Expanding the canon: Lady K'abel the Ix Kaloomte’ and the political narratives of classic Maya Queens

Abstract

We consider how a feminist perspective permits appreciation for and reflection on the complex and often understated ways in which Classic-era (∼CE 250-80) royal Maya women contributed to processes of statecraft. Our work centers on archaeological and epigraphic evidence for the life of one important royal woman, Ix Kaloomte' K'abel of Waka' whose reign was one of the most influential of the Late Classic Period (∼CE 550-800). In reviewing the lines of evidence which detail her political life as a ruler, we consider parallels with other important royal women of the period. We argue a feminist approach permits working beyond unacknowledged presentist biases to consider the ways in which these women actively crafted state politics alongside their male counterparts.

Unleashing Maya Warfare: Inquiry Into the Practical Aspects of War-Making

“…It seems probable that research on Maya warfare will maintain a vigorous pace for years to come, as attested by the wealth of volumes and articles published on the subject just in the last three years (e.g., Alcover Firpi and Golden 2020; Chase and Chase 2020; Garrison and Houston 2019; Garrison et al 2019; Helmke 2020; Martin 2020; Morton and Peuramaki-Brown 2019; Navarro-Farr et al 2020; Recinos et al 2021; Serafin 2020; Wahl et al 2019; Woodfill 2019; Wrobel et al 2019). In many publications, however war is treated as a free-floating, reified, abstract category devoid of context or human agency (Nielsen and Walker 2009).…”

Classic Maya mirror conjurors of Waka', Guatemala

“…The queen figure next to this supernatural performance (Figure 11) wears a small, green-painted mask in her headdress (see Navarro-Farr et al 2020b); this is a feature we return to below. According to INAA analyses (Rich et al 2019), this figurine, along with the king figure next to her, the Maize God king and magic deer, and the seated, singing old woman at the center of the assemblage, feature the same paste signatures as items recovered from Calakmul Structure II Tomb 4, strongly suggesting they were made in Calakmul's royal workshop.…”

“…Slightly to the southwest of the groin area, between the shell and the large plate over the queen's left arm, was what appears to be a fragment of stalactite crudely fashioned into the figure of a pot-bellied person carrying a hafted axe in his right hand (Figure 15). The axe head against the neck of the figure, which is painted red with cinnabar, has been interpreted as a form of Akan (Navarro-Farr et al 2020b, 2021c). Akan (Grube and Nahm 1994) is depicted severing his own neck with a hafted axe in the painted vase corpus (K1230), with blood gushing out of the artery; he was a patron deity of Waka'.…”

Burial 61 at El Perú-Waka's Structure M13-1

“…Two bivalve halves, typical of female regalia (Josserand 2002), were also included, one placed atop the right hip mimics the Stela 34 xook shell regalia typical of depictions of kaan royal women (Vázquez López 2017:25). A figurine included in the assemblage associated with Waka’ Burial 39 (Rich 2011) depicting Lady K'abel (Navarro-Farr et al 2020:Figure 4a) includes a mask in her headdress strikingly similar to the circular greenstone tesserae mask (Figure 7i). This figurine and the image on Stela 34 both feature Lady K'abel holding a shield in her left hand.…”

“…Waka’ is located in northwestern Petén, Guatemala, overlooking the confluence of the San Juan and San Pedro Mártir Rivers (Navarro-Farr et al 2020:Figure 1). Lidar data indicate that the urban core of Waka’ is approximately 1.34 km 2 , making it one of the most densely nucleated cities in northwestern Petén (Marken and Pérez 2018).…”