From E-Group to Funerary Pyramid
Mortuary Cults and Ancestor Veneration in the Maya Centre of Nakum, Petén, Guatemala
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6043973 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jarosław Źrałka (0000-0001-7641-729X, Jagiellonian University, corresponding author), Wiesław Koszkul (Jagiellonian University), Bernard Hermes (Prefeitura do Município de São Paulo), Juan Luis Velásquez (0009-0006-6226-1857, Prefeitura do Município de São Paulo), Varinia Matute (Prefeitura do Município de São Paulo), Bogumił Pilarski (Jagiellonian University) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 451-478 |
| Publication date | 2017-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cambridge Archaeological Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0959-7743 • E-ISSN: 1474-0540 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0959774317000075 |
| OpenAlex | W2600970397 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
Recent investigations at the Maya centre of Nakum (in Guatemala) enabled the study of the evolution of an interesting complex of buildings that started as the so-called E-Group, built during the Preclassic period (c. 600–300 bc). It was used for solar observations and rituals commemorating agricultural and calendrical cycles. During the Classic period (ad 250–800), the major building of the complex (Structure X) was converted into a large pyramidal temple where several burials, including at least one royal tomb, were placed. We were also able to document evidence of mortuary cults conducted by the Maya in the temple building situated above the burials. The architectural conversion documented in Structure X may reflect important religious and social changes: a transformation from the place where the Sun was observed and worshipped to the place where deceased and deified kings were apotheosized as the Sun Deity during the Classic. Thus the Maya transformed Structure X into one of the most sacred loci at Nakum by imbuing it with a complex solar and underworld symbolism and associating it with the cult of deified ancestors
Ancestor · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Cult · Maya · Period (music · Pyramid (geometry · Veneration · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · History · Latin American history and culture
Department of New World Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków
Prehispanic Maya diet and mobility at Nakum, Guatemala
Social Complexity and the Middle Preclassic Lowland Maya
Animate Stone
Revisiting the Past
Lithics in the Maya Region
El mascarón arquitectónico preclásico de la Estructura 3 de Chacté, Guatemala
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,17 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2024 (5) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |