Benches, Brothers, and Lineage Lords of Copan SANDRA BARDSLEY FOUNDATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MESOAMERICAN STUDIES

Interpretation of ancient Maya social and more interdependent sociopolitical organization must take into account variation organization that seems to have been based in material culture. Constructions of ancient on mutually rewarding, reciprocal relation- have changed over time, but ships between the center-city royal lineage explanations continue to be discussed in and suburban non-royal lineages. As Richard terms of two contrasting schema: a model of Leventhal notes, large subsidiary sites centralized, autocratic, elite kingship, or a presumably contained the most important model of lineage settlement patterns deliber- lineage shrines for their respective sections ately focused on non-elite kin groups. My of the valley, and as William Fash describes, interest in the functions of Copan’s inscribed dedicatory texts on suburban benches refer stone seats has been stimulated by the dis- to interaction between lineage heads of the junction between these two discourses, valley and the ruling lineage head of the which challenges current interpretations of Principal Group. (Fash 1991:160-162; Copan’s ancient benches put forth by each of Leventhal 1981; Wiley, Leventhal, and Fash the opposed models: a model of center-city 1978). Since bench and altar texts do not royals versus a model of suburban non-roy- record ‘seating’ or ‘appointment’ for sisters, als. wives, or sons of the royal lineage head, the Certain texts, images, and objects documented seating of the ruler’s brothers from Copan that include images of benches indicates their function also as secondary have been interpreted by , lineage heads; in this case royal, but none- David Freidel, Barbara Fash and William theless secondary. Fash, as signals of sociopolitical distur- To account for my claims of royal bance.1 and non-royal interrelationships I briefly Three items are of specific impor- describe the texts and images of Copan that tance for this interpretation: are my concern, then compare them within 1. the textual records of ‘seating’/chum- the broader arena of lowland Maya texts and wan for brothers of the ruler images of similar content and context, and 2. the dedicatory texts and elaborate finally, circle back to Copan and its surpris- images on benches of suburban sites ing sculptural content and context. 3. the apparently innovative construction First I discuss the references to broth- of a ‘council house’ popol-na. ers. On many so-called altars and steps the Though once unswervingly con- yitah/siblings, (brothers or cousins, perhaps) vinced that these phenomena were hints of of the late eighth century ruler of Copan, social discord, I now question whether they Yax-Pas, recorded their participation in ded- are sufficiently acceptable as indications of ication rituals for these sculptures.2 What resistance to rulership, indications of intensi- once seemed curious is that up to four differ- fied class conflict, or indications of revolt by ent royal siblings are mentioned on these the nobility (Fash 1991:175ff). altars, and that several sculptural texts I am instead leaning toward a view of include records of the royal siblings having ancient Copan society as a less autonomous been ‘seated; placed-in-office’—Altar U for

1 example, and some fragments of huge stone interpretation of function for a city-center containers.3 Furthermore, their seatings are structure has further contributed to an recorded as occurring on the same date as impression that Copan’s later rulers worked inauguration of their regal relative, a fact at devising strategies to compensate for a which, when viewed in conjunction with presumed political predicament. This dilem- other seeming aberrations, paved the way for ma, as William Fash explains (1991:passim), suspicions of elite malcontents. These multi- may have involved a burgeoning group of ple seatings suggested to Fash and Schele elites who were becoming increasingly dis- (and to me) that there was perhaps some- satisfied with their ruler’s inability to over- thing amiss in the affairs of Copan. come adverse ecological and economical Strong backing for notions of elite conditions, thereby requiring pacification via resistance seemed to occur as well in subur- inclusion in an experimental administrative ban structures in the form of finely carved council. stone benches, most also recording associat- Three phenomena then are perhaps ed dedicatory rituals enacted by non-royal atypical: lineage heads. The benches of outlying areas 1. the seatings of royal siblings; 9M-18 (fig. 1, aka the Harvard Bench), 9N- 2. the number and elaboration of monu- 8 (fig. 2, aka the Scribe’s Bench), an unpub- ments commissioned by persons other lished bench found at area 8N-11 by than the reigning ruler; and archaeologists from Pennsylvania State 3. the designation of a council house. University, and a bench of area 10K-4, found An exploration and comparison of just outside the Main Group (aka the El bench contexts at other sites however, will Grillo Bench) reinforced an opinion that per- allow for a more objective opinion of sons other than the ruler were atypically Copan’s particular situation. engaged in commissioning of carved altars The seated siblings of Copan have or seats, both in the site core area, and in sec- been compared as like-in-kind to the appar- ondary zones of Copan. ent joint rule by brothers of Kak-u-pakal of Structure 22-A in Copan’s Principal ; which, though foiled at Copan, Group (see Fash 1991:fig. 82-85), has been was successful for a later Maya society of extensively analyzed by Barbara Fash and Chichen. The difference is that there is no described as a probable popol-na or ‘house textual record of the presumed accessions of for meetings of a governing council’. This Chichen’s brothers. On the other hand, seat-

Fig. 1 Bench of site 9N-8, Copan, (from Schele and Freidel 1990:330-331).

Fig. 2 Bench of Site 9M-18, Copan, Honduras (from Schele and Freidel 1990:328-329). 2 ings of royal relatives are not atypical. Kan- nist. Lintel 23, an elaborate all-glyphic Hok-Chitam of was designated as genealogical statement above the side-door, the ba-chok or first-heir, during his elder may record a male head of the Xoc lineage as b r o t h e r’s inaugural ceremonies. Indeed, dedicator. The connection with the Xoc line- designation as ba-chok at Palenque seems to age is further supported by the identification have authorized king-like participation in of Lady Xoc’s tomb under one of the rooms, royal ceremonies. Textual records declare and the central lintel of the adjoining that in 9.10.10.0.0, at the first period-ending Structure 24 which commemorates her following his designation as heir, K a n - death. Since all four rooms in Structure 23 Balam had enacted the period-ending rite contain beds with niches in the walls above with his father the ruler. At also each, (Tate 1992:204-205), there is no ques- the royal son and heir is portrayed perform- tion that this structure served as a lineage ing with his father the ruler, