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6. Other Classic Period May-based Realms
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chapter 6 Other Classic Period May-based Realms There is persuasive evidence that, as Edmonson earlier conjectured, the Classic Maya observed may cycles and that the may was seated at Tikal. Edmonson (1979:15) also suggested that, besides Tikal, other southern lowland seats of the may might have included Copán, Palenque, Altar de Sacrificios, and Seibal. His suggestions can be compared to the regional “capitals” proposed in other centralized models of Classic Maya statehood: Tikal, Copán, Palenque, and Toniná, in Morley’s (1946) model; Tikal, Copán, Calakmul, Palenque, and Seibal, in the BarthelMarcus scheme; and Tikal, Copán, Calakmul, Palenque, and Yaxchilán, in Adams’s Late Classic vision. Here I discuss two sites, Copán and Calakmul, long associated with regional state models; I also offer a brief overview of Palenque, Caracol, and the Petexbatún region in the context of the may. These sketches support the hypothesis that the lowland Classic Maya shared a politicoreligious structuring based on 256-year calendar cycles, but it is evident that the means of participation varied and each cycle seat and region maintained distinctive ritual identities. Except where other citations are given, the data on dynasties and related matters discussed in this chapter have been drawn from the site summaries in Martin and Grube’s Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens (2000), and this source is not specifically cited further except in the case of direct quotations. Copán, Honduras, and Quiriguá, Guatemala Copán is a reasonably convincing site to advance as a Classic cycle seat, or may ku, with Quiriguá some 70 kilometers to the north-northwest as one of its constituent k’atun seats (see Fig. 1.1). Copán is a relatively small center on the left bank of the Copán River in northwestern Honduras . The Maya name for the site or territory is Xukpi: xuk ‘corner’; xukpi ‘corner bundle’; xukup, the motmot bird (genus Momotus or Aspatha ) (Schele and Mathews 1998:133). Its Emblem Glyph (see Fig. 2.5), with a leaf-nosed bat (T756) as its main sign, was first displayed on Stela 9 on 9.6.10.0.0 8 Ajaw 13 Pax (January 27, a.d. 564). Copán has long been postulated as a regional “capital” based on its Stela A, which refers to three other such “capitals” (Marcus 1976; Adams 1986). More recently, the site has been characterized as governed by “multiple, effective political interest groups in the polity” or “maximal lineages” (Webster 1992:153; see also Viel 1999). Archaeological excavations at Copán have yielded evidence of occupation dating back to the Early and Middle Preclassic periods, circa 1100–400 b.c., with ceramics similar to those of the Pacific piedmont and coast (Fash 1991:64–70). However, Copán’s inscriptions on Stelae 4 and 17 indicate that the “kingdom” of Copán was established on the period -ending 8.6.0.0.0 10 Ajaw 13 Ch’en (December 16, 159). The 159 date is commemorated also on Copán Stela I, with reference to completion of the sixth k’atun. A later k’atun-ending Copán inscription dated 8.17.0.0.0 1 Ajaw 8 Ch’en (October 19, 376) is mentioned on a carved peccary skull recovered in a tomb. In this inscription, an otherwise unknown “Foliated Ajaw” is one of two seated individuals facing a stela and altar; the text includes reference to “wrapping” a stela (Fash 1991:87). Copán’s dynastic history (Martin and Grube 2000:190–213) is known primarily from two sculptured monuments, Altar Q in the plaza of the Acropolis and a bench in Structure 11, to the north of that plaza (see Viel 1999). The Copán and Quiriguá dynasties were, more explicitly than that of Tikal, “founded” in the mid-k’atun or lajuntun of 426, in a K’atun 8 Ajaw, ten years before the k’atun and b’ak’tun endings of 9.0.0.0.0 (December 9, 435) were commemorated. This dynastic founding is also likely to represent the seating of a may cycle at Copán. More specifically, Copán’s dynasty was founded on 8.19.10.11.0 8 Ajaw 18 Yank’in (September 7, 426) by K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo’ (Great-Sun First Quetzal Macaw). K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo”s origins are not certain, but there is increasing evidence that he was from central Petén...