Animal Figures in the Maya Codices

In a Maya calendar scene, a screech owl wears a human body and takes the place of a god. Is it an animal, a deity—or both?

In the surviving Maya codices, animal figures move through records of sacred days, ceremonies, and the heavens. Alfred M. Tozzer and Glover M. Allen examine how these images shift from lifelike creatures to stylized glyphs, sometimes leaving only a jaguar’s spots or a macaw’s eye-feathers to give it away. An owl, dog, vulture, or turtle may appear in a divination scene, beneath a band of constellation signs, or as an offering to the gods. Yet the pictures do not always yield their meaning, and even the animals’ links to stars and directions can remain uncertain. What can these elusive figures reveal about the world the Maya saw in their codices?

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