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Tikal–Calakmul Wars
The Tikal–Calakmul wars were a series of wars, mainly between Tikal and Calakmul on the Yucatán Peninsula, but also with vassal states in the Petén Basin such as Copan, Dos Pilas, Naranjo, Sacul, Quiriguá, and briefly Yaxchilan had a role in initiating the first war. Background In 537 the Ajaws of Bonampak, Lakamtuun, and Calakmul were captured by Yaxchilan. Bonampak and Lakamtuun remained under the control of Yaxchilan but in retaliation Calakmul conquered the latter. This gave the polity a adventagous strategic position with territory in both the east and the west of Tikal. In numerical terms, however, Calakmul remained inferior to Tikal: Despite being one of the most prosperous Maya cities, Calakmul housed just about 50,000 people,Braswell, G. E., Gunn, J. D., Domínguez Carrasco, M. R., Folan, W. J., Fletcher, L. A., Morales-López, A., & Glascok, M. D. (2004). "Defining the terminal classic at Calakmul, Campeche. The terminal Classic in the maya lowlands: Collapse, ...
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Yucatán Peninsula
The Yucatán Peninsula (, also , ; es, Península de Yucatán ) is a large peninsula in southeastern Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north and west of the peninsula from the Caribbean Sea to the east. The Yucatán Channel, between the northeastern corner of the peninsula and Cuba, connects the two bodies of water. The peninsula is approximately in area. It has low relief, and is almost entirely composed of porous limestone. The peninsula lies east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrowest point in Mexico separating the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, from the Pacific Ocean. Some consider the isthmus to be the geographic boundary between Central America and the rest of North America, placing the peninsula in Central America. Politically all of Mexico, including the Yucatán, is generally considered part of North America, while Guatemala ...
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Sacul, El Petén
Sacul is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization located in the upper drainage of the Mopan River, in the Petén department of Guatemala. The city occupied an important trade route through the Maya Mountains. The main period of occupation dates to the Late Classic Period.Laporte 2005, p.208. In the late 8th century AD through to the early 9th century, Sacul was one of the few kingdoms in the southeastern Petén region to use its own Emblem Glyph, together with Ixtutz and Ucanal. In AD 779 Sacul went to war against Ixkun and lost, but stelae at both cities record a visit to Ixkun by king Ch'iyel of Sacul just 11 years later and the two cities appear to have formed a military alliance at that time. The site core is arranged around a number of plazas, one of which forms a monumental acropolis. The plazas were resurfaced in the Terminal Classic, when the city experienced a period of dense occupation. At this time Sacul experienced a major surge in construction activity, ...
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Thames & Hudson
Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, and popular culture. Headquartered in London, it has a sister company in New York City, and subsidiaries in Melbourne, Singapore, and Hong Kong. In Paris it has a sister company, Éditions Thames & Hudson, and a subsidiary called Interart which distributes English-language books. The Thames & Hudson group currently employs approximately 150 staff in London and approximately 65 more around the world. The publishing company was founded in 1949 by Walter and Eva Neurath, who aimed to make the world of art and the research of top scholars available to a wider public. The company's name reflects its international presence, particularly in London and New York. It remains an independent, family-owned company, and is one of the largest publish ...
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Bonampak
Bonampak (known anciently as ''Ak'e'' or, in its immediate area as ''Usiij Witz'', 'Vulture Hill') is an ancient Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Chiapas. The site is approximately south of the larger site of the people Yaxchilan, under which Bonampak was a dependency, and the border with Guatemala. While the site is not overly spatial or abundant in architectural size, it is well known for the murals located within the three roomed Structure 1 (''The Temple of the Murals)''. The construction of the site's structures dates to the Late Classic period (c. AD 580 to 800). The Bonampak murals are noteworthy for being among the best-preserved Maya murals. The site, lying close to a tributary of the Usumacinta River, was seen by non-Mayans in 1946. Precisely who was first of the non-Mayans to see it is a matter of speculation, but it was either two American travelers, Herman Charles (Carlos) Frey and John Bourne, or photographer/explorer Giles Healey. The Americans ...
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Ajaw
Ajaw or Ahau ('Lord') is a pre-Columbian Maya political title attested from epigraphic inscriptions. It is also the name of the 20th day of the '' tzolkʼin'', the Maya divinatory calendar, on which a ruler's ''kʼatun''-ending rituals would fall. Background The word is known from several Mayan languages both those in pre-Columbian use (such as in Classic Maya), as well as in their contemporary descendant languages (in which there may be observed some slight variations). "Ajaw" is the modernised orthography in the standard revision of Mayan orthography, put forward in 1994 by the Guatemalan ''Academia de Lenguas Mayas'', and now widely adopted by Mayanist scholars. Before this standardisation, it was more commonly written as "Ahau", following the orthography of 16th-century Yucatec Maya in Spanish transcriptions (now ''Yukatek'' in the modernised style). In the Maya hieroglyphics writing system, the representation of the word ''ajaw'' could be as either a logogram, or spe ...
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Third Tikal–Calakmul War
The Third Tikal–Calakmul War was the third in a series of wars between Tikal and Calakmul, (Tikal–Calakmul wars) two of the Major superpowers of the Maya Civilization during the classic period. During the third war, the vassal state of Quiriguá played an important role when it declared independence from Copán, Tikal's closest ally in the south, and then allied itself with Calakmul. Before Quiriguá After Calakmul's defeat in 695 (9.13.2.14.19 on the Maya calendar) violence continued between it and Tikal but for the most part died down. Then again in 720 (9.14.8.3.9) conflicts slowly started up. Despite Tikal being more prosperous, Naranjo, Dos Pilas, and El Peru remained under Calakmul's control. Between 733 and 736 Tikal imprisoned a noble from Calakmul after a victorious battle. His capture was commemorated by the building of an altar that has a sculpture of him bound by Tikal soldiers. Quiriguá's revolution Quiriguá was a small city in the south of the Maya are ...
