Capitol City of the Ki'che' kingdom that
strtched from
Zaculeu the the northwest up to
Tak'alik Abaj in the south. It was founded on 1250 AD and
destroyed on 1525 AD by the Conquistadores, which named this city Utatlán, a name given by the tlaxcaltecs indians that came with the
Spaniards. The word Gu'marc'aaj means "rotten huts," according
to Ximénez; translating this name into their own tongue, the
mexicans called the city Utatlán, "place
of reed fields." When the Spaniards arrived, it was the
most important city in Central America. In his first letter to
Cortés, Pedro de Alvarado, the conqueror of Guatemala, describes
it in a few words saying: "This city is
well built and marvellously strong." Bishop Las Casas,
who arrived in Guatemala a few years after the Conquest, says in
his Apologética Historia that he
saw "towns enclosed by very deep moats, as
was the one called Guatemala [Iximché],
and another which was indeed the head of the kingdom, called
Utatlán, with marvelous buildings of stone
masonry
of which I saw many." Another witness of that time, Dr.
Alonso de Zorita, a contemporary of Las Casas, writes in his
Historia de la Nueva España: "Utatlán,
which is in the Province of Guatimala, was also considered by
the natives of that land as a great sanctuary, and there were in
it and around it many and very large temples which they call
cues, of marvelous construction, and I saw some of them when I
visited that land, being there Oidor in the royal Audiencia
which has its residence in Guatimala, although they were in a
state of ruin."
It was the second and last capitol of this
tribe after Chi-Izmachí. Gu'marc'aj, was located in 3 very well
defensive hill tops,
and occupied by 4 different families (Chinamit), that obey one King. The Main noble
family the Nim já, (Chinamit Nija’ib’), lived in the
south-eastern
sector
of Gu'marc'aj, The Chinamit Kaweq, lived in
Chisalím to the south,
Chinamit
Ajaw K’iche’ to the southwest, and the
Chinamit' Sakiq to the east
in a small site named El Resguardo, joined by causeways, being the
Nim já sector the
largest and better protected. although each sector had defensive
positions and were planned in the same way, oriented with the cardinal points,
except in Pismachí. In the Main Plaza, Two temples were located in
front of each other. The eastern dedicated to Toh'il (heavens God), and
the western
dedicated to Awil'ix the moon goddess, each one with platforms in both
corners. To the north and south, there are circular Temples, dedicated the
North one to Gucumatz (the creator). and to
Jakawitz (Mountains god), in the
south. A Ball Court (J'om Tz'ala'tz), is at the southwest angle of
this Plaza. There are 3 man-made Caves under this site that represented the entrance to
Xibalbá
Site Map Showing entrance to Caves
The
nobles were named AJW (the Necklace people) and the
commoners were the AMAK', they also were organized to work in the fields by social
groups.
The
Ki'ché's dominated all of the western Highlands and up to the Pacific
Lowlands including dominance over several groups including the
Uspantekas, Ixiles, Awacatekas,
Mams,
Pok'omams,
Tz'utuh'ils,
Kack'chik'els,
and the Achís, to whom they imposed its main God Toh'il.
They also reoccupied
Tak'alik Abaj ca 1100 AD.
This
site was destroyed by the conquistadores but some remains can be seen
today. There are 8 main structures, and several residential groups,
being the Toh'il temple the largest, it was a 33' high and 66' long in
each side with staircases in 3 sides. there have been found several
burials in the main residential areas with several
Sculptures,
Ceramics,
Jade and
gold objects. the structure southwest was the city's observatory. almost
all the main structures date from 1400 AD. The site is very close to Santa
Cruz del Quiché and has a small museum where the
ceramic and burial
objects are shown. These people are the creators of the
Popol Vuh, now recognized as the true
Maya Creation Myth. The
manuscript was found under the altar of the Santo Tomás in
Chichicastenango in the XVI
century.
Recent research in three sectors of Q’um’arkaj have yielded
interesting new information about the types and dynamics in the
occupation of this Postclassic center. The excavations which
were realized in May and June 2006, revealed a high
concentration of structures, built
during various periods of
construction and modification. They show that the city was
clearly planned, and demonstrate architectural elements which
prove a certain level of urbanization. The archaeological
findings are being compared with data provided by indigenous
documents of the sixteenth and later centuries, and with data
found in colonial chronicles and letters written during the
conquest.
The historians of the Colonial
Period have also left more or less exact descriptions of the
capital of the Quiché and of the temple of Tohil. The clearest
of these is that of Ximénez (Las Historias
del origen de los Indios de esta Provincia de Guatemala,
165-67) which, summarized, is as follows: The temple, or place
of worship, and the rest of the buildings of Gumarcaah were
constructed over a hill surrounded by a large ravine. On top of
the plateau which the hill forms were the twenty-four large
houses of the lords, built around so as to make small courts,
each one like a large room raised about two yards from the
ground, with a corridor and straw roof. In these littl
e
courts the large dances which
they had during their feasts were held. In the middle of one of
these small courts a solid tower was erected which went up in
the form of a pyramid with square base, having stairs on each
one of its faces, and in the comers was a bastion which also
tapered upward. The steps were very narrow and close, so that it
was frightening to climb them; there were about thirty or forty
steps in each stair-way, and all were made of stone.
Near the temple or tower, at one side,
there was a thick wall one and one-half meters high by two
meters wide, crowned with another, close to three meters in
height and also two meters in width. This had many openings
through which the ropes used to bind the victims, who were to be
sacrificed, were passed, so that they faced toward the god. This
tower dominated all the courts where the people assembled and
all could see the image of Tohil.
At the other side of the temple was the
ball-court which Ximénez describes as a large pool with
very large sides of stone, with their coronations or pyramids
which surrounded it; they were very wide and could hold many
people in them to watch the ball games which
were the entertainment of the kings and the rest of the lords.
All of this building, on the side opposite the houses,
was
closed by a wall made of stone which was called
tzalam-coxtum, a name given to all those buildings
because, in addition to serving as a place for ceremonies, they
were also castles and forts for
defences against their enemies,
and for this reason they were built on the hilltops.
Fuentes y Guzmán (Historia de Guatemala,
Book VIII, Chap. X) describes the palaces of Utatlán with
a wealth of detail and imagination, but does not give a clearer
idea of the temple or place of worship, with the exception of
information relative to the existence of "the fourth step," of a
smooth stone of two and three-quarter yards (2.50 meters) and
five feet wide (more or less, 1.50 meters), on which dismal and
unhappy place they sacrificed the men, and "with a wide knife of
chay [obsidian]
they opened the breast [of the victim] and tore out the beating
heart to offer it to the god."
