Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T06:07:19.029Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

EMBLEM GLYPHS AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN NORTHWESTERN YUCATAN IN THE CLASSIC PERIOD (a.d. 300–1000)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2006

Daniel Graña-Behrens
Daniel Graña-Behrens
Affiliation:
Institut für Altamerikanistik und Ethnologie, University of Bonn, Römerstrasse 164, 53117 Bonn, Germany
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Since the late 1950s, scholars have analyzed emblem glyphs to better understand the political organization of the Classic Maya (a.d. 300–900/1000). These unique glyphs reflect a certain royal self-understanding, for they were used as a title by the rulers to distinguish themselves from other noblemen within a milieu of growing competition for prestige and power. While this has been well documented in the central and southern lowlands, evidence for the existence of emblem glyphs in northwestern Yucatan—a region defined by certain cultural traits also reflected in the inscriptions—has been scarce. This study not only explores whether and how further emblem glyphs can be detected in the inscriptions of northwestern Yucatan by questioning the traditional definition of this title. It also, as a consequence, sheds new light on royal self-representation and political organization in northwestern Yucatan during the Classic period.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , January 2006 , pp. 105 - 123
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Acuña, René (editor) 1984 Calepino Maya de Motul, 2 vols. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Yucatán.
Adams, Richard E.W. 1986 Río Azul. National Geographic 169:420–451.Google Scholar
Adams, Richard E.W., and Richard C. Jones 1981 Spatial Patterns and Regional Growth among Maya Cities. American Antiquity 46(2):301–322.Google Scholar
Andrews, Anthony, and Fernando Robles Castellanos 1985 Chichen Itzá and Coba: An Itzá-Maya Standoff in Early Postclassic Yucatan. In The Lowland Maya Postclassic, edited by Arlen Chase & Prudence Rice, pp. 62–84. University of Texas, Austin.
Andrews IV, E. Wylls, and George E. Stuart 1968 The Ruins of Ikil, Yucatan, Mexico. Middle American Research Institute. Publication 31. Tulane University, New Orleans.
Andrews, George F. 1995 Architecture of the Northern Plains Areas. In Pyramids and Palaces, Monsters and Masks: The Golden Age of Maya Architecture, Volume 1: Architecture of the Puuc Region and the Northern Plains Areas, pp. 239–287. Labyrinthos, Lancaster, CA.
Ball, Joseph, and Jennifer T. Taschek 1991 Late Classic Lowland Maya Political Organization and Central-Place Analysis. Ancient Mesoamerica 2(2):149–165.Google Scholar
Barthel, Thomas 1968 El complejo emblema. Estudios de cultura maya 7:159–193.Google Scholar
Bell, Ellen E., Marcello A. Canuto, and Robert J. Sharer 2004 Understanding Early Classic Copan. University of Pennsylvania, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.
Berlin, Heinrich 1958 El Glifo Emblema en las inscripciones mayas. Journal de la Société des Américanistes de Paris 47:111–119.Google Scholar
Boot, Eric 1997 Kan Ek' at Chichen Itsah. Yumtzilob 9(1):5–21.Google Scholar
Brainerd, George W. 1958 Archaeological Ceramics of Yucatán. Anthropological Records 19. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Bricker, Victoria 1986 A Grammar of Mayan Hieroglyphs. Middle American Research Institution Publication 56. Tulane University, New Orleans.
Coe, Michael D. 1973 The Maya Scribe and His World. Grolier Club, New York.
Dunning, Nicholas P. 1979 The Geography of Power in Northern Yucatan, A.D. 700–1200: Territorial Organization and Political Development. Unpublished undergraduate paper, University of Chicago, on file with the author.
Dunning, Nicholas P. 1992 Lords of the Hills: Ancient Maya Settlement in the Puuc Region, Yucatan, Mexico. Monographs in World Archaeology. Prehistory Press, Madison, WI.
Dunning, Nicholas P. 2000 Long Twilight or New Dawn? Transformations of Maya Civilization in the Puuc Region. In Maya: Divine Kings of the Rain Forest, edited by Nikolai K. Grube, pp. 322–337. Köneman, Cologne.
Dunning, Nicholas P., and Jeff Kowalski 1994 Lord of the Hills: Classic Maya Settlement Patterns and Political Iconography in the Puuc Region, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 5(1):63–95.Google Scholar
García Campillo, José Miguel 1995 Antroponimia y toponimia en las inscripciones mayas clásicas de Yucatán, vols. 1–2. Ph.D. dissertation, Departamento de Historia de America II (Antropología de América), Universidad Complutense, Madrid.
García Campillo, José Miguel 1998 Datos epigráficos para la historia de Jaina durante el período clásico. Los Investigadores de la Cultura Maya 1:46–62.Google Scholar
García Campillo, José Miguel, and Alfonso Lacadena García-Gallo 1987 Los jeroglíficos de Oxkintok. In Oxkintok. Mision arqueológica de España en México, vol. 1, pp. 91–107. Dirección General de Bellas Artes y Archivos und Instituto de Conservación y Restauración de Bienes Culturales, Madrid.
Gendrop, Paul 1983 Los estilos Río Bec, Chenes y Puuc en la arquitectura maya. Universidad Autónoma Nacional de México, Mexico City.
Graham, Ian 1992 Uxmal. Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions, 4(2). Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Graham, Ian, and Eric Von Euw 1992 Uxmal, Xcalumkin. Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions, 4(3). Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Graña-Behrens, Daniel 1997 Nuevas evidencias sobre la organización territorial de los mayas a través de los jeroglíficos emblemas. Manuscript on file with the author.
Graña-Behrens, Daniel 2002 Die Maya-Inschriften aus Nordwestyukatan, Mexiko. Ph.D. dissertation, Philosophiche Fakultät, Rheinische-Friedrich Wilhelms Universität, Bonn.
Grube, Nikolai K. 1990 The Primary Standard Sequence on Chocholá Style Ceramics. In The Maya Vase Book, Vol. 2, edited by Justin Kerr, pp. 320–330. Kerr Associates, New York.
Grube, Nikolai K. 1994 Hieroglyphic Sources for the History of Northwest Yucatan. In Hidden among the Hills: Maya Archaeology of the Northwest Yucatan Peninsula, edited by Hanns J. Prem, pp. 316–358. Verlag von Flemming, Möckmühl.
Grube, Nikolai K. 2000 The City-States of the Maya. In A Comparative Study of Thirty City-State Cultures: An Investigation Conducted by the Copenhagen Polis Centre, edited by Mogens Herman Hansen, pp. 547–565. Reitzels Forlag, Copenhagen.
Grube, Nikolai K. 2003 Hieroglyphic Inscriptions from Northwest Yucatan: An Update of Recent Research. In Escondido en la Selva, edited by Hanns J. Prem, pp. 339–370. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico, and University of Bonn.
Grube, Nikolai K. 2004 Akan—The God of Drinking, Disease and Death. In Continuity and Change: Maya Religious Practices in Temporal Perspectives, Acta Mesoamericana, Vol. 14, edited by Daniel Graña-Behrens, Nikolai K. Grube, Christian M. Prager, Frauke Sachse, Stefanie Teufel, and Elisabeth Wagner, pp. 59–76. Verlag Anton Saurwein, Markt Schwaben, Germany.
Gunsenheimer, Antje 2001 Geschichtstradierung in den yukatekischen Chilam Balam-Büchern. Eine Analyse der Herkunft und Entwicklung ausgewählter historischer Berichte. Dissertation. Bonn: Rheinische-Friedrich Wilhelms Universität.
Houston, Stephen D. 1986 Problematic Emblem Glyphs: Examples from Altar de Sacrificios, El Chorro, Río Azul, and Xultun. Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing 3. Center for Maya Research, Washington DC.
Houston, Stephen D. 1992 Classic Maya Polities. In New Theories on the Ancient Maya, edited by Elin C. Danien and Robert J. Sharer, pp. 65–69. University Museum Monograph 77. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Houston, Stephen D. 1993 Hieroglyphs and History at Dos Pilas: Dynastic Politics of the Classic Maya. University of Texas, Austin.
Houston, Stephen D. 2000 Into the Minds of Ancients: Advances in Maya Glyph Studies. Journal of World Prehistory 14(2):121–201.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen D., and Peter Mathews 1985 The Dynastic Sequence of Dos Pilas, Guatemala. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute Monographmo;usb 1. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, San Francisco.
Houston, Stephen D., and David S. Stuart 1996 Of Gods, Glyphs and Kings: Divinity and Rulership among the Classic Maya. Antiquity 70:289–312.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen D., and David S. Stuart 2001 Peopling the Classic Maya Court. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Volume 1: Theory, Comparison, and Synthesis, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Stephen D. Houston, pp. 54–83. Westview Press, Boulder, CO.
Jackson, Sarah, and David S. Stuart 2001 The Aj K'uhun Title: Deciphering a Classic Maya Term of Rank. Ancient Mesoamerica 12:217–228.Google Scholar
Kelley, David H. 1968 Kakupakal and the Itzaes. Estudios de Cultura Maya 7:255–268.Google Scholar
Kelley, David H. 1976 Deciphering the Maya Script. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Kelley, David H. 1982 Notes on Puuc Inscriptions. In The Puuc: New Perspectives, Supplement, edited by L. Mills. Central College, Pella, IA.
