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162-457: This ancient Maya city mirrors the beauty of the physical landscape in which it flourished—a fertile, well-watered mountain valley in western Honduras at an elevation of 600 meters (1,970 feet) above mean sea level . It was the capital city of a major Classic period kingdom from the 5th to 9th centuries AD. The city was in the extreme southeast of the Mesoamerican cultural region, on

324-697: 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. A combination of hieroglyphic texts from Tikal , Copán and Quiriguá, together with architectural styles and chemical tests of

486-519: A 17-year hiatus at the city, during which time Copán may have been subject to Quiriguá in a reversal of fortunes. A significant portion of the eastern side of the acropolis was eroded away by the Copán River ; the river has since been diverted to protect the site from further damage. As one of the most important sites in Maya history, and because of its outstanding, well-preserved architecture, Copán

648-409: A defined barometric pressure . Generally, the pressure used to set the altimeter is the barometric pressure that would exist at MSL in the region being flown over. This pressure is referred to as either QNH or "altimeter" and is transmitted to the pilot by radio from air traffic control (ATC) or an automatic terminal information service (ATIS). Since the terrain elevation is also referenced to MSL,

810-432: A few metres, in timeframes ranging from minutes to months: Between 1901 and 2018, the average sea level rose by 15–25 cm (6–10 in), with an increase of 2.3 mm (0.091 in) per year since the 1970s. This was faster than the sea level had ever risen over at least the past 3,000 years. The rate accelerated to 4.62 mm (0.182 in)/yr for the decade 2013–2022. Climate change due to human activities

972-544: A further 9,000 to 12,000 inhabitants occupying the periphery—an area of 23.4 square kilometers (9.0 sq mi). Additionally, there was an estimated rural population of 3,000 to 4,000 in a 476-square-kilometer (184 sq mi) area of the Copán Valley, giving an estimated total population of 18,000 to 25,000 people in the valley during the Late Classic period. Little is known of the rulers of Copán before

1134-627: 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

1296-562: A hieroglyphic text from outside of the southeastern Maya region. His name appears in a text on Stela 16 from Caracol , a site in Belize . The stela dates to AD 534, but the text is not well understood. B'alam Nehn undertook major construction projects in the Acropolis, building over an early palace with a number of important structures. Wil Ohl K'inich, the eighth ruler, is another king known only by his appearance on Altar Q. He

1458-522: A hieroglyphic text reading "toppling of the Foundation House" that may refer to the fall of the Copán dynasty. Shortage and disease afflicted the massively overpopulated valley of Copán when its last known king, Ukit Took', came to the throne on 6 February 822. He commissioned Altar L in the style of Altar Q but the monument was never finished — one face shows the enthronement of

1620-514: A part of K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo's name. The Margarita phase contained a tomb with the richly accompanied burial of an elderly woman nicknamed the "Lady in Red". It is likely that she was the widow of K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' and the mother of K'inich Popol Hol. The upper chamber of the Margarita phase temple was converted to receive offerings and the unusual Xukpi stone, a dedicatory monument used in one of

1782-645: A reduced level of construction continued in the city centre. After this, Quiriguá falls into silence, engulfed by the greater phenomenon of the Classic Maya collapse  – it had lost its reason for existence when trade no longer flowed along the Motagua; within a few years Quiriguá was all but deserted and sites throughout the Motagua Valley suffered severe decline or abandonment. In the early Postclassic Period ( c . 900 – c . 1200), Quiriguá

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1944-438: A reference datum for mean sea level (MSL). It is also used in aviation, where some heights are recorded and reported with respect to mean sea level (contrast with flight level ), and in the atmospheric sciences , and in land surveying . An alternative is to base height measurements on a reference ellipsoid approximating the entire Earth, which is what systems such as GPS do. In aviation, the reference ellipsoid known as WGS84

2106-470: A sharp reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, this may increase to hundreds of millions in the latter decades of the century. Local factors like tidal range or land subsidence will greatly affect the severity of impacts. For instance, sea level rise in the United States is likely to be two to three times greater than the global average by the end of the century. Yet, of the 20 countries with

2268-560: A subordinate lord ajaw . K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat appears to have taken advantage of wider political rivalries and allied himself with Calakmul , the sworn enemy of Tikal. Copán was firmly allied with Tikal and Calakmul used its alliance with Quiriguá to undermine Tikal's key ally in the south. Although the exact details are unknown, in April ;738 K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat captured Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil and burned two of Copán's patron deities. Six days later Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil

2430-468: A whole this density fell to 143 per square kilometre (370/sq mi) over a surveyed area of 24.6 square kilometers (9.5 sq mi). The Main Group represents the core of the ancient city and covers an area of 600 by 300 meters (1,970 ft × 980 ft). The main features are the Acropolis, which is a raised royal complex on the south side, and a group of smaller structures and linked plazas to

2592-523: Is a temple pyramid that is the highest part of the Acropolis. It is located between the East and West Courts at the heart of the ancient city. The temple faces the West Court within the Acropolis and is dedicated to K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo', the dynastic founder. The temple was placed on top of the original palace and tomb of the king. It is the final version of a number of temples built on top of each other, as

2754-417: Is an average surface level of one or more among Earth 's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datum  – a standardised geodetic datum  – that is used, for example, as a chart datum in cartography and marine navigation , or, in aviation, as the standard sea level at which atmospheric pressure

2916-520: Is an ancient Maya archaeological site in the department of Izabal in south-eastern Guatemala . It is a medium-sized site covering approximately 3 square kilometres (1.2 sq mi) along the lower Motagua River , with the ceremonial center about 1 km (0.6 mi) 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

3078-488: Is because the sea is in constant motion, affected by the tides, wind , atmospheric pressure, local gravitational differences, temperature, salinity , and so forth. The mean sea level at a particular location may be calculated over an extended time period and used as a datum . For example, hourly measurements may be averaged over a full Metonic 19-year lunar cycle to determine the mean sea level at an official tide gauge . Still-water level or still-water sea level (SWL)

3240-518: Is closely entwined. 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. Before this, Quiriguá had been a vassal state of Copán, but it maintained its independence afterwards. The ceremonial architecture at Quiriguá

3402-427: Is due to change in either the volume of water in the world's oceans or the volume of the oceanic basins . Two major mechanisms are currently causing eustatic sea level rise. First, shrinking land ice, such as mountain glaciers and polar ice sheets, is releasing water into the oceans. Second, as ocean temperatures rise, the warmer water expands. Many factors can produce short-term changes in sea level, typically within

