[Aztlan] El Mirador & The Snake kings of Calakmul

[Justin Kerr]

The images of the vases may be found at www.mayavase.com
<http://www.mayavase.com/> , click on the mayavase banner and on the search
page enter "dynasty" without the quote marks. Simon Martin's analysis of
these vases is published in Volume 5 of The Maya Vase Books. The essay
itself is not yet online.

Justin

 

  _____  

From: David Schoen [mailto:david at davidschoen.com] 
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2008 7:14 PM
To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Cc: Justin Kerr
Subject: El Mirador & The Snake kings of Calakmul

 

 have a question for Justin or anyone who might answer my query. 

 

 In researching the history of El Mirador, it seems possible that a list of
rulers of El Mirador survives.

>From Robert J. Sharer, "The Ancient Maya", 6th edition, 2006, P.259, 261:

 
"A possible clue regarding late preclassic rulers at El Mirador comes from
an improbable source --- a record of the names and inauguration dates for a
sequence of 19 rulers on a series of late classic vases that begins with a
founder nicknamed 'Skyraiser'. Although they are identified as rulers of the
'snake' (Kan or Kaan polity), the name associated with the classic period
site of Calakmul to the north, the dates of their reigns do not correspond
to the reigns of Calakmul's known kings. But these dates do match a late
preclassic chronology beginning in 396 b.c.e. and extending into the 1st
century c.e. indicating they may be a retrospective record of a late
preclassic dynasty, copied many centuries later onto pottery vessels. The
identity of the polity capital ruled by these kings remains an enigma. But
if they are preclassic rulers the most likely possibility is El Mirador ---
in fact these vases were manufactured in the El Mirador basin. Thus this
retrospective record may trace the dynastic history of El Mirador itself,
the largest and most powerful late preclassic kingdom in the Maya lowlands."

 

and, again at P. 357: The sequence of 19 rulers of the Kan dynasty
(identified by the snake head emblem (glyph), recorded on a series of late
classic codex-style painted vases, made in the El Mirador basin.........The
location of the late preclassic capital of the Kan dynasty has not been
identified, but it may have been at El Mirador....This could mean that
Calakmul was a late preclassic dependency of El Mirador that became the new
seat of the Kan dynasty in the classic period after the downfall of the
original capital.

 

Lastly, the possibility of a causeway from El Mirador to Calakmul is
mentioned.

P.252: One causeway from the hub of El Mirador heads north and may be linked
to the later classic capital of Calakmul.

P.211 fig.5.16 Map of Nakbe --- right causeway to 'Kan'.

 

In 'Chronology of the Maya Kings and Queens' (2000) by Martin & Grube P. 114
there is an illustration of a 'codex-style' vase. The outline of the Snake
Kings on P. 102 is in general agreement with Sharer, but states : "No fewer
than 11 painted vases carry varying lengths of the same sequence, the
longest charting the inaugurations of 19 kings, beginning with 'Skyraiser'.
Unfortunately, their calendar round dates have no anchor in the long count
and cannot be fixed in time". The illustration on P.102 dubs these vessels
as "Dynastic Vases".It is noted on P.114 that the archaeological work of
Richard Hansen and stylistic and chemical 'fingerprinting' of Dorie
Reents-Budet  and Ronald Bishop have isolated the original production area
of the "Dynastic Vases" to the old preclassic heartland around El Mirador
and Nakbe.

 

Where may I find a listing of these 19 rulers? Any papers done?  Is there a
causeway between El Mirador and Calakmul?

 

Any light shed on this query is appreciated.

 

 

 
David Schoen