Return to Lecture Notes Index
COPAN
A. History of research
B. Site description
1. site core covers ca. 600 X 300 m
2. acropolis, with a series of connecting plazas
C. Early Preclassic
1. earliest traces date to 1000 BC
D. Middle Preclassic
E. Early Classic
1. population history
a) 8,000 - 10,000 during Early Classic
b) peak population of 18,000 - 25,000 during Late Classic
2. construction
a) early Acropolis expands to cover principal area
b) Margarita
1) found in Spring 1993
2) earliest known masonry structure
3) contained large vaulted chamber
a> carved stone in southern wall of chamber
b> date corresponding to AD 437
c> holds remains of founder or his successor
3. Yax Kuk Mo'
a) lineage founder
b) death or burial
1) 9.0.2.0.0 (AD 437)
4. Cu Ix
5. Waterlily Jaguar
a) Ante Structure
1) two-tiered structure on east side of East Court
2) series of caches
a> one contained spiny oyster shell covered with red pigment
b) palace under Str. 10L-11 on south side of Great Plaza
c) burial beneath structure directly across court from Ante
Structure
1) bones of young adult male
2) placed on elevated stone platform
3) two dozen painted vessels
6. Moon Jaguar
a) tomb found in 1992
b) Rosalila Structure
1) sealed beneath final phase of Str. 10L-16
2) two-story multiroomed structure
3) date corresponding to death of Yax Kuk Mo'
4) termination cache with nine eccentric flints
7. Butz Chan
a) accedes
1) 9.7.5.0.8 (AD 578)
b) death
1) 9.9.14.16.9 (AD 628)
F. Late Classic
1. Smoke Imix
a) Quirigua
1) Altar L indicates Qurigua as a subordinate to Copan
2) controlled Motagua jade route
3) Copan may have controlled large realm from earliest part of
Quirigua's history
b) Building inside of Str. 10L-26
1) Chorcha
a> contained richest burial from Copan
b> intimate of the king
c> necklace of polished jades
d> decayed codex
e> 10 paint pots
f> vessel with portrait of scribe
g> 19 spiny oyster shells
h> 44 ceramic vessels
i> remains of 12-year-old boy
1> evidence of malnutrition
2. 18 Rabbit
a) accedes
1) 9.13.3.6.8 (AD 695)
b) Cauac Sky of Quirigua comes to power "in the land of" 18
Rabbit
1) 9.14.13.14.17 (AD 725)
2) adopts own emblem glyph
a> claims title of "k'ul ahau" on Altar M
b> 9.15.3.2.0
c) celebrated katun ending
1) 9.15.0.0.0 (AD 731)
2) Stela A
d) dedicated great ballcourt
1) 9.15.6.8.13 (AD 738)
e) capture and sacrifice
1) taken by Cauac Sky of Quirigua
2) 9.15.6.14.6 (AD 738)
a> date repeatedly cited on monuments at Quirigua
b> event broke Copan's hegemony over the region
c> twenty-year gap in Copan's inscriptions
3) event mentioned only once at Copan (on Hieroglyphic
Stairway)
4) followed by major rebuilding at Quirigua
5) Cauac Sky reigns for another 60 years
a> string of titles in his name includes bat of Copan emblem
glyph
b> clearly boasts of his defeat of a Copan lord
3. Smoke Monkey
a) accession
1) 9.15.6.16.5
2) 39 days after 18 Rabbit's death
3) referred to retrospectively
b) Str. 10L-22A
1) excavated by Bill and Barbara Fash
2) identified as council house ("popol na")
3) adornments include ten large mat designs
4) building adorned with "9 Ahau" glyphs
a> probably refer to period ending 9.15.15.0.0. 9 Ahau 18 Xul
5) also "ahualil" glyphs
a> indicate governance or act of governing
b> cross-legged, seated figures in niches above hieroglyphs
c) Sepulturas (Group 8N-11)
1) excavated by David Webster
2) chest adornment on figure identical to that on Str. 10L-22
3) personage may have been war captain
4. Smoke Shell
a) accession
1) 9.15.17.13.10 (AD 749)
b) dedication of hieroglyphic stairway (Str. 10L-26)
1) 9.15.17.13.10 (AD 749)
c) Str. 10L-26
1) may have been planned under the aegis of the council
2) dedicated by Smoke Shell
3) hieroglyphic stairway
a> longest Maya inscription
b> some 2,200 glyphs
c> embellished with statues of warrior kings
1> Moon Jaguar, Butz Chan, Smoke Imix, 18 Rabbit, and Smoke
Shell
d> used to wipe away humiliating victory of Quirigua
5. Yax Pac
a) also known as "Sun-at-Horizon" or "Madrugada"
b) 16th and last known ruler
c) dedication of Altar Q
1) 9.17.5.0.0 (AD 775)
d) Str. 10L-11
1) dedicated in AD 773
2) appears to have served both as residence and place of ritual
3) erection of reviewing-stand stairway
4) three markers in plaza below
5) identifies West Court with Xibalba
6) watery motifs
a> shells and caimans
7) appropriate setting for captive-sacrifice rituals
e) Str. 10L-16
1) principal temple
2) most important monument of his reign, Altar Q
3) may actually be where he sat while overseeing rituals of the
West Court
4) Rosalila
5) Margarita
f) late architecture was not built with care of earlier
buildings
g) carved benches from Sepulturas and other areas suggests
importance of council chiefs
h) celebration of first katun
1) 9.17.12.5.17 (AD 783)
i) celebration of katun ending with Jade Sky of Quirigua
1) 9.19.0.0.0 (AD 820)
j) other important men
1) royal scribes
a> Mac Chanil and father Kuk Kawil
b> lived in Group 9N-8
c> portraits show him holding scribe's brush and shell
d> workshops and accomodations for foreigners, possibly from
Ulua Valley
2) Yax Pac's brothers
a> Yahau Chan
1> appears to have governed western part of valley
2> monument honors first katun of both Yax Pac and him
b> Yax K'amlay
1> identified by David Stuart as Yax Pac's first steward
k) Str. 10L-18
1) dedicated in 9.18.10.17.18 (AD 801)
2) carved doorjambs show Yax Pac and a companion adorned with
trophy heads and ropes for binding captives
6. U Cit Tok
a) attempted accession
1) 9.19.11.14.5 (AD 822)
b) Altar L
1) placed on north platform overlooking Great Ballcourt
2) pathetic imitation of Altar Q
3) shows Yax Pac opposite U Cit Tok
4) monument never finished
G. Postclassic
Return to Lecture Notes Index