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3564-487: Is evident from the massive commissioning of new monuments and architecture at the latter city, and Copán may even have been subject to its former vassal. K'ak' Joplaj Chan K'awiil died in January ;749. The next ruler was K'ak' Yipyaj Chan K'awiil, a son of K'ak' Joplaj Chan K'awiil. The early period of his rulership fell within Copán's hiatus, but later on he began a programme of renewal in an effort to recover from

3726-483: Is increasingly used to define heights; however, differences up to 100 metres (328 feet) exist between this ellipsoid height and local mean sea level. Another alternative is to use a geoid -based vertical datum such as NAVD88 and the global EGM96 (part of WGS84). Details vary in different countries. When referring to geographic features such as mountains, on a topographic map variations in elevation are shown by contour lines . A mountain's highest point or summit

3888-410: Is known of "Jade Sky", who succeeded "Sky Xul" and was the last recorded ruler of Quiriguá. The city's power already was waning, as evidenced by the two stunted stelae erected during his reign, which indicate that the kingdom no longer had access to the kind of resources needed to produce monuments of a similar quality to those of his predecessors. "Jade Sky" did build two of the largest structures in

4050-515: 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. 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

4212-512: Is measured to calibrate altitude and, consequently, aircraft flight levels . A common and relatively straightforward mean sea-level standard is instead a long-term average of tide gauge readings at a particular reference location. Sea levels can be affected by many factors and are known to have varied greatly over geological time scales . Current sea level rise is mainly caused by human-induced climate change . When temperatures rise, mountain glaciers and polar ice sheets melt, increasing

4374-478: Is mentioned in several texts and is linked to a figure known as "Foliated Ajaw ". This same person is mentioned on the carved skull of a peccary recovered from Tomb 1, where he is said to perform an action with a stela in AD ;376. The city was refounded by K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' , establishing it as the capital of a new Maya kingdom. This coup was apparently organized and launched from Tikal. Texts record

4536-427: Is mentioned on Altar L at Quiriguá in relation to the same event in 652. It is thought that he was trying to stamp his authority throughout the whole valley after the end of some earlier restriction to his freedom to rule as he wished. After this sudden spate of activity, Smoke Imix continued to rule until almost the end of the 7th century; he dedicated another nine known monuments and made important changes to

4698-542: Is on the west side of the Acropolis. It encloses the south side of the Court of the Hieroglyphic Stairway and is accessed from it by a wide monumental stairway. This structure appears to have been the royal palace of Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat, the 16th ruler in the dynastic succession and the last known king of Copán. Structure 10L-11 was built on top of several earlier structures, one of which probably contains

4860-605: Is quite modest, but the site's importance lies in its wealth of sculpture, including the tallest stone monumental sculpture ever erected in the New World . Because of its historical importance, the site of Quiriguá was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981. The archaeological site of Quiriguá is named after the nearby village of the same name, and is located a little over 200 km (120 mi) northeast of Guatemala City ; it lies in

5022-408: Is recorded on four stelae erected by his successors, one of which describes a rite performed with relics from his tomb in AD 730, almost a hundred years after his death. Smoke Imix was crowned 16 days after the death of K'ak' Chan Yopaat. He is thought to have been the longest reigning king of Copán, ruling from 628 to 695. He is believed to have been born in AD 612 and to have become king at

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5184-470: Is the Great Plaza. This plaza measures 325 m (1,066 ft) from north to south and is the largest plaza in the whole Maya region. At the southern end of the Great Plaza is the Ballcourt Plaza, surrounded on three sides by structures associated with the acropolis. The Acropolis Plaza is a fully enclosed plaza within the acropolis itself. The area to the west of the Ballcourt Plaza was probably

5346-450: Is the level of the sea with motions such as wind waves averaged out. Then MSL implies the SWL further averaged over a period of time such that changes due to, e.g., the tides , also have zero mean. Global MSL refers to a spatial average over the entire ocean area, typically using large sets of tide gauges and/or satellite measurements. One often measures the values of MSL with respect to

5508-727: Is the main cause. Between 1993 and 2018, melting ice sheets and glaciers accounted for 44% of sea level rise , with another 42% resulting from thermal expansion of water . Sea level rise lags behind changes in the Earth 's temperature by many decades, and sea level rise will therefore continue to accelerate between now and 2050 in response to warming that has already happened. What happens after that depends on human greenhouse gas emissions . If there are very deep cuts in emissions, sea level rise would slow between 2050 and 2100. It could then reach by 2100 slightly over 30 cm (1 ft) from now and approximately 60 cm (2 ft) from

5670-482: Is thought to have been his father. His reign lasted from 10 to 15 years and was a period of continued activity. In most of the Maya region cities already were suffering terminal decline, engulfed by the Classic Maya collapse , but in Quiriguá "Sky Xul" dedicated three great zoomorph sculptures and two altars , considered marvels of Maya stoneworking. "Sky Xul" died some time between 795 and 800. Little

5832-531: Is typically illustrated with the AMSL height in metres, feet or both. In unusual cases where a land location is below sea level, such as Death Valley, California , the elevation AMSL is negative. It is often necessary to compare the local height of the mean sea surface with a "level" reference surface, or geodetic datum, called the geoid . In the absence of external forces, the local mean sea level would coincide with this geoid surface, being an equipotential surface of

5994-523: 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 . Quiriguá was built directly over the Motagua Fault and the city suffered damage in ancient times as a result of major earthquakes . Although the Quiriguá elite were clearly Maya in ethnicity, the site lies on the southern periphery of

6156-629: The Mesoamerican area and the population was at least bi-ethnic, 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 Classic with an estimated peak population of 1200–1600; surveys have revealed an average of 130 structures per square kilometer (338 per square mile) at

6318-806: The School of American Archaeology in Santa ;Fe. Duplicates of the stelae of Quiriguá made from Hewett's plaster casts of the originals were exhibited at the Panama–California Exposition in San Diego, California , in 1915. The casts are still on display at the San Diego Museum of Us in their "Maya: Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth" exhibition. The Carnegie Institution conducted several intermittent projects at Quiriguá from 1915 through 1934. Aldous Huxley , writing after visiting

6480-662: The Victoria and Albert Museum , with casts being transferred to the British Museum . In 1910, the United Fruit Company bought Quiriguá and all the land for a great distance around the site for banana production; they set aside 75 acres (30 ha) around the ceremonial centre as an archaeological park, leaving an island of jungle among the plantations. More archaeological work was carried out from 1910 to 1914 by Edgar Lee Hewett and Sylvanus Morley for

6642-622: The geoid of the Earth, which approximates the local mean sea level for locations in the open ocean. The geoid includes a significant depression in the Indian Ocean , whose surface dips as much as 106 m (348 ft) below the global mean sea level (excluding minor effects such as tides and currents). Precise determination of a "mean sea level" is difficult because of the many factors that affect sea level. Instantaneous sea level varies substantially on several scales of time and space. This