Kowalski, Jeff K. 1985a A Historical Interpretation of the Inscriptions of Uxmal. In Fourth Palenque Round Table, 1980, Volume VI, edited by Elisabeth Benson, pp. 235–246. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, San Francisco.
Kowalski, Jeff K. 1985b Lords of the Northern Maya. Dynastic History in the Inscriptions of Uxmal and Chichen Itzá. Expedition 27(3):50–60.Google Scholar
Krochock, Ruth J. 1988 The Hieroglyphic Inscriptions and Iconography of Temple of the Four Lintels and Related Monuments, Chichen Itza, Mexico. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Texas, Austin.
Lacadena García-Gallo, Alfonso 1992 El anillo jeroglífico del Juego de Pelota de Oxkintok. In Oxkintok. Mision arqueológica de España en México, vol. 4, pp. 177–184. Dirección General de Bellas Artes y Archivos und Instituto de Conservación y Restauración de Bienes Culturales, Madrid.
Lacadena García-Gallo, Alfonso 2000 Nominal Syntax and the Linguistic Affiliation of Classic Maya Texts. In The Sacred and the Profane: Architecture and Identity in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Pierre R. Colas, Kai Delvendahl, Marcus Kuhnert, and Annette Schubart, pp. 111–128. Acta Mesoamericana, 10. Verlag Anton Saurwein, Markt Schwaben, Germany.
Lacadena García-Gallo, Alfonso 2003 El corpus glífico de Ek' Balam, Yucatán, México. Reports presented to the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies (FAMSI), October 2003, available at http://www.famsi.org/reports/01057es/index.html.
Lincoln, Charles E. 1990 Ethnicity and Social Organization at Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Lounsbury, Floyd D. 1973 On the Derivation and Reading of the “Ben Ich” Prefix. In Mesoamerican Writing Systems, edited by Elisabeth Benson, pp. 99–143. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.
Maldonado, Ruben, Alexander Voss, and Angel Góngora Sales 2002 Kalom Uk'uw, señor de Dzibilchaltun. In La organización Social entre los Mayas. Memoria de la Tercera Mesa Redonda de Palenque, Vol. 1, edited by Vera Tiesler B. et al., pp. 79–100. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mexico City.
Marcus, Joyce 1976 Emblem and State in the Classic Maya Lowlands. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.
Marcus, Joyce 1993 Ancient Maya Political Organization. In Lowland Maya Civilization in the Eighth Century A.D., edited by Jeremy Sabloff and John Henderson, pp. 111–183. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.
Martin, Simon, and Nikolai K. Grube 1994 Evidence of Macro-Political Organization amongst the Classic Maya Lowland States. Manuscript in the possession of the author. London and Bonn.
Martin, Simon, and Nikolai K. Grube 2000 Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens. London: Thames and Hudson.
Mathews, Peter 1988 The Sculpture of Yaxchilán. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
Mathews, Peter 1991 Classic Maya Emblem Glyphs. In Classic Maya Political History: Hieroglyphic and Archaeological Evidence, edited by Patrick T. Culbert, pp. 19–29. Cambridge University Press.
Mathews, Peter 2001 The Glyph from the Ear Ornaments from Tomb A-1/1. In The Decipherment of Ancient Maya Writing, edited by Stephen D. Houston et al., pp. 470–473. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
Mathews, Peter, and John S. Justeson 1984 Patterns of Sign Substitution in Maya Hieroglyphic Writing: The Affix Cluster. In Phoneticism in Mayan Hieroglyphic Writing, edited by John S. Justeson and Lyle Campbell, pp. 185–232. State University of New York, Albany.
Mayer, Karl Herbert 1998 An Inscribed Stone Relief Fragment from Kayal. Mexicon XX(5):92–93.Google Scholar
Mayer, Karl Herbert 1999 A Drawing of Relief Panel 4 from Kayal, Campeche. Mexicon XXI(1):3.Google Scholar
Pollock, Harry E.D. 1980 The Puuc: An Architectural Survey of the Hill Country of Yucatan and Northern Campeche, Mexico. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum 19. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Proskouriakoff, Tatiana 1950 A Study of Classic Maya Sculpture. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 193. Carnegie Institution, Washington, DC.
Proskouriakoff, Tatiana 1963 Historical Date in the Inscriptions of Yaxchilán, Part 1. Estudios de Cultura Maya III: 149–167.
Proskouriakoff, Tatiana 1974 Jades from the Cenote of Sacrifice, Chichen Itzá, Yucatan. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Riese, Berthold 1988 Epigraphy of the Southeast Zone in Relation to Other Parts of the Maya Realm. In Southeast Classic Maya Zone: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, edited by Elisabeth Boone and Gordon Willey, pp. 67–94. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.
