gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mayans, Olmecs, Aztecs, archaeology, history, archaeogemology, Pre-Columbian jade; Costa Rica; Maya; exchange; iconography, lapidary

All encompassing, the sea surrounds and defines the Maya world. Not only do its waters extend beyond all horizons, but they also underlie and sustain the earth. The shifting of this floating world is the cause of earthquakes, landslides, and cataclysmic floods. As water underlying the earth, the sea relates to the Underworld, with cenotes, lakes, and streams being portals to this dark and fertile region. In Maya thought, the Underworld and the forest wilds are interconnected concepts: both distant and dangerous realms inhabited by spooks and demons. At the perimeters of the world, the sea also is a realm of awe-inspiring and threatening supernatural powers, including tree-ripping hurricanes and gigantic serpents of the final deluge. Although a place of danger, the sea is also a source of precious goods and forces of life and fertility. The eastern Caribbean is of special importance, as it is not only the daily birthplace of the sun, but also the creator of clouds and wind that bring the spring and summer rains. Important vehicles for the Sun God, rain, and ancestral beings are supernatural sea serpents that carry such forces and elements into the sky. The Maya concept of the eastern sea as the source of light, abundance, and riches extended to their contemporaries in central Mexico, including the great ancient metropolis of Teotihuacan (circa AD 250–600). In fact, it is likely that from the perspective of central Mexico, the Maya were the people of this magical eastern realm of supernatural power, beauty, and wealth. By no means a lost ancient tradition, native conceptions of the sea continue to this day among Maya and other peoples of Mesoamerica. In addition, recent and present Maya traditions concerning the sea also exist among distant cultures such as that of the ancient Aztec, and contemporary cultures of western Mexico and the American Southwest, indicating that these shared concepts existed long before the Spanish arrived on the eastern shores of Veracruz in 1519. Among both the ancient and contemporary Maya, there is more than one conceptual model of the earth and its relation to the sea, but in all cases the sea surrounds terra firma. A widespread fundamental belief is that the world is four-sided, a concept that relates directly to human habitation. The intercardinal points of this cosmic square commonly allude to the four corners of a house and the maize field, or milpa. Directional trees are an important part of this model, but although ancient Maya texts describe them in the cardinal points, actual structures and fields are never oriented in this fashion. Rather, the sides denote the world directions, as is graphically portrayed in the Early Classic Tomb 12 from Río Azul, Guatemala, which on its four walls displays the glyphs of the directions in their correct orientation. The colonial Yukatec Ritual of the Bacabs refers to four shores as well as lagoons, each with its own directional colour. Similarly, in modern Yukatek belief, the sea surrounds the world on four sides: “each ‘edge of the earth’ has a form of a beach.” The contemporary Ch’orti’ and Tzotzil Maya also conceive of the world as square with the sea at its four sides. The four-sided world and the earth-crocodile: among both the ancient and contemporary Maya, there is more than one conceptual model of the earth and its relation to the sea, but in all cases the sea surrounds terra firma. A widespread fundamental belief is that the world is four-sided, a concept that relates directly to human habitation. The intercardinal points of this cosmic square commonly allude to the four corners of a house and the maize field, or milpa. Directional trees are an important part of this model, but although ancient Maya texts describe them in the cardinal points, actual structures and fields are never oriented in this fashion. Rather, the sides denote the world directions, as is graphically portrayed in the Early Classic Tomb 12 from Río Azul, Guatemala, which on its four walls displays the glyphs of the directions in their correct orientation. The colonial Yukatec Ritual of the Bacabs refers to four shores as well as lagoons, each with its own directional colour. Similarly, in modern Yukatek belief, the sea surrounds the world on four sides: “each ‘edge of the earth’ has a form of a beach.” The contemporary Ch’orti’ and Tzotzil Maya also conceive of the world as square with the sea at its four sides.