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6804-418: The height above mean sea level (AMSL). The term APSL means above present sea level, comparing sea levels in the past with the level today. Earth's radius at sea level is 6,378.137 km (3,963.191 mi) at the equator. It is 6,356.752 km (3,949.903 mi) at the poles and 6,371.001 km (3,958.756 mi) on average. This flattened spheroid , combined with local gravity anomalies , defines

6966-524: The municipality of Copán Ruinas in the department of Copán . It is in a fertile valley among foothills at 700 meters (2,300 ft) above mean sea level . The ruins of the site core of the city are 1.6 kilometers (1 mi) from the modern village of Copán Ruinas , which is built on the site of a major complex dating to the Classic period. In the Preclassic period the floor of the Copán Valley

7128-562: The 1690s. Satellite altimeters have been making precise measurements of sea level since the launch of TOPEX/Poseidon in 1992. A joint mission of NASA and CNES , TOPEX/Poseidon was followed by Jason-1 in 2001 and the Ocean Surface Topography Mission on the Jason-2 satellite in 2008. Height above mean sea level ( AMSL ) is the elevation (on the ground) or altitude (in the air) of an object, relative to

7290-973: The 19th century. With high emissions it would instead accelerate further, and could rise by 1.0 m ( 3 + 1 ⁄ 3  ft) or even 1.6 m ( 5 + 1 ⁄ 3  ft) by 2100. In the long run, sea level rise would amount to 2–3 m (7–10 ft) over the next 2000 years if warming stays to its current 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) over the pre-industrial past. It would be 19–22 metres (62–72 ft) if warming peaks at 5 °C (9.0 °F). Rising seas affect every coastal and island population on Earth. This can be through flooding, higher storm surges , king tides , and tsunamis . There are many knock-on effects. They lead to loss of coastal ecosystems like mangroves . Crop yields may reduce because of increasing salt levels in irrigation water. Damage to ports disrupts sea trade. The sea level rise projected by 2050 will expose places currently inhabited by tens of millions of people to annual flooding. Without

7452-418: 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

7614-487: The Acropolis, revealing how the royal complex at the heart of Copán developed over the centuries and uncovering several hieroglyphic texts that date back to the Early Classic and verify details of the early dynastic rulers of the city who were recorded on Altar Q hundreds of years later. The deepest of these tunnels have revealed that the first monumental structures underlying the Acropolis date archaeologically to

7776-582: The Chorcha phase of Temple 26 and he was buried just two days after his death. Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil was crowned as the 13th king in the Copán dynasty in July ;695. He oversaw both the apogee of Copán's achievements and also one of the city's most catastrophic political disasters. During his reign, the sculptural style of the city evolved into the full in-the-round sculpture characteristic of Copán. In AD 718, Copán attacked and defeated

7938-478: The Classic Period the statues of Maya deities often were carried into battle on palanquins , facilitating their capture in the event of defeat. It has been suggested that the king of Copán was attempting to attack another site in order to secure captives for sacrifice , and was ambushed by K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat and his Quiriguá warriors. The captured lord was taken back to Quiriguá and on 3 May 738 he

8100-448: The Earth's gravitational field which, in itself, does not conform to a simple sphere or ellipsoid and exhibits gravity anomalies such as those measured by NASA's GRACE satellites . In reality, the geoid surface is not directly observed, even as a long-term average, due to ocean currents, air pressure variations, temperature and salinity variations, etc. The location-dependent but time-persistent separation between local mean sea level and

8262-427: The Late Classic, the kingdom of Copán had a population of at least 20,000 and covered an area of over 250 square kilometers (100 sq mi). The greater Copán area consisting of the populated areas of the valley covered about a quarter of the size of the city of Tikal . It is estimated that the peak population in central Copán was between 6000 and 9000 in an area of 0.6 square kilometers (0.23 sq mi), with

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8424-705: The Marégraphe in Marseilles measures continuously the sea level since 1883 and offers the longest collated data about the sea level. It is used for a part of continental Europe and the main part of Africa as the official sea level. Spain uses the reference to measure heights below or above sea level at Alicante , while the European Vertical Reference System is calibrated to the Amsterdam Peil elevation, which dates back to

8586-472: The Rosalila building has been built at the Copán site museum. Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil encased the Rosalila phase under a new version of the building in the early 8th century AD. An offering was made as part of the rites to terminate the old phase and included a collection of eccentric flints worked into the profiles of humans and gods, wrapped in blue-dyed textiles, as well as a 5-ft shark brought to

8748-410: The abandonment of the city the Copán River gradually changed course, with a meander destroying the eastern portion of the acropolis (revealing in the process its archaeological stratigraphy in a large vertical cut ) and apparently washing away various subsidiary architectural groups, including at least one courtyard and 10 buildings from Group 10L–2. The cut is an important archaeological feature at

8910-415: The abandonment of the city. 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, 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 . Although cacao

9072-554: The acropolis that was eroded before it could be recorded. In order to avoid further destruction of the acropolis, the Carnegie Institution redirected the river to save the archaeological site, diverting it southwards in the 1930s; the dry former riverbed was finally filled in at the same time as consolidation of the cut in 1990s. Structures 10L–19, 20, 20A and 21 were all destroyed by the Copán River as it eroded

9234-541: The acropolis, cleaned the monuments, and studied outlying groups. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, and in 1999 UNESCO approved one-off funding of US$ 27,248 for "emergency assistance for the rehabilitation of the archaeological site of Quiriguá". One of the site's stelae is depicted on the Guatemalan 10 centavo coin . The 34-hectare (84-acre) area included within the Archaeological Park of Quiriguá has been developed for tourism with

9396-423: The acropolis, however. Quiriguá apparently retained its independence from Copán and continued to flourish until the beginning of the 9th century. Relations between the two cities had improved somewhat by 810, when king Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat of Copán visited Quiriguá in order to carry out a k'atun -ending ritual. However, 810 was also the year when the last hieroglyphic texts were raised at Quiriguá, although

9558-496: The age of 15. Archaeologists have recovered little evidence of activity for the first 26 years of his reign, but in AD 652 there was a sudden explosion of monument production, with two stelae being erected in the Great Plaza and a further four in important locations across the Copán Valley. These monuments all celebrated a k'atun -ending. He also erected a stela at the Santa Rita site 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) away and

9720-456: The amount of water in the oceans, while the existing seawater also expands with heat. Because most of human settlement and infrastructure was built in response to a more-normalized sea level with limited expected change, populations affected by sea level rise will need to invest in climate adaptation to mitigate the worst effects or, when populations are at extreme risk, a process of managed retreat . The term above sea level generally refers to

