Contingent Acts of Remembrance: Royal Ancestors of Classic Maya Copan and Quirigua

Abstract

Classic Maya history is deeply political, and religious and political activities frequently inseparable. This essay advocates directly comparing mortuary practices over time for rulers at politically and economically linked centers. Most specifically it outlines an experimental model of how acts of remembrance in royal ancestor veneration articulate with local and regional politico-economic dynamics, and to do so with respect to acts attested in archaeological, bioarchaeological, textual, and iconographic sources. The particular case here pairs Classic-period Copan and Quirigua, where for centuries, the former was overlord to the latter. The evidence suggests that while treatment of royal ancestors draws on a set of established Maya practices, scale, elaboration and choice among those practices was contingent on the role each of the decedents held at particular points in political history, and the temporal orientation of those who commissioned remembrance acts.

Pigments — Mercury-based red (cinnabar-vermilion) and white (calomel) and their degradation products

“…Other and/or same occurrences are reported in Gorokhovich et al (2020). Maudslay 1889Maudslay -1902Schele and Mathews 1999;Sharer et al 1999;Sedat and López 2004;Bell et al 2004;Ashmore 2015 Peru(2) 16. In the necropolis of Ancón, cinnabar was found on one 11 th -13 th century AD mummy's hair.…”

Selective Memory: Monumental Politics of the Yaxuná E Group in the First Millennium B.C.

“…Once rulership is in place during the transition to the Late Formative, the modification of E Groups by way of continuity, reconstitution, and abandonment begin to mirror the selective treatment of monumental groups by later Classic Maya authorities (cf. Ashmore 2015; Child and Golden 2008; Gillespie 2010; Houston et al 2003; Marken 2007; Schwake and Iannone 2010). The question then becomes, why are some E Groups remembered and others forgotten?…”

“…Which narratives were to be remembered and forgotten by a social group on the collective scale can be directed, selected for, interrupted, or reinterpreted in a continual process. In this way, memory serves to order a select narrative of the past, within a present, for a future purpose (Ashmore 2015:213; Connerton 2009:9; Gillespie 2010:408; Herzfeld 2006:127). The direction of memory by political authorities is especially relevant to the enduring monumental spaces of significant community events and durable media in early Maya cities (Gillespie 2010:401; Golden 2010:374).…”

“…The colossal effort to conceal the Pinturas E Group seems to mirror later efforts by Classic Maya authorities to disassociate themselves from the memory of the earlier lords (cf. Ashmore 2015:226–227; Child and Golden 2008; Houston et al 1998:56–58; Marken 2007:71–75). While the Pinturas E Group at San Bartolo is the only currently known example to be entirely concealed by a later monumental construction (Hurst 2009:41), other Middle Formative E Groups, such as that at Cahal Pech, show piecemeal erasure through the “partial destruction and internment” of the western platform (Structure B8) under new plaza constructions (Ebert et al 2021:215).…”

“…Mesoamerican scholars have long documented elite political authorities’ use of monuments and text to direct collective memories and historical narratives during the Classic period ( a.d. 250–900; Ashmore 2015:213; Gillespie 2010:405; Golden 2010:377; Houston and Inomata 2009:140; Houston et al 2003:47; Iannone 2010:358; Martin 2020:43; Schwake and Iannone 2010:334; Stockett 2010:315). In seeking continuities and disjuncture from the precedents of past authorities, the emergent ruling class during the earlier Formative period (also commonly referred to as the Preclassic period in the northern and southern Maya lowlands) were likewise active agents in directing changes to monumental space, suggesting that memory played a vital role in developing an early shared character of Maya lifeways.…”