The Komkom Vase is an ancient painted

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 ...

vase featuring one of the longest

hieroglyphic Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct characters. ...

texts found in the

Maya Lowlands The Maya Lowlands are the largest cultural and geographic, first order subdivision of the Maya Region, located in eastern Mesoamerica. Extent The Maya Lowlands are restricted by the Gulf of Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the eas ...

. It was discovered in 2015 at the Maya archaeological site of

Baking Pot Baking Pot is a Maya archaeological site located in the Belize River Valley on the southern bank of the river, northeast of modern-day town of San Ignacio in the Cayo District of Belize; it is downstream from the Barton Ramie and Lower Do ...

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

and dates back to the Terminal Classic period in Maya history. It is notable for being written during the last decades of centralized rule in the Lowlands and was most likely used as a drinking vessel by a ruler of Komkom, an ancient Maya kingdom that has not yet been located.

Discovery

Archaeologists from the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance project discovered the first sherds of the Komkom Vase at Baking Pot on July 7, 2015. It was pieced together from 82 fragments found at the site, reconstructing roughly 60% of the original vessel.

Description

The vase is a cylindrical ceramic vessel that was most likely about 21.7 cm (8.5 in) tall in its original form. Although it is fragmented and incomplete, measurements of its interior have been used to estimate that its total volume was a little more than 3 liters (~100 fl. oz). The vessel is intricately painted and features faint gridlines that would have guided the composition of its estimated 202 hieroglyphic blocks.

Dating

The vase, along with other ceramics in its deposit, was dated to the Terminal Classic period based on

typology A typology is a system of classification used to organize things according to similar or dissimilar characteristics. Groups of things within a typology are known as "types". Typologies are distinct from taxonomies in that they primarily address t ...

. It features a Long Count hieroglyphic date likely translating to April 27, 812 AD in the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

. Since this date is not linked to any historical event, it could possibly refer to when the vessel was manufactured.

Text

The vase's text, written in Maya hieroglyphs, consists of nine paired double-columns and one single column. The text can be split into three sections: a calendrical record, a detailed historical narrative, and the parentage of the vase's original owner. These sections are divided by both content and artistic style, indicating that the divisions were intentional. The largest and smallest glyph blocks can be found in the calendrical record and the second largest blocks belong to the parentage section.

Calendrical Record

The Komkom Vase's Long Count date, which is uncommon on ceramic vessels, translates to April 27, 812 AD. The initial Long Count is followed by a Supplementary Series that records the Lord of the Night, an 819-day calendar (one of only two ever discovered in a ceramic text), a fire ritual to a

maize god Like other Mesoamerican peoples, the traditional Maya recognize in their staple crop, maize, a vital force with which they strongly identify. This is clearly shown by their mythological traditions. According to the 16th-century Popol Vuh, the Hero ...

, and a lunar calendar.

Historical Narrative

The narrative begins in 799 AD, thirteen years before the vase was manufactured. It focuses primarily on warfare, describing an attack by the ruler of Naranjo on the neighboring kingdom of

Yaxha Yaxha (or Yaxhá in Spanish orthography) is a Mesoamerican archaeological site in the northeast of the Petén Basin in modern-day Guatemala. As a ceremonial centre of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, Yaxha was the third largest city in the reg ...

and the resulting victory from the perspective of the rulers of Komkom. Much of the historical narrative is corroborated by monuments at the site of

Naranjo Naranjo (Wak Kab'nal in Mayan) is a Pre-Columbian Maya city in the Petén Basin region of Guatemala. It was occupied from about 500 BC to 950 AD, with its height in the Late Classic Period. The site is part of Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo National Park. ...

. The narrative also recounts conflict between Naranjo and the kingdom of

Tikal Tikal (; ''Tik'al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the Pre-Col ...

Parentage Statement

Although the Komkom Vase's owner is not named in the text, it does identify their father and mother. The father, Sak Witzil Baah, was a ruler of Komkom and the mother belonged to the Naranjo dynasty. Based on this parentage, it is likely that the owner of the vase was a later ruler of Komkom.

Interpretation

The craftsmanship evident in the Komkom Vase's design indicates that it was a prestige item that required significant skill to produce. The destruction of the vase may have been intentional as part of an abandonment ritual when the Maya were leaving the site of Baking Pot. Breaking the vessel could have been intended to release the spirit believed to be living inside it. The Komkom Vase is unique in Maya archaeology for its description of events that occurred during the period typically associated with Classic Maya collapse. It is difficult to know whether or not it presents an accurate historical narrative, but archaeologists studying the vase still believe it provides important insight. Specifically, the vase presents an insider perspective on the heightened warfare of the Terminal Classic. It also serves as material evidence of the ties between the royal courts of Komkom and Naranjo, giving archaeologists a better understanding of the geopolitical processes that were occurring during this period.

References

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