9882-410: The architecture of Copán, including the construction of Structure 2, which closes the northern side of the Great Plaza, and a new version of Temple 26, nicknamed Chorcha. Smoke Imix ruled Copán for 67 years and died on 15 June 695 at the age of 79, an age that was so distinguished that it is used to identify him in place of his name on Altar Q. His tomb had already been prepared in

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10044-474: The arrival of a warrior named K'uk' Mo' Ajaw who was installed upon the throne of the city in AD 426 and given a new royal name, K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' and the ochk'in kaloomte "Lord of the West" title used a generation earlier by Siyaj K'ak' , a general from the great metropolis of Teotihuacan who had decisively intervened in the politics of the central Petén. K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' was probably from Tikal and

10206-433: The attributes of a variety of deities, including B'olon K'awiil, K'uy Nik Ajaw and Mo' Witz Ajaw. The king also carried out major construction works, including a new version of Temple 26 that now bore the first version of the Hieroglyphic Stairway, plus two temples that have now been lost to the erosion of the Copán River. He also encased the Rosalila phase of Temple 16 within a new phase of construction. He remodelled

10368-481: The ballcourt, then demolished it and built a new one in its place. Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil had only recently dedicated the new ballcourt in AD 738 when a completely unexpected disaster befell the city. Twelve years earlier he had installed K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat on the throne of Quiriguá as his vassal. By 734 the king of Quiriguá had shown he was no longer an obedient subordinate when he began to refer to himself as k'ul ajaw , "holy lord", rather than simply as

10530-441: The base platform up to the roof comb , including its highly elaborate painted stucco decoration. Rosalila features K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' placed at the centre of a mythological tableau, combining the founder of the dynasty with the sky deity Itzamna in avian form. The mythological imagery also includes anthropomorphic mountains, skeletons and crocodiles. Vents in the exterior were designed so smoke from incense being burned inside

10692-456: 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. 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'

10854-664: The central plaza of the city and the adjoining acropolis , a large complex of overlapping step-pyramids, plazas, and palaces. The site has a large court for playing the Mesoamerican ballgame . The site is divided into various groups, with the Main Group and the Cemetery Group in the site core linked by a sacbe to the Sepulturas Group to the northeast. Central Copán had a density of 1449 structures per square kilometer (3,750/sq mi), while in greater Copán as

11016-440: The city for four centuries and included sixteen kings plus a probable pretender who would have been seventeenth in line. Several monuments have survived that were dedicated by K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' and by his heir. K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' died between AD 435 and AD 437. In 1995 a tomb underneath the talud-tablero Hunal temple was discovered by a team of archaeologists led by Robert Sharer and David Sedat. The tomb contained

11178-401: The city from K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' through to Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat, with a hieroglyphic text on top describing the founding of the dynasty. By the latter 8th century, the nobility had become more powerful, raising palaces with hieroglyphic benches that were as richly constructed as those of the king. At the same time, local satellites were displaying their own local power, as demonstrated by

11340-406: The city from the nearest ocean, some 42 km distant. Structure 10L-18 is on the southeastern side of the Acropolis and has been damaged by the erosion caused by the Copán River, having lost its eastern side. Stairs on the south side of the structure lead down to a vaulted tomb that was looted in ancient times and was probably that of Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat. It was apparently plundered soon after

11502-424: The city of Xkuy – an as yet undiscovered site – was attacked and burned by Copán under the leadership of king Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil. After the king of Copán was sacrificed in 738, Xkuy seems to have become a loyal vassal of Quiriguá and in 762 K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat supervised the accession of "Sunraiser Jaguar" to the subservient city's throne. K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat, who had so dramatically changed

11664-412: The city remained closely allied with Tikal. The hieroglyphic text on Copán Altar Q describes the lord being elevated to kingship with the receipt of his royal scepter. The ceremonies involved in the founding of the Copán dynasty also included the installation of a subordinate king at Quiriguá . A text from Tikal mentions K'uk' Mo' and has been dated to AD 406, 20 years before K'uk' Mo' Ajaw founded

11826-460: The city to less than 5,000. This decrease in population took over four centuries to actually show signs of collapse, showing the stability of this site even after the fall of the ruling dynasties and royal families. The ceremonial center was long abandoned and the surrounding valley home to only a few farming hamlets at the time of the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century. References to

11988-477: The city's earlier disaster. He built a new version of Temple 26, with the Hieroglyphic Stairway being reinstalled on the new stairway and doubled in length. Five life-size statues of seated rulers were installed seated upon the stairway. K'ak' Yipyaj Chan K'awiil died in the early 760s and is likely to have been interred in Temple ;11, although the tomb has not yet been excavated. Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat

12150-520: The city-state, which people believe occurred sometime between 800 and 830 AD, was sudden. However, the population continued to persist and even flourish between the years 750 and 900 AD, and then gradually declined soon thereafter. In the Postclassic period the valley was occupied by villagers who stole the stone from the monumental architecture of the city in order to build their simple house platforms. The first post-Spanish conquest mention of Copán

12312-559: The city. The early dynastic masonry buildings of the Acropolis included several with the Early Classic apron-molding style of Tikal and one built in the talud-tablero style associated with Teotihuacan, although at the time the talud-tablero form was in use at both Tikal and Kaminaljuyu as well as in Central Mexico. Structure 10L-4 is a platform with four stairways situated by the Monument Plaza. Structure 10L-11

12474-462: The collapse of the Copán kingdom. Unusually for Copán, the summit shrine had four sculpted panels depicting the king performing war dances with spear and shield, emphasizing the rising tensions as the dynasty came to its end. Temples 10L-20 and 10L-21 were probably both built by Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil. They were lost to the Copán River in the early 20th century. Sea level Mean sea level ( MSL , often shortened to sea level )

12636-412: The construction of a car park, site museum, and sanitation facilities and is open to the public on a daily basis. After Quiriguá's pivotal victory over Copán in 738, K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat rebuilt the main group in the image of Copán itself. Thus, the acropolis , palace, and ballcourt all lie at the southern end of the Great Plaza. The ceremonial centre is laid out around three plazas, the northernmost

12798-402: The construction of various structures, including one temple in the talud-tablero style typical of Teotihuacan and another with inset corners and apron moldings that are characteristic of Tikal. These strong links with both the Maya and Central Mexican cultures suggest that he was at least a Mexicanized Maya or possibly even from Teotihuacan. The dynasty founded by king K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' ruled

12960-485: The defeat and execution of the king of Copán in 738, the sculptural style of Quiriguá closely resembled that of its former overlord. The enormous stelae at Quirigá originally would have been visible from the Motagua River, which once flowed past the west side of the Great Plaza, announcing the new-found power of the city to passing traders. The monuments include long panels of glyphic text that are considered among

