The Temple 22 Façade Reconstruction Project, Copán, Honduras

Introduction

When the 13^th ruler of Copán, Waxaklajuun Ub’aah K’awiil ascended to the throne in A.D. 695, he began a building campaign to renovate its urban center. Temple 22 (or Structure 10L-22) appears to be one of the first buildings he built, and the inscription indicates that he dedicated it on the 20^th anniversary of his accession to the throne (Larios, Fash, Stuart 1989; Stuart 1986; Stuart 1989) (Figure 1, shown above). Perhaps the highest building on the acropolis in its time, Structure 10L-22 was also the most secluded (Figure 2, shown below); however, its façades boasted one of the most complex and elegant programs of architectural stone sculpture at any Maya city. The building is best known for its high relief sculpture of the corner ’witz’ masks that mark it as a symbolic (and literal) stone mountain (Stuart 1997) (Figure 3, shown below), as well as the interior doorway with bacab/pawahtun statues holding up a sky-serpent (Figure 4, shown below).

Although it is well known that the graceful Maize God sculptures also hail from this building, few know that there were actually 20 such figures on the building’s façades (Figure 5, shown below). I believe these are metaphors for the twenty agricultural cycles over which Ruler 13 presided during his first katun as ruler. Sensual and seductive in their deep relief and curvilinear forms, this high quality of stone carving and figural composition has led scholars to consider Structure 10L-22 a ’masterpiece’ of Classic Maya artistic achievement.

Subsequent rulers also found this structure significant, for they chose not to build over it and even quoted its forms in later buildings. Structure 10L-22 must have been deserted by the 11^th century, as small sculpture pieces were found in later Copán settlements, apparently having been reused in building construction (see Kam Manahan’s FAMSI report, 1999). Then, sometime over the last millennium Structure 10L-22’s vaults gave way and the structure collapsed.

Maya archaeologists and art historians have long interpreted the form, functions and meanings of the temple. While scholars agree that it was built during the reign of Waxaklajuun Ub’aah K’awiil (Ruler 13), who dedicated the building in A.D. 715 to mark the anniversary of his accession to the throne (Stuart 1997; Larios, Fash, Stuart 1989), current hypotheses as to its function vary between temple (Schele and Miller 1986; Fash 1991; Taube 1994), observatory (Aveni 1977; Closs 1984; Šprajc 1987), and royal residence (Sanders 1986). These hypotheses take into account the stone façades, architectural features, interpretations of the hieroglyphic bench as well as associated artifacts. However, these hypotheses are largely based on façade reconstruction drawings that have employed less than one percent of the actual sculpture sample.

In fact, close to 4,000 pieces of sculpture attributed to Structure 10L-22 have been recovered in archaeological survey and excavation over the last century (Maudslay 1885; Gordon 1895; Trik 1939; Fash 1989) and are in the process of being analyzed by this project. Given this vast corpus of unsorted, unanalyzed sculpture material, as well as recent advances in archaeology and epigraphy at Copán and throughout the Maya area, the current reinvestigation of Structure 10L-22 allows us to test previous hypotheses and to gain detailed insight into the form, function and meanings of this ’temple.’

In processing this Structure 10L-22 sculpture sample, new challenges are constantly appearing. The sheer size of the sample–now at almost 4,000 pieces of sculpture–amounts to an intimidating jigsaw puzzle. Moreover, about 10 percent of this sample is scattered in museums and private collections throughout the world.

The sculpture is also heavy and highly unwieldy; some pieces require four men to carry and each has a long projecting tenon that once secured the stone into the building. Reconstructions are tested in a large sandbox, but it is possible to work with only a few pieces at a time (Figure 6, shown below). Over 100 fragments have been reunited and restored, however many sculptures group together to form extremely large figures. Obviously these cannot be rejoined, nor even stored together due to a shortage of warehouse space. Finally, many pieces are extremely fragile and are not suited for constant handling. Fortunately, computer technology surmounts many of these obstacles and the 2001 field season has demonstrated the utility of new methods that address these challenges.

The 2001 field season successfully met its objectives: the completion of a digital database of 10L-22 sculpture, technical drawings of selected motifs that adorned the building, and a preliminary digital reconstruction of the structure. Two exciting developments resulted from research this year. First, we were able to determine how exactly the roofing system of 10L-22’s first story was constructed, and second, that the temple did indeed have a second story. To date, twelve months of field research have been completed on this project since its inception in 1998. To adequately complete the analysis of the sculpture and offer a scientifically informed reconstruction of 10L-22, it is estimated that at least another 18 months of fieldwork will be required, with a team of about six people. Funding for this portion of the project is currently being sought.

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