Copan, Honduras

Copan is truly an incredible archaeological site! I am always impressed by the many ancient Maya sites that I have been able to visit, but Copan does have something very special about it. Driving from Guate (Guatemala City) to the town of Copan, Honduras was beautiful! Guatemala's landscape is visually stunning. The huge and verdant rolling hills that lead to Copan add to the beauty and exclusivity of Copan's geography and location. Upon entering the archaeological site, I hired a guide, Yolanda, who had basically been raised around the ruins. She was very knowledgable and explained so many things to me, far too numerous to list here. Anyways, we started in the excellent museum before heading out into the ruins. Housed in the museum are several objects that were removed from the ruins because they needed to be preserved for the future (the sun, wind, rain, and other elements can be extremely detrimental to various objects if left unattended to the outside world).

Here is a reproduction of the actual building referred to as the "Rosalila," a funerary shrine built in 571 A.D. over earlier buildings housing Yax K'uk' Mo''s original funerary monument (K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' was Copan's dynastic founder in 426 A.D.). The Rosalila would become buried within Temple 16, but it was never dismantled, being entombed whole (unlike other buildings at Copan). The white, yellow, red, and green colors are true to the original thereby countering any assumption that Mesoamerican buildings were austere and lacked such decoration.

Altar Q (the one in the museum is the actual, real Altar Q) is a visual dynastic statement commissioned by Yax Pasaj, the 16th ruler of Copan. Here he is receiving the staff of royal office from the dynastic founder, Yax K'uk' Mo' who was always visualized as a "foreigner," as someone with Teotihuacano garb and regalia (this visual trope thereby materially links Yax Pasaj's legitimate right to rule with Copan's dynastic founder and his connection to the metropolis of Teotihuacan). 

K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo', whose name is in his headdress (thank you David Stuart!). All of the other rulers are portrayed as sitting on the glyphs that spell out their names.

Stela P is a standing portrait of the eleventh ruler, K'ak' Chan Yopaat (the stela is dated AD 623).

These pictures are of the actual Stela A at Copan (in the museum) that depicts one of the most famous Maya rulers ever: Waxaklajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, known simply as "18 Rabbit" (I know from studying Yucatec Maya that waxak, or waah-shaaq, is eight and laah-huun is 10, even though the language of the glyphs was a Ch'olan language, not Yucatec Maya). He ruled between 695 A.D. and 738. This stela was erected in 731 and declares that Copan is one of four great Maya capitals, the others being Tikal, Calakmul, and Palenque. 18 Rabbit oversaw the erection of many monuments to himself (what a humble guy!) as he continued previous constructions in the shaping of Copan's main acropolis, giving the ball court its final form. He also extracted tribute from Quirigua (another site that I will post on because I was able to visit it as well!!), a nearby site. After years of fealty to Waxaklajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, the ruler of Quirigua captured and beheaded 18 Rabbit! Quirigua then controlled the trade of obsidian, jade and other goods flowing out of the Motagua river valley.

Here are some of the glyphs on Stela A. It fascinates me to contemplate the process of finding stones large enough to begin shaping and sculpting them in order to end up with this monument to one of Copan's (and the Maya's) most famous rulers. The intricate details and vast knowledge of the writing system are clearly materialized on this stela by a talented scribe-artist. Can you read these glyphs?? I know a few of these, but really only the sounds, not the words that they spell out.

This is a picture of Structure 9N-82, otherwise known as the Scribe's house at Copan. This building interests me because it points to the high social and perhaps political level reached by scribe-artists during the Classic Period (for most Maya sites the Classic Period is from about 250-900 A.D., but those dates do vary for different regions and different peoples). 

This sculpture portrays a monkey-ized human scribe with an inkpot in his left hand. I believe this sculpture was found buried inside of the building 9N-82. He has typical clothing, seated posture, and other visual elements of ancient Maya scribes.

This woven mat design is from another building in the museum and signals that this building belonged to the noble elite. The woven mat design visually signifies rulership and nobility. It is found on many buildings in the central ceremonial complex at Copan.

I have so many other photos of various objects in the museum, but I cannot show them all (I do have other things to do besides a sesquipedalian post on Copan). So, here are the present-day grounds of Copan. This beautiful macaw was perfectly perched so that I could take a picture. 

