At the time of European contact (a. d. 1524-1697) with the indigenous peoples of what is now Peten, the lakes area was dominated by a group of Maya known to the Spaniards as Itza. The identity and origins of the Itza have been long debated (see Rockmore 1998 for a historical review), but recent studies by the late Linda Scheie, Erik Boot, and colleagues have shed new light on the situation. These scholars suggest that the origin of the Postclassic lowland Maya group known as the Itza was in north-central Peten, more specifically in the region around Tikal and its allied centers near what is now known as Lake Peten Itza. The data supporting this conclusion are summarized below (drawn from syntheses in Scheie and Mathews 1998:187,203-204,352 nlO, 363 n30-368 n31; also Scheie, Grube, and Boot 1995: 10; Scheie and Grube 1995: 113, 120; Boot 1996, 1997).
The ethnic identifier “Itza” began to appear in central Peten as early as the Early Classic period, although unfortunately much of the evidence comes from unprovenienced material. A text on a stela from Motul de San Jose mentions the Emblem Glyph or title k'ul itza ajaw ‘Holy Itza Lord’, and the text on a looted pot from Peten names its owner as a yune itza ajaw ‘child of the Itza lord’. Furthermore, the name of Lake Peten Itza may originally have been itz ha ‘enchanted water’ (Scheie and Mathews 1998: 362, citing personal communication from Nikolai Grube); if so, this could have been the origin of the name of the group known as Itza.
Another important bit of information on the Classic-period occupants of the region comes from a looted pot (perhaps from the Xultiin area; Houston, personal communication) bearing a text that mentions the name Kan Ek’. Kan Ek’ {kan ‘four, snake, sky’; ek' ‘star, black’) was the name of the ruler of the Itza at their island capital, Tayasal/Nojpeten (modem Flores Island, in Lake Peten Itza), from A. D. 1524 to 1697. The reference on a Classic-period ceramic vessel suggests that this name/lineage/title goes back centuries in the region. Central Peten rulers named Kan Ek’ are also identified on two Terminal Classic monuments from Seibal: Stela 11, which names Kan Ek’ as ‘he of Ucanal’ and Stela 10, where the name occurs with the Motul de San Jose Emblem Glyph. The name Kan Ek’ also appears on Yaxchilan Stela 10 and in inscriptions at Chich’en Itza. On the basis of these findings, Scheie and colleagues (Scheie 1995: 4, emphasis added) concluded: “. . . [that] the Itza were always in the Southern Lowlands and that the name came north with them during the [Late Classic] migrations. This new interpretation suggests that the retreats of the Itza [back to Peten] at the fall of Chichen Itza and Mayapan.. . represented a return to a homeland."
Although we differ in assessment of this scenario—one of us (P. Rice) thinks it likely; the other (D. Rice) is more skeptical—our purpose here is not to identify the Itza or specify where in Peten their homeland lay. Rather, we wish to explore certain aspects of the Terminal Classic and Postclassic sociopolitical situation in the northern lowlands and attempt to trace them into the Late and Terminal Classic southern lowlands.
We take as our starting point one important generalization about the Postclassic and early Colonial period northern lowlands. This is that sociopolitical relations in the region were polarized into two broad regional divisions, largely based on elite lineages or lineage groups: the Xiw in the west and the Kokom-Itza in the east. Despite the multepal or “joint rule” government of multiple lineages centered at Mayapan in the Late Postclassic, the Xiw and the Itza did not necessarily coexist peaceably. They harbored substantial enmity, as evidenced in various ambushes and murderous plots. They wrote different “prophetic histories,” the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel being Xiw-written and the Book of Chilam Balam of Tizimin being Itza. They observed different calendars, which were finally fused into a compromise calendar in a. d. 1539. And they participated in different trade and material culture systems. These regional differences in the northern lowlands are recognizable at least as early as the Terminal Classic period on the basis of differing distributions of Cehpech - and Sotuta-related ceramic spheres.
Significantly, we have found a similar east-west ethno-political or ethno-social division in the Late Postclassic central Peten lakes region. While our surveys have covered all of the central Peten lake basins, our excavations in Postclassic towns have thus far been concentrated primarily to the east of Lake Peten Itza, in an area identified by Grant Jones (1998) on the basis of ethnohistoric documentation as occupied by people known as Kowoj. The studies of three of our students have isolated discrete sets of identifiers—architectural (Pugh 2001), ceramic (Cecil 2001), and mortuary (Duncan 1999a, 1999b, 2001)—common to sites in this eastern area, and which are either lacking or are different in the western part of the lakes region. We hope to test this proposition in future fieldwork.
For the present purposes, it suffices simply to note that such a division appears to exist in the Late Postclassic lakes region. Here, we are interested in its earlier manifestations and antecedents and the more general flows of people, goods, and ideas in central Peten in the Terminal Classic.
World History
