A Long Mexican Dominance: A New Look at the Relations of Teotihuacan with Tikal, Dzibanche, and Other Maya Kingdoms between Middle 5th and Middle 6th Centuries
Abstract
The article addresses a problem that remains one of the most interesting, controversial, and difficult in the study of the history of Mesoamerican civilizations in the Early Classic Period. The authors argue that the supremacy of Teotihuacan over Tikal and other Maya cities lasted longer and was more thorough-going than traditionally believed. Inscriptions from different Peten sites (Tikal Stela 40, El Peru Stela 16, and Uaxactun Stela 22) and the testimony of Tetitla murals are at odds with the thesis, popular in historiography, about a confrontation between Tikal and Teotihuacan in the second half of the 5th century. Analysis of the hieroglyphic texts on Yaxchilan Lintel 37 and on monuments from Piedras Negras and Tonina shows that at least until 508 AD the kings of Tikal remained vassals or allies of the Mexican empire. The idea of a long Teotihuacan ascendancy, proposed on the basis of such evidence, directly affects our understanding of those turning-point developments that in the mid-6th century determined the further course of Classic Maya history — namely the weakening of Tikal and the rise of the Kanul kings. Circumstantial evidence suggests that during the era of Teotihuacan dominance Tikal and Dzibanche were allies and each represented the interests of the Mexican metropolis in its own region. However, in the mid-6th century Teotihuacan faced considerable internal difficulties and apparently could no longer control the far periphery. As a result, a power vacuum developed in the Maya lowlands. The rulers of both Tikal and Dzibanche tried to seize the now vacant position of hegemon and almost simultaneously assumed the title of kaloomte’, the highest in the Maya political hierarchy, which between 378 and 518 had belonged exclusively to the Mexican foreigners. Their competition for leadership destroyed the hitherto stable political order and led to a series of devastating wars.
Downloads
References
Beliaev, D. D. Gosudarstva maya v sisteme mezhdunarodnyh otnoshenij Mezoameriki klassicheskogo perioda.V sb.: D. D. Beliaev, G. G. Ershova (otv. red.), Drevnie civilizacii Starogo i Novogo Sveta: kul'turnoe svoeobrazie i dialog interpretacij. Moskva, 2003, s. 40–52. (In Russian)
Beliaev, D. In the Shadow of Entrada: Maya and Teotihuacan in the 5th Century. Paper presented at the 24th European Maya Conference. Cracow, 2019.
Beliaev, D., Galeev, P., Vepretskii, S. Las inscripciones jeroglíficas monumentales en la exposición permanente del Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología. En: D. Beliaev y M. de León (editado), Proyecto Atlas Epigráfico de Petén, Fase III. Ciudad de Guatemala, 2016, pp. 62–180.
Beliaev, D., Tokovinine, A., Vepretskii, S., Luín, C. Los Monumentos de Tikal. En: D. Beliaev y M. de León (editado), Proyecto Atlas Epigráfico de Petén, Fase I. Ciudad de Guatemala, 2013, pp. 37–170.
Beramendi-Orosco, L., Gonzalez-Hernandez, G., Soler-Arechalde, A., Manzanilla, L. A HighResolution Chronology for the Palatial Complex of Xalla in Teotihuacan, Mexico, Combining Radiocarbon Ages and Archaeomagnetic Dates in a Bayesian Model. Radiocarbon, vol. 63, issue 4, 2021, pp. 1073-1084.
Biro, P. The Classic Maya Western Region: A History. Oxford, 2011.
Biro, P. A New Teotiwa Lord of the South: K’ahk’ Uti’ Chan Yopat (578-628 C.E.) and the Renaissance of Copan. Glyph Dwellers, Report 57, 2017, http://glyphdwellers.com/pdf/ R57.pdf. Accessed: 25 Dec. 2023.
Braswell, G. Introduction: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction. In: G. Braswell (ed.), The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction. Austin, 2003, pp. 1–43.
Canuto, M., Auld-Thomas, L. Arredondo, E. Teotihuacan and Lowland Maya Interactions: Characterizing a Mesoamerican Hegemony. In: K. Hirth, D. Carballo, B. Arroyo (eds.), Teotihuacan: The World Beyond the City. Washington D.C., 2020, pp. 371–408.
