From the Mouth of the Dark Cave - Bassie-Sweet

From the Mouth of the Dark Cave: Commemorative Sculpture of the Late Classic Maya by Karen Bassie-Sweet. From the blurb: 'The southern lowlands of the Maya region are honeycombed with caves formed by the erosive action of underground rivers. These caves, with their dramatic drip water formations, winding tunnels, and high caverns, played a major role in the ideology and world view of the Classic Maya. Considered to be the home of ancestors and of deities associated with the sun, moon, rain, wind and corn, caves were a portal between the tangible human world and the invisible world of the gods. It was at this portal that the Maya performed their most sacred rituals. Bassie-Sweet argues that it is these cave rituals that are most often illustrated on Late Classic Maya sculpture.' Illustrated with drawings and b&w photographs. Hardcover. 287pp.