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Glimpses of the Supernatural: Altered States of Consciousness and the Graffiti of Tikal, Guatemala

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William A. Haviland  and
Anita de Laguna Haviland
William A. Haviland
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Vermon, Burlington, VT 05405
Anita de Laguna Haviland
Affiliation:
R.F.D. 1, Box 89, Jericho, VT 05465
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Abstract

Application of a neuropsychological model, developed in the laboratory, to the graffiti of Tikal reveals that the great majority of the latter are products of altered states of consciousness, depictions of visions seen by people in states of trance in relatively private settings. Beneath this art's apparent surface disorder and haphazard arrangement lies a definite neuropsychological order. Consideration of the provenances of graffiti suggests that the practice of trancing was widespread in Classic times, at least among the elite class and upper stratum of commoners.

La aplicación de un modelo neuropsicológico, diseñado en el laboratorio, a los graffitti de Tikal, ilustra fenómenos entópticos—las formas geométricas luminosas que se ven al comenzar un trance—tanto como imágenes icónicas de personas, animales y monstruos que aparecen durante etapas más profundas del trance. Bajo la superficie aparente desordenada y azarosa de este arte, yace un orden neuropsicológico definido. La proveniencia de los graffitti sugiere que la práctica del trance estaba bastante difundida en tiempos clásicos, por lo menos entre la élite y el estrato superior de la gente común.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , December 1995 , pp. 295 - 309
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1995

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