of a palace with a Roofband, one of the characteristics of which is the double eyed-circles (brief notation "OO") on a dark background. Lower in the palace are floors and thrones with "lazy-S" and bar and dot patterns.

Vase K8622 has a rather typical traditional Skyband in serpentine form, with additional glyphs attached at intervals, some of them doubtlessly referring to Venus as (Chak) EK'. Compare the Madrid Codex M13b-to-18b.

Vase K0504 has two thrones, one marked with Skyband symbols on which sit two gods, the other not so marked and not so elegantly constructed on which sits apparently a human being making an offering to those gods. That this is inside a palace (temple?) is signaled in part by the walls or "pillars" of the building, with cartouches on them containing glyphs. A similar context in on vase K1183, where Itzamnah sits on a throne whose edge is marked with a Skyband design (it is probably better here to call it a Throneband). He is granting the request of those who have approached him, as shown by his hand position. The two who have approached are sitting on the floor, not on a throne, and are quite plausibly the hero twins. Hunahpu would be the one with the black dots. The entire scene is set on a true Skyband, which shows the event is occurring in the celestial realm of the gods. Here the scene is above the Skyband, not below it. One more example of a Skyband as Roofband is on K0114. Here the frontmost figure beneath the temple roof line (where a Sungod is being emitted from a maw) wears a headdress having streamers with eyed circles, and is by this means probably marked as celestial, but this is probably not to be regarded as a Skyband.

Those skybands on Mayan vases which look most traditional, aside from a few already mentioned, are grouped in the lists from K8999 to K7185. They are not identical to what is found on classical monuments, but are recognizably similar. This essay does not yet discuss them. Skybands whose designs give an overall impression similar to these and functioning as skybands in the codices include D68a-2-3, M5, M9, M12b, M34-35-36-37 (dividing upper and lower registers in the New Year's pages), M67b-2, M71a-1.

To consider the next group of Roofbands and their distinction from Skybands, we need to consider a number of palace scenes which have profile versions of quatrefoils marked on the pillars supporting their roofs, some containing a god's head (the first type), and a jaguar pelt attached at a diagonal. These include K4806 (Chama because of the chevron bands, and in this one is the pelt not at a diagonal), K4617, K6041, and K5943. There are a few more which are similar to these. A second type of quatrefoil appears in K8940 (which has gods on thrones, and the /jal/ 'change' glyph beneath the throne, as also in Kxxx), and also in K5195, K1734, K1669, and K4929. The last four all have Roofbands rather than Skybands above the throne scenes, as shown partly by the pillars or walls, partly by the horizontal breaks in the Roofbands (exception K1734 the band extends all the way), and partly by the choice of symbols in these bands. Although these appear to have originated in skyband symbols, they have developed farther away from their origins than those mentioned in the preceding paragraph. Common are the crossbands symbol, the K'AN cross, and the pair of eyed circles, the last possibly derived from the Venus or Star symbol. Others are rarer, such as the AK'BAL or 'night' symbol.

The next group are like those just discussed, except that there are no quatrefoil images on pillars (walls). These include K8962, K2796 "Vase of the Seven Gods", which shows a common pattern of the pair of eyed circles occurring double, the K'AN crosses occurring double, the Crossbands occurring double, and the "lazy-S"symbol occurring once double (this last perhaps also derived from a traditional Skyband symbol). Since the "Vase of the Seven Gods" is presumably not a human context, we must consider whether this is an actual Skyband here. The band dividing the two registers of 3 gods above and 3 gods below may conceivably derive from the traditional Skyband symbol AK'BAL 'night'. There is also one kind of Waterband at the base of the temple roof (above God L and below the saurian), and this scene is thought by some to be in an underworld, not in a celestial realm. The same line dividing two registers occurs also in the "Vase of the Eleven Gods", K7750, similarly with God L in the rightmost part of the image. A band very like that on the "Vase of the Seven Gods", and like it just below the PSS, is K0633, with three Holmul dancers.

A principal reason for considering the kind of band just discussed to be a Roofband not a Skyband is its occurrence with so many human scenes. This applies to K6494, K6060 (two Holmul dancers in a panel each, with pseudoglyphs on the pillars, but both the band we are discussing and the PSS showing more variety. K6062 shows a similar band at the top, now once again split across the separate panels = rooms. On K6062 there is in front of and behind the seated figures one of the most reduced and conventionalized forms of pseudoglyphs, simply sets of four eyed circles. (Both in this and the preceding there may be hanging cloth.)

The next group of vases listed, from K0731 through K5377 are marked as "unique", even if they are not quite so. On K4577, there is a combination of an eyed circle with a bar above and a bar below which recurs between other pseudo-glyphs. This same, rotated 90 degrees, occur on another vase [cite]. The pseudo-glyphs of K4923 are separated by dividers, one of the signs of possible origins in a Skyband, even if these are not themselves Skybands as used on these vases.

A further reduction in variety of symbols occurs in those Roofbands which consist entirely of K'IN signs (K2978), of K'IN and K'AN signs in alternation (K7912 and K8656, in both of these the distinctions have become very subtle), or entirely of K'AN signs (K2773 through K5082).

Still a further reduction occurs in the group K1490, K1782, and K3699, until we have merely spacers, also seen beneath God L's throne on the "Vase of the Seven Gods" and on the "Vase of the Eleven Gods". On K7015, the eyed rectangles are not quite as reduced, but they have similarly become a mere repeating geometrical element with spacers, visible also on K3124 (God N in shell), which Kerr's database lists as from Chama/Nebaj. A band of eyed circles instead of rectangles occurs on K1789 (three monkeys with death collars) which Kerr's database lists as from Chama. Reductions on the same order as these may possibly have given rise to the chevron bands of Chama vases, though we must also be alert to the fact that chevron bands in Mixtec codices and elsewhere can signal warfare.

One additional development of skyband elements is seen on K6306, the large symbols on the lower portion of the right-hand jar. I have not yet seen a photo of the full band.

I hope this essay has served to make Skybands, Roofbands, and Thronebands more interesting and relevant for specialists in Maya ceramics. They may possibly provide further clues to dating and sourcing Mayan ceramics, and to tracking trends in historical development. It may be that we can learn to clearly distinguish the three categories. Or it may not be possible. It may suggest new approaches to the study of Skybands on stelas and other stone monuments.

And as always, enormous gratitude to Justin Kerr for making such studies possible, by compiling his database and making it accessible to all.