Cowgill, G. State and Society at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 26, 1997, pp. 129–161.
Davletshin, A. I., Vepretskii, S. V. Ritual zatochenija carevichej u drevnih maya. Stratum plus, no. 6, 2023, s. 53–72. (In Russian)
Estrada-Belli, F. The First Maya Civilization: Ritual and Power before the Classic Period. London and New York, 2011.
Estrada-Belli, F., Tokovinine, A. A King's Apotheosis: Iconography, Text, and Politics from a Classic Maya Temple at Holmul. Latin American Antiquity, vol. 27, issue 2, 2016, pp. 149–168.
Fash, W., Tokovinine, A., Fash, B. The House of New Fire at Teotihuacan and its Legacy in Mesoamerica. In: W. Fash, L. López Luján (eds.), The Art of Urbanism: How Mesoamerican Cities Represented Themselves in Architecture and Imagery. Washington D.C., 2009, pp. 201– 229.
Freidel, D., Escobedo, H., Guenter, S. A Crossroads of Conquerors: Waka’ and Gordon Willey’s “Rehearsal for the Collapse” Hypothesis. In: J. Sabloff, W. Fash (eds.), Gordon R. Willey and American Archaeology: Contemporary Perspectives. Norman, 2007, pp. 187–208.
Graham, I., Henderson, L., Mathews, P., Stuart, D. Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions, Volume 9, Part 2: Tonina. Cambridge, MA, 2006.
Grube, N., Martin, S. Proceedings of the Maya Hieroglyphic Workshop: Tikal and its Neighbors, March 11–12. Transcribed and edited by P. Wanyerka. Austin, 2000.
Guenter, S. Under a Falling Star: The Hiatus at Tikal. M.A. thesis. La Trobe University, Melbourne, 2002.
Guenter, S. The Epigraphy of El Perú-Waka’. In: O. Navarro-Farr, M. Rich (eds.), Archaeology at El Perú-Waka': Ancient Maya Performances of Ritual, Memory, and Power. Tucson, 2014, pp. 147–166.
Helmke, C., Awe, J. Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth: A Tale of the Snake-head Dynasty as Recounted on Xunantunich Panel 4. The PARI Journal, vol. 17, no. 2, 2016, pp. 1–22.
Helmke, C., Nielsen, J. The Writing on the Wall: A Paleographic Analysis of the Maya Texts of Tetitla, Teotihuacan. In: J. Nielsen, C. Helmke (eds.), The Maya in a Mesoamerican Context: Comparative Approaches to Maya Studies. Acta Mesoamericana, Vol. 26. Markt Schwaben, 2013, pp. 123–166.
Houston, S., Escobedo, H., Child, M., Golden, Ch., Terry, R., Webster, D. In the Land of the Turtle Lords: Archaeological Investigations at Piedras Negras, Guatemala, 2000. Mexicon, vol. 22, no. 5, 2000, pp. 97–110.
Houston, S., Román, E., Garrison, T., Stuart, D., Escobedo, H., Rosales, P. A Teotihuacan Complex at the Classic Maya City of Tikal, Guatemala. Antiquity, vol. 95, issue 384, 2021, pp. 1–9.
Kováč, M., Barrois, R. El papel de Siyaj K’ahk’ en Uaxactun y el Petén Central. Contributions in New World Archaeology, vol. 4, 2012, pp. 113–126.
Lacadena, A. Titulos militares en los textos jeroglificos mayas del periodo clasico. Ponencia presentada en 8 Congreso internacional de mayistas. Ciudad de Mexico, 2010.
Looper, M., Polyukhovych Y. A New Drawing of the Denver Plaque. Glyph Dwellers, Report 40, 2016, http://glyphdwellers.com/pdf/R40.pdf. Accessed: 28 Dec. 2023.
López Luján, L., Filloy Nadal, L., Fash, B., Fash, W., Hernández P. The Destruction of Images in Teotihuacan: Anthropomorphic Sculpture, Elite Cults, and the End of a Civilization. Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics, vol. 49–50, 2006, pp. 12–39.
Martin, S. The Painted King List: A Commentary on Codex-Style Dynastic Vases. In: B. Kerr, J. Kerr (eds.), The Maya Vase Book: A Corpus of Rollout Photographs of Maya Vases, vol. 5. New York, 1997, pp. 846–867.
