Abstract:The Terminal Classic period (ca. AD 800–1000) in the Southern Maya Lowlands witnessed a precipitous decline in the erection of carved stone monuments, a decline that corresponds to shifts in political ideologies and the disappearance of many prominent royal dynasties. Although Southern Lowland sites are often considered peripheral to the events and innovations occurring elsewhere in Mesoamerica during this time, a recently discovered stela, Stela 29, at the site of Ucanal in Peten, Guatemala, underscores the a… Show more
“…Although Ucanal's participation in this new monumental style is known primarily from Ucanal Stela 4 (Figure 7c; Graham 1980:159–160), a stela recently discovered by the PAU in 2019, Stela 29, also conforms to this new style (Figure 8b; Halperin and Martin 2020). The simply adorned ruler on Stela 29 dons a central Mexican style atlatl (see comparative examples from Slater [2011] and Hruby [2019]) and holds three long darts, identified by the triangular shape of the stone point and their plurality since darts are almost always carried in multiples.…”
Section: At a Crossroads But Without A Clear Centermentioning
confidence: 97%
“…The ruler wears a warrior's shirt, what is known as ichachuipilli in Nahuatl (Anawalt 1981:47–48). This short-sleeved shirt is decorated with dots or disc beads similar to the floating figure in Ucanal Stela 4, who also holds a central Mexican style atlatl and darts, and a figure Ringle (2009:Fig.15c) calls “warrior B” on the Upper Temple of the Jaguars at Chichen Itza (see Halperin and Martin [2020] for a more detailed description of Stela 29). Figure 8.Terminal Classic iconography with central Mexican style darts and atlatl.…”
Section: At a Crossroads But Without A Clear Centermentioning
The Maya archaeological site of Ucanal is located in Peten, Guatemala, close to the contemporary border with Belize. In pre-Columbian times, the site also sat at the frontiers of some of the largest political centers, Naranjo in Peten, Guatemala, and Caracol, in Belize. Entangled between these dominant centers and with ties to peoples in the Upper Belize Valley, the Petexbatun region in Guatemala, northern Yucatan, and elsewhere, Ucanal was a critical convergence zone of political and cultural interaction. This paper synthesizes archaeological research by the Proyecto Arqueológico Ucanal to underscore the ways in which this provincial polity, identified epigraphically as K'anwitznal, maneuvered within and between different cultural affiliations and political networks. We find that the site's role as a political frontier during the Late Classic period was more of a bridge than an edge. During the later Terminal Classic period, the K'anwitznal kingdom gained independence, but continued to serve as a critical convergence of influences and interaction spheres from throughout the Maya area and beyond.
“…Although Ucanal's participation in this new monumental style is known primarily from Ucanal Stela 4 (Figure 7c; Graham 1980:159–160), a stela recently discovered by the PAU in 2019, Stela 29, also conforms to this new style (Figure 8b; Halperin and Martin 2020). The simply adorned ruler on Stela 29 dons a central Mexican style atlatl (see comparative examples from Slater [2011] and Hruby [2019]) and holds three long darts, identified by the triangular shape of the stone point and their plurality since darts are almost always carried in multiples.…”
Section: At a Crossroads But Without A Clear Centermentioning
confidence: 97%
“…The ruler wears a warrior's shirt, what is known as ichachuipilli in Nahuatl (Anawalt 1981:47–48). This short-sleeved shirt is decorated with dots or disc beads similar to the floating figure in Ucanal Stela 4, who also holds a central Mexican style atlatl and darts, and a figure Ringle (2009:Fig.15c) calls “warrior B” on the Upper Temple of the Jaguars at Chichen Itza (see Halperin and Martin [2020] for a more detailed description of Stela 29). Figure 8.Terminal Classic iconography with central Mexican style darts and atlatl.…”
Section: At a Crossroads But Without A Clear Centermentioning
The Maya archaeological site of Ucanal is located in Peten, Guatemala, close to the contemporary border with Belize. In pre-Columbian times, the site also sat at the frontiers of some of the largest political centers, Naranjo in Peten, Guatemala, and Caracol, in Belize. Entangled between these dominant centers and with ties to peoples in the Upper Belize Valley, the Petexbatun region in Guatemala, northern Yucatan, and elsewhere, Ucanal was a critical convergence zone of political and cultural interaction. This paper synthesizes archaeological research by the Proyecto Arqueológico Ucanal to underscore the ways in which this provincial polity, identified epigraphically as K'anwitznal, maneuvered within and between different cultural affiliations and political networks. We find that the site's role as a political frontier during the Late Classic period was more of a bridge than an edge. During the later Terminal Classic period, the K'anwitznal kingdom gained independence, but continued to serve as a critical convergence of influences and interaction spheres from throughout the Maya area and beyond.
“…The feline-skin hoods on the Haffenreffer gorget do not have a close analogue in the Late Classic Maya corpus. Meanwhile, the headdress worn by the lord on the El Peru-Waka’ pendant closely resembles the furred or feathered hats worn by some martial elites at Chichen Itza in the later art of that site, as well as by the lord depicted on Ucanal Stela 29 (likely a.d. 879; Halperin and Martin 2020:826–830). Absent from all the gorgets, however, are the transverse nasal ornaments favored at Chichen Itza and in related monumental art at southern lowland centers.…”
This article discusses a category of conch-shell gorgets, mainly semielliptical in shape, which were produced during the Terminal Classic period in central Mexico and/or the Maya lowlands. We describe the iconography and style of these ornaments, seek precedents in other media for their themes, and use stylistic and epigraphic data to connect them to long-distance economic and political interactions between the Maya region and central Mexico. Although the portraits on most of the gorgets diverge from earlier Classic Maya conventions, neither do they conform to central Mexican canons. Further discoveries of such pendants in archaeological context may clarify their origins and social uses.
“…At a regional level, the murals of Cacaxtla offer a striking case of artists innovating a local style inspired by foreign—in this case, Central Mexican and lowland Maya—canons (Brittenham 2015; Foncerrada de Molina 1980; Kubler 1980). But innovative dynamics of marginality–centrality played out more locally, too, in interactions between Maya polities of varying cultural and political influence (Halperin and Martin 2020; Iannone 2011). Sculptors at the minor polity of Chinkultic, for instance, engaged with iconographic trends from powerful peers in the Usumacinta River Basin, even as Chinkultic elites remained largely disengaged from those political networks (Earley 2015, 2019).…”
Section: Sculpture Innovation and Political Identity In The Maya Westmentioning
In this article we analyze the content and form of 58 stone monuments at the archaeological site of Lacanjá Tzeltal, Chiapas, Mexico, which recent research confirms was a capital of the Classic Maya polity Sak Tz'i' (“White Dog”). Sak Tz'i' kings carried the title ajaw (“lord”) rather than the epithet k'uhul ajaw (“holy lord”) claimed by regional powers, implying that Sak Tz'i' was a lesser kingdom in terms of political authority. Lacanjá Tzeltal's corpus of sculptured stone, however, is explicitly divergent and indicates the community's marked cultural autonomy from other western Maya kingdoms. The sculptures demonstrate similarities with their neighbors in terms of form and iconographic and hieroglyphic content, underscoring Lacanjá Tzeltal artisans’ participation in the region's broader culture of monumental production. Nevertheless, sculptural experimentations demonstrate not only that lesser courts like Lacanjá Tzeltal were centers of innovation, but that the lords of Sak Tz'i' may have fostered such cultural distinction to underscore their independent political character. This study has broader implications for understanding interactions between major and secondary polities, artistic innovation, and the development of community identity in the Classic Maya world.
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