Jaguar in Mayan culture

The jaguar was supreme symbol of kings; he was master of the underworld and of war. It is the jaguar head symbol for power or rule. This was typically used in a leadership or protector role. The jaguar’s significant to the people of Tikal was represented in stone as well.

Temple I, the Temple of the Jaguar, was built with nine terraces, each representing one of the lords of the underworld.

The Maya people built a powerful empire. The ruler wanted to be as powerful as the jaguar. They wanted other people to think they were just as strong as brave as the animal. Sometimes the rulers wore jaguar fur.

Stone carving of jaguar

They also added the word ‘jaguar’ to their names. Two of the rulers were called Shield-Jaguar and Bird Jaguar.

Bird Jaguar – a Mayan warrior and leader was born in 709, He is the son of Shield Jaguar who ruled Yaxchilan when Bird Jaguar is born. Shield Jaguar rules for more than sixty years and doesn’t die until the year 742.
Jaguar in Mayan culture

Cro-Magnon: Animal hunting

The Cro-Magnon lived during period encompassing what archeologists refer to as Aurignacian and Magdalenian cultural eras which hit their peaks respectively about 20,000 and 12,000 years ago.

Evidence from skeleton remains, tools and weapons show that Cro-Magnon was a hunter and fisherman of skill. The animals were the game for which Cro-Magnon hunters looked: reindeer, bison, cattle, deer and horses.

Cro-Magnons were well equipped with all of the necessary weapons for a successful hunt, but in spite of all their powers and equipment they knew that they would face extremely dangerous animal s that could cost them their lives.

Scientists believed that not only did the Cro-Magnon hunter have an understanding of the behavior and the patterns of the animals they hunted, they also understood the qualities of the raw materials that certain animals would provide for tool and weapon making.

During this era, man appears to have had a grasp of the properties of the materials they used and experimented with various spear shapes and bases throughout the Late Ice Age.
Cro-Magnon: Animal hunting