Editing Chacmool (section)

==Interpretations==
[[File:Chac Mool dentro del templo de Kukulkán.jpg|thumb|300px|Chacmool inside the [[El Castillo, Chichen Itza|Castillo pyramid of Chichen Itza]].]]
The meaning of the chacmool figures varied across time depending upon the geographical and cultural context.<ref>López Austin and López Luján 2001, pp. 60–61.</ref> Chacmools do not appear to have been worshipped, since they are never found within inner sanctuary of temples or shrines; it appears to have rather been a piece of religious paraphernalia used by the priesthood in the course of their duties. Three uses have generally been attributed to chacmools.<ref name="LopezAustin&LopezLujan01p62">López Austin and López Luján 2001, p. 62.</ref>

The first interpretation is that the chacmool is an offering table (or ''tlamanalco'') to receive gifts such as [[pulque]], [[tamale]]s, [[tortilla]]s, tobacco, turkeys, feathers and incense. The second is that the chacmool was a ''cuauhxicalli'' to receive blood and human hearts; this use is particularly relevant to the Aztecs, who used a ''cuauhxicalli'' bowl in place of the usual disc-altar. These bowls may have accepted these blood offerings directly or may have been holders for portable ''cuauhxicalli'' bowls that were placed within them. A chacmool from Tlaxcala has a bloodied heart sculpted on the underside, supporting this interpretation.<ref name="LopezAustin&LopezLujan01p62"/>

It has also been suggested that chacmools were used as a ''techcatl'', or sacrificial stone over which victims were stretched so their hearts could be cut from their chests. The ''[[Crónica Mexicayotl]]'' describes such a sacrificial stone as sculpted in the form of a person with a twisted head.<ref>López Austin and López Luján 2001, pp. 62–63.</ref> ''Techcatl'' were not just used for human sacrifice, they were also used in the ''[[yacaxapotlaliztli]]'' ceremony, where the nose of a future ruler was pierced. Such rituals may also have been executed upon chacmools, and the presence of small nose jewels sculpted onto various chacmools at Chichen Itza and one at Tula has been used to support this idea.<ref name="LopezAustin&LopezLujan01p63">López Austin and López Luján 2001, p. 63.</ref>

The backward reclining figure of the chacmool presents a defenceless, passive appearance and has been likened by Miller to the positioning of captives in Classic period Maya sculpture and painting. Bent elbows and knees are common in depictions of Maya captives; the full-frontal view of the face is rare in Maya art except among representations of captives.<ref name="Miller85p8"/> The form of the Chichen Itza chacmools lacks the typical traits of Maya deities and most scholars have assumed that the iconography of Maya chacmools is equivalent to that of the central Mexican examples. Eduard Seler commented in the early 1960s that chacmools in Chichen Itza tended to be located in temple antechambers, where the bowl or disc gripped by the figure served to receive pulque as an offering.<ref name="Miller85p9">Miller 1985, p. 9.</ref>

The chacmools at Chichen Itza were found in a combination of chacmool, throne and serpent column; this chacmool-throne-serpent complex was associated with rulership during the Early Postclassic period.<ref name="Miller85p11"/> The original chacmool described by Le Plongeon in the 19th century included small images of the central Mexican deity Tlaloc on its [[Plug (jewellery)|ear ornaments]]. Among the Classic period Maya, such [[Human sacrifice in Maya culture|Tlaloc imagery was associated with war and human sacrifice]]. Associations between the rain god, war and human sacrifice may have continued into the Postclassic period as demonstrated by the chacmool within the Castillo at Chichen Itza, which bears small images of the Maya rain god [[Chaac]] on its ear ornaments.<ref name="Miller85p17">Miller 1985, p. 17.</ref> The chacmools at Tula, with contextual similarity to those at Chichen Itza, probably also represent war captives.<ref name="Miller85p12"/>

The lack of the representation of chacmools in Central Mexican codices has led to them being associated with a great variety of deities by scholars, including [[Cinteotl]], [[Tezcatzoncatl]] and Tlaloc.<ref>Miller 1985, pp. 14–15.</ref> Both of the chacmools from the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan were clearly associated with Tlaloc. The chacmool found two blocks south of the temple was sculpted with three images of the deity.<ref>Miller 1985, pp. 15–16.</ref> These included an elaborate relief image of Tlaloc amongst aquatic symbols on the underside, one on the bowl that the figure grips and the last is the Tlaloc mask with characteristic goggles and fangs that is worn by the chacmool.<ref name="Miller85p15"/>

The fully polychrome chacmool found ''in situ'' in the Great Temple was associated with Tlaloc by its placement on the Tlaloc half of the double pyramid. A further Aztec chacmool was described in the 19th century; it is of uncertain origin but stylistically it is typical of Tenochtitlan. It is sculpted on the underside with aquatic imagery and the figure wears a goggle-and-fangs Tlaloc mask. Spanish observers reported the great quantity of human sacrifices during important ceremonies at the Great Temple and the chacmool was probably used during these rituals to symbolise the sacrificed captives as well as receive their blood.<ref name="Miller85p15"/>

The discs gripped by some chacmools may represent a [[Mirrors in Mesoamerican culture|mirror]]. Chacmools were placed in entrances in order to receive sacrificial offerings, including human blood and hearts. The aquatic imagery carved onto the underside of some of the figures symbolised that they were floating on water, on the frontier between the physical world and the supernatural realm. This suggests that chacmools acted as messengers between the mortal realm and that of the gods.<ref name="Miller85p15"/>

Costa Rican chacmools gripped sculpted bowls; these chacmools also served ceremonial purposes although the bowl was used to grind foodstuffs.<ref name="Solano260212"/>