- Archaeologists working deep in Guatemala's rain forest
under the protection of armed guards say they have unearthed one of the
greatest Maya art masterpieces ever found.
-
- The artifact - a 100-pound (45-kilogram) stone panel
carved with images and hieroglyphics - depicts Taj Chan Ahk, the mighty
8th-century king of the ancient Maya city-state of Cancuen.
-
- The panel was excavated in perfect condition from a royal
ball court. Exquisitely carved in precise high relief, the 80-centimeter-wide
(31.5-inch) stone depicts the Maya king seated on an earth symbol and throne
with a jaguar skin, installing subordinate rulers in the nearby city-state
of Machaquila.
-
- Researchers say the panel's text confirms Ahk's status
as one of the last, great kings of classic Maya civilization who controlled
a vast territory in the Peten rain forest. Ahk grew and held his power
through savvy politics and economic clout, rather than war, at a time when
most other great Maya city-states were in their final decline, experts
say.
-
- "This panel is incredibly important," Arthur
Demarest, a Vanderbilt University archaeologist and excavation co-leader,
said in a satellite telephone interview from the dig site. "Every
once in a while you have a beautiful, spectacular piece of art that is
also profoundly historically important."
-
- "It is ... the best piece of Maya art that has ever
been found in an excavated context," he added. "It looks like
it was made yesterday."
-
- Death Threats
-
- In a related development that sounds ripped from the
pages of an Indiana Jones script, Demarest said he has received a number
of death threats tied to an upcoming trial related to the looting of a
1,200-year-old stone altar from Cancuen in 2001.
-
- Demarest helped undercover agents from the Guatemalan
S.I.C. (the nation's equivalent to the F.B.I.) arrest the alleged thieves
and recover the altar last October. The defendants' trial is set to begin
May 20.
-
- Last week, armed gunmen fired on the archaeologist's
rain forest dig site. The gunmen fled after Demarest's security guards
returned fire and gave chase. The archaeologist has hired six bodyguards,
some Israeli-trained.
-
- Second Monument
-
- Meanwhile in a second discovery in Cancuen, archaeologists
say they have uncovered a 500-pound (230-kilogram) stone altar from the
stucco surface of the thousand-year-old royal ball court, the same court
used by Taj Chan Ahk.
-
- The discovery marks the first time researchers have excavated
a stone altar from a Maya ball court in its original archaeological context.
Such a find "has never happened in Maya archaeology," Demarest
said. "These things have always turned up in [private] collections.
They've always been looted."
-
- The elaborately carved altar is the third, and final,
marker from the royal ball court recovered over the past century. The first
was found in 1905. The second marker is the same stolen by looters in 2001.
The altars were used as goal posts.
-
- All three depict Taj Chan Ahk in full royal regalia playing
against the visiting ruler of a vassal state. Ahk used the symbolic games
as political "photo ops" to mark treaties and stage-manage his
grip on power, Demarest said.
-
- The two new stone monuments will help archaeologists
better understand the last 30 years of Maya civilization and its moment
of collapse, experts say.
-
- Cancuen Excavation
-
- Five years ago little was known about Cancuen, an ancient
port city on the Pasion River whose name means "Place of the Serpents."
-
- The city-state's status as an economic powerhouse of
the Maya empire started to emerge in 1999, when Demarest and a team of
experts from Vanderbilt University (sponsored in part by the National Geographic
Society's Committee for Research and Exploration) and the Guatemalan Ministry
of Culture began to explore the city's ruins.
-
- Their excavations soon uncovered the largest palace of
the ancient Maya world found to date. The palace, constructed primarily
in A.D. 770 during the reign of Taj Chan Ahk, sprawled over nearly a quarter-million
square feet (23,000 square meters) and included 200 rooms with vaulted
ceilings.
-
- The royal residence was a "power-creating machine"
cleverly laid out to inspire awe in visiting warrior-kings. The palace
was used to convert rivals into vassals, Demarest said. "There were
11 courtyards. By the time you got to the foot of the king, you were ready
to do anything for him," he said.
-
- Under Taj Chan Ahk and earlier kings, Cancuen served
as a principal gateway for trade between city-states of the volcanic southern
highlands of Central America and the Peten rain forest lowlands to the
north.
-
- Strategically located on the Pasion River, the city-state
brokered trade in the precious commodities of obsidian, jade, seashells,
and stingray spines. Royal craftsmen used the materials to fashion intricate
scepters, headdresses, pendants, and necklaces that were used by Maya kings
to display and maintain their power.
-
- Enduring Mystery
-
- Classic Maya civilization peaked between A.D. 250 and
900, a period six times longer than the reign of ancient Rome. During that
time, the Maya built more cities than ancient Egypt.
-
- What caused Maya civilization to collapse, however, remains
a mystery. Experts believe a range of factors, from internecine warfare
to severe drought, may have triggered the fall. But the true cause remains
a mystery.
-
- © 2004 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0423_040423_mayapanel.html
|
