Chochkitam

A New Classic Maya Dynasty and the Rise of the Kaanu'l (Snake) Kingdom

Bibliographic Data

ID4374232
AuthorsFrancisco Estrada-Belli (0000-0002-0573-4228, Tulane University, corresponding author), Alexandre Tokovinine (0000-0002-8943-3667, Tulane University)
Year2022
Volume33
Issue4
Pages713-732
Publication date2022-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLatin American Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1045-6635 • E-ISSN: 2325-5080
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/laq.2022.43
OpenAlexW4283720406
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited18

Thanks to many epigraphic references compiled in the last 35 years, there is a growing consensus among Mayanists that a hegemonic state existed in the Maya Lowlands during the Classic period headed by the Kaanu'l royal dynasty and based at Dzibanche and Calakmul. Many aspects of its organization are still poorly documented, however. Important questions that remain unanswered include how power was exerted and passed on within this political system in ways that might differ from those found in an average-sized Maya kingdom. In this article we present new archaeological and epigraphic data from Chochkitam, a little-known site in northeastern Peten, Guatemala. Although this was a center of average size, the epigraphic texts reveal its political standing as a royal city with important connections with the Kaanu'l and other regional powers at various significant junctures during the Classic period, including before, during, and after the Kaanu'l hegemony. These historical reconstructions, although fragmentary, provide important data to validate emerging hypotheses regarding how the Kaanu'l kings managed their domain

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Ethnology · Genealogy · Geography · Hegemony · Kingdom · Maya · Period (music · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · State (computer science · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Historical Studies in Central America · History · Latin American history and culture · Law · Paleontology