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Second Tikal–Calakmul War
The Second Tikal–Calakmul War was the second in a series of wars between Tikal and Calakmul known as The Tikal–Calakmul wars. Tikal and Calakmul were two of the most prosperous cities in Peten during the classic period of Mesoamerican chronology. After the classic came the post classic which was characterized by a decline in Maya Civilization. During that time both Tikal and Calakmul were abandoned. Dos Pilas In 629 Ajaw K'inich Muwaan Jol II of Tikal made his son B'alaj Chan K'awiil ( in the Maya writing system) ruler of Dos Pilas, a newly founded vassal state of Tikal. B'alaj Chan K'awiil was a major protagonist in the bitter factional dispute between two lords carrying the same emblem glyph. The clash emerged from the obscurity of Tikal's 130-year Hiatus and coincided with the epic contest for political ascendency between Tikal and Calakmul. B'alaj Chan K'awiil's claim to the royal emblem of Mutal was evidently based on him being the son of K'inich Muwaan Jol, as stated ...
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First Tikal–Calakmul War
The Tikal–Calakmul wars were a series of wars between Tikal and Calakmul. The First Tikal–Calakmul War was the first of these wars. During this and following conflicts in Petén vassal states like Naranjo and Dos Pilas were often used. Though Yaxchilan was in the war it only had a minor presence at the beginning. Yaxchilan and Calakmul In 537 the Ajaws of Bonampak, Lakamtuun, and Calakmul (Calakmul) were captured by Yaxchilan. Bonampak and Lakamtuun remained under the control of Yaxchilan but in retaliation Calakmul conquered the latter. This gave the polity a strategic position with territory in both the east and the west of Tikal. Calakmul was the largest Classic Maya city ever, containing around 6,500 buildings in the initial 30 square kilometre area. The population density in the urban core may have been 1,000/km2. Greater Calakmul, consisting of around 122 km2, probably had a density of around 420/km2. Together this would count for a total urban population of 50,00 ...
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Yaxchilan
Yaxchilan () is an ancient Maya city located on the bank of the Usumacinta River in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. In the Late Classic Period Yaxchilan was one of the most powerful Maya states along the course of the Usumacinta River, with Piedras Negras as its major rival.Sharer & Traxler 2006, p. 421 Architectural styles in subordinate sites in the Usumacinta region demonstrate clear differences that mark a clear boundary between the two kingdoms. Yaxchilan was a large center, important throughout the Classic era, and the dominant power of the Usumacinta River area. It dominated such smaller sites as Bonampak, and had a long rivalry with Piedras Negras and at least for a time with Tikal; it was a rival of Palenque, with which Yaxchilan warred in 654. The site is particularly known for its well-preserved sculptured stone lintels set above the doorways of the main structures.Sharer & Traxler 2006, p. 435 These lintels, together with the stelae erected before the major buildi ...
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Yaxchilán
Yaxchilan () is an ancient Maya city located on the bank of the Usumacinta River in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. In the Late Classic Period Yaxchilan was one of the most powerful Maya states along the course of the Usumacinta River, with Piedras Negras as its major rival.Sharer & Traxler 2006, p. 421 Architectural styles in subordinate sites in the Usumacinta region demonstrate clear differences that mark a clear boundary between the two kingdoms. Yaxchilan was a large center, important throughout the Classic era, and the dominant power of the Usumacinta River area. It dominated such smaller sites as Bonampak, and had a long rivalry with Piedras Negras and at least for a time with Tikal; it was a rival of Palenque, with which Yaxchilan warred in 654. The site is particularly known for its well-preserved sculptured stone lintels set above the doorways of the main structures.Sharer & Traxler 2006, p. 435 These lintels, together with the stelae erected before the major buildings, ...
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La Corona
La Corona is the name given by archaeologists to an ancient Maya court residence in Guatemala's Petén department that was discovered in 1996, and later identified as the long-sought "Site Q", the source of a long series of unprovenanced limestone reliefs of exceptional artistic quality. The site's Classical name appears to have been Sak-Nikte' ('White-Flower'). The search for 'Site Q' During the 1960s looted Maya reliefs referring to a then-unknown city surfaced on the international art market. One of these reliefs, showing a ball player, is now in the Chicago Art Institute; another is in the Dallas Museum of Art. Peter Mathews, then a Yale graduate student, dubbed the city "Site Q" (short for ''¿Qué?'' panish for "what?". Some researchers believed that the inscriptions referred to Calakmul, but the artistic style of the artifacts was different from anything that had been found there. Santiago Billy and Carlos Catalan, environmentalists studying scarlet macaws, came upon ...
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El Perú (Maya Site)
El Perú (also known as Waka), is a pre-Columbian Maya archeological site occupied during the Preclassic and Classic cultural chronology periods (roughly 500 BC to 800 AD). The site was the capital of a Maya city-state and is located near the banks of the San Pedro River in the Department of Petén of northern Guatemala. El Perú is west of Tikal. Research The Maya city of Waka' was rediscovered by oil prospectors in the 1960s. In the 1970s Ian Graham, a Harvard researcher, documented monuments at the site. Then in 2003 David Freidel, of Southern Methodist University, and Héctor Escobedo, of the University of San Carlos, began to excavate Waka'.Hardman (2008): p. 5 Etymology The site was named "El Perú" when rediscovered in the twentieth century. Hieroglyphs identified and deciphered at the site have indicated that the ancient name for the site was ''Waka'.'' While both names are currently used interchangeably, El Perú predominates on extant maps. In the published l ...
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