As the Late Classic progressed, the rulers decided to centralize the main activities of the government, especially of the administrative and religious type. The administrative duties were executed in the epicenter of the sites, but this led to the leading class’ isolation when they began to close off their plazas with palaces and temples. In Uaxactun, this happened particularly in Groups A and B, while at Tikal it is notable in all major groups: in the Great Plaza, which was closed by the construction of Temples I and II; in the Central Acropolis, where new palaces were built to close off plazas; and in the Lost World complex, where new structures were constructed to restrict access more and more. Everywhere, the entrances were reduced in size and strictly watched by guards, and nobody could, therefore, freely enter or exit.
To compensate for the restriction of public spaces, the government devised a plan to construct new cult places, as in the case of the twin pyramid complexes, reserving in this manner the Great Plaza of Tikal exclusively for the elite. It is considered that from this moment on, the general population had access to this plaza only during celebrations of festivities and specific ceremonies, such as the enthronement of a new ruler or mortuary rituals for their leaders. This practice required, then, a decentralization of rites and religious offices toward other groups, recognized archaeologically by the groups that include an eastern temple or oratory. Complexes of this nature were defined typologically as Plaza Plan 2 by Becker (1971), and subsequent excavations have supported this idea, demonstrating their high frequency and use in all sectors of the city and in elite groups, as well as in peripheral groups of lower rank (Valdes 1985). Investigations in Uaxactun also supported the presence of groups using the Plaza Plan 2 in the central part as well as in the periphery, although with a lower frequency than at Tikal.
We believe, therefore, that the government allowed the coexistence of an “official religion” that corresponded to the interests of the leaders, together with a “popular religion,” practiced by the city’s inhabitants, that included the worship of minor deities of daily life. This proposition is supported by the popularity and diffusion reached by the construction of groups with eastern religious precincts used as subsidiary cult locales, as in Tikal 105; such groups are documented for the Late Classic (Valdes 1985: 60). During the Eznab phase, these were slowly abandoned as the population moved toward the epicenter.
Another radical change in the original building function is observed in the Central Acropolis of Tikal during the late times of crisis. Scheie and Mathews (1998: 84) point out that when the palace 5D-51 was partially falling down, it was used as a prison for captives, with wooden poles crossing the entryway. Maybe they were defending themselves from the same intruders who were arriving in groups from the periphery. Thus, the palace was transformed from its original function as a conjuring house, as it is believed to have been conceived.
Some structures changed in use because doors were sealed and the inhabitants forced to reduce the width of the entryways to make them more restricted and more easily guarded. A clear case is seen in the palace of Great Jaguar Paw in the Central Acropolis, which was left with only one door when all the others were closed off, giving the structure the aspect of a fortress hard to conquer.
World History
