Article citationsMore>>

Ware, G. A., Brady, J. E., & Martin, C. (2001). Multispectral Imaging and Spectral Classification of Naj Tunich Pigments. In Proceedings of the 54th Annual Spring Conference: Imaging Processing, Imaging Quality, Imaging Capture Systems (Vol. 6, pp. 2489-2491). Society for Imaging Science and Technology.

has been cited by the following article:

• TITLE: The “Copulating Couple” at Naj Tunich: A Critical Reexamination

  AUTHORS: James E. Brady

  KEYWORDS: Maya, Cave, Homoerotic, Naj Tunich, Iconography

  JOURNAL NAME: Archaeological Discovery, Vol.13 No.4, August 28, 2025

  ABSTRACT: The discovery of a large corpus of Maya inscriptions and paintings in the cave of Naj Tunich in 1980 attracted the attention of scholars because of an explicitly drawn image of a naked couple locked in an embrace. The initial analysis identified it as part of a well-known scene portraying an old male deity with a young female goddess. With the passage of time, it has become increasingly popular to interpret the drawing as depicting a homoerotic ritual involving two men. This article reviews the iconography to show that there is no evidence to suggest that two men are present, especially since male genitalia are drawn on only one figure. Additionally, the homoerotic interpretation is inconsistent with what is known about cave ritual.