On April of 2005,
an archaeologists team leaded by Dr. Marcelo Canuto from Yale
University, uncovered a
perfectly preserved hieroglyphic panel at the site of La
Corona in Northwestern Petén, Guatemala. La Corona
named Sak Nikte´ in the
Classic, is situated in the
northern portion of the Laguna del Tigre National Park. The hieroglyphs
uncovered by the expedition were not only perfectly preserved; they
revealed precious details of the ancient history of La Corona and its
political connections to Waka´ and the powerful city of Calakmul in the seventh
century in its
wars against
Tikal,
The site was burned in 675 AD, the same year that Tikal
conquered Waka'. They also provided the final clue to a mystery that has long
puzzled Mayanists: The identity of the enigmatic Site Q. during
the 1960´s a lot of looted
fine pottery and sculpture of unique style
appeared without, knowing from where, leading to the Mayanist to
name the unknown site, as Site Q for Qué (What), in Spanish. The
Panel from La Corona in the Dallas museum, that belonged
to a throne room in this site, narrates that a Queen named Ek Naah, from the Kan dynasty,
ruled in 520 AD, in name of her husband
Tuun K’ab’ Hiix. In 544 AD this king celebrated a
Bak'tún ending in Sak Nikte’,
(Referring to Calakmul, implying that la Corona was a vassal
city), furthermore, the panel was commissioned by Lady Ti wife of
Yuknoom Took K’awiil, who ruled
Calakmul between 721 and 731 AD.
The main plaza is about half the size of a
football field, and flanked by two tall structures and an
impressive acropolis, oriented north to south with five
structures, but there is little else, a
Ball Game court, some
scattered mounds toward the southeast. These structures end in a
north-south row of five small temple-mounds, shoulder-to-shoulder. Since
their appearance reminded their guide of a crown, the team adopted La
Corona as the name of the site.
3D Central Plaza map (2005) |
Glyphic Panel |
3D Site map |
Glyphic Panel
|
The south side of the plaza is bounded by a
long, low mound. In the main plaza, looters left a number
of carved monuments that were badly eroded. One such
monument is an altar piece that despite being broken into
several fragments, has now been partially reassembled by
archaeologists.
A second altar celebrates
the twentieth anniversary (Katún) of a Calakmul king's accession on May
1, A.D. 636. A third one shows ballplayers, though there is no ball
court found yet at La Corona. On 2001, an incomplete Stela found far
from the plaza caused the greatest excitement, Chak Ak’aach Yuhk a name that can
tentatively be read as Great or Red Turkey--a name found in only one
other inscription, on a Site Q panel in the Art Institute of Chicago.
For the first time, a Site Q personage can be linked to a known site.
|
Panel 1 |
Dallas Site Q panel |
Ball Panel |
|
La Corona Panel |
Ball player |
Panel 2 |
|
Ball player |
Stela 3 |
La Corona Panel 3 |