Riese, Berthold, and Karl Herbert Mayer 1984 Altar 10 von Uxmal, Yukatan, Mexiko. Mexicon VI(5):70–73.Google Scholar
Ringle, William M. 1988 Of Mice and Monkeys: The Value and Meaning of T1016, the God C Hieroglyph. Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing 18. Center for Maya Research, Washington DC.
Ringle, William M. 1990 Who WWho in Ninth-Century Chichen Itzá. Ancient Mesoamerica 1:233–243.Google Scholar
Spinden, Herbert 1975 A Study of Maya Art: Its Subject Matter and Historical Development. Dover, New York.
Schele, Linda, and David Freidel 1990 A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya. William Morrow, New York.
Schele, Linda, Nikolai K. Grube, and Erik Boot 1997 Some Suggestions on the K'atun Prophecies in the Books of Chilam Balam in Light of Classic Period History. In Tercer Congreso Internacional de Mayistas, pp. 399–432. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.
Schüren, Ute 1991 Untersuchung zur Bestimmung und Funktion von Emblem-Hieroglyphen in den klassischen Maya-Inschriften. Die Embleme von Yaxchilán als Indikatoren politischen Wandels. Unpublished master's thesis, Freie Universität Berlin.
Seler, Eduard 1911 Die Stuckfassade von Acanceh in Yucatan. In Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur amerikanischen Sprach- und Altertumskunde, vol. 5 (1961), pp. 389–404. Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz.
Smith, Robert E. 1971 The Pottery of Mayapan Including Studies of Ceramic Material from Uxmal, Kabah, and Chichen Itza. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Volume 66. Harvard University Cambridge, MA.
Spinden, Herbert 1975 A Study of Maya Art: Its Subject Matter and Historical Development. Dover, New York.
Stuart, David S. 1988 Blood Symbolism in Maya Art. In Maya Iconography, edited by Elisabeth Benson G.G. Griffin, pp. 175–221. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Stuart, David S. 1993 Historical Inscriptions and the Maya Collapse. In Lowland Maya Civilization in the Eight Century A.D., edited by Jeremy A. Sabloff and John .H. Henderson, pp. 321–354. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.
Stuart, David S. 1995 A Study of Maya Inscriptions. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
Stuart, David S. 1998 “The Fire Enters His House”: Architecture and Ritual in Classic Maya Texts. In Function and Meaning in Classic Maya Architecture, edited by Stephen D. Houston, pp. 373–425. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.
Stuart, David S. 2004 The Beginnings of the Copan Dynasty: A Review of the Hieroglyphic and Historical Evidence. In Understanding Early Classic Copan, edited by Ellen E. Bell, Marcello A. Canuto, and Robert J. Sharer, pp. 215–247. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Stuart, David S., and Stephen D. Houston 1994 Classic Maya Place Names. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.
Tate, Carolyn 1985 The Carved Ceramics Called Chocholá. In Fifth Palenque Round Table, 1983, Volume VII, edited by Merle Greene Robertson and Virgina M. Fields, pp. 123–133. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, San Francisco.
Thompson, J. Eric 1937 A New Method of Deciphering Yucatecan Dates with Special Reference to Chichen Itzá. Pub. 483, Contribution 22. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C.
Thompson, J. Eric 1950 Maya Hieroglyphic Writing: An Introduction. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.
Thompson, J. Eric 1977 A Proposal for Constituting a Maya Subgroup, Cultural and Linguistic, in the Petén and Adjacent Regions. In Anthropology and History in Yucatan, edited by Grant D. Jones, pp. 3–42. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Thompson, J. Eric 1990 Maya History and Religion. University of Oklahoma, Norman.
Vargas de la Peña, Leticia, and Victor Castillo Borges 1999 Ek' Balam: Ciudad que empieza a revelar sus secretos. Arqueología Mexicana VII(37).Google Scholar
Vargas de la Peña, Leticia, Victor Castillo Borges, and Alfonso Lacadena García-Gallo 1998 Textos Glíficos de Ek' Balam (Yucatan, México): Hallazgos de las Temporadas de 1996–1998. Manuscript presented at the Seventh Encuentro de Investigadores del Area Maya, November 1998, Universidad Autonoma de Campeche.
Voss, Alexander W., and Markus Eberl 1999 Ek' Balam: A New Emblem Glyph from the Northeastern Yucatan. Mexicon XXI(6):124–130.Google Scholar
Voss, Alexander W., and Jürgen Kremer 2000 K'ak'-u-pakal, Hun-pik-tok' and the Kokom: The Political Organization of Chichen Itzá. In The Sacred and the Profane: Architecture and Identity in the Maya Lowlands, Acta Mesoamericana, Vol. 10, edited by Pierre R. Colas, Kai Delvendahl, Marcus Kuhnert, and Annette Schubart, pp. 111–128. Verlag Anton Saurwein, Markt Schwaben, Germany.