Aguateca,
known during the Classic as K'inich
Witz
or "Sun
Faced Mountain" has a very distinctive history and was
the scene of an invasion and destruction that occurred in the early 9th.
century AD a time when all the major cities in
Petén were abandoned,
Aguateca is a medium-sized Maya centre located in the tropical
lowlands of western Guatemala. We don’t know yet who
attacked Aguateca and his
last ruler Tan Te K’nich, what we do know is that this city, along with
Dos Pilas, formed a kingdom since 700 AD; and that Aguateca was the last
capital maybe because its location and fortified walls. Every one of
the elite residences excavated so far has included a
artistic workshop—a sign that Aguateca's
sculptors, painters, ceramic artists, and
scribes came overwhelmingly from the ranks of nobility. A
sampling of clay figurines shows their range of inspiration. The
site is divided into three districts based on topography,
settlement, and its fortifications: epicenter, periphery, and
wetlands (Inomata 1995). The epicenter is located to the west of the
escarpment. It is an area protected by the chasm on the south and
west, by the escarpment on the east, a large sinkhole on the north,
and by wall segments (Inomata 1995; Van Tuerenhout et al. 1993; Van
Tuerenhout 1996).
This area has the most defenses at the site, and was burned once it
was abandoned. All of the stelas, altars, and
panels are situated in the Main Plaza, southwest of the Palace Group.
Unlike
Dos Pilas,
the defensive features at Aguateca were planned and constructed with
ample time.
The walls were built during the later occupational period of the site, towards the end of the Late Classic (Inomata 1995). None
of the fortifications bisect any structures. One of the outer walls
runs parallel to the western edge of the gorge. Two perpendicular
walls protected the Palace Group and elite residential area to the
south. Access to this area was heavily restricted coming from the
causeway. Two parallel walls running east-west divide the causeway.
One of these barriers makes contact with the edge of the escarpment.
This may have been done to cut off access to the Palace Group
completely in times of danger.
Aguateca
was probably established as the twin capital of
Dos Pilas around A.D.
650 by an
intrusive dynasty originated from
Tikal
(Houston 1993). Structure L8-8 sits on the western side of the
Main Plaza where numerous stone monuments are found. This
building is the largest at Aguateca in terms of the horizontal
dimensions. At the base its main portion measures 50 m in length
and 35 m in width, and its front terrace and large front
stairway
add 12 m to its width. Its height of 6 mt. however, is
unimpressive, giving the structure the shape of an acropolis with a
broad upper surface. The building is made of limestone in accordance
with lowland Maya custom. Aguateca is located on the thick
formations of limestone, and irregular or horizontally split
limestone blocks are available throughout the site. Soft limestone
for dressed stones, however, appears to have been obtained at
quarries located roughly 150 m to the west of Structure L8-8.
The appearance of Structure L8-8 before excavation, with loose,
irregular rocks, struck the researches as unusual.
At the rear was a large pile of rough rocks sloping outward,
betraying the Maya convention of rectangular or square layouts, and
a large depression marked its centre. Graham (1967) and Houston
(1993), who visited Aguateca in the 1960s and the 1980s
respectively, recorded its strange shape. The structure also
perplexed Inomata (1995) when he surveyed the site in the early
1990s. The excavation and restoration of Structure L8-8 by the
Aguateca Restoration Project Second Phase in 2002 and 2003
demonstrated that
the building was abandoned during the process of construction.
It is probable that Aguatecan
architects designed this structure (left)
symmetrically like many other Maya temples. If so, builders were
in the process of adding construction bins in the front section,
and the southern portion had advanced more than the northern
counterpart. Between some construction bins, the Maya left
narrow passages (roughly 0.8 m wide) with coarse stairways.
These facilitated access to upper sections during construction
and were meant to be filled later. Once the cores were
completed, builders covered them with backing masonry that
consisted of mortar mixed with rubble, covered in turn with cut
stones. It is suggestive to compare Structure L8-8 with
dismantled buildings at Aguateca, including Structure M8-41
along the Causeway and the platform of Structure M7-32 in the
Palace Group, and those at the nearby site of
Dos Pilas, where
some temples and palaces were robbed of cut stones for the
construction of defensive walls (Demarest et al.1997). At these
buildings, the residents of Aguateca and Dos Pilas usually
removed stones that could be easily dislodged and often left
intact large blocks too heavy to lift and stones wedged in
corners. The central depression of Structure L8-8 (12 m wide and
3.5 m deep), appears to be part of the original design of the
building, possibly for housing a royal tomb. An associated
sculpture, Altar M, appears to represent the calendar date of 9
Ajaw, which may correspond to 9.19.0.0.0 in the
Maya Long Count (AD 810), the last
date recorded here.
