Early researchers quickly realized that one of the distinguishing features of the Classic Maya kingdom centered in the Copan Valley was the number and quality of inscribed monuments erected outside the Principal Group of ruins (Maudslay 1889-1902; Gordon 1896; Spinden 1912; Morley 1920). Figural and hieroglyphic stelae and altars were to be found in a number of different loci in the valley. However, when excavations of vaulted masonry buildings outside the site core began to uncover hieroglyphic benches, with accompanying pictorial imagery, scholars began to realize that new insights would be available on the structure of ancient society at this particular kingdom.
To date, hieroglyphic benches have been found inside elaborate edifices at four different elite residential compounds in the eastern half of the Copan pocket, the largest subdivision of the greater Copan Valley system, in the urban core of the kingdom. These inscribed benches or thrones all convey cosmological themes in their iconography (Baudez 1986, 1989), and three of the four also carry historical information in their hieroglyphic texts. When the fourth site (Group 8N-11) is more completely investigated, it is likely that historical texts will be found in one or more of the other large structures around the central plaza that remain to be excavated (Webster et al. 1998).
The number and diversity of these monuments, and the fact that all three of the historical inscriptions were dedicated during the reign of the sixteenth and final ruler, Yax Pasah, led one of us (Fash 1983a, 1986) to speculate that they were testimony to the waning power of the last king of Copan. Indeed, Fash even went so far as to suggest that rather than being the result of a peasant uprising, the collapse of divine rule at Copan may have been the result of a “nobles’ revolt” (Fash 1983a, 1988, 1991). In this scenario, the noble families of the Copan Valley began to withhold the tribute that they had previously supplied to the royal line, resulting in economic disruptions and precipitating the end of the dynasty, and with it the Classic Maya tradition in the Copan Valley. The model was keyed into the increasingly abundant settlement and ecological data indicating that the population in the Copan pocket had exceeded the local carrying capacity, in large measure beeause the urban core completely covered the most fertile alluvial bottomlands in the region (Fash 1983b; Sanders 1989; Webster and Freter 1990b).
Over the past fifteen years, a broad array of new data and models have been produced that greatly enhance our understanding of these processes. There is now a considerably larger array of information regarding the causes, consequences, and timing of deforestation and erosion in the valley, as well as the regional settlement system through time and space (for useful reviews, see Webster n. d., 1999). A much more complete understanding of the site core and its historical record has been afforded by the intensive research of the archaeologists, epigraphers, and artists who participated in the Copan Acropolis Archaeological Project (e. g., Agurcia 1997; Andrews and Fash 1992; B. Fash 1992; B. Fash et al. 1992; Fash 1991, 1998; Freidel et al. 1993; Scheie and Freidel 1990; Sharer et al. 1999; Stuart 1992, 1997). Of the explanatory models that have been elaborated recently, two are of particular interest for the present context.
The first model is that of William T. Sanders, elaborated in his important work on “Household, Lineage, and State at Eighth-Century Copan, Honduras” (Sanders 1989). Basing his analysis primarily upon settlement data and the excavations he directed at household units of the different social levels in the urban ward of Las Sepulturas, Sanders elucidated four major organizational tenets of Late Classic Copan society:
A. Extended family households varied considerably in social status, with polygyny closely related to this differentiation.
B. Households were incorporated into lineages of varying size and generational depth, closely integrated with a series of levels of ancestral cults.
C. The heads of maximal lineages formed a noble class and provided leadership in a number of separate but closely integrated spheres of activities—political, economic, and religious. The immediate supporting households of these nobles included close kin, distant relatives, and unrelated clients; internal rank distinctions were significant. Some members of these expanded lineages had economically specialized roles, but the majority were probably cultivators.
D. At the top of the hierarchy was the king and the royal lineage who may have had several thousand people as direct economic and political dependents.
(Sanders 1989: 102)
In looking at the specific example of the elaborate residential compound of Group 9N-8 and the “House of the Bacabs” (Webster 1989), Sanders concluded that the granting of titles to lineage heads, along with sculptural facades on their houses, could be seen as an expression of both the strengths and weaknesses of the Copan kingdom (Sanders 1989: 103). He felt this owed to the fact that the Copan state was only partially effective in monopolizing force, but that at the same time, the positions of the lineage heads were somewhat precarious because of the great power of the royal line. He argued that these features were in keeping with the political structure that Richard Fox (1977) defined as the segmentary state. Such a state is symbolically centralized, but the political position of the ruler is circumscribed by the power of a class of nobles with separate ascribed prerogatives and resources. Further, he suggested that the evidence at Copan accorded with the fact that segmentary states are characterized by “elaborate court protocol and ceremony, and there are almost innumerable titles—usually given to those men with independent power bases—that are largely ceremonial in nature” (Sanders 1989; 104). Further, Sanders made the particularly prescient observation that in Copan, “the power of the king is sharply circumscribed by councils of chiefs of local lineages” (Sanders 1989: 104).
