The importance of Calakmul in the Classic Maya world also is reflected in the architecture and hieroglyphic texts of sites far beyond its direct control. The architectural program of central Calakmul, already established by the Late Preclassic period, may have been the model for the central precincts of Classic-period Naranjo and Xunantunich (Ashmore 1998: 174-175). The Calakmul Emblem Glyph appears more often in ancient Maya texts and its spatial distribution is greater than that of any other Classic Maya site, including Tikal (Folan, Marcus, Pincemin et al. 1995). The political and military prowess of the Calakmul polity is recorded at sites like Palenque (which was sacked at least twice by Calakmul in the late sixth and early seventh centuries); Dos Pilas and Caracol (both lesser allies of Calakmul who, in concert with their stronger partner, claim to have killed two important kings of Tikal); El Peru, Naranjo, Piedras Negras, and Yaxchilan
9.1 Approximate extent of the Calakmul regional state during the Late Classic period.
(all subordinate allies of Calakmul); Quirigua (whose king, K’ahk’ Tiliw Chan Yopaat, captured and sacrificed the important Copan king Waxaklajuun U B’aah K’awiil in a. d. 738, apparently with the blessing of a k’uhul kan ajaw); Copan (where Stela A mentions Calakmul as one of four important Maya cities in a. d. 731); and Seibal (where the last explicit mention of Calakmul, stilt considered one of the four great Maya polities, appeared on Stela 10 in a. d. 849) (Marcus 1973, 1976; Scheie and Mathews 1998; Looper 1995).
The central role played by Calakmul in so many battles, marriages, accessions, and commemoration events has led Martin and Grube (1995) to call the polity a “superpower.” Although we are unsure that the term can be applied legitimately to any Maya kingdom, it is clear that no model of Classic Maya political process that ignores the fundamental importance of Calakmul is viable (Marcus and Folan 1994; Pincemin et al. 1998). If warfare or other aspects of political intrigue were factors in the complex processes leading to the collapse of state-level society in the central Maya lowlands (see Demarest 1997 and Chapter 6, this volume), there can be no doubt that the k’uhul kan ajawob were pivotal actors at the center of this drama. We argue, therefore, that an understanding of the events and conditions of the Terminal Classic at Calakmul is central to any discussion of the Classic Maya collapse.
In this chapter we characterize the changes that took place at Calakmul during the ninth and early tenth centuries. Like many other large Maya centers, Calakmul suffered a dramatic decline of population during this period. We have evidence, however, in the form of continued elite residence and the erection of dedicatory monuments at least as late as a. d. 899, that the political structure of the Calakmul kingdom continued to function into the period of demographic crisis. The changing fortunes of the ninth century also are reflected in the establishment of new trading alliances outside the central Maya lowlands, specifically with emerging polities in the northern Maya lowlands and the Gulf Coast. There was, then, an economic response to the collapse, an adaptation that was successful for a time despite adverse environmental and political conditions. A third point we stress is that during the Terminal Classic, the use of space in the epicenter of Calakmul changed; formerly sacred structures were modified to serve as loci for more quotidian activities. This shift should not be described simply as a process of secularization: the sacred role of temples was not abandoned but combined with residential, administrative, and economic functions in a new way characteristic of sites in the northern Maya lowlands. Finally, we present evidence that one of the catalysts in the changing fortunes of Calakmul was climatic deterioration. We think that a prolonged drought was a contributing factor to the decline of the largest, and arguably most important. Classic Maya polity.
World History
