Structure O-13 and the Materiality of Memory

Our analysis of Classic period Piedras Negras engagement with sculptures comes into sharper focus with a closer look at Structure O-13, the site of Itzam K’an Ahk II’s tomb and the stelae of the polity’s last three known rulers, Yo’nal Ahk III, Ha’ K’in Xook, and K’inich Yat Ahk II (figs. 3.24, 4.1). The previous chapter examined the relationships among these stelae and those of other generations and how the associations among them created and inspired historical discourse across the landscape. Yet Structure O-13 was a locus for other kinds of sculptural engagement and historical discourse, as well.

Figure 4.1. Piedras Negras Structure O-13, 8th century CE; watercolor rendering, ca. 2004. Drawn by Mark Child and painted by Heather Hurst. Courtesy of Heather Hurst.

In the last phase of Structure O-13, during K’inich Yat Ahk Il’s reign, the Maya installed two new carved panels, Panel 3 (circa 782 ce) and Panel 1 (undated), and reset an older panel, Panel 2 (circa 667 ce).1 In addition, Miscellaneous Sculptured Stone 1 (circa 639 ce), a small broken altar, was buried in the shrine’s floor, and the broken Panel 12 (circa 518 ce) was reused in a pier in the shrine. This chapter focuses on the late eighth-century engagement with the past at Structure O-13 through the creation of new sculptures, the manipulation of older ones, and the performance of ceremonial rites involving the sculptures, the building, and associated ancestors.

In previous chapters, I argued that Piedras Negras sculptures changed over time, but there were few physical changes to them. The most notable change was the pecking of faces, but otherwise the monuments remained physically stable. Even so, the meaning and reception of them changed as historical, social, and physical contexts changed around them. Sculptures at Structure O-13, where the Maya reset and buried several older carved stones, were also physically altered. The presence, placement, and content of these older sculptures and some of the newer ones installed on and in Structure O-13 point to K’inich Yat Ahk II’s effort to make connections with and revise the past. Several of the newer and older sculptures reshape histories of the kingdom, especially

In relation to other polities, including Yaxchilan. This reshaping of historical narratives took place both through the creation of new narrations and the relocation, resetting, and burial of older ones. The engagement with sculptures and engagement with history on this building, therefore, were intertwined.

Such transformations may open a window onto Classic Maya perceptions of these objects. How, for example, were the sculptures physically and conceptually transformed when reused? And what were the new relationships with other objects around them? These relationships are manifest in visible juxtapositions of sculptures or in non-visible associations with buried sculptures that continued to act, both as offerings to buildings and as a vehicle for ancestor veneration and political legitimization (see O’Neil 2009). Moreover, as argued in previous chapters, the material nature and physical context of sculptures were of utmost importance, both in tandem with and beyond any pictorial or textual content carved on their surfaces.

There is both textual and archaeological evidence for the performance of ceremonies on Structure O-13. The archaeological evidence includes caches deposited during the building’s construction as well as burned matter from rites over the course of its use. These rites entailed vertical movement up the pyramid that was comparable to processions ascending or descending other Piedras Negras pyramids. The O-13 caches and offering ceremonies served to sanctify the building and venerate ancestors. In fact, some of the cached items—including reused stone sculptures— establish explicit connections to named ancestors. The reuse of objects articulates with the narrations and performance of memory in the service of making contact with the past for ancestor veneration and historical discourse. Such reused objects therefore provide a case study to explore the materiality of history and memory.

Structure O-13 was a highly charged place, a place of ceremonies that included copious fires and objects offered to deities, ancestors, sculptures, and the building that housed them. Over time, Structure O-13 became a place saturated with memory and a locus for the creation, display, and performance of memory. Its character may have resulted from its own history of use and its history of place, particularly as a building with multiple phases that was converted into Itzam K’an Ahk Il’s funerary pyramid. Also significant was its location at the nexus of processional pathways between the South and West Groups, a location that must have inspired the transformation of this building into a place of memory for the polity’s historical span. Once developed, the building and its sculptures would have inspired performances relating to community and cosmic renewal and to the commemoration and performance of personages, events, and places of historical and sacred import.