13122-423: The destiny of his city, died on 27 July 785. Zoomorph  G is his memorial stone and it describes how he was buried 10 days later in the 13 Kawak House , a building that has not been identified. The great king was succeeded by "Sky Xul", a king whose name has not been properly identified. "Sky Xul" became the reigning lord of Quiriguá 78 days after the death of K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat, who

13284-402: The dynastic sequence are only known from their sculptures on Altar Q. B'alam Nehn (often referred to as Waterlily Jaguar) was the first king to actually record his position in the dynastic succession, declaring that he was seventh in line from K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo'. Stela 15 records that he was already ruling Copán by AD 504. B'alam Nehn is the only king of Copán to be mentioned in

13446-402: The earlier phases, was reused in this later phase. One of the best preserved phases of Temple 16 is the Rosalila, built over the remains of five previous versions of the temple. Archaeologist Ricardo Agurcia discovered the almost intact shrine while tunneling underneath the final version of the temple. Rosalila is notable for its excellent state of preservation, including the entire building from

13608-403: The early 5th century AD, when K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' established the royal dynasty. These early buildings were built of stone and adobe and were themselves built upon earlier earth and cobble structures dating to the predynastic period. The two styles of building overlap somewhat, with some of the earthen structures being expanded during the first hundred years or so of the dynastic history of

13770-566: The east coast of Yucatán, artifacts that demonstrate a close link with the distant city of Chichen Itza . Some copper bells and ornaments were recovered from Quiriguá, they are among the earliest finds of metal artifacts in the Maya area. They have been dated to either the Terminal Classic ( c . 800 – c . 950) or the Early Postclassic. The first European visitor to publish an account of Quiriguá

13932-417: The forms of composite mythological animals bearing elements of toads , jaguars , crocodiles , and birds of prey ; these sculptures are referred to as zoomorphs and were completed by two later kings after the death of K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat in 785. There also are various altars and sculptures used as decoration in the facades of buildings; most Quiriguá monuments have a grand formal monumentality that

14094-517: The founder, demolished the palace of his father and built a platform on top of his tomb, named Yehnal by archaeologists. It was built in a distinctively Petén Maya style and bore large masks of K'inich Tajal Wayib', the sun god, which were painted red. This platform was encased within another much larger platform within a decade of its construction. This larger platform has been named Margarita and had stucco panels flanking its access stairway that bore entwined images of quetzals and macaws, which both form

14256-442: The founding of a new dynasty with its origins at Tikal in the early 5th century AD, although the city's origins can be traced back to the Preclassic period. After this, Copán became one of the more powerful Maya city states and was a regional power in the southern Maya region. However, it suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of its former vassal state Quirigua in 738, when the long-ruling king Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil

14418-609: The frontier with the Isthmo-Colombian cultural region, and was almost surrounded by non- Maya peoples . Copán was occupied for more than two thousand years, from the Early Preclassic period to the Postclassic . The city developed a distinctive sculptural style within the tradition of the lowland Maya, perhaps to emphasize the Maya ethnicity of the city's rulers. The city has a historical record that spans

14580-482: The geoid is referred to as (mean) ocean surface topography . It varies globally in a typical range of ±1 m (3 ft). Several terms are used to describe the changing relationships between sea level and dry land. The melting of glaciers at the end of ice ages results in isostatic post-glacial rebound , when land rises after the weight of ice is removed. Conversely, older volcanic islands experience relative sea level rise, due to isostatic subsidence from

14742-450: The greater part of the Classic period and has been reconstructed in detail by archaeologists and epigraphers . Copán was a powerful city ruling a vast kingdom within the southern Maya area . The city suffered a major political disaster in AD 738 when Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil , one of the greatest kings in Copán's dynastic history, was captured and executed by his former vassal, the king of Quiriguá . This unexpected defeat resulted in

14904-634: The greatest exposure to sea level rise, twelve are in Asia , including Indonesia , Bangladesh and the Philippines. The resilience and adaptive capacity of ecosystems and countries also varies, which will result in more or less pronounced impacts. The greatest impact on human populations in the near term will occur in the low-lying Caribbean and Pacific islands . Sea level rise will make many of them uninhabitable later this century. Pilots can estimate height above sea level with an altimeter set to

15066-555: The height of planetary features. Local mean sea level (LMSL) is defined as the height of the sea with respect to a land benchmark, averaged over a period of time long enough that fluctuations caused by waves and tides are smoothed out, typically a year or more. One must adjust perceived changes in LMSL to account for vertical movements of the land, which can occur at rates similar to sea level changes (millimetres per year). Some land movements occur because of isostatic adjustment to

15228-420: The king and a second face was started but two others were completely blank. The long line of kings at the once great city had come to an end. Before the end, even the nobility had been struck by disease, perhaps because epidemics among the malnourished masses spread to the elite. With the end of political authority at the city the population collapsed to a fraction of what it had been at its height. This collapse of

15390-591: The land; hence a change in relative MSL or ( relative sea level ) can result from a real change in sea level, or from a change in the height of the land on which the tide gauge operates, or both. In the UK, the ordnance datum (the 0 metres height on UK maps) is the mean sea level measured at Newlyn in Cornwall between 1915 and 1921. Before 1921, the vertical datum was MSL at the Victoria Dock, Liverpool . Since

15552-399: The larger struggle between the two Maya "superpowers", the great cities of Tikal and Calakmul. In 736, only two years later, K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat received a visit from Wamaw K'awiil, the high king of distant Calakmul, while Copán was one of Tikal's oldest allies. The timing of this visit by the king of Calakmul is highly significant, falling between the accession of K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat to

15714-409: The late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the 1892–1893 excavation of the Hieroglyphic Stairway by John G. Owens and George Byron Gordon . The Carnegie Institution also sponsored work at the site in conjunction with the government of Honduras. The Copán buildings suffered significantly from forces of nature in the centuries between the site's abandonment and the rediscovery of the ruins. After

15876-481: The melting of ice sheets at the end of the last ice age . The weight of the ice sheet depresses the underlying land, and when the ice melts away the land slowly rebounds . Changes in ground-based ice volume also affect local and regional sea levels by the readjustment of the geoid and true polar wander . Atmospheric pressure , ocean currents and local ocean temperature changes can affect LMSL as well. Eustatic sea level change (global as opposed to local change)

16038-446: The military intervention of Calakmul. Calakmul itself was far enough away from Quiriguá that K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat was not afraid of falling directly under its power as a full vassal state, even though it is likely that Calakmul sent warriors to help in the defeat of Copán. The alliance instead seems to have been one of mutual advantage, Calakmul managed to weaken a powerful ally of Tikal while Quiriguá gained its independence. In 718,

