Archaeology Magazine - May/June 1990 - 35

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1
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the poor materials and workmanship on the stairway is
stark, and is surely not attributable to chance.
The same sad story was to be repeated by SmokeRabbit
the
i8
and
Shell's successor, Yax Pac, the long-lived sixteenth ruler
of Copán. Dozens of texts record Yax Pac's glorious sucKings
Smoke
cession to power on July 2 in a.d. 763. Dozens more
adorn buildings, incense burners, and other objects
from throughout his 58-year reign. Yet, in the end, he
Epigraphers read Maya inscriptions and texts by
apparently turned to the same strategy as Smoke-Shell,
deciphering the three major types of hieroglyphs
the tallest pyramid in his version of the Acropobecause
presently known: dates, verbs or "event glyphs," and
Structure
lis,
16, shows warrior and sacrifice imagery.
subjects. The subjects are generally the protagonists
Investigations directed by Ricardo Agurcia of the Instiof the dated events, particularly on the monumental
tuto
Hondureno de Antropologia e Historia have recovinscriptions of the Classic period. In other cases, the
ered
six different types of Jaguar Tlaloc war images that
subject is the actual object itself - a stela, altar, inthis structure, as well as grisly skulls, ropes for
adorned
cense burner, or ceramic vessel. In many cases the
binding captives, and warriors complete with shield and
verbs and subjects can be "translated" into the ancient
lance. And again, the fill of the final phase construction
Maya language, since hieroglyphic experts are now
is very weak, resulting in the near-total collapse of the
able to "read" the phonetic elements.
building atop the pyramid.
The first clue to deciphering the glyphs came from
Even more telling evidence of Yax Pac's attempt to bethe phonetic "alphabet" recorded by the sixteenthlie his weakness by building impressive monuments can
century Yucatec scribe for Bishop Diego de Landa's
be found on an altar positioned on the main axis of
Relaciónde las Cosasde Yucatan.Innovative scribes often
Structure 16. Here Yax Pac had his sculptors carve likesubstituted different signs which had the same phonesses
of himself and his 15 royal predecessors. The
netic value, providing invaluable clues by which epigfigures were arranged in such a fashion that he is shown
raphers can proceed from the known (Landa) signs to
receiving a baton of office - that is, the right to rule the unknown (previously undeciphered) signs. A sylfrom
none other than Yax K'uk Mo', the founder of the
labary has been developed, and new readings are conCopán dynasty, who reigned in the early fifth century
stantly being suggested and tested by scholars. In the
In dedicating this altar, Yax Pac sacrificed 15
a.d.
case of the names of kings, such as Copán's 18-Rabjaguars, their bones identified through osteological analbit, Smoke-Shell, and Smoke-Monkey, epigraphers
yses by Diane Ballinger of Indiana University. Jaguars
use nicknames or neutral descriptive terms derived
are associated with Maya warriors and royalty, and we
from how a particular glyph looks.
surmise that one animal was sacrificed for each of Yax
Pac's royal ancestors. The most important of the ancestors, the founder Yax K'uk Mo', was given a distinctive
temple and into the building (uniquely his innovation)
of the world's largest hieroglyphic stairway. This monuset of badges or symbols by Yax Pac's sculptors. He is
ment emphasized the glory days (and rulers) of the depicted with the Tlaloc eye and a rectangular shield,
Copán polity prior to the disastrous loss of 18-Rabbit,
indicating that he was a warrior and a provider of vicand in the process lent legitimacy to Smoke-Shell himtims for sacrifice.
self as the sole inheritor of the supernatural and secular
Yax Pac, then, was legitimating not only his right to
the
of
throne.
The
but also his militaristically and sacrificially orineed
for
such
a
monurule,
power
Copán
ment may have arisen either because he had reconsoliented means of maintaining authority. The irony is that
dated the support of his subordinates or because he was although we have found Yax K'uk Mo's longest-survivreacting against the growing power and influence of ing temple and stela, and numerous posthumous referthose formerly subordinate families.
ences by subsequent rulers up to Yax Pac's reign, there is
Again, the archaeological record throws some light on no evidence among these to suggest that Yax K'uk Mo'
was a warrior, let alone a follower of the Jaguar Tlaloc
the matter; the structural weakness of the fills beneath
the stairway and the rest of the building suggest that war cult.
The sculptural monuments have afforded us much
Smoke-Shell was operating from a position of relative
more information about political history thaii we could
weakness. Of the temple surmounting the pyramidal
substructure, all that remains is the floor and the basal ever hope for at a site that had no texts. Moreover, the
courses of two of its walls - hardly a fitting tribute to a work in the Acropolis has confirmed earlier study of the
man as powerful as Smoke-Shell claimed to be. Earlier
valley settlements that revealed the importance of the
interaction of the valley nobles with the Late Classic
Acropolis constructions all have tremendously strong
fill; in fact, it is only because of the strength of those fills kings.
At present, then, we have before us the possibility of
that we are able to tunnel into them. The contrast with
discerning the political organization of this ancient
This head of the deity Ch'ul, who representedthe sacrednessof Maya state on a level of detail never before possible. We
look forward to our ongoing work.
the universe, was usedfor the burning of offerings.
May/June1990 35

Archaeology Magazine - May/June 1990

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