June 9, 2007, Bryan R. Just, "Terminal Classic Art and
Politics in the Pasión Region:
The Case of Machaquila Stela 2"
In the final decades of the eighth century, dramatic changes swept
through the political landscape of the Pasión region of the
Southern Maya Lowlands. On Jan 17, 761 AD, the king of Dos Pilas,
Kawiil Chan Kinich, departed from of his capital city, marking the
decline of the Mutal polity. At that time, Dos Pilas was all that
remained of the great polity which had been dominated by what is more
commonly called Tikal. His departure left a political void that
several lords of neighboring cities sought to fill. Among the
later competitors was a lord from the small city of Machaquila known
only by the titles Ochkin Kaloomte Aj Ho Baak, or Great West Lord, He
of Five Captives. In his talk, Dr. Just utilized his monument,
Machaquila Stela 2, as an encapsulation of several visual and
rhetorical strategies involved in the region’s political jostling.
The site of Machaquila is located on the Machaquilá River, a
southwesterly flowing tributary of the Pasión River in
southeastern Peten, Guatemala. Its nearest neighbors were the Pasion
River sites of Seibal, to the north, Cancuen, to the south, and the
pre-classic site of Tres Islas, in the center, which bore both the
Machaquila and the Cancuen emblem glyphs. In a region of rough terrain
that borders the Maya Mountains, it has always been relatively
inaccessible. Closer to its source, the river itself eventually
disappears below the surface, which required traders to make a lengthy
portage when traveling to the resource rich Mopan Valley. This
isolation may have allowed Machaquila to remain apart from much of the
warfare that characterized the neighboring Petexbatun region in the
late eighth century.
The
known stelae from Machaquila date from 711 AD. The earliest stelae,
which are stylistically simple and similar to those of nearby sites,
commemorate katuun or half katuun period endings. An important
change in calculating the intervals between period ending rites appears
on Stela 18, erected in 775. Instead of using the long count tuun,
which has a year length of 360 days, the scribes or artists working on
this stela utilized a year length interval of 364 days to calculate the
date on which the five year period ending was celebrated in Machaquila.
364 multiplied by 5 results in 1,820 days, a number which is also the
product of 7 X 260. 260 days is the length of the tsolkin portion of
the sacred calendar round, and this in turn means that the tsolkin
dates of the two connected events would be the same. In some later
inscriptions, a year of 365 days was used; this 1,825 day interval
would then produce identical haab dates. Both of these dating
intervals, of course, more closely correspond with the solar year. The
badly damaged Stela 17 appears to bear a calendar round of 4 Ajaw 13
Keh, which probably corresponds to 9.18.5.0.0, the date on the
newly discovered panel from Cancuen, on which Tajal Chan Ahk,
lord of Cancuen, performs a ballgame ritual with a lord said to be the
captor of the king of Machaquilá. Following this, Tajal
Chan Ahk proclaims himself king of both Cancuen and Machaquila.
On
9.18.10.7.5, or January 9, 801, a new Machaquila king, Ochkin Kaloomte
Aj Ho Baak, erected Stela 2, which asserted his political autonomy.
Although based on the same basic composition as earlier stelae, Stela 2
is much more detailed and naturalistically carved. The figure of the
king dominates the front of the stela, and its realistic, elaborate
costuming has more in common with that depicted on the stelae of the
old Mutal polity, rather than those of the Pasion region. This style
perhaps better befits a ruler who bears the exalted title of Ochkin
Kaloomte, or Great West Lord. This title is usually reserved for
only the highest ranking rulers, whom scholars believe were originally
invested in places of power, such as Teotihuacan. The main figure
stands in a conventional pose in which the face is in profile, the body
is frontal, and the feet are turned out. He wears a heavily feathered
Chaak headdress, complete with a hand holding an eccentric flint blade
protruding from its front. Before his face is a cut-away view of a
mosaic mask, and he bears a Kawiil Scepter in his right hand. His
pectoral is covered with large, probably jade, beads, while olive
shells dangle from his belt, and his highly decorated loincloth extends
to his ankles. The quetzal feathers in the headdress twist
naturalistically from their base, giving a hint of three-dimensionality
to the work. The artist has actually depicted the gap in the
beaded wrist cuff where it would have been tied together.
Interestingly, there is a kneeling figure, in a subservient pose, with
his hand on his shoulder, below and in front of the king. This
secondary figure wears a bird headdress, possibly a cormorant, and
bears what is probably a deity image, topped with corn foliage, which
is similar to one portrayed in sculpture from Cancuen. Dr. Just wonders
if it could have been taken from that site and been presented to the
king. The events described on this stela include the closing of
something which may be a cache, the 9.18.10.0.0. period ending rites,
and the dedication of the stela itself. The dating sequences correspond
with the calendrical calculations unique to Machaquila. The
inscriptions refer to the king as a ballplayer, one who holds five
captives, a divine lord of Machaquila, as well as a Great West
Lord. There is no reference to the king of Cancuen, who was
supposedly his overlord, except perhaps in the presentation of the
deity image, if indeed it represents Cancuen. Does this indicate that
Cancuen no longer controlled Machaquila? Did this Ochkin Kaloomte
perhaps receive his power from somewhere in the old Mutal polity, or
was he just an upstart lord of Machaquilá indulging in a bit of
braggadocio? At present, this is difficult to ascertain, as Stela 2 was
the only known monument erected by this lord. The next known stela,
Stela 3, was erected fifteen years later by Sijyaj Kin Chaak II. His
two more simplistic stelae portray a less realistic, still elaborately
costumed lord who again bears the Kaloomte title. This stela utilizes
the 1,825 day anniversary interval, while the later Stela 4 returns to
the earlier 1,820 day calculation method. Both intervals are apparently
unique to Machaquilá, within this region, and their continued
use reinforces the possibility of Machaquilan independence.
Inscriptions from Machaquila continue until 840 AD, almost forty years
after the major sites of the Usumacinta and Pasión drainages
fell into silence. Eventually, Seibal conquered Machaquila, and came to
dominate their rugged trade route to the Mopan Valley.
The
society thanks Dr. Just and congratulates him on his new position as
Assistant Curator and Interim Department Head of Art of the Ancient
Americas at the Princeton University Art Museum. Dr. Bryan R. Just
received his MA and PhD from Tulane University’s Interdisciplinary
Program in Art History and Linguistics with a 2006 dissertation, The
Visual Discourse of Ninth-Century Stelae at Machaquilá and
Seibal. He received his BA from Yale University. He is the
author of numerous publications including collaborative efforts with
Gabrielle Vail, Anthony Aveni, Harvey Bricker and others. He has
taught art history courses at Tulane and presented numerous conference
papers.
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