The Secrets of Seven Dolls: Dzibilchaltún Ruins
Written by Lydia Jones
Imagine: half your group want a cooling swim in a cenote while the others are keen on exploring a Maya ruin. The answer is: do both in one place – Dzibilchaltún, just north of Mérida. It's unique. The cenote is right next to the pyramid. And the on-site museum presents you with the intriguing puzzle of the seven (sexy) dolls.
In the past, the Temple of the Seven Dolls served as an observatory. The seven figurines were found in its central chamber. What role did they play? They have exaggerated sexual organs. What do they tell us about ancient notions of sexuality?
One of the dolls has an erect phallus. Free-standing stone phalli have been found in Uxmal and Chichén Itzá, now hidden away from public view. Such monumental statues of phalluses emphasized masculinity, which strong rulers had to possess, as did warriors and players of the ancient ball game. The phallus was an important indicator of masculine hegemony and elite ritual privilege, a symbol of male dominance and vitality.
In Bonampak and Palenque there are scenes of naked, sexually exposed captives, stripped in humiliation before being sacrificed.
But what are such figurines doing in an observatory? Could they be symbols of fertility? The worship of sculptures and images of sexual parts is often identified with generative principles in nature.
Were the dolls used as offerings to the gods during the dry season, when waiting for rain? Or were they used in prayers for a good planting season, related to the planet and star observations in this building? Planting was set by the priests through solar observations, which dictated the sowing time. During the spring and autumn equinoxes, the rising sun shines directly through the east doorway and passes through the west doorway. The priest would use his observation of the spring equinox in March to indicate to the farmers that it was the right time for burning the fields, in preparation for the planting season (the Maya practiced slash-and-burn agriculture). Here they would also have observed the zenith passage of the sun, which occurs only in the tropics. When the sun passes through its zenith (directly overhead) in May, the shadows of vertical objects disappear. This was the time when the priests indicated the time for planting corn. The doll offerings could have been linked to those events.
Another option? Researchers now believe that the popularity of the male phallus in Maya art depicts the ability of royal men to perform a necessary public ritual, namely penis perforation, or letting blood from their foreskin. This was clearly an act connected to the fertile power of a woman’s menstrual cycle, each gender playing their role in their land's fertility. In a ritual, when the penis was exposed, the leader derived his power from his semen and blood, both ritually shed from his penis. He expressed his power in this 'obscure language' that was understood by other nobles. In this sense the phallus was not a penis but a political weapon, used to stress his position in the social hierarchy of Mesoamerica.
Or could the dolls be connected to the cosmological beliefs of the Maya? Well, according to some recent views, the Temple of the Seven Dolls was built to mark the stars of Orion on the Celestial Equator about 200 BC. The Seven Dolls could represent the line of stars that make up the 'shield' that Orion holds in front of his body. This still does not conflict with the theory about the king and his nobles piercing their penises in a ritual. Instead of a fertility ritual for a good corn harvest it could have been a ritual for astrological reasons. After all, the dolls look less refined than later Maya art, and could well be from that time, about 200 BC. This is certainly my preferred theory. And how about you?
If you want to peep at other ancient mysteries at this site, don't miss the graffiti. It was found on the floors and walls of the Seven Dolls Temple but is displayed at the museum here. What to make of primitive graffiti in comparison with the sophisticated sculptures and reliefs that the Maya artisans made?
Graffiti are nearly as old as man. In our society, graffiti makers use walls or subways to denounce the failures of society. Does the same apply to Mesoamerican graffiti?
Most of the designs found here are of faces in profile with big eyes, long necks and a remarkable cranial deformation. Self-portraits? Pilgrims would have been coming to Dizbilchaltún as it was a ceremonial center with an observatory. Could they have had access to the temple in later years (the graffiti dates from 1200-1500 AD) and decided to leave behind some evidence of their presence? That might explain the lack of any art training.
For me the most intriguing graffiti is that with a square pattern. Could it be the old Mesoamerican game called patolli? It was a race game on a cross-shaped board, composed of squares, inside a quadrant and with a marked center. The players could gamble plants, food, precious stones, or, in extreme cases, their homes. The temple most probably was guarded and the guardians in their idle hours may have played this game. The sacred character of the game was achieved by playing under the effects of a hallucinogen, by tossing patol seeds, the red beans (Sophora Secundiflora) known to the Maya as tzite, which contain an extremely powerful alkaloid that boosts convulsions and visions. Was it a sacred method of divination executed by the priests? With time, the game become popular with commoners and was played without any priestly preparation, eventually causing it to be banned by the rulers.
Challenge yourself also with Graffiti 1, a symmetrical symbol. Could the meaning be astrological? Or could it represent a criticism of society? Planning a coup in a coded way? A desire for a new dynasty? Or an architectural scribble? Given that it was only the nobility who normally had access to the temple, the motif is bound to be complex and symbolic. We could take our imagination even further, for that matter: the motion of universal energy? A human thought process?
What do you think?
