This month's World Heritage Site

Copan:
Achievements of the Maya Inscribed in Stone, by Toni Dabbs

In western Honduras, about 15 kilometers from the Guatemala border, lay the ruins of a once magnificent Maya city. Believed to have been established in 159 CE, it was originally known as Xukpi (corner bundle), apparently a reference to its location at the southeastern corner of Maya territory. It now is known as Copan.

By the fifth century, Copan had become one of the most important Maya centers, and by the eighth century, it covered approximately 50 acres and had a population of perhaps 20,000. However, it is best known today for its large monuments dated with hieroglyphs erected between 435 and 822 CE.

These hieroglyphs, the artfully sculpted structures they inscribe and the role of the site in the development of Central American civilization are among the reasons that Copan was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.

Rediscovery

Initially, Xukpi was an agricultural based society, its residents growing root crops and seed crops, such as corn and beans. It was self-supporting, with a relatively high standard of living. However, it seems to have developed an unusually prosperous class of minor nobility, scribes and artisans, some of whom had homes of cut stone built for themselves, a privilege generally reserved for rulers and high priests.

Some researchers believe that evolution of this elite class resulted in impoverishment of the commoners. They also suggest that the so-called Maya collapse of the ninth century was due at least in part to internal conflict between the elites and the commoners. Others hold the traditional view that depletion of natural resources was primarily responsible for the collapse. Whatever the cause, the population of Copan declined to less than 5,000.

By the time the Spanish colonized Honduras during the first half of the 16th century, Xukpi had disappeared beneath a thick green blanket of rainforest. Locals were familiar with the site, but few outsiders (one known exception being Diego Garcia de Palacio in 1576) visited it before the 19th century.

In 1834, Juan Galindo wrote a description of Copan that was published the following year. It attracted the attention of American attorney and politician John Lloyd Stephenson and English architect and draftsman Frederick Catherwood, who explored the site during the late 1830s. In 1843, Stephenson’s book “Incidents of Travel in Yucatan” was published, illustrated with Catherwood’s detailed drawings of the ruins at Copan.

Catherwood’s drawings captured the interest of archaeologists, and between 1881 and 1890, Alfred Maudslay conducted the first excavations of the site, funded by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Harvard University.

Further excavations and restorations were undertaken by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in the 1930s and again by the Peabody Museum in the 1970s. Since then, the Government of Honduras has handled the work through its Proyecto Copan.

Meanwhile, Linda Schele and other Maya historians concentrated on translating the hieroglyphics inscribed on the structures at the site. Their efforts have established a chain of 16 rulers of Copan between 426 and 820 CE, the most prominent arguably being Waxak Lahun Ubah K’awil (better known as 18 Rabbit), the 13th ruler, under whom the city reached its height.

Rare Writings

Typical of Maya complexes, Copan comprises multiple buildings surrounding a common plaza. What isn’t typical, though, is the site’s wealth of sculptural inscriptions. The rare writings are found on many stelae (stone pillars), temples and the unique Hieroglyphic Stairway.

Considered one of the most remarkable monuments built by the Maya, the Hieroglyphic Stairway features the longest single glyphic text found at any Maya site. When uncovered by archaeologists, only 10 of the stairway’s 63 inscribed steps were in their original positions. After years of research and reconstruction, it appears that the stairway commemorates the achievements of Copan’s first 15 rulers and that it was constructed by the 15th, K’ac Yipyaj Chan K’awiil (Smoke Shell).

The stairway is situated in a corner of the Great Plaza, a ceremonial courtyard dotted with expertly carved portrait stelae depicting rulers of Copan. Because the Maya equated stelae to trees, historian Linda Schele called this area “Forest of the Kings.” A number of the stelae portray 18 Rabbit, including one at the northern end of the plaza inscribed with two columns of hieroglyphs.

At the south end of the plaza is a tall pyramid housing the Temple of the Inscriptions, the walls of which are carved with groups of hieroglyphs. Those who make the long, steep climb to the top are rewarded with a bird’s-eye view of the entire site.

Also located on the Great Plaza is the Ball Court, the second-largest in Central America. The playing field, 28.41 meters long and seven meters wide, is surrounded by benches for spectators. In the middle of the field are three sculpted stone blocks known as markers, the central one commissioned by 18 Rabbit.

South of the Great Plaza is the Acropolis, which is a cluster of overlapping pyramids, palaces, plazas, stelae, tombs and other structures. One pyramid consists of stones carved to resemble skulls. Opposite it is the tomb of the 16th ruler of Copan, Yax-Pasaj Chan Yoaat (Rising Sun), successor to Smoke Shell.

The architecture and artistry of Copan can be appreciated by anyone, but its sculptural inscriptions are especially important to historians because so much of the culture’s writing has been lost. The Maya are known to have produced books, called codices, but unfortunately, priests brought by the Spanish destroyed any that they could find.

British Columbia travel writer Toni Dabbs is a regular contributor to The Cultured Traveler.