The second model relevant to the present discussion is that presented by Joyce Marcus (1992) in her consideration of “Dynamic Models in Mesoamerican States.” Marcus proposed that all Mesoamerican states went through similar stages, beginning with 1) a rapid growth and acquisition of territory following the formation of the state, followed by 2) a period of “filling in” of the territory and a growth in the size and power of secondary centers, which subsequently declare their independence from the old capital, leading to 3) the shrinking of its domain and its eventual collapse as a centralized authority structure. Marcus used the Copan case (among others) to illustrate her model, positing a very large Copan polity in the Early Classic, followed hy the gradual shrinking of its territory following the achievement of independence by Quirigua (in a. d. 738), and thereafter the independence of other centers progressively closer to the capital, such as Los Higos, La Florida, and Rio Amarillo. The withdrawal of the support of previously tributary centers came at precisely the time that demographic and political pressures within the Copan pocket made their contributions most necessary. Regarding the collapse, Marcus’s “Dynamic Model” posits essentially the same political process that Fash (1983a, 1988, 1991) had posited earlier with the nobles’ revolt, but on a regional scale, and including the heads of secondary centers in tribute-producing areas outside of the Copan pocket.
The political and economic consequences of the defeat (and apparently also the decapitation) of the thirteenth Copan king, Uaxaclahun Ubah K’awiI (a. k.a. “18 Rabbit”), at the hands of the Quirigua dynast K’ak Tiliw (a. k.a. “Cauac Sky”) have been much debated over the past couple of decades. All are in agreement that the results for Quirigua (where the event is recorded on five different monuments) were prestige-enhancing and that an explosion of monument erection occurred in the years following the beheading of the Copan sovereign. This is one case where “loser’s history” is indeed recorded, since the Hieroglyphic Stairway at Copan cites the fateful date, and states that Ruler 13 died “with his flint, with his shield,” that is, in battle (David Stuart, personal communications 1998). But what of the results of this humiliating and potentially disastrous event in the Copan kingdom? Archaeology, epigraphy, iconography, and ethnohistoric sources were all brought to bear to begin answering this question.
A previously little-understood structure on the Copan Acropolis turned out to have a very intriguing tale to tell about the response to the crisis generated by the violent end of Ruler 13’s reign. The investigations of Structure 10L-22A were inspired by Barbara Fash’s observation that the large sculpted mat designs which were still in place on the eastern facade of this structure might label the building as a mat house, or council house (Fash and Fash 1990; B. Fash et al. 1992). The investigations provided a variety of different kinds of evidence in support of this hypothesis, including many more of the large mat symbols, and roof ornaments labeling the building as a nic te’il na (flower house, also glossed as a council house in Colonial-period dictionaries). There were also nine toponymic glyphs on the facades of Structure 22A, thought to name specific places represented by the human figures that were placed above them in the building’s entablature. A dance platform was found in front of the structure, in keeping with the descriptions of activities occurring at council houses in the ethnohistoric sources. Finally, the excavations documented the remains of a midden at the southwest comer of the building, interpreted as the residues of a feast that took place there toward the close of the Classic period (B. Fash et al. 1992; Fash and Fash 1996). A possible Long Count date for the dedication of the building, based on the large “9 Ahau” medallions that were repeated in pairs numerous times on all four facades of the structure, falls in a. d. 746 (9.15.15.0.0 9 Ahau 18 Xul), squarely in the reign of Ruler 14. Regardless of whether one accepts the “9 Ahau” glyphs as the dedicatory date of the building, the architectural stratigraphy of this stmcture and its neighbors (Stmctures lOL-22 and lOL-26) and their associated plaster floors place the construction of the final version of Structure 22A during the reign of Ruler 14 (Larios et al. 1994). Thus, this building represents the response of that king to the death of his distinguished and long-lived predecessor.
The imagery that adorned this building, with its explicit depiction of representatives of different wards (or lineages?) that comprised the seats of power of the kingdom, has been interpreted as the king’s acknowledgment of the power of those secondary lords and their domains. Indeed, it has been suggested that their portrayal on the facades of this prominently placed structure (clearly visible from the Great Plaza, below) may have been a way of trying to invest the upper nobility in the success and the fate of the Copan kingdom. All of this, of course, is perfectly in keeping with the predictions made by Sanders (1989: 104) regarding the role of the noble lineage heads in circumscribing the power of the king, through their councils.
What remains to be done is to locate and identify the places represented by the toponyms, and their respective human figures, carved in stone on the facades of the council house. Andrews’s research on the royal residential area (Andrews and Fash 1992) has provided what we hold to be a secure identification of one of the toponyms, that of kanal. Other likely candidates include the Type 4 sites located precisely one kilometer from the Principal Group, to the east (Group 8N-11), north (Group 8L-12), and west (Group 9J-5). Given the abundant icono-graphic and hieroglyphic sculptures known to have adorned the elite residential compounds in Late Classic Copan, it is likely simply a matter of time before they are uncovered.
For Ruler 15, we have the elegant testimony of the Hieroglyphic Stairway and Temple of Structure lOL-26, both of which bear his name and the information that he completed them. David Stuart (1997, n. d.) has proposed that Ruler 13 may have actually begun this grandiose encyclical and placed it on the west side of the penultimate pyramidal base of Structure 26 known as Esmeralda. It is abundantly clear from both the archaeology and the texts that Ruler 15 was the one to complete the final version of the temple pyramid, and the stairway and temple texts that adorned it. The stairway and the temple at its summit represent a retrospective history of the dynasty up to the date it was dedicated in a. d. 753, including the brief mention of the loss of Ruler 13. But the overarching message is that of the power and glory of the Copan kingdom, with portraits of the sovereigns and the citation of the most important events in their lives, including their birth, accession, monument dedications, and death. To bring home the point, the mlers are portrayed as warrior kings, bearing lance and shield and all the accoutrements of the supernatural patrons of war.
Barbara Fash (1992; Fash and Fash 1996) has emphasized the increasing use, explicitness, and sheer size of the depictions of martial themes in the Copan Acropolis sculpted building facades as the eighth century progressed. Clearly, there was the perception of a need to emphasize the military might of the dynasty, and various kinds of supernatural sanction for it, in the monuments of the last three kings of Copan. Indeed, when we look at the final building on the Copan Acropolis, identified as the funerary temple of Yax Pasah, we see portraits of the last ruler as a fearsome warrior, complete with shield, lance, shrunken trophy heads, and ropes for tying his captives subdued in battle. On an interior niche. Structure 18 bears the date 9.18.10.0.0, a mere ten years after the start of the Terminal Classic period, but already deep into the decline of the Copan state.
To place the message and size of Temple 18 in perspective, it is useful to look at the full array of monuments dedicated by Ruler 16. In so doing one sees that all of the grandiose building projects that Yax Pasah undertook were completed during the first thirteen years of his reign. He acceded to power in a. d. 763, dedicated Structure 21A in a. d. 771, Structure 11 in a. d. 773, and Structure 16 in a. d. 776. We know of not a single other building on the Acropolis that he constructed, until the comparatively very modest Temple 18 was dedicated in a. d. 800. During the last decades of his reign, Yax Pasah seems to have been content to let others dedicate monuments in their own honor in numerous elite residential compounds in the Copan Valley. The texts that have come to light thus far all say that they were commissioned under his authority, and one (inside Str. 9M-152) even says that he performed a period ending ceremony there. Yax Pasah’s only other contribution was to commission a number of stone altars and small, portable objects to note his ritual observances of the passing of the anniversaries of his accession or period endings in the Principal Group, and in places of interest or import in the valley.
The ancient settlement that was nearly entirely destroyed by the establishment of the modem town of Copan Ruinas (Morley’s Group 9) was also no doubt an important subcommunity in Late Classic Copan. A great number of inscribed hieroglyphic monuments were found there, including three (Stela 8, Altar T, Altar U) that were commissioned during the reign of Yax Pasah. A decade ago, it was suggested that this locus may have been the domain of an individual (dubbed “Personage A” by Stuart 1992, also known as Yahau Chan Ah Bac) that bore the Copan Emblem Glyph among his titles, and was thought to be the brother of Yax Pasah (Scheie and Freidel 1990). Another possible sibling (“Personage B,” whose name was glossed “Yax Kamlay”), was thought to have held sway over the royal residential area on the south edge of the Acropolis, Group lOL-2. These epigraphic interpretations were viewed as further evidence of the sharing of power by Yax Pasah (Scheie and Freidel 1990; Bardsley 1996), in the final decades of his reign. However, David Stuart (personal communications 1997) has recently concluded that both of the names in question belong not to historical individuals, but rather to patron gods of the Copan kingdom. If sustained by future inquiry, this reading would disallow the interpretation of Group 9 as the private fiefdom of a brother of Yax Pasah, and would instead indicate that Yax Pasah was there, too, simply dedicating stone monuments to mark the passage of calendric anniversaries, as he recorded on small circular altars in the Acropolis and portable stone incensario lids found at caves in distinct locations in the Copan Valley.
This hardly seems to be the testimony of a powerful mler, bolstered by tens of thousands of loyal subjects all obliged (let alone enthusiastic) to contribute their labor to impressive public works projects. Quite to the contrary, the lack of large-scale corporate labor projects, and the explicit depictions of him as a fearsome warrior on the panels of the diminutive Temple 18, would appear to indicate that Yax Pasah was experiencing considerable political difficulties in the last three decades of his reign.
Noble families residing outside the Copan pocket also signaled their importance by the use of hieratic monuments. In two cases, these monuments included inscriptions where the local lineage heads boast their own ahaw titles, to judge from Los Higos Stela 1 and Rio Amarillo Altars 1 and 2. Marcus (1992) read these lordly titles as Emblem Glyphs proper and used that interpretation to posit that the satellite centers of Copan all broke away during the eighth century a. d. Again, the comparative anthropological data and evidence from other parts of Mesoamerica support the logic behind her conclusions. Neither of these sites’ nobles, however, used the “Ch’ul” (“holy”) title in these lordly appellatives.
The major structural problem that the burgeoning elite lineages posed for the Copan kingdom is one for which the Council House, alone, was not enough to solve. There were too many eligible adult males to fill the available political offices, and the jockeying for position among the elite lineages who aspired to greater glory is thought by many of us to have reached intolerable levels. This situation weakened the authority and power—to whatever degree perceived, or real—of the king himself. The sculptures and public seating accommodation in the residential compounds spanning the social spectrum from Types 2-4 in the Copan Valley show the importance that display and pageantry held in eighth century Copdn, and very likely elsewhere. This elite competition made for chronic instability throughout the Maya area during the closing century of the Classic era, as is shown by the number of new regal-ritual centers formed by disgruntled members of the aristocracy of the old capitals, and the frequency and intensity of the wars that took place between all the major players, and even many of the minor ones.
The timing of and circumstances surrounding the end of the reign of the sixteenth Copan ruler have been the subjects of considerable scholarly debate and speculation. As noted, the Initial Series text inscribed in the west interior niche of Temple 18 records the date a. d. 800. Ten years later, he is cited as performing a “hand-scattering” ceremony in the inscription on Structure 1-B-l in the Acropolis of Quirigua. The suggestion was made that Yax Pasah may have retreated from Copan to Quirigua, in keeping with the evidence for a rapprochement between the two centers in the final inscriptions of Quirigua. However, the discovery of some human skeletal material in the looted and ransacked tomb of Temple 18 suggested that Yax Pasah may in fact have been buried in the last building that he is known to have dedicated at Copan.
Further, Linda Scheie believed that the “6 Ahau” reference on the text of Copan Stela 11 dates its erection to a. d. 820, and shows Yax Pasah in the maw of the Underworld, as an apotheosized ruler (Scheie and Mathews 1998). This would place the date of death of Yax Pasah between a. d. 810 (Quirigua Str. 1-B-l) and 820 (Stela 11). Nikolai Grube and Scheie (1987) also believe Copan Altar L to be the accession monument of a successor to Yax Pasah, whose name they decipher as U Kit Tok, in a. d. 822. David Stuart (1992) is unconvinced by either the placement of the Calendar Round date inscribed on the altar’s south face (it could as well be fifty-two years earlier, in a. d. 770), or that the office into which this individual acceded was that of the high king. W. Fash (1991 and elsewhere) agrees with the placement of the Calendar Round date in a. d. 822, but is unable to bring himself to recognize U Kit Tok as a high king, both because of the lack of that designation on the altar text and the fact that its carving was never completed. This may well have been a pretender to the throne in the chaotic years following the death of Ruler 16, but if so his power base was so limited that the words that would have declared him king were never carved.
World History
