A magnificent stone panel unearthed from a royal ball court in the late-Maya capital of Cancuen shows that the Pasion River kingdom was thriving even as other Maya capitals were disintegrating in the last stages of the ancient civilization.
The slab, which shows Cancuen's King Taj Chan Ahk extending his power by installing a subordinate king in the nearby city of Machaquila, "is one of the greatest masterpieces of Maya art ever discovered in Guatemala," according to epigrapher Federico Fahsen. "The images of the rulers and the historical text are deeply and finely carved in high relief and miraculously preserved."
The discoveries of the panel and a third altar from the ball court were announced Friday by Guatemala's minister of culture, Manuel Salazar Tezahuic, himself a Kaqchikel Maya.
The discoveries by a team led by Vanderbilt University archeologist Arthur Demarest with support from the National Geographic Society were the latest in the excavation of the largest and most elaborate Maya royal palace yet discovered. Its kings ruled most of the Maya cities along the Pasion River in the Peten rainforest, and scholars hope the excavation will reveal new information about what led to the collapse of the powerful civilization.
Cancuen is located near the beginning of the navigable waters of the Pasion and accumulated its wealth by controlling the shipment of jade, exotic feathers and other valuable goods. Whereas other Maya kings developed power by warfare, Cancuen's influence was based on control of strategic resources and alliances with other kingdoms.
The limestone palace was constructed between AD 765 and 790 by King Taj and, unlike other Maya palaces, was constructed all at once rather than being gradually enlarged over decades.
Also unlike other palaces, whose exteriors were adorned with artwork, all of its sculptures and statuary were on the inside for viewing only by visiting kings and nobles.
The palace features three ball courts, but archeologists have so far concentrated on one of them, which seems to have been used solely on ceremonial occasions. "It is the only completely intact ball court ever discovered, with everything all found in place," Demarest said.
One of the three stone altars was stolen by looters last year, but Demarest spearheaded a successful effort with Guatemalan authorities to retrieve it.
