Appealing to the Gods and Ancestors: Ancient Maya Conch Shell Trumpets as Ritual Instruments

The use of trumpets made from the conch shells of large marine mollusks was one of the peculiar traits of Mesoamerican culture. The earliest evidence of this practice can be placed in the Middle Formative (I mil. BC), but this tradition persisted among the native population of Mexico until the 20 th century. Conch shell trumpets were excavated in many Maya sites (Uaxactun, Kaminaljuyu, Mayapan, Tikal, Dzibilchaltun etc.). Since the 1960s it was believed that their main function was that of alarm, and sometimes they were considered as a type of musical instruments. The analysis of previously unpublished hieroglyphic inscription on the conch shell from Asunción Mita (Department of Jutiapa, Guatemala) preserved in the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Guatemala shows that it was used in the ceremony of appeal to the deities. New interpretation of the hieroglyphic texts on the Early Classic conch shells leads to the conclusion that, in the Classic Maya culture, their main function was ritual. They served as one of the main instruments of the ritual communication with the deities and ancestors, whose names and images were inscribed on the conch shells.