Vicki, Bob (FoxSea) and their granddaughter Anais invited us to join them on a day trip to a nearby Mayan site, Quiriguá. We had perfect weather for the trip, rainy season held off a few more days for us and a class of school kids on a field trip to enjoy the mild sunshine. This Mayan site is mostly buried a few feet under a grassy field with tall stelas rising up to face an ancient trade center.
Quiriguá used to be a vassal state to nearby Copán, located along the major (now receded) river and fault-line, Rio Motagua, connecting the coast cities to Tikal. It was a small outpost, populated with approximately 5000 people, whereas Copán held upwards of 30,000, in the Classic period circa 400-900 AD.
Eventually, the ruler Kawak Sky (K'ak' Tiliw Chan) had a spell of luck when he intercepted Copán's king 18 Rabbit on the road and ceremonially beheaded him. Quiriguá thus gained a new prestige and independence over the next century where the next two generation of rulers of Kawak Sky's son & grandson, Xul Sky and Jade Sky, lived in luxury.
Their privileged reign is captured in their tall and intricate stelas, altars and zoomorphs. One stela stands 11 meters and is the tallest known from Mayan civilization.
Hierogylphs lining the sides of stellas tell the story of 18 Rabbit's capture and defeat. Our guide, Edgar, told us that are over 800 glyphs in the Mayan written language and archeologists have deciphered upwards of 600.
Zoomorphs are unique to Xul Sky and depict combinations of animals (crocodile, jaguar, frog) with the king's head emerging.
Transportation of corn, cocoa bean, jade and obsidian made for an elite hierarchy, while the commoners toiled to produce goods and build the most intricate of monuments at the highest artistic level of the era.
Kawak Sky was pretty full of himself and had the wealth and resources to build shrine after shrine adorned with his face.
He ruled for over 60 years, which was double the life of the average Mayan. This type of disparity may relate to the as yet unknown reasons for the collapse of Quiriguá and the Mayan civilization by 900 AD.
One of the stelas in Quirguá captures the Mayan "mythical creation date" of their long calendar: 13 Baktun (13.0.0.0.0), also 4 Ahau in their monthly calendar and 8 Cumku in their yearly calendar. 13 Baktun marked the completion of a ~5125 year cycle ending on Dec. 21, 2012.
Mayan creation date: 13 baktun, 0 katun, 0 tun, 0 uinal, 0 kin; 4 Ahau; 8 Cumku
In my primer on the 3 types of Mayan calendars, I learned that they contain the concept of zero, relate both together and with astronomical events in a mixed 20- & 18-base count, and their longest unit of time is an Alautun, ~63 million years. Simply amazing.