Zapote Bobal is the modern name for a

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

located south of the San Pedro Martir river in the

Petén department Petén (from the Itza' language, Itz'a, , 'Great Island') is a Departments of Guatemala, department of Guatemala. It is geographically the northernmost department of Guatemala, as well as the largest by area at it accounts for about one third o ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. The name ''Zapote Bobal'' was coined by

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

Ian Graham, who discovered the site in the 1970s. It refers to the large number of Zapote Bobo (''

Pachira aquatica ''Pachira aquatica'' is a species of tropical wetland tree in the mallow family Malvaceae, native to Central and South America where it grows in swamps. It is known by its common names Malabar chestnut, French peanut, Guiana chestnut, provisio ...

'') trees, which grow near abundant sources of water in the

Petén Basin The Petén Basin is a geographical subregion of the Maya Lowlands, primarily located in northern Guatemala within the Department of El Petén, and into the state of Campeche in southeastern Mexico. During the Late Preclassic and Classic periods ...

. The site languished in

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

obscurity until 2003, when

epigrapher Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

David Stuart connected the archaeological site of Zapote Bobal with a name repeatedly mentioned in the inscriptions of sites like

Piedras Negras Piedras Negras may refer to: * Piedras Negras, Coahuila, a city in the state of Coahuila, Mexico ** Piedras Negras Municipality, a municipality in Mexico, with the center in the eponymous city * Piedras Negras (Maya site) Piedras Negras is the ...

and

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 Pied ...

. That name was the toponym ''Hix Witz'', or "Jaguar Hill"Stuart (2003). Scholars had recognized this name for over 20 years, and its connection to a real place prompted the creation of an archaeological project at Zapote Bobal in 2003, the Proyecto Peten Noroccident
(PNO).
It is currently directed by James Fitzsimmons (

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

) and Laura Gamez (

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

Archaeology and architecture

Built atop a leveled natural hill 1 kilometer long and 700 meters wide, the center of the site is characterized by a royal

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

, several temple-pyramids, and

elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (, from , to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful or wealthy people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. Defined by the ...

residences. The site is noteworthy for its numerous

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

s to the ancient Maya kings. Immediately outside this center are several mound groups, including one characterized by a pyramid 35 meters in height. Although the general scale of construction at Zapote Bobal is quite large and would normally be characteristic of a long-lived ancient Maya center, it is clear that the city center was occupied for a brief period of time. The royal

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

at Zapote Bobal seems to have flourished for only 200 years, disintegrating by A.D. 800. This is in marked contrast to most ancient Maya sites of the Classic Period (A.D. 200-900), which typically had long histories of occupation prior leading to the general collapse of

Maya civilization The Maya civilization () was a Mesoamerican civilization that existed from antiquity to the early modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writin ...

in the 9th century. Recent archaeological evidence suggests that the peripheral areas of Zapote Bobal were densely occupied before the site’s fluorescence and the construction of its central monumental core. Over 400 buildings have been discovered within a radius of 2.5 kilometers from the city center.Fitzsimmons (2006b). According to Fitzsimmons, there was an “imposition of a relatively new center upon an older sociopolitical landscape.” Compounding this with the site's short occupational history suggests a rapid program of construction and raises questions about how and why the central core of Zapote Bobal was built in the first place. The fact that the surrounding area was previously occupied "calls to mind dynastic splits or other social upheavals at Late Classic sites elsewhere in the Maya lowlands, particularly those based in the Petexbatún."

Connections

For the majority of the Late Classic (AD 600-900), Zapote Bobal was the center of a kingdom that included the sites of Pajaral and (probably) La Joyanca. It was ruled by a succession of kings, the majority of which bore variations on the name Chan Ahk ("Sky/Serpent Turtle"). Unlike the majority of Late Classic kings, who bear the title ''k'uhul ajaw'' or "holy lord" in their names (a title indicating the relative divinity of the ruler), the kings of Zapote Bobal only used ''

ajaw Ajaw or Ahau ('Lord') is a pre-Columbian Maya civilization, Maya political title attested from epigraphy, epigraphic inscriptions. It is also the name of the 20th day of the ''tzolkʼin'', the Maya divinatory calendar, on which a ruler's ''kʼatu ...

''. It is unclear why this was the case, although it is possible that, as a "new" center under military and diplomatic pressure from established sites, the lords of Zapote Bobal did not have the power (real or perceived) to add ''k'uhul'' to their list of accomplishments on Maya

stelae A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

.Fitzsimmons (2006b). Zapote Bobal seems to have had ties to several major sites in the ancient Maya world. Some of these relationships are transparent, while others remain obscure. Sites like

and

, for example, mention capturing, killing, and even marrying the nobility at Zapote Bobal. But not all images of Zapote Bobal are negative: King B'alaj Chan K'awiil of

Dos Pilas Dos Pilas is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization located in what is now the department of Petén, Guatemala. It dates to the Late Classic Period, and was founded by an offshoot of the dynasty of the great city of Tikal in AD 6 ...

, a major site in the Petexbatún river drainage, appears to have fled to Zapote Bobal for temporary refuge in the 8th century. He may have even taken part in the building of several monuments there, as the dates of his arrival and the largest monumental program at Zapote Bobal seem to coincide. The greatest influence on this nascent dynasty, however, may have been its northern neighbor, El Perú: some research at Zapote Bobal suggests a connection between these two ancient Maya cities.Breuil et al. (2004).

Future research

The picture of Zapote Bobal as reflected in Maya hieroglyphs and archaeology is one of a "crossroads" city, one that had to frequently negotiate with—and probably fend off—several more powerful kingdoms. Such constant pressure was likely a factor in the rapid rise and fall of its royal dynasty. The ongoing archaeology at Zapote Bobal, as well as the decipherment of its royal inscriptions, will doubtless shed light on these issues.

Notes

References

*Breuil, Véronique, Laura Gamez, James L. Fitzsimmons, Jean-Paul Metailie, Edy Barrios, and Edwin Roman (2004) Primeras noticias de Zapote Bobal, una ciudad maya clasica del norocidente de Peten, Guatemala. ''Mayab'' 17: 61-83. *Fitzsimmons, James (2006a) ''The discovery of a Classic Maya kingdom''. Invited paper given at the Peabody Museum for the Department of Anthropology, Harvard University. *Fitzsimmons, James (2006b
''Kings of Jaguar Hill: Monuments and Caches at Zapote Bobal, Guatemala''. Report submitted to the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies (FAMSI)
*Martin, Simon and Grube, Nikolai (2000) ''Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya''. London: Thames and Hudson, p. 122. . *Stuart, David (2003) ''La identificacion de Hixwitz''. Paper presented at the XV Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueologicas en Guatemala, Museo Nacional de Arqueologia y Etnologia de Guatemala.

External links

(archived) {{coord, 17.3066, N, 90.3064, W, source:wikidata, display=title Maya sites in Petén Department Archaeological sites in Guatemala Former populated places in Guatemala