Martin, S. At the Periphery: The Movement, Modification and Re-use of Early Monuments in the Environs of Tikal. In: P. R. Colas, K. Delvendahl, M. Kuhnert, A. Schubart (eds.), The Sacred and the Profane: Architecture and Identity in the Maya Lowlands. Acta Mesoamericana, vol. 10. Markt Schwaben, 2000, pp. 51–61.
Martin, S. In Line of the Founder: A View of Dynastic Politics at Tikal. In: J. Sabloff (ed.), Tikal: Dynasties, Foreigners, and Affairs of State. Santa Fe and Oxford, 2003, pp. 3–45.
Martin, S. A Broken Sky: The Ancient Name of Yaxchilan as Pa’ Chan. The PARI Journal, vol. 5, no. 1, 2004, pp. 1–7.
Martin, S. Ancient Maya Politics: A Political Anthropology of the Classic Period 150–900 CE. Cambridge, 2020.
Martin S., Beliaev, D. K’ahk’ Ti’ Ch’ich’: A New Snake King from the Early Classic Period. The PARI Journal, vol. 17, no. 3, 2017, pp. 1–7.
Martin, S., Grube, N. Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya. London and New York, 2008.
Martin S., Velasquez, E. Polities and Places: Tracing the Toponyms of the Snake Dynasty. The PARI Journal, Vol. 17 № 2, 2016, pp. 23–33.
Mathews, P. The Sculpture of Yaxchilan. Ph.D. dissertation. Yale University, New Haven, 1988.
Nalda, E. Prácticas funerarias en Dzibanché, Quintana Roo: los entierros en el Edificio de los Cormoranes. Arqueologia, vol. 31, 2003, pp. 25–37.
Nondédéo, P., Hiquet, J., Goudiaby, H., Patrois, J., Grube, N. Naachtun Altar 8: New Data from an Early Classic Monument. Mexicon, vol. 45, no. 1, 2023, pp. 18–23.
Polyukhovych, Yu. Yu. Polityko-dynastychna istoriia derzhavy maya Baakal' za materialamy korpusu epihrafichnykh dzherel Palenque (Lakamha'). Dysertatsiia na zdobuttia naukovoho stupenia kandydata istorychnykh nauk. Kyiv, 2012. (In Ukrainian)
Prager, C. A Classic Maya Ceramic Vessel from the Calakmul Region in the Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Human Mosaic, vol. 35, no. 1, 2004, pp. 31–40.
Proskouriakoff, T. Maya History. Austin, 1993.
Schele, L. The Founders of Lineages at Copan and other Maya Sites. Ancient Mesoamerica, vol. 3, issue 1, 1992, pp. 135–144.
Schele, L., Mathews, P. Royal Visits and Other Intersite Relationships among the Classic Maya. In: P. Culbert (ed.), Classic Maya Political History: Hieroglyphic and Archaeological Evidence. Cambridge, 1991, pp. 226–252.
Stone, A. Disconnection, Foreign Insignia, and Political Expansion: Teotihuacan and the Warrior Stelae of Piedras Negras. In: R. Diehl, J. C. Berlo (eds.), Mesoamerica After the Decline of Teotihuacan, A.D. 700–900. Washington D.C., 1989, pp. 153–172.
Stuart, D. “The Arrival of Strangers”: Teotihuacan and Tollan in Classic Maya History. In: D. Carrasco, L. Jones, S. Sessions (eds.), Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Aztecs. Boulder, 2000, pp. 465–513.
Stuart, D. The Beginnings of the Copan Dynasty: A Review of the Hieroglyphic and Historical Evidence. In: E. Bell, M. Canuto, R. Sharer (eds.), Understanding Early Classic Copan. Philadelphia, 2004, pp. 215–247.
Stuart, D. The Palenque Mythology. Sourcebook for the XXX Maya Meetings. Austin, 2006.
Stuart, D. The Origin of Copan’s Founder. Maya Decipherment: Ideas on Maya Writing and Iconography, June 25, 2007a, http://decipherment.wordpress.com/2007/06/25/the-origin-ofcopans-founder/. Accessed: 28 Dec. 2023.
