The Dawn of a New Era: The burning of royal Maya remains
Evidence of a fire-burning ritual in ancient Maya, may have marked the beginning of a new age
I cannot say precisely why, but something about the Mayans and Aztecs has always fascinated me more than other ancient civilisations. I have never visited any of their sites, but I dream of visiting them. I hope to stroll through the ruins and envision the world around me at the height of their civilisation. Bustling markets, artisans chiselling rock motifs, the nobles lounging in their homes, and the common folk hurriedly going about their daily tasks in the streets below. I want to see their temples and the finely crafted jewellery and hear them speak in tongues I have never heard before.
This very fascination made me choose to read the research by Halperin and colleagues above all others. The article tells of the great Mayan city of Ucanal and the fire-burning ritual that occurred there during the ninth century. The ritual was a symbolic event, marking an era’s end and a new one’s start. Seldom are key moments like this preserved in the archaeology. One will hear about them in stories or documents after the fact, and one can see a difference in culture or architecture in the archaeology, but the precise moments of these changes are far more enigmatic.
The Dawn of A New Era
Ucanal was the capital of the K’anwitznal kingdom; towards the end of the Terminal Classic Period (c. AD 810–950), a wave of change rippled throughout the kingdom and the Maya Lowlands more generally. Many archaeological researchers choose to look at this period and see the collapse of Classic Maya polities; they examine the abandonment of ceremonial sites and elite palaces. However, Halperin and her colleagues chose to view the fire-burning event not as the end but as the dawn of a new era.
At the beginning of the ninth century, a new leader rose to prominence in the K’anwitznal kingdom; his name was Papmalil (or Papamalil). His name was unprecedented among the texts of the classic period, which hinted towards Papmalil being of foreign origin, potentially of the Chontal or Nahua Maya. He ruled not with a royal title but instead chose to hold the high title of ochk’in kaloomte, associated with military leaders and mighty overlords.
The new era was not just marked by the rule of a foreigner but by the age of prosperity, Papmalil ushered in. Excavations revealed that substantial construction occurred throughout the city during his reign, both in the residential zones and the civic-ceremonial heart of the city. Among the constructions during this period was one of the largest Ballcourts of its time, measuring an astonishing 40m in length.
Burnt Bones and the Temple-Pyramid
In 2022, excavations at Ucanal revealed a burned deposit, which, among artefacts, included human bones. The finds were made under the construction fill at the summit of a temple-pyramid (Structure K-2).
Further investigation revealed that the building had not happened on sight, as there was no fire damage to the surrounding limestone blocks and floor. Furthermore, the preservation of the soot and ash was excellent, indicating the temple structure was built above the remains soon after they were first deposited.
Osteological analysis (the study of the bones) revealed that a minimum of four individuals had lain in the deposit. All of whom were adults. Of the four, three were likely the remains of male individuals, while one was indeterminate. Although the latter’s bones were rather gracile, a feature associated with the female bone structure, perhaps the fourth individual was female, but nothing can be said for certain.
The four individuals had been burnt together with various personal ornaments and artefacts. Among them are greenstone pendants, beads, plaques and mosaics, obsidian blades, mosaics and semi-spherical objects, over 10 thousand marine shell beads, mammal teeth pendants, ceramics, pyrite and slate pieces.
All these finds would make you think this was a burial they had uncovered or perhaps a tomb. However, the ornaments all showed signs of burning. We already know that the burning did not take place on the temple pyramid, which means the bodies and ornaments were burnt and purposefully deposited on top of the temple complex and, shortly afterwards, covered up with the construction of a new building.
But where did the artefacts and bodies come from?
Various objects indicate these four individuals, and their ornaments had been taken from a royal tomb. These ornaments included a two-sided carved Hu’unal greenstone diadem, jewellery of the highest regard reserved for royalty. Also notable was the plaque with a mat design (a symbol of Mayan royalty), a relief pendant featuring a human head and decorated discs depicting a wind god figure.
The Fire-Burning Ritual
The evidence points to the contents of the deposit having been used in a fire-entering rite (och-i k’ak’ t-u-muk-il, ‘the fire entered his/her tomb’), whereby the tombs and structures of previous dynasties or rulers were destroyed by fire. These events often marked the variation of a new dynasty and the termination of the previous political structure. They can occur even to strengthen legitimacy, as was the case for the eighth-century leader Yich’aak Bahlam, ruler of Ceibal, who entered the tomb of K’an Balam and initiated a fire-entering tomb ritual. Despite the fact that K’an Balam had been buried over 300 years previously, it was believed this ritual helped bring legitimacy to the current ruler’s reign.
The researchers suspect that the fire-burning ritual at Ucanal, which took place between AD 773–881, may have been linked to the reign of Papmalil (c. AD 814–859). Perhaps to legitimise his reign and signify the start of a new age, the royal tombs of the previous dynasty had to be ritualistically burned.
These fire-burying rituals were more than just mere desecration and looting. For one thing, if it were, the royal artefacts and precious objects found within the tombs would have been plundered and sold. Instead, even the most precious artefact was burned together with the bones and taken to be buried within the summit of the temple-pyramid.
Furthermore, it was important that the ornaments be burned alongside the bones, for both could have been imbued with the life force or soul of their owners. In the Maya belief, each person holds multiple life forces at once, but they are not all fully connected to the individual at all times. This life force can become tethered or severed from the objects around it. Every person has at least one soul, which is said to exist in perpetuity and is being passed down through generations. For example, a grandchild named after the grandmother will have some of the grandparent’s ancestral life force within them. It was thus vital during the fire-burning ritual to sever these ties to the life force by destroying anything they could have been tethered to. This was vital to ensure a new beginning, wholly removed from what came before.
These events were likely dramatic public affairs that cemented the foundation of the new dynasty after a time of uncertainty.
In 2022, researchers uncovered the burned remains of four individuals; they were the remnants of a fire-burning ritual. The ritual was likely held to legitimise the rule of a new leader and, literally, bury the old. The finds coincide with a time of significant change in the Maya world, the collapse of the Terminal Classic period, and provide evidence for the very ritual that would terminate the old and bring forth the new.
I wonder if I were to stand amongst the ruins of Ucanal, if I could imagine myself witnessing such a fire-burning ritual. Would it have been a time filled with music and cries of joy, perhaps a more solemn affair as all witnessed the burning of the content of the tomb? Would the high priests lead the ritual, or maybe it would be led by Papmalil himself?
Regardless of how the ritual was performed, I would be standing at the crossroads that marked the end of an era and the dawn of a new one.
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References
- Novotny, A.C., 2013. 4 The Bones of the Ancestors as Inalienable Possessions: A Bioarchaeologial Persepctive. Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, 23(1), pp.54–65.
- Halperin, C.T., Carrera, M.L.P., Wolf, K.A.M. and LeMoine, J.B., 2024. A pivot point in Maya history: fire-burning event at K’anwitznal (Ucanal) and the making of a new era of political rule. Antiquity, pp.1–19.
