The Architectural Development of an Early Maya Structure at Nakbé, Petén, Guatemala

Research Problem

While sophisticated buildings are "the best index of the degree of complexity of social systems" (Sanders and Price, 1968:140; Price, 1982), the developmental sequence of Maya monumental structures and associated architectural art prior to the Late Preclassic period (300 B.C.-A.D. 150) has been less understood. Recent excavations at Nakbé, Guatemala (Figure 1) have shown that an architectural development began by about 1000 to 800 B.C. (Hansen, 1998), with large and complex structures appearing by the late Middle Preclassic period (ca. 600 B.C.-400 B.C.) (Hansen, 1992a; 1992b; 1992c; Forsyth, 1993a; 1993b). However, architectural art and a specific structural form (triadic architecture) were absent on known Middle Preclassic structures in the northern Petén. A similar absence of architectural art was noted on Middle Preclassic structures at Tikal (Laporte and Fialko, 1995) and Yaxuná (Freidel, personal communication, 1995), while a shallow relief art was found on a Middle Preclassic building at Río Azul (Valdez, 1995). Yet, excavations on Late Preclassic structures at Cerros (Freidel, 1981; 1986), El Mirador (Matheny, 1986; Howell and Copeland, 1989; Hansen, 1990), Nakbé (Hansen, 1992a; 1992b; 1992c; 1998), Uaxactún (Ricketson and Ricketson, 1937; Valdés, 1987; 1990; 1992; Laporte and Valdés, 1993), and Tikal (Coe, 1965; 1990; Miller, 1986; Laporte and Valdés, 1993) have shown that architectural art and triadic structures were fully developed by about 300 B.C. and continued throughout the remainder of Maya history. What were the factors responsible for the changes in architectural decoration, form, and size? What were the socio-political and ideological implications from the introduction of sculpture and triadic architectural form? If the hypotheses are correct that (1) architecture art and specified architectural forms were probably ideological expressions as theological propaganda by an emerging elite (Hansen, 1991b; 1992a; Martinez and Hansen, 1992), and (2) these manipulations appeared relatively quickly about 300 B.C. (ibid; E. Hansen et al., 1995), when and in what format were these programs introduced into ancient Maya society? In order to probe these questions and test a model for the architectural development in the north Petén, a controlled excavation of minimal impact was needed to determine the structural sequence of an early triadic building with architectural art and good probability of antecedent constructions. The opportunity to study these issues was found to exist at Nakbé, due to the antiquity of the occupation and the large-scale architectural development there.

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