Quiriguá () is an ancient Maya archaeological site in the department of Izabal in south-eastern Guatemala. It is a medium-sized site covering approximately along the lower Motagua River,Ashmore 1980, p.24. with the ceremonial center about from the north bank. During the Maya Classic Period (AD 200–900), Quiriguá was situated at the juncture of several important trade routes. The site was occupied by 200, construction on the acropolis had begun by about 550, and an explosion of grander construction started in the 8th century. All construction had halted by about 850, except for a brief period of reoccupation in the Early Postclassic (). Quiriguá shares its architectural and sculptural styles with the nearby Classic Period city of Copán, with whose history it is closely entwined.Miller 1999, p.49.
Quiriguá's rapid expansion in the 8th century was tied to king K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat's military victory over Copán in 738. When the greatest king of Copán, Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil or "18-Rabbit", was defeated, he was captured and then sacrificed in the Great Plaza at Quiriguá.Looper 2003, pp.4–5, 83. Before this, Quiriguá had been a vassal state of Copán, but it maintained its independence afterwards. The ceremonial architecture at Quiriguá is quite modest, but the site's importance lies in its wealth of sculpture, including the tallest stele erected in the Mayan world. Because of its historical importance, the site of Quiriguá was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981.
Name and location
The archaeological site of Quiriguá is named after the nearby village of the same name,Looper 2003, viii. and is located a little over northeast of Guatemala City;Stross et al. 1983, p.333. it lies in the municipality of Los Amates in the department of Izabal and has an elevation of above mean sea level.Inforpress.
Positioned on the north bank of the lower reaches of the Motagua River, Quiriguá is situated at the point where the valley broadens into a flood plain, which has exposed the site to periodic flooding over the centuries.Looper 2003, p.35. Although the river passed close to the site during the period of the city's occupation, it has since changed course and now flows south of the ceremonial centre. Quiriguá is north of Copán, and is located north-west of the international border with Honduras.
The local bedrock is a hard red sandstone, which the inhabitants used in the construction of monuments and architecture. This local sandstone is very strong and not prone to shearing or fracturing, allowing the sculptors at Quiriguá to erect the tallest freestanding stone monuments in the Americas.Miller 1999, p.82. Quiriguá was built directly over the Motagua Fault and the city suffered damage in ancient times as a result of major earthquakes.Sharer & Traxler 2006, p.507.
Population Although the Quiriguá elite were clearly Maya in ethnicity,Looper 1999, p.264. the site lies on the southern periphery of the Mesoamerican area and the population was at least bi-ethnic,Sheets 2000, p.442. with ethnic Maya in a minority. The majority of the population belonged ethnically to the less complex Intermediate Area lying beyond the eastern border of Mesoamerica. The population density of the site has been estimated at 400 to 500 per square kilometer (1040 to 1300 per square mile) in the centre of the city during the Late ClassicDrew 1999, p.344. with an estimated peak population of 1200–1600;Sharer & Traxler 2006, p.688. surveys have revealed an average of 130 structures per square kilometer (338 per square mile) at the site, compared with 1449 structures/km2 (3767 per square mile) in central Copán.Sharer & Traxler 2006, p.686. The low population density indicates that Quiriguá served as the focus for a dispersed rural population.Looper 2003, p.1.
The population levels of the Quiriguá valley increased rapidly after the successful rebellion against Copán in 738, although it was never a heavily populated site.Martin & Grube 2000, p.219. In the 9th century there was a severe decline in population, culminating in the abandonment of the city.
Economy The Motagua River flows down from the western Guatemalan highlands, and Quiriguá was ideally positioned to control the trade of uncut jade, the majority of which was found in the middle reaches of the Motagua Valley,Miller 1999, p.54. as well as controlling the flow of other important commodities up and down the river such as cacao, which was produced as a local cash crop.Drew 1999, p.240. Although cacao was produced for trade, maize remained the primary local crop due to its central role in the Maya diet.Ashmore 2007, p.111. In addition, maize probably formed an important component in the site's tribute payments to its overlords at Copán, a city that was exhausting its own local resources. Although little jade has been recovered from the site, there is evidence for trade in obsidian originating from the Ixtepeque source situated near the upper reaches of the Motagua.Stross et al. 1983, p.335.
In the Classic Period, the location of the site would have placed Quiriguá on a crossroads between the trading route from the highlands to the Caribbean coast and the route from Copán to the major cities of the Petén Basin.Looper 2003, p.2.