16200-544: The military intervention of Calakmul. Calakmul was far enough away from Quiriguá that K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat was not afraid of falling directly under its power as a full vassal state, even though it is likely that Calakmul sent warriors to help in the defeat of Copán. The alliance instead seems to have been one of mutual advantage: Calakmul managed to weaken a powerful ally of Tikal while Quiriguá gained its independence. The disaster for Copán had long-lasting consequences; major construction ceased and no new monuments were raised for

16362-406: The most complex and beautiful of all Maya stone inscriptions. A characteristic of these texts is the use of full-figure glyphs in which the normal bar and dot number glyphs of Maya script are replaced with exquisitely carved representations of the deities. However, by the latter part of the 8th century Quiriguá had developed an original style with the production of boulders elaborately sculpted into

16524-474: The municipality of Los Amates in the department of Izabal and has an elevation of 75 m (246 ft) above mean sea level . 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. Although the river passed close to the site during

16686-448: The new dynasty at Copán. Both names are likely to refer to the same individual originally from Tikal. Although none of the hieroglyphic texts that mention the founding of the new Copán dynasty describe how K'uk' Mo' arrived at the city, indirect evidence suggests that he conquered the city by military means. On Altar Q he is depicted as a Teotihuacano warrior with goggle eyes and a war serpent shield. When he arrived at Copán he initiated

16848-499: The next 17 years. K'ak' Joplaj Chan K'awiil was installed as the 14th dynastic ruler of Copán on 7 June 738, 39 days after the execution of Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil. Little is known of his reign due to the lack of monuments raised after Quiriguá's surprise victory. Copán's defeat had wider implications due to the fracturing of the city's domain and the loss of the key Motagua River trade route to Quiriguá. The fall in Copán's income and corresponding increase at Quiriguá

17010-462: The north, including the Hieroglyphic Stairway and the ballcourt . The Monument Plaza contains the greatest concentration of sculpted monuments at the site. The Acropolis was the royal complex at the heart of Copán. It consists of two plazas that have been named the West Court and the East Court. They are both enclosed by elevated structures. Archaeologists have excavated extensive tunnels under

17172-436: The period of the city's occupation, it has since changed course and now flows 1 km (0.6 mi) south of the ceremonial centre. Quiriguá is 48 km (30 mi) north of Copán, and is located 15.7 km (9.8 mi) 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

17334-467: The pilot can estimate height above ground by subtracting the terrain altitude from the altimeter reading. Aviation charts are divided into boxes and the maximum terrain altitude from MSL in each box is clearly indicated. Once above the transition altitude, the altimeter is set to the international standard atmosphere (ISA) pressure at MSL which is 1013.25 hPa or 29.92 inHg. Quirigua Quiriguá ( Spanish pronunciation: [kiɾiˈɣwa] )

17496-534: The position of that ruler in the sequence of dynastic succession to the rulership of the site. Thus a hel -number of five indicates the ruler was fifth in the line of dynastic succession. 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

17658-453: The predynastic rulers of Copán are found in later texts, but none of these texts predate the refounding of Copán in AD 426. The fertile Copán River valley was long a site of agriculture before the first known stone architecture was built in the region about the 9th century BC. The city was important before its refounding by a foreign elite; mentions of the predynastic history of Copán are found in later texts, but none of these predates

17820-521: The refounding of the city in AD 426. There is an inscription that refers to the year 321 BC, but no text explains the significance of this date. An event at Copán is linked to another event that happened 208 days before in AD 159 at an unknown location that is also mentioned on a stela from Tikal, suggesting that it is a location somewhere in the Petén Basin, possibly the great Preclassic Maya city of El Mirador . This AD 159 date

17982-413: The riverside docking area and there is evidence that the southern part of the Great Plaza was a marketplace. A number of ceramic-lined wells have been excavated close to the site core, these were all built in the 8th century and although some continued in use into the 9th century, none are known to have been built that late. Groups A, B and C lie at a distance of 1.5–5 kilometres (1–3 mi) from

18144-430: The ruler of Los Higos erecting his own stela in AD 781. Towards the end of Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat's reign, the city of Copán was struggling with overpopulation and a lack of local resources, with a distinct fall in living standards among the populace. Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat was able to celebrate his second K'atun in AD 802 with his own monument, but the king's participation in the K'atun ending ceremony of AD 810

18306-405: The same time major construction work was undertaken in the acropolis , including the building of the site's first ballcourt . 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

18468-507: The shrine would interact with the stucco sculpture of the exterior. The temple had a hieroglyphic stone step with a dedicatory inscription. The stone step is less well preserved than the rest of the building, but a date in AD 571 has been deciphered. Due to the deforestation of the Copán valley, the Rosalila building was the last structure at the site to use such elaborate stucco decoration — vast quantities of firewood could no longer be spared to reduce limestone to plaster. A life-size copy of

18630-443: 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

18792-441: The site away, but had been recorded by investigators in the 19th century. UNESCO approved funding of US$ 95,825 between 1982 and 1999 for various works at the site. The cultural monument covers 66 hectares. Looting remains a serious threat to Copán. A tomb was looted in 1998 as it was being excavated by archaeologists. The Copán site is known for a series of portrait stelae , most of which were placed along processional ways in

18954-449: The site core of the Copán; his first was Stela J, dated to AD 702 and erected at the eastern entrance to the city. He continued to erect a further seven high-quality stelae until AD 736, monuments that are considered masterpieces of Classic Maya sculpture with such mastery of detail that they represent the highest pinnacle of Maya artistic achievement. The stelae depict king Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil ritually posed and bearing

19116-465: The site core. The monuments at Quiriguá include unusually large stelae elaborately carved from single blocks of red sandstone, brought from quarries 5 kilometres (3 mi) away. The characteristics of this hard rock allowed the local sculptors to produce low- relief sculptures enhanced by three-dimensional faces, in contrast with the contemporary two-dimensional sculpture of the Petén region. After

19278-627: The site for English, French and North American publications. John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood visited Copán and included a description, map and detailed drawings in Stephens' Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatán , published in 1841. The site was later visited by British archaeologist Alfred Maudslay . Several expeditions sponsored by the Peabody Museum of Harvard University worked at Copán during

19440-423: The site in the early 1930s, noted that Quiriguá's stelae commemorated "man's triumph over time and matter and the triumph of time and matter over man." Quiriguá was among the first Maya archaeological sites to be studied intensively, although little restoration was carried out and the ruins once again became overgrown with jungle. Quiriguá was declared a National Monument in 1970 under Ministerial Accord 1210, this