Stuart, D. The Captives on Piedras Negras, Panel 12. Maya Decipherment: Ideas on Maya Writing and Iconography, August 18, 2007b, https://mayadecipherment.com/2007/08/18/thecaptives-on-piedras-negras-panel-12/. Accessed: 28 Dec. 2023.
Stuart, D. “White Owl Jaguar”: A Tikal Royal Ancestor. Maya Decipherment: Ideas on Maya Writing and Iconography, November 4, 2007c, https://mayadecipherment.com/2007/11/04/ white-owl-jaguar-a-tikal-royal-ancestor/. Accessed: 28 Dec. 2023.
Stuart, D. Notes on a New Text from La Corona. Maya Decipherment: Ideas on Maya Writing and Iconography, June 30, 2012, https://mayadecipherment.com/2012/06/30/notes-on-a-newtext-from-la-corona/. Accessed: 28 Dec. 2023.
Stuart, D. Spearthrower Owl: A Teotihuacan Ruler in Maya History. Washington D.C., 2024.
Stuart, D., Grube, N., Schele, L. A Substitution Set for the “Macuch/Batab” Title. Copán Note 58. Copán, 1989.
Styuflyaev, M. Odne im’ia — odna osoba: problema rekonstruktsii spysku rannikh tsariv Piedras-Negrasa za iierohlifichnymy tekstamy z Yaxchilana. Visnyk Kharkivs'koho natsional'noho universytetu imeni V. N. Karazina. Seriia «Istoriia» [The Journal of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. Series: History], vyp. 63, 2023, s. 30–61. DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.26565/2220-7929-2023-63-02 (In Ukrainian)
Sugiyama, N., Fash, W., Fash, B., Sugiyama, S. The Maya at Teotihuacan? New Insights into Teotihuacan-Maya Interactions from the Plaza of the Columns Complex. In: K. Hirth, D. Carballo, B. Arroyo (eds.), Teotihuacan: The World Beyond the City. Washington D.C., 2020, pp. 139–171.
Sugiyama, S., López Luján, L. Dedicatory Burial/Offering Complexes at the Moon Pyramid, Teotihuacan: A Preliminary Report of 1998–2004 Explorations. Ancient Mesoamerica, vol. 18, issue 1, 2007, pp. 127–146.
Taube, K. The Turquoise Hearth: Fire, Self-Sacrifice, and the Central Mexican Cult of War. In: D. Carrasco, L. Jones, S. Sessions (eds.), Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Aztecs. Boulder, 2000a, pp. 269–340.
Taube, K. The Writing System of Ancient Teotihuacan. Barnardsville, 2000b.
Taube, K. Tetitla and the Maya Presence at Teotihuacan. In: G. Braswell (ed.), The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction. Austin, 2003, pp. 273–314.
Taube, K. Structure 10L-16 and Its Early Classic Antecedents: Fire and the Evocation and Resurrection of K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo’. In: E. Bell, M. Canuto, R. Sharer (eds.), Understanding Early Classic Copan. Philadelphia, 2004, pp. 265–295.
Tokovinine, A. Place and Identity in Classic Maya Narratives. Washington D.C., 2013.
Tokovinine, A. Copan Reloaded: A New Look at the Ante Step and its Context. Paper presented at the 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Vancouver, 2017.
Tokovinine, A. Distance and Power in Classic Maya Texts. In: A. Díaz (ed.), Reshaping the World: Debates on Mesoamerican Cosmologies. Louisville, 2020, pp. 251–281.
Tokovinine, A., Balanzario, S. Los reyes de las estrellas: las escaleras jeroglíficas de El Resbalón, Quintana Roo, México. Ponencia presentada en 12 Congreso internacional de mayistas. Ciudad de Mexico, 2023.
Vepretskii, S. The Force Awakens: History and Politics of Early Kanu’l. Paper presented at the 26th European Maya Conference. Bratislava, 2021.
Willey, G. The Classic Maya Hiatus: A Rehearsal for the Collapse? In: N. Hammond (ed.), Mesoamerican Archaeology: New Approaches. Austin, 1974, pp. 417–430.
Zender, M. Mexican Associations of the Early Classic Dynasty of Turtle Tooth I of Piedras Negras. Paper presented at the 31st Annual Maya Meetings at Texas. Austin, 2007.
Copyright (c) 2024 Maksym Styuflyaev, Marie Stadnik
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