Known rulers
As recorded on hieroglyphic inscriptions at Quiriguá, all dates are AD. Maya inscriptions for rulers sometimes include reference to a number ("tzakbul-number" or count, named after its main glyph) that are believed to specify the position of that ruler in the sequence of dynastic succession to the rulership of the site. Thus a tzakbul-number of five indicates the ruler was fifth in the line of dynastic succession.Jones 1983, p.122
Name (or nickname)Ruled Dynasticsuccession no.The numbers given here follow those noted in Looper 2003, p.205. "Tok Ch'ich' " 426–?Martin & Grube 2000, p.216. 1 Tutuum Yohl K'inich 2 Mih Toh Looper 2003, pp. 205–209. 3 Chan [Yop]aat 493+ 4 Unknown rulers 500+ 5+ K'awiil Yopaat ("Ruler 5") 12??...Kin Chaahk13? K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat ("Cauac Sky" or "Kawak Sky") 724–785Martin & Grube 2000, p.218. 14? Chan Tiliw Yopaat ("Sky Xul") 785 – 15? K'ahk' Jolow Chan Yopaat ("Jade Sky") 16?
History
Early history
There is evidence that Quiriguá was occupied as early as the Late Preclassic (400 BC – AD 200). Although no structures have been securely dated to this period, a number of Late Preclassic artifacts have been recovered, including 63 figurines and a chert blade. Early Classic ceramics from Quiriguá are similar to finds at both Copán and Chalchuapa in El Salvador, while jade hunchback figurines from the same period resemble those found in central Honduras and in the Guatemalan highlands. These early finds demonstrate the participation of Quiriguá in the wider southeastern Maya region from the Late Preclassic onwards.Looper 2003, p.38.
A combination of hieroglyphic texts from Tikal, Copán and Quiriguá, together with architectural styles and chemical tests of the bones of the founder of the Copán dynasty all suggest that Quiriguá and Copán were founded by elite colonists from the great city of Tikal as a part of its expansion into the southeastern border area of the Maya region.Sharer & Traxler 2006, p.333.Sharer et al. 2005, p.196.Looper 2003, pp.37–38. The recorded history of Quiriguá starts in 426, in the Early Classic (c. 200 – c. 600); according to hieroglyphic inscriptions at other sites, on 5 September of that year K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' was enthroned as king of Copán.Martin & Grube 2000, p.192. Just three days later he installed "Tok Casper", the first known king of Quiriguá, upon the throne. From this it is evident that right from the beginning of its recorded history Quiriguá was subservient to its southern neighbour, and was founded to bring the lucrative trade route of the Motagua River under the control of Copán and, indirectly, of Tikal. During the next few centuries, about which little is known, the ceremonial architecture at Quiriguá was limited to the hilltop Group A and a broad earthen platform on the valley floor. It is recorded that a stela, as yet undiscovered, was erected in 455 by Tutuum Yohl K'inich, the second king of Quiriguá.Martin & Grube 2000, p.217. An early monument records the supervision of a ritual in 480 by the then overlord from Copán, demonstrating Quiriguá's continued status as a vassal of that city. A hieroglyphic text dating to 493 mentions two further kings of Quiriguá, but interruptions in the text make the reading and decipherment of their names particularly difficult.
There are close parallels between the 5th-century architecture and monuments of Quiriguá and Uaxactun in the northern Petén, a site that fell under the domination of Tikal in the late 4th century. The similarities show that Quiriguá remained strongly aligned with the great Tikal alliance network.Looper 2003, p.50.
Hiatus and recovery
Quiriguá suffered a hiatus from the turn of the 6th century that lasted through to the middle of the 7th century. This may be linked to the Tikal hiatus of the Middle Classic caused by Tikal's defeat by Calakmul. There is evidence that Quiriguá suffered an attack by unknown enemies in this period, as demonstrated by the apparently deliberate defacement of Stela U and Monument 26, characteristic of damage inflicted by invading warriors. No monuments were erected during this hiatus, which lasted from 495 to 653.
In the 6th or early 7th century a natural disaster caused a devastating flood of the Motagua Valley and buried the surface of the site under a deep layer of silt, completely changing the landscape. Only those buildings that stood above the mud continued in use, including group A, saved by its hilltop location. The earthen platform on the valley floor also continued in use, at least those parts of it that stood above the silt, and it was one of the site's smaller complexes that grew to become the new centre of Quiriguá, as represented by the monuments visible to this day.
A revival can be identified by the dedication of the first new monument in a century and a half, raised by the otherwise unknown king, K'awiil Yopaat, in 653. Continued contact with Copán is evident, as well as longer distance contacts, possibly with Caracol in Belize. At about the same time major construction work was undertaken in the acropolis, including the building of the site's first ballcourt.Looper 2003, pp.50–53.
Apogee Quiriguá traditionally had been subordinate to its southern neighbour, Copán, and in 724 Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, king of Copán, installed K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat upon Quiriguá's throne as his vassal. As early as 734, however, K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat had shown that he was no longer an obedient subordinate of Copán when he started to refer to himself as k'ul ahaw, holy lord, instead of using the lesser term ahaw, subordinate lord; at the same time he began to use his own Quiriguá emblem glyph.Drew 1999, p.241. These early assertions of independence can only have been made if Quiriguá had managed to form an external alliance.