19602-439: The site, compared with 1449 structures/km (3767 per square mile) in central Copán. The low population density indicates that Quiriguá served as the focus for a dispersed rural population. 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. In the 9th century there was a severe decline in population, culminating in

19764-399: The site, with the natural erosion having created an enormous cross-section of the acropolis. This erosion cut away a large portion of the eastern part of the acropolis and revealed a vertical cross-section that measures 37 meters (121 ft) high at its tallest point and 300 meters (980 ft) long. Several buildings recorded in the 19th century were destroyed, plus an unknown amount of

19926-535: The site. Stephens had other duties to attend to, but Catherwood was able to accompany the Payés brothers to Quiriguá. Due to adverse conditions he was only able to stay a short time at the ruins, but made drawings of two of the stelae, which were published with a short account of Catherwood's visit in John Lloyd Stephens's book Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan in 1841. Quiriguá

20088-400: The skeleton of an elderly man with rich offerings and evidence of battle wounds. The remains have been identified as those of K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' due to their location underneath a sequence of seven buildings erected in his honor. Bone analysis has identified the remains as being those of someone foreign to Copán. K'inich Popol Hol inherited the throne of Copán from K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo', who

20250-405: 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. Quiriguá suffered

20412-453: The throne of Quiriguá as a vassal of Copán and the outright rebellion that was to follow. This strongly suggests that Calakmul sponsored Quiriguá's rebellion in order to weaken Tikal and to gain access to the rich trade route of the Motagua Valley. It is likely that contact with Calakmul had been initiated soon after K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat acceded to the throne, since Quiriguá experienced rapid growth soon after, suggesting that Quiriguá already

20574-518: The times of the Russian Empire , in Russia and its other former parts, now independent states, the sea level is measured from the zero level of Kronstadt Sea-Gauge. In Hong Kong, "mPD" is a surveying term meaning "metres above Principal Datum" and refers to height of 0.146 m (5.7 in) above chart datum and 1.304 m (4 ft 3.3 in) below the average sea level. In France,

20736-424: The tomb of his predecessor K'ak' Yipyaj Chan K'awiil. A small tunnel descends into the interior of the structure, possibly to the tomb, but it has not yet been excavated by archaeologists. Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat built a new temple platform over his predecessor's tomb in AD 769. On top of this he placed a two-storey superstructure with a sculpted roof depicting the mythological cosmos. At each of its northern corners

20898-503: The unidentified site of Xkuy, recording its burning on an unusual stone cylinder. In AD 724 Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil installed K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat as a vassal on the throne of Quiriguá . Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil was confident enough in his power to rank his city among the four most powerful states in the Maya region, together with Tikal, Calakmul and Palenque , as recorded on Stela A. In contrast to his predecessor, Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil concentrated his monuments in

21060-606: The upper reaches of the Motagua. 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 . As recorded on hieroglyphic inscriptions at Quiriguá, all dates are AD. Maya inscriptions for rulers sometimes include reference to a number (" hel -number" or count, named after its main glyph) that are believed to specify

21222-411: The weight of cooling volcanos. The subsidence of land due to the withdrawal of groundwater is another isostatic cause of relative sea level rise. On planets that lack a liquid ocean, planetologists can calculate a "mean altitude" by averaging the heights of all points on the surface. This altitude, sometimes referred to as a "sea level" or zero-level elevation , serves equivalently as a reference for

21384-488: The work. The population of Quiriguá and of other sites in the valley rapidly increased after the events of 738, although Quiriguá was always a small centre and its total population probably never exceeded 2,000. In the Late Classic ( c . 600 – c . 900), alliance with Calakmul frequently was associated with the promise of military support. The fact that Copán, a much more powerful city than Quiriguá, failed to retaliate against its former vassal implies that it feared

21546-550: Was English architect and artist Frederick Catherwood , who reached the ruins in 1840. The previous landowner, by the surname of Payés, had related the existence of the ruins to his sons and to Carlos Meiney, a Jamaican Englishman resident in Guatemala. The elder Payés had recently died and passed the land to his sons and, since neither Meiney nor Payés' sons had visited the land containing the ruins, they invited John Lloyd Stephens and Catherwood to join them on their first trip to

21708-436: Was a large sculpted Pawatun (a group of deities that supported the heavens). This superstructure had four doorways with panels of hieroglyphs sculpted directly onto the walls of the building. A bench inside the structure, removed by Maudslay in the nineteenth century and now in the British Museum 's collection, once depicted the king's accession to the throne, overseen by deities and ancestors. Structure 10L-16 (Temple 16)

21870-421: Was a major complex during the Classic period. The most famous construction dating to his reign is the elaborate Rosalila phase of Temple 16, discovered entombed intact under later phases of the temple during archaeological tunneling work. K'ak' Chan Yopaat was the eleventh dynastic ruler at Copán. He was crowned as king in AD 578, 24 days after the death of Moon Jaguar. At the time of his rule, Copán

22032-469: Was a noblewoman from distant Palenque in Mexico. He built the platform of Temple 11 over the tomb of the previous king in AD 769 and added a two-storey superstructure that was finished in AD 773. Around AD 776, he completed the final version of Temple 16 over the tomb of the founder. At the base of the temple, he placed the famous Altar Q, which shows each of the 16 rulers of

22194-400: Was a son of Popol Hol. Ruler 3 is depicted on the 8th-century Altar Q, but his name glyph has broken away. Ku Ix was the 4th ruler in the succession. He rebuilt temple 10L-26 in the Acropolis, erecting a stela there and a hieroglyphic step at its base. Although this king is also mentioned on a few other fragments of sculpture, no dates accompany his name. The next two kings in

22356-422: Was able to return on three further occasions, the last being in 1894, and he made the first efforts to clear the monuments before recording them. He carried out a very thorough examination and made a photographic record of all visible monuments, carried out some minor excavations , made paper and plaster molds of the hieroglyphic inscriptions and surveyed the principal sculptures; these molds were then shipped to

22518-552: Was attacked at this time and the victor seems not to have received any detectable tribute. Quiriguá seems rather to have gained its independence and the control of important trade routes. An inscription at Quiriguá, although difficult to interpret, suggests that the capture took place on 27 April 738, when Quiriguá seized and burned the wooden images of Copán's patron deities . All of this seems to imply that K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat managed to somehow ambush Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, rather than to have defeated him in outright battle. In

22680-427: Was attempting to attack another site to secure captives for sacrifice in order to dedicate the new ballcourt when he was ambushed by K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat and his Quiriguá warriors. In the Late Classic, alliance with Calakmul was frequently associated with the promise of military support. The fact that Copán, a much more powerful city than Quiriguá, failed to retaliate against its former vassal implies that it feared

