The Temple 22 Façade Reconstruction Project, Copán, Honduras

Conclusion

To date, I have completed twelve months of fieldwork on the reconstruction of the façades of Structure 10L-22. It is estimated that between 12-18 more months more of fieldwork (with a staff of four to six people) would be required in order to offer a complete hypothetical reconstruction of 10L-22’s façades based on the entire sculpture sample. Continued support by FAMSI and Columbia University in 2002 should assist towards this end.

As for the meanings and particular functions of Structure 10L-22 during its historical context, this discussion will appear in my dissertation. However, preliminary results indicate that Structure 10L-22 should be considered within the context of the consolidation of rulership and the continued reinvention of the Copán state, as this building was a locus wherein the government, persona, and mythology of the ruler gained a place and identity. Varied classes of evidence support the decades-old hypotheses that Structure 10L-22 functioned as a sacred mountain, a metaphorical cave in which the ruler performed rituals on behalf of the community. However, recent research confirms that Structure 10L-22 was not just a sacred mountain, but also the symbolic sacred cave of creation and place of emergence at Copán (Schele in Freidel, Schele, and Parker 1993). It was the symbolic mountain from which the lineage, the ruler, the sun, maize and the patron gods were born–a theme common to the high cultures of Mesoamerica. Moreover, the imagery of Structure 10L-22 draws upon a particular mythological narrative of creation and rulership that appears in the public art and architecture at many Maya polities around A.D. 700, particularly on a class of building that I call "origin structures." An analysis of Structure 10L-22’s façade program promises insights not only into the nature of Ruler 13’s reign, but into the ideology of rulership and the role architecture served in the construction of polity identity among the 8^th century Maya.

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