The Fiery Pool: The Maritime World of the Ancient Maya

FAIN: MC-50068-07

Peabody Essex Museum, Inc. (Salem, MA 01970-3726)
Daniel Finamore (Project Director: September 2006 to April 2008)

Consultation and curatorial traveling for an exhibition, a catalog, and educational and public programs that would explore the influence of the sea on the ancient Maya people.

The Fiery Pool: The Maritime World of the Ancient Maya is an international loan exhibition highlighting the relationship between the Maya and the sea. Covering a wide spectrum of Maya art, this will be the first major exhibition to explore how Maya society developed a distinctive world-view of the sea, including its dangers, possibilities, and precious resources. Since the role of the sea in Maya civilization has been largely overlooked by art historians and archaeologists, this exhibition will constitute a major reorientation of Maya art and culture, elucidating the multitude of marine references and their cultural significance.