22842-411: Was captured and beheaded by Quirigua's ruler K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat (Cauac Sky). Although this was a major setback, Copán's rulers began to build monumental structures again within a few decades. The area of Copán continued to be occupied after the last major ceremonial structures and royal monuments were erected, but the population declined in the 8th and 9th centuries from perhaps over 20,000 in

23004-548: Was common practice in Mesoamerica. The earliest version of this temple is nicknamed Hunal; it was built in the talud-tablero style of architecture that was typical of Teotihuacan, with traces of brightly colored murals on the surviving traces of the interior walls. The king was buried in a vaulted crypt that was cut into the floor of the Hunal phase of the building, accompanied by rich offerings of jade . K'inich Popol Hol, son of

23166-453: Was decapitated in Quiriguá. This coup does not seem to have physically affected either Copán or Quiriguá; there is no evidence that either city was attacked at this time and the victor seems not to have received any detectable tribute. All of this seems to imply that K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat managed to somehow ambush Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, rather than to have defeated him in outright battle. It has been suggested that Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil

23328-441: Was decapitated in a public ritual. The sacrificial offering of the blood of such a powerful overlord greatly enhanced the standing of Quiriguá and its royal family throughout the region and it proclaimed Quiriguá as the new capital of the south-eastern Maya region. After this, Quiriguá engaged in a major monument-building programme, closely mimicking the sculptural style of Copán, possibly using captured Copán sculptors to carry out

23490-494: Was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980, and the site was designated a cultural monument by the Honduran Government in 1982. It is thought likely that the ancient name of Copán was Oxwitik ( pronounced [oʃwitik] ), meaning the "Three Witiks", although the meaning of the word witik itself remains obscure. Copán is in western Honduras close to the border with Guatemala. It lies within

23652-440: Was enthroned as king of Copán. 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

23814-623: Was followed on 19 June 1974 by its declaration as an Archaeological Park under Governmental Accord 35-74. From 1974 through 1979, an extensive archaeological project was conducted at Quiriguá sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania , the National Geographic Society , and the Guatemalan Instituto de Antropología e Historia . Directed by Robert Sharer and William R. Coe , the project excavated

23976-532: Was his father. He undertook major construction projects with the redesign of the core of Copán. Popol Hol is not the original name of this king but rather a nickname based on the appearance of his Teotihuacan-linked name glyph. K'inich Popol Hol oversaw the construction of the first version of the Mesoamerican ballcourt at the city, which was decorated with images of the scarlet macaw , a bird that features prominently in Maya mythology . His greatest construction activity

24138-503: Was in an early colonial period letter dated 8 March 1576. The letter was written by Diego García de Palacio, a member of the Royal Audience of Guatemala , to king Philip II of Spain . French explorer Jean-Frédéric Waldeck visited the site in the early 19th century and spent a month there drawing the ruins. Colonel Juan Galindo led an expedition to the ruins in 1834 on behalf of the government of Guatemala and wrote articles about

24300-401: Was in the area of his father's palace, now underlying Structure 10L-16, which he demolished after entombing his father there. He then built three successive buildings on top of the tomb in rapid succession. Very little is known about Rulers 3 to 6 in the dynastic succession, although it is known from a fragment of a broken monument reused as construction fill in a later building that one of them

24462-403: Was likely to have been sponsored by Siyaj Chan K'awill II, the 16th ruler in the dynastic succession of Tikal. K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' may have legitimized his claim to rulership by marrying into the old Copán royal family, evidenced from the remains of his presumed widow. Bone analysis of her remains indicates that she was local to Copán. After the establishment of the new kingdom of Copán,

24624-400: Was marked at Quiriguá, not at Copán. By this time the city's population was over 20,000 and it had long needed to import basic necessities from outside. The troubled times enveloping Copán at this time are evident from the funerary tomb of Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat, which bears sculptures of the king performing war dances with spear and shield in hand. The sculpted column from the temple shrine has

24786-422: 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 . These early assertions of independence can only have been made if Quiriguá had managed to form an external alliance. Indeed, this local act of rebellion appears to have been part of

24948-500: 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 ( c . 900 – c . 1200). Quiriguá shares its architectural and sculptural styles with the nearby Classic Period city of Copán , with whose history it

25110-546: Was occupied by peoples closely linked to the Caribbean coastal areas of the Yucatán Peninsula and Belize , perhaps due to Chontal Maya control of a trade network that included the Yucatán coast and the Motagua Valley. During their brief reoccupation of the site they made substantial additions to the acropolis complex. Finds associated with their occupation include a reclining chacmool sculpture and ceramics from

25272-482: Was produced for trade, maize remained the primary local crop due to its central role in the Maya diet . 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

25434-426: Was receiving external support. In 738 the interlinked fortunes of Quiriguá and Copán took a stunning change of direction when K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat, reigning lord of Quiriguá, captured the powerful, but elderly 13th king of Copán, Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, who had installed him on his throne in 725. This coup does not seem to have affected either Copán or Quiriguá physically, there is no evidence that either city

25596-462: Was succeeded by Ruler 9 in AD 551, his accession being described on the Hieroglyphic Stairway. He is also depicted on Altar Q even though he ruled for less than two years. The 10th ruler is nicknamed Moon Jaguar by Mayanists. He was a son of B'alam Nehn, the 7th ruler. He was enthroned in May ;553. His surviving monuments were found in the modern village of Copán Ruinas, which

25758-487: Was the first site that Stephens and Catherwood could claim to have discovered themselves. A longer account of the ruins was made in 1854 by Karl Scherzer. Explorer and archaeologist Alfred Maudslay visited Quiriguá for three days in 1881; they were the first pre-Columbian ruins that he saw and they were sufficiently impressive to inspire him to take up a permanent interest in Central American archaeology. He

25920-481: Was the next ruler, 16th in the dynasty founded by K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo', although he appears not to have been a direct descendant of his predecessor. He took the throne in June ;763 and may have been only 9 years old. He produced no monumental stelae and instead dedicated hieroglyphic texts incorporated into the city's architecture and smaller altars. Texts make an obscure reference to his father but his mother

26082-402: Was undergoing an unprecedented rise in population, with residential land use spreading to all available land in the entire Copán Valley. The two surviving stelae of K'ak' Chan Yopaat contain long, hard-to-decipher hieroglyphic texts and are the oldest monuments at the site to survive without being either broken or buried. He reigned for 49 years until his death on 5 February 628. His name

26244-415: Was undulating, swampy and prone to seasonal flooding. In the Early Classic, the inhabitants flattened the valley floor and undertook construction projects to protect the city's architecture from the effects of flooding. Copán had a major influence on regional centres across western and central Honduras, stimulating the introduction of Mesoamerican characteristics to local elites. At the peak of its power in

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