2 THE CROCODILE AND THE COSMOS: ITZAMKANAC, THE PLACE OF THE ALLIGATOR’S HOUSE

focused on the jaguar, the serpent and the birds have been greatly favored by researchers. Crocodiles instead have hardly been paid any attention, notwithstanding the repeated occurrence of significant representations throughout Mesoamerica since the Preclassic times to our days. Currently, some masks have begun to be identified as crocodiles, while earlier they had been identified as jaguars. Crocodiles played an important role in some aspects of the Mesoamerican ideology. They were primarily associated with fertility, as they were responsible for the timely arrival of rains and the fertility of the soil. Possibly, such was the great power of the crocodile. Later, they were associated with the elite, as they legitimized power among several Maya groups; according to Eric Thompson, Itzam Na was a god of the nobility. At the archaeological site of El Tigre, Campeche, Mexico (Figure 1), some masks were found in ceremonial contexts integrated to pyramid temples, which indicate some religious use from the beginning of the constructions. Therefore, the peculiar features of these masks should be viewed as part of an extended process of acceptance and profusion where the constitutive elements, the arrangement and the scale of execution represent variations of an identical system of values echoed as well in an extended tradition (Vargas 1999, 2001; Vargas et al. 1999). Masks 1, 2 and 3 from El Tigre (Figure 2) were very common in the Late Preclassic period in almost the entire Maya Lowlands. They were associated with Sierra Rojo ceramics, typical of this period, although this should not be taken as a reliable marker, for it comprises both the Late Preclassic and the Protoclassic periods. In this research it has been dated within that time; however, we must wait for the results of absolute dates