Bowl depicting twin figures with a fish over their heads,

1000–1130

Two humans, possibly twins, appear on this bowl with their heads enveloped by a large fish. This image may record an early version of a story documented among Pueblo peoples in the late nineteenth century, in which humans were transformed into fish to traverse through water in the Underworld or on their migrations. Others have noted the similarity to an ancient Maya myth, recorded among the K’iche’ Maya of highland Guatemala, which tells of hero twins who are resurrected as catfish in the Underworld before becoming human once again. Such similarities are unlikely to mark direct interaction with these distant people but instead may be the result of shared mythological concepts about heroic twins.