Read Online The Maya Codex by Adrian D'Hagé - Free Book Online
Authors: Adrian D'Hagé
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top. ‘They ripped their hearts out while they were still beating. Then they decapitated them. The last time I was here I found several skulls in the jungle behind the ball court.’ Levi was more than happy to distract von Heißen with Himmler’s obsession with craniometry.
‘And you didn’t take any back to Austria?’ von Heißen probed.
‘Museums might be interested, but I don’t collect skulls, Sturmbannführer, nor do I disturb sacred ground.’ Roberto Arana, the shaman, had reminded Levi of the curse the ancient Egyptians placed on the tomb of Tutankhamen: Death shall come on swift wing to him who disturbs the peace of the King.
Levi knew that those who had opened Tutankhamen’s tomb had succumbed to mysterious deaths. Roberto had warned that the Maya protected their pyramids and sacred ground with equal ferocity. ‘The secondary jungle has taken over,’ Levi observed, looking past the ball court, ‘and it’s very thick now, but the skull racks where the Maya displayed the heads of their victims should still be there.’
‘Excellent,’ von Heißen exclaimed. ‘I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the measurements of any skulls there are well within the cephalic index for the Nordic Aryans.’
‘Ah, yes. The mathematical formula for the shape of a head, on which you base your judgements on intelligence and race. If I remember rightly, it’s the ratio of head breadth to head length multiplied by a hundred. A fairly simplistic way of looking at things, I would think. Although your Reichsführer seems to place great faith in it.’
‘As do I,’ von Heißen replied icily. ‘Perhaps you should stick to your compass bearings, Professor, and leave the intricacies of craniometry to those who understand it.’
Levi said nothing. Clearly von Heißen was unaware of Mayan beliefs about the shape of the human skull. An elongated head was considered to be a sign of nobility, and Levi had discovered that the ancient Maya had bound babies’ heads, compressing them between boards for days to change the shape of their skulls.
It was midafternoon by the time the team of indentured labourers from the local village, beads of sweat glistening on their brown skin, hacked their way far enough into the dense secondary undergrowth surrounding the ball court.
‘Maestro!’
Levi moved forward but von Heißen and Father Ehrlichmann both shouldered him out of the way.
‘There! Look at the shapes,’ von Heißen enthused.
The local villagers, the modern descendants of the Maya, had uncovered the first of several grisly rows of skulls. Macabre, eyeless sockets stared at the intruders. Levi shivered. The heads remained impaled on the moss-covered rack, just as the original inhabitants of the city had left them more than a thousand years before. To disturb them now seemed to invite the retribution Roberto had warned of, Levi thought. Not far away, a large masacuata stirred at the sounds of its territory being invaded. The boa constrictor was the largest snake in Central America, and this one measured well over five metres.
Von Heißen ran his hands over the first of the skulls. Centuries ago, the racks had been drenched in drying blood, the stench of death heavy in the air, but now every skull was creamy smooth and yellowed with age. ‘Look at the size of them! Aryan!’
Father Ehrlichmann reached into his canvas satchel for a pair of sliding callipers. ‘An index of around seventy-five,’ he announced after he’d finished measuring the first skull. ‘Unusually broad, but I think Reichsführer Himmler will be pleased.’
Again, Levi said nothing. Ehrlichmann might be an acknowledged authority on the dubious science of craniometry, he thought, but like von Heißen, Ehrlichmann seemed unaware of ancient Mayan customs.
A week later, the Junkers returned on the first of its weekly resupply runs. Levi leaned back in the canvas chair outside his tent and looked towards the skies, his spirits lifting. Perhaps there
‘And you didn’t take any back to Austria?’ von Heißen probed.
‘Museums might be interested, but I don’t collect skulls, Sturmbannführer, nor do I disturb sacred ground.’ Roberto Arana, the shaman, had reminded Levi of the curse the ancient Egyptians placed on the tomb of Tutankhamen: Death shall come on swift wing to him who disturbs the peace of the King.
Levi knew that those who had opened Tutankhamen’s tomb had succumbed to mysterious deaths. Roberto had warned that the Maya protected their pyramids and sacred ground with equal ferocity. ‘The secondary jungle has taken over,’ Levi observed, looking past the ball court, ‘and it’s very thick now, but the skull racks where the Maya displayed the heads of their victims should still be there.’
‘Excellent,’ von Heißen exclaimed. ‘I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the measurements of any skulls there are well within the cephalic index for the Nordic Aryans.’
‘Ah, yes. The mathematical formula for the shape of a head, on which you base your judgements on intelligence and race. If I remember rightly, it’s the ratio of head breadth to head length multiplied by a hundred. A fairly simplistic way of looking at things, I would think. Although your Reichsführer seems to place great faith in it.’
‘As do I,’ von Heißen replied icily. ‘Perhaps you should stick to your compass bearings, Professor, and leave the intricacies of craniometry to those who understand it.’
Levi said nothing. Clearly von Heißen was unaware of Mayan beliefs about the shape of the human skull. An elongated head was considered to be a sign of nobility, and Levi had discovered that the ancient Maya had bound babies’ heads, compressing them between boards for days to change the shape of their skulls.
It was midafternoon by the time the team of indentured labourers from the local village, beads of sweat glistening on their brown skin, hacked their way far enough into the dense secondary undergrowth surrounding the ball court.
‘Maestro!’
Levi moved forward but von Heißen and Father Ehrlichmann both shouldered him out of the way.
‘There! Look at the shapes,’ von Heißen enthused.
The local villagers, the modern descendants of the Maya, had uncovered the first of several grisly rows of skulls. Macabre, eyeless sockets stared at the intruders. Levi shivered. The heads remained impaled on the moss-covered rack, just as the original inhabitants of the city had left them more than a thousand years before. To disturb them now seemed to invite the retribution Roberto had warned of, Levi thought. Not far away, a large masacuata stirred at the sounds of its territory being invaded. The boa constrictor was the largest snake in Central America, and this one measured well over five metres.
Von Heißen ran his hands over the first of the skulls. Centuries ago, the racks had been drenched in drying blood, the stench of death heavy in the air, but now every skull was creamy smooth and yellowed with age. ‘Look at the size of them! Aryan!’
Father Ehrlichmann reached into his canvas satchel for a pair of sliding callipers. ‘An index of around seventy-five,’ he announced after he’d finished measuring the first skull. ‘Unusually broad, but I think Reichsführer Himmler will be pleased.’
Again, Levi said nothing. Ehrlichmann might be an acknowledged authority on the dubious science of craniometry, he thought, but like von Heißen, Ehrlichmann seemed unaware of ancient Mayan customs.
A week later, the Junkers returned on the first of its weekly resupply runs. Levi leaned back in the canvas chair outside his tent and looked towards the skies, his spirits lifting. Perhaps there
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