The ancient Maya possessed many techniques for using their skin as a canvas on which to project information about their social role and status. One of the most common of these was body painting, typically using red, white, and black paint, although there are also examples of brown and blue. Black body paint on men seems to denote roles that involve violence or penance—black paint marks the bodies of hunters, ballplayers, ritual bloodletters, those involved with sacrifice, and those undertaking ritual fasting. Shades and patterns of red and brown were employed to delineate more subtle distinctions of rank and status. On a Late Classic (A.D. 600–900) vase from Peten, a kneeling male attendant applies red pigment to the king’s backside as he prepares to perform a dance as an “old god.” The king has bold swirls of red paint on his upper body, which, says archaeologist Katharine Lukach, sets him apart from the other four figures on the vase. The queen, who is also likely outfitted to participate in the dance, has fine red lines painted below her eyes that were common in depictions of young women and may signify youth and beauty. By contrast, the three royal attendants—two men and one woman—each have a brown tone covering most of their bodies and light patches around their mouths. “We have representations of hundreds of years of Maya body paint, and the variation between time periods does not seem to shift dramatically given its flexibility as a medium,” Lukach says. “The Maya were very preoccupied with proper comportment. I think body paint was just one more way of enforcing that, rather than a way of experimenting with new aesthetics.”

Tattooing and scarification offered the Maya more permanent means of altering their appearance. During the Classic period, the best evidence for these practices is found in the northern lowlands and western part of the Maya world, including Jaina Island, off the west coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, and Palenque, in Chiapas. “Images and figurines from these regions show that the face was the favored site for these modifications,” says Lukach, “suggesting that they were important to individual identity.” Some tattoos incorporated hieroglyphic signs that may have referenced their owners’ birthdays, which many Maya used as personal names. Scrollwork designs tattooed or scarred around the mouth represented breath, and viewers of such images would have immediately recognized the high status of those who sported them.

Ancient Maya men and women wore their capes and cloaks to just above the knee, draped around their shoulders or tied around their necks. These garments were generally made of woven textiles such as cotton, which could be dyed or painted various colors and decorated with colorful threads. They could also be fashioned from more exotic materials, such as jaguar pelts, which reinforced the power and authority of those who wore them. “Capes and cloaks are often associated with specific social situations in Maya art, and women appear to be portrayed wearing them less frequently than men,” says Langara College archaeologist Cara Tremain. Garments more commonly worn by women in these depictions include huipiles, which cover the shoulders, chest, and hips, and sarongs, which are tied under the arms.

A style of cape that appears to have been made from leaves was worn exclusively by Maya men with the ch’ajoom hieroglyphic title, who were involved in incense-scattering ceremonies. These leaves may have been intended to represent those from trees such as allspice, copal, or tobacco, all of which were burned as offerings. In addition, courtly messengers called ebeets were portrayed wearing white cotton cloaks, Spondylus shell ornaments around their necks, and quetzal feathers in their headdresses, which some scholars have suggested was a way of representing them as human tribute packages. Once in the presence of the king, some depictions indicate, they would strip down to their loincloths, removing these coveted items and offering them to their host.

Maya sandals, which were typically reserved for use during travel and ceremonial events, ranged from simple, functional forms to ornate footwear that may have been used exclusively in specific contexts. An example of the latter is found in a Late Classic (A.D. 600–900) stucco panel from a temple at Palenque depicting an individual named Upakal K’inich. A caption on the panel refers to him as a baah ch’ok, or royal heir, and he is shown wearing an elaborate avian costume as he performs a ceremony. The soles of Upakal K’inich’s sandals appear to have been woven, likely from reed or henequen fibers. An ornamental fastener on the bridge of the foot, which holds each sandal in place, is ringed by blue feathers at its base. More blue feathers sprout from the fastener’s top. A leg wrap surrounding Upakal K’inich’s lower calf also features blue feathers, and over the wrap is a woven strap with shell or clay bells, which would have tinkled with each twitch of the leg. “Like many items of ceremonial dress, elaborate sandals such as these were intended to be eyecatching, full of motion, color, and sound,” says archaeologist Franco Rossi, currently a fellow at Brown University’s John Carter Brown Library.

Ornate Maya sandals were often made from jaguar skins, and, in some cases, complete jaguar paws or bird claws—either real or replica—were incorporated into the footwear. Sandals could also be decorated with turtle shells that would make rattling noises to draw viewers’ attention to a performer. Other examples had wooden soles or heels, and some even included stilts, that elevated the wearer.