Painted Metaphors: Pottery and Politics of the Ancient Maya

This exhibition, featuring a unique collection of brilliantly painted polychrome vessels, opens a metaphorical window into the lives of the ordinary Maya of 1,300 years ago. These artifacts clearly demonstrate that the towns and villages along Guatemala’s Chixoy River were hubs of activity at the crossroads of trade and pilgrimage routes that connected this provincial region to the center of Maya civilization in the Peten lowlands to the north.

This exhibition tells the story of what happened when the social upheaval and increasing warfare in the lowlands reached this far corner of Maya civilization in Guatemala, and the rediscovery of an important part of Maya history.