Regional Dynamics

In addition to the ceramic and architectural evidence from the main site of Yaxuna, other data from outlying sites in the Yaxuna area suggest that these satellites were also brought into the Coba/Cehpech hegemony (Freidel 1987). Robertson (1986) proposed that iconographic differences between sculpture from the Yaxuna region (and, in particular, from Xtelhu to the southwest and Popola to the north of Yaxuna) and sculpture from Chichen Itza were significant enough to represent separate chronological periods—the Yaxcaba (Yaxuna) style being Late Classic while the Chichen Itza style was Terminal Classic to Postclassic. As Freidel (1987) noted, Robertson’s iconographic temporal assignments mirrored the ceramic arguments of the time: Cehpech was generally regarded as earlier than Sotuta on the peninsula. Now the consensus is that for a period of time Cehpech and Sotuta were coeval, registering different polity affiliations. This shift strengthens the case for the alternative hypothesis that stylistic and iconographic differences between the adjacent Chichen Itza and Yaxuna regions register different political and military affiliations in Terminal Classic times. The iconographic programs of Chichen Itza and the Yaxuna area do, however, share some ritual themes, like processions and militaristic themes (Scheie and Freidel 1990; Freidel 1992). This common focus on captives and warriors is further indication that strife and conflict were an integral part of life during the Terminal Classic on the northern peninsula, as is evidently the case elsewhere in the Maya world.

Epigraphically, the title of “sahal,” marking a second-level lord in the western part of the southern lowlands, appears on an accession panel from the small site of Mopila, twelve kilometers to the west of Yaxuna (Freidel 1990: 77; Scheie and Freidel 1990). The title is unknown at Chichen Itza. At the site of Xkalumkin in Campeche, an individual acceded to the position of sahal in a. d. 733 (the beginning of our Yaxuna IVa phase). Scheie and Grube (1995: 92) and Nikolai Grube (1994b) have determined that cadres of such sahalob ruled this capital in the absence of kings or ahawob during the eighth century. Beyond these occurrences, the title is exclusively found in southern lowland centers along the Usumacinta and within the western rivers district (Stuart 1984; Grube 1994b; Scheie and Freidel 1990: 58). When added to the fine-ware ceramics produced in this area (Sabloff 1975) and present in Campeche and the northern plains, the distribution of sahal titles presents a case for very direct and reasonably early contacts between the people of the western southern lowlands and those of Campeche and the northern peninsula. Such connections may mark population movements that played a role in the growth and eastern movement of the groups from the Puuc cities.