Monte Alban is one of the most beautiful archaeological sites you might encounter in Mexico. Although famous for its "Danzantes" gallery, some other stone reliefs are well worth of attention.
During a trip to Mexico in january I happened to encounter a rather curious depiction of what looks like a standing elephant in the nearby museum.



I was however unable to find any documentation about this subject, since the relief came without any kind of explanation concerning its meaning.

Another strange relief comes from Chichen Itza, in the Yucatan peninsula. This relief was one of the most beautiful I could find in the whole site, still preserving some of its original colour. This relief is to be found next to the warrior's temple, in a location however rather neglected by most tourists.



It portrays some hooded figures carrying torches, with serpents appearently flying above their heads. The whole scene seems to be set at night, or in a cave-like location. I found this depiction most curious, but was unable to find any kind of documentation concerning its subject.

Intresting. where there elephants in the jungles of south America back in the day, if not where they travelling to other lands where they seen the animal, but then there would be carvings of other animals also. i wonder what it is.

looks more like a stylized Coati than an 'elephant' to me...


coati range from southern Arizona to north of Argentina.

Thank you Pax Unum. Very interesting explanation. Indeed, the resemblance to a Coati is very strong, and surely more reliable than that to an elephant. Still, I can't explain the close resemblance of the nose to a trunk.
It would be very interesting to compare this depiction with others clearly showing Coati to make a comparison.

There used to be Elephants in the Americas. More information can be found here and here.

Possibly the animal could be a tapir. They live in South America and have a trunk like nose. It would not be crazy for a powerful king to send out men to capture rare animals for a zoo of some sort. If the animal was his favorite he might have it carved on his temple.

Good links. There are legends of flying serpents all over the globe, espacially in regions with climates like central america. I would not be surprised if we found fossilized remains of one soon.

Interesting. I watched a show this weekend about Dragons. They are in all sorts of cultures, and cultures who supposedly never spoke or traded with each other. They said in the documentary something that sounded so stupid. "Archaeologists explain the appearance of Dragons in different cultures as being something inately human. Humans just all have the idea of the dragon hard wired into their brains. They can just come up with it." WTF! Does anyone else think this is the stupidest thing?? Ok take this for example. Youve got an anthropologist. They discover or see something throughout history that they can't explain. (pyramid builders, and yes it wasnt just the egyptians) They see these things in many cultures, but it is accepted that none of these cultures ever spoke to each other or had any contact whatsoever. Thus their conclusion: Everyone just automatically knows what a pyramid is when they are born.
Now, back to the point of the thread. THe reason I brought up dragons is from these "flying serpents" that we see in Mexico/South American cultures. Quetzocoatl, etc. Could these be depictions of ancient beasts, passed down and told to generations of people since as far back as 100,000 years ago? MAybe they are dragons? Maybe thats what all the dragon style entities we see in cave paintings, wall art, etc are. They are dragons. Or ancient dinosaurs maybe. It is theorized that dragons are really just dinosaurs. They used to call prehistoric artefacts "dragon". Then the guy who created paleontology decided to call them "dinosaurs". Anyways, hopefully someone will read all of this and make some sense from it.

The pyramid is the most easily built, stable structure to build. Without reinforcement, a rectangular building isn't as stable, and can't be built as tall as a pryamid. It's not strange that many cultures have come up with this shape, without any contact between them. And there were mastodons living in the Americas (at least in North America, not sure about Central or South America) along with prehistoric man.

the animal depicted in the relife appears to be "blowing" water out of its nose. However, other feature suggest it is not an elephant to me. Its ear is fairly samll for an elephant and the tale is wrong as well. Its tough to know if these are due to the stylization of the animal or are based on the animals actual features.

As for the elephant, the explanation might be easier. The supposed trunk is in fact separated from the "nose" of the creature. Since I found another similar "trunk" on a nearby relief depicting what definitely seems a human figure, the "trunk" might be nothing more than a glyph for speech.

As for the other relief, one of the flying serpents seems to be spitting fire, or maybe water. The hooded figures themselves look quite different from the usual maya type, thus allowing me to suppose they might be of the same provenance as Quetzalcoatl - Kukulkan. Also, torches might have something to do with the new fire ceremony as well, which was celebrated till aztec times.

Unfortunately the relief is incomplete, and the whole eastern and western side are either fragmentary or missing. Still, there seems to be something very mysterious in this ceremony, probably connected with the arrival of Quetzalcoatl - Kukulkan in these lands.