September 1, 2016

Stone panels decorating a newly discovered tomb tell the fascinating story of the rise and fall of a family of powerful kings known as the “Snake Dynasty” in the civilization of the ancient Maya. Archaeologist Jaime Awe of Northern Arizona University and his colleagues discovered the 1,300-year-old tomb this summer at Xunantunich (SHOO nahn TOO nitch), an important Maya ceremonial and administrative city on the Mopan River in what is now Belize. The tomb, one of the largest Maya tombs ever discovered, held the skeleton of an adult male, who was probably a member of a royal family.

Archaeologists work at the pyramidal temple that hid the discovered tomb at Xunantunich, Belize. Credit: © Jaime Awe, Belize Institute of Archaeology/Northern Arizona University

The Maya developed a magnificent civilization in Central America and southern Mexico that reached its period of greatest development about A.D. 250 to 900. During that time, known as the Classic Period, Maya civilization was centered in the tropical forest of what is now northern Guatemala. Each Maya city governed its surrounding area, and some large cities controlled one or more smaller cities. A king would usually be succeeded by his younger brother or by his son. In some cases, modern scholars know of important Maya dynasties, single families that ruled for generations.

Dr. Awe and his Belizean colleagues discovered the tomb buried under more than 25 feet (8 meters) of debris and rubble that had accumulated over centuries to fill a stairway leading down from one of the Maya city’s temples. Inside, they found the skeleton of a male, probably between 25 and 30 years of age. Grave goods around the skeleton indicated that the person buried was of high social status. The bones of jaguar and deer were placed around the skeleton, along with ceramic bowls and a number of obsidian (volcanic glass) blades. Two niches (hollows) in the walls of the tomb contained many pieces of flint that were cut into the shape of animals, leaves, and other symbols.

But the most interesting artifacts in the tomb were a pair of stone panels engraved with Maya hieroglyphics. The researchers believe the panels were originally part of series erected along a grand stairway at the ancient Maya city of Caracol, about 26 miles (42 kilometers) south of Xunantunich. Scholars believe the panels were ordered by K’an II, the king of Caracol known as the Snake Lord, to commemorate his military victory over Naranjo, just west of Xunantunich, around A.D. 642. The panels describe how the defeated lord of Naranjo participated in a ceremonial ball game before being sacrificed to the gods. The panels go on to record details of a tumultuous period for the conquering family—the Snake Dynasty—marked by deaths, fights over royal succession (inheritance), and marriages of alliance with royals from nearby cities.

By about A.D. 680, the people of Naranjo had rebelled against and defeated the Snake Dynasty of Caracol. Archaeologists believe the stone panels were then torn from the walls at Caracol and eventually used to decorate the tomb at Xunantunich, which lay within the expanded territory ruled by Naranjo. Xunantunich and the surrounding cities went into a sudden decline about A.D. 900, marking the end of the Classic Period of Maya civilization. Eventually, the cities were abandoned and overgrown with forest.

November 14, 2012

A catastrophic drought lasting nearly 100 years caused the downfall of the Maya in Central America more than 1,000 years ago, according to a new report by climate researchers led by Douglas Kennett of Pennsylvania State University. Archaeologists have long thought that climate change in the form of long drought was a factor in the collapse of the Maya, but detailed climate information was difficult to find in the archaeological record.

Ruins of an ancient Maya temple stand at Palenque in the state of Chiapas. The temple was built about A.D. 650, during a period when great indigenous (native) civilizations thrived in Mexico. (© Ales Liska, Shutterstock)

The Maya developed a magnificent civilization in Central America and south Mexico that reached its peak from about A.D. 250 to 900. During that time, known as the Classic Period, the Maya civilization was centered in the tropical rain forest of the lowlands of what is now northern Guatemala. Then, beginning in the 800′s, the Maya abandoned their major cities in the lowlands one by one and finally abandoned most of this region. Archaeologists have no clear explanation for why the Classical Maya civilization, known for its remarkable architecture, painting, sculpture, advancements in astronomy, and an accurate yearly calendar, collapsed so dramatically.

Kennett and his team were able to obtain detailed evidence about rainfall by measuring oxygen isotope levels in a stalagmite, a stone formation that rises up from the floors of caves, from a site in southern Belize. (Different isotopes [forms] of a chemical element, such as oxygen, contain different amounts of matter in the nucleus [core] of their atoms.) Stalagmites form when water, dripping on the floor from the walls and roofs of the cave, carries with it deposits of calcium carbonate, or calcite. Rainfall in a region can be calculated and linked to specific dates by measuring the ratio of radioactive oxygen isotopes in the layers of a stalagmite. The analysis by Kennett’s team indicated a long-lasting, severe drought from 660 to 1000 A.D., which corresponds to the collapse of Classical Maya civilization. The period of drought apparently intensified other factors, including overpopulation, disease, exhaustion of natural resources, and warfare, to bring an end to the Classical Maya civilization.

A Mayan mural depicts a scene at the royal court at Bonampak, where the king (center) is presented with prisoners captured in battle. Defeated rulers and other important prisoners of war were sacrificed to the gods in religious ceremonies. This restored mural was painted toward the end of the Classic Period, around 790 A.D., as rival cities in the Mayan civilization began to fight each other. (© Della Zuana Pascal, Sygma/Corbis)

However, the culture of the Maya never really disappeared. Today, descendants of the Maya still live in Mexico and Central America. They speak Maya languages and carry on many customs of their ancestors.

Additional World Book articles:

• Architecture (Pre-Columbian architecture)
• Stephens, John Lloyd
• The Ancient Maya: Deciphering New Clues (a Special Report)