Editing Tree of life (section)

===Mesoamerica===
[[Image:Shaft tomb tree tableau 2.jpg|300px|thumb|A tableau from the [[Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition]], showing a multi-layered tree with birds.  It has been proposed that the birds represent souls who have not yet descended into the underworld,<ref>AMNH, {{cite web |url=http://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/research/mca_objects.cfm?case_number=3 |title=Mexican and Central American Hall, AMNH |accessdate=2008-04-23 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928022116/http://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/research/mca_objects.cfm?case_number=3 |archivedate=2008-09-28 }}, which further cites Butterwick, Kristi (2004) ''Heritage of Power: Ancient Sculpture from West Mexico'', Metropolitan Museum of Art.</ref> while the central tree may represent the Mesoamerican world tree.<ref>[http://www.utexas.edu/cofa/a_ah/dir/precol/west_mexico.htm Kappelman]</ref>]]
{{Main article|Mesoamerican world tree}}
The concept of world trees is a prevalent motif in the [[Mesoamerican cosmovision]] and [[iconography]], appearing in the [[pre-Columbian era]]. World trees embody the four [[cardinal directions]], which represented also the fourfold nature of a central world tree, a symbolic ''[[axis mundi]]'' connecting the planes of the Underworld and the sky with that of the terrestrial world.<ref name="MiTa186">{{cite book |author=Miller |first1=Mary |url=https://archive.org/details/godssymbolsofa00mill |title=The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya |last2=Taube |first2=Karl |publisher=Thames and Hudson |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-500-05068-2 |location=London, England |language=en-uk |author-link=Mary Miller (art historian) |author2-link=Karl Taube |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Depictions of world trees, both in their directional and central aspects, are found in the art and mythological traditions of cultures such as the [[Maya civilization|Maya]], [[Aztec]], [[Izapa]]n, [[Mixtec]], [[Olmec]], and others, dating to at least the Mid/Late Formative periods of the [[Mesoamerican chronology]]. The tomb of [[Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal]] of the [[Maya city|Maya city-state]] of [[Palenque]], who became its [[ajaw]] or leader when he was twelve years old, has tree of life inscriptions within the walls of his burial place, showing just how important it was.<ref>{{Cite web|title=What does the Tree of Life mean? {{!}} Silver Bubble|url=https://silverbubble.co.uk/tree-of-life-meaning|access-date=2021-03-12|website=silverbubble.co.uk}}</ref> Among the Maya, the central world tree was conceived as or represented by a ''[[Ceiba pentandra]]'' and is known variously as a ''wacah chan'' or ''yax imix che'' in different [[Mayan languages]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Finley |first=Michael |year=2003 |title=Raising the sky: The Maya creation myth and the Milky Way|work=The Real Maya Prophecies: Astronomy in the Inscriptions and Codices |url=http://members.shaw.ca/mjfinley/creation.html |publisher=Maya Astronomy |access-date=9 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070106021734/http://members.shaw.ca/mjfinley/creation.html |archive-date=6 January 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The trunk of the tree could also be represented by an upright [[caiman]], whose skin evokes the tree's spiny trunk.<ref name="MiTa186"/>

Directional world trees are also associated with the four Year Bearers in [[Mesoamerican calendars]] and associated with the directional colors and deities. [[Mesoamerican codices]] which have this association outlined include the [[Dresden Codex|Dresden]], [[Codex Borgia|Borgia]] and [[Codex Fejérváry-Mayer|Fejérváry-Mayer]] codices.<ref name="MiTa186"/> It is supposed that Mesoamerican sites and ceremonial centers frequently had actual trees planted at each of the four cardinal directions, representing the quadripartite concept.

World trees are frequently depicted with birds in their branches, and their roots extending into earth or water, sometimes atop a "water-monster," symbolic of the underworld. The central world tree has also been interpreted as a representation of the band of the [[Milky Way]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Freidel |first1=David A. |title=Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path |last2=Schele |first2=Linda |last3=Parker |first3=Joy |publisher=William Morrow & Company |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-688-10081-0 |author2-link=Linda Schele}}</ref>