The defensive walls were constructed toward the end of
occupation at Aguateca (Inomata 1997). In addition, their
excavations in the elite residential area in the site core
uncovered burned buildings containing numerous complete and
reconstructed objects. The royal residential complex, however,
was swept clean, and dense deposits of broken artifacts were
then dumped in some areas. Only one sealed room in a royal
residence contained numerous complete and reconstructible
objects (Inomata et al. 2003; Inomata & Stiver 1998; Inomata et
al. 2002).
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Defensive wall |
Figurines in a "hiding" |
Ceremonial vase |
These
results suggest the following sequence of events at the end of
Aguateca. The last ruler of Aguateca, Tan Te’ K’inich, may have
ordered the construction of Structure L8-8 as his final resting
place. Inter-group conflict in the region, however, escalated
toward the end of the Classic period, and the residents of Aguateca tried to defend the centre by building a series of
defensive walls hastily. The construction of the funerary temple
may have ceased at this time. As the situation became worse, Tan
Te’ K’inich and his family probably evacuated the centre,
emptying most rooms of the royal palace and leaving some of the
royal possessions, mainly
Ceramic,
Jade and
Obsidian
in
a sealed storage room. Many other elites remained at Aguateca to the
bitter end. The enemy eventually invaded Aguateca and burned its
central part. The remaining elite residents fled or were taken away,
leaving most of their belongings behind. The enemy also burned the
royal palace and ritually deposited broken objects. They forced the
non-elite residents to leave the city, and Aguateca was completely
deserted (Inomata 2003). The abundance of objects associated with
traditional courtly activities in the burned elite residences
(Inomata, et al. 2001) suggests that the whole sequence of events
took place in a relatively short period of time. Aguateca may have
been attacked and abandoned around AD 810, a date that Altar M was
meant to commemorate.
|
Jade
Pectoral,
displayed
at
National Museum |
Aguateca is located in
South
Western Petén, Guatemala, at
the southernmost part of
Petexbatún
lagoon
and is some 90 mts. (300 ft)
above the shoreline, it gave the city a wide view of the area and a
natural barrier, and on top of that, a 3 meters (10 ft) high wall was
made. The main plaza is separated by a natural creek, some 3 mts. wide and
5 mts. deep, The city was abandoned in a hurry, giving the archeologist
the opportunity to see a lot of daily use pottery an other objects in
pristine condition; because nobody occupied this city after its
destruction by fire. There are very impressive stelas and the jungle with
birds,,howling and spider monkeys,
and the lagoon
in the
other, gives this site a very unique touch and make it worthwhile visiting,
the site is under reconstruction and a little museum is now open where you
can see a lot of objects found there, there are guides and park
rangers so it is very safe to go, you will need between 2 or 3 hours at
the most to enjoy the site, from there you can go hiking to Dos Pilas
it’s a 3 hour hike into the jungle that all by itself is very amusing, be
prepared with mosquitoes repellent, or you can hire a guide that will use
a pot to burn cohune palm nuts as repellent.
|
View from Site |
You can go there from Flores by bus (1 1-2 hour) or Taxi in 40 min.(More expensive) the road is paved all the way
to Sayaxché at
La Pasión river, were you can rent a boat for about US $
50 for up to 4 passengers that will take 40 minutes to go to Aguateca, via Petexbatún river and lagoon were you can enjoy bird watching and also caimans, but
this will be more enjoyable in a slower (2
hours) and cheaper boat that takes up to 8 people for about US $ 40 (You
pay the same for one or more passengers). If you choose not to hike to
Dos Pilas,
Tamarindito and
Arroyo de Piedra, you may want to ask to the
lanchero to stop at Punta Chimino, (see
other sites:
Southwest Petén) a beautiful site on your return, or You can go from Sayaxché via La Pasión River to the opposite way in
about 35 minutes to
Ceibal another great Mayan city for almost the same
fare that cost you to go to Aguateca, or you can cross the river and go
there by land, (it is cheaper this way), thus making your day worthwhile,
visiting 3 great cities in one day.
