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Charles Zidar
ANCIENT MAYA ZOOLOGICAL RESEARCH |
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| Family: | Strigidae | | Genus: | Otus | | Species: | guatemalae | | Common Name: | Vermiculated Screech-owl | | Maya Name: | Xo’ch’ | | Faunal Type: | Bird | | Depictions: | Polychrome Ceramics | | Significance: | Yum Cimil (God A) was depicted as half owl, half human (Schellhas 1904). The Muan bird (screech-owl) was the bird of death and destruction. They would come from the underworld and were emissaries of the death gods. Their arrival and screech were messages from the underworld (Sharer 1994). Owls were incorporated into hieroglyphs and depicted on headdresses worn by women (Pohl 1982).
| | Photos: | Click on an image below for high resolution comparison. |
Other Faunal Photos: Additional views of the faunal species, click on a photo below to view larger image. |  | | Artifact Photo(s) Courtesy of Justin Kerr (FAMSI); Animal Photo(s) Courtesy of Wikipedia GNU General Public License Version 1.2, November 2002; Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0/2.5 License(s). |
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