“For the Classic Maya, in many ways, clothing defined personhood,” says Alyce de Carteret, a fellow in Art of the Ancient ... sometimes worn as a cape with head and paws still attached.

In this image of Izamal’s great pyramid, Kinich Kak Mo, the colossal head of a Maya figure looms high above the expedition’s naturalist, Dr. Samuel Cabot, Jr., and an unnamed Maya attendant.