Cylinder vase, Campeche, Mexico, Late Classic Period, 600-750 (earthenware)

Large vase painted with a scene depicting the Hero Twins Hun Ajaw and Yax Balam conversing with the deity Its’amnaj, all of whom are seated inside a building. Its’amnaj gestures towards a large basket on top of which sits a skeletal head, jewelry and clothing that likely are those of the Hero Twins’ father the Maize god (Hun Hun Ajaw). Hieroglyphic texts include the Primary Standard Sequence painted around the vase’s rim, which includes the names of the Hero Twins, and two short PSS-like phrases painted on the building’s piers, which dedicate the basket offering and its contents. Hun Ahaw and Yax Balam, the Hero Twins of the Maya creation epic “Popol Vuh,” request Its’amnaj, a primary lord of the Underworld, to return the bones of their father, the Maize god. His bones reside in the basket in front of Its’amnaj.