There are so many uncovered (and therefore unexcavated) mounds at Copan! My guide told me that probably only 25% of the mounds have been systematically excavated (and one archaeologist told me that 25% is probably on the optimistic side of reality).

This is the first part of Copan that I actually saw as we began our walking tour of the ruins. It is such a lovely place, Copan, as it is surrounded by lush, rolling hills. It is practically hidden in the landscape (although now many buildings have been uncovered, restored, worked on in some way, etc.). 

Long before Maya ruling dynasties took over at Copan and constructed its center, communities existed. The city of Copan was built on the Copan River, a southern tributary of the Motagua river, which flowed through a broad alluvial plain (which was great for agriculture). In the early 400s the local population was rather small, so it would seem that Maya culture was expanding into new territories (Copan is located at what is considered to be the southern-most part of the "Maya" realm, the western edge of Southeastern Mesoamerica). Yax K'uk' Mo' founded the dynastic lineage at Copan in 426 A.D. (and as I mentioned earlier, he was always depicted in Teotihuacano garb- with round, "goggle" eyes after the Storm God, or Tlaloc to the Mexica, and associated with Teotihuacan's ruling, royal lineage). Bone chemical studies demonstrate that, if they are truly the bones of Yax K'uk' Mo', he was a foreigner to the Copan valley.

The main ceremonial center is actually surrounded by several smaller enclosed plazas where rituals and ceremonies were most likely conducted. Also, royal elites probably lived close to the center.

Writing and other symbols are ubiquitous at Copan. Traces of the original paint are still present!!

Here is another plaza at Copan. On a few of the sides of this plaza are entrances to an underground network of tunnels. I took a few pictures while in these tunnels but they didn't turn out too great. 

This is Structure 10L-22A (I know, its name is so exciting, right!?!), known as a popol naj or "house of the mat." The mat motifs above the doorways date to the 14th ruler K'ak' Joplaj Chan K'awiil.

Here is a view of the main "Great Plaza" that contains some of the most fascinating stelae at Copan and the ball court. This image actually shows up on Honduran cash (called "lempiras").

This image is part of the Jaguar stairway on the west side of the Acropolis court, built over the so-called "Sub-Jaguar" tomb. The east side of this court was dedicated by 18 Rabbit in AD 715 on the first k'atun (20 years) anniversary of his inauguration, probably to serve as his royal palace and sanctuary. 

                                                                                   

        Here is a view of the ball court located near the Great Plaza of Copan. The ball court was dedicated by none other than Waxaklajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, or 18 Rabbit, in AD 738, just a few months before his capture and beheading by the ruler of Quirigua.

Close to the ball court (to the south) is one of the most famous monuments found at Copan, the Hieroglyphic Stairway. Painstakingly reconstructed and then deciphered by David Stuart and Barbara Fash, the stairway is the longest sculpted statement in the Maya world.

The Hieroglyphic Stairway has 62 steps, each 10 meters wide, and they rise right behind Stela M and its altar. A large figure sits at the midpoint of every twelfth step (they are mostly eroded, however) and most likely represented the dynastic rulers of Copan. The faces of the steps have some 2200 glyphs. It is truly a magnificent sculptural feat that attests to the talents and artistic proclivities of the ancient Maya scribe-artists. It is understandably covered by this huge tarp-like apparatus.

Here are some of the glyphs carved into the steps of this magnificent stairway. So impressive!!

Another building (that has partially collapsed) in the Great Plaza area of Copan (with another stela).

The Great Plaza at Copan still contains several stela which are stone monoliths carved with depictions of various rulers of Copan. Scholars have debated what exactly these monuments signify. Perhaps their presence is likened to the on-going presence of that specific ruler, that the physical manifestation of a ruler's visual representation underscores the ruler's enduring presence for rituals, ceremonies, and rites. The stela may also have an aspect that correlates to time periods and they were most likely erected during those specific moments in order to mark time, its continuation, and the physical presence of the ruler into perpetuity. They are remarkable visual statements!

 

I feel so very lucky to have been able to travel to Copan, Honduras and finally experience this majestic and incredible ancient Maya site. Even though I have not included many of my photos and thoughts about Copan, I wanted to just showcase some of the highlights of my visit here.