8/19/2023 0 Comments Westak j coblyn![]() The area of Copán continued to be occupied after the last major ceremonial structures and royal monuments were erected, but the population declined in the 8th and 9th centuries from perhaps over 20,000 in the city to less than 5,000. Although this was a major setback, Copán's rulers began to build monumental structures again within a few decades. However, it suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of its former vassal state Quirigua in 738, when the long-ruling king Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil was captured and beheaded by Quirigua's ruler K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat (Cauac Sky). After this, Copán became one of the more powerful Maya city states and was a regional power in the southern Maya region. Little is known of the rulers of Copán before the founding of a new dynasty with its origins at Tikal in the early 5th century AD, although the city's origins can be traced back to the Preclassic period. Additionally, there was an estimated rural population of 3,000 to 4,000 in a 476-square-kilometer (184 sq mi) area of the Copán Valley, giving an estimated total population of 18,000 to 25,000 people in the valley during the Late Classic period. It is estimated that the peak population in central Copán was between 60 in an area of 0.6 square kilometers (0.23 sq mi), with a further 9,000 to 12,000 inhabitants occupying the periphery-an area of 23.4 square kilometers (9.0 sq mi). The greater Copán area consisting of the populated areas of the valley covered about a quarter of the size of the city of Tikal. ![]() Painting of 1898 by Henry Sandham.Īt the peak of its power in the Late Classic, the kingdom of Copán had a population of at least 20,000 and covered an area of over 250 square kilometers (100 sq mi). Location Īrtistic conception of mayas at the Stela I and altar. It is thought likely that the ancient name of Copán was Oxwitik ( pronounced ), meaning the "Three Witiks", although the meaning of the word witik itself remains obscure. ![]() Īs one of the most important sites in Mayan history, and because of its outstanding, well-preserved architecture, Copán was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980, and the site was designated a cultural monument by the Honduran Government in 1982. Ī significant portion of the eastern side of the acropolis was eroded away by the Copán River the river has since been diverted to protect the site from further damage. This unexpected defeat resulted in a 17-year hiatus at the city, during which time Copán may have been subject to Quiriguá in a reversal of fortunes. The city suffered a major political disaster in AD 738 when Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, one of the greatest kings in Copán's dynastic history, was captured and executed by his former vassal, the king of Quiriguá. Copán was a powerful city ruling a vast kingdom within the southern Maya area. The city has a historical record that spans the greater part of the Classic period and has been reconstructed in detail by archaeologists and epigraphers. The city developed a distinctive sculptural style within the tradition of the lowland Maya, perhaps to emphasize the Maya ethnicity of the city's rulers. Ĭopán was occupied for more than two thousand years, from the Early Preclassic period to the Postclassic. The city was in the extreme southeast of the Mesoamerican cultural region, on the frontier with the Isthmo-Colombian cultural region, and was almost surrounded by non- Maya peoples. It was the capital city of a major Classic period kingdom from the 5th to 9th centuries AD. This ancient Maya city mirrors the beauty of the physical landscape in which it flourished-a fertile, well-watered mountain valley in western Honduras at an elevation of 600 meters (1,970 feet) above mean sea level. Copán is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization in the Copán Department of western Honduras, not far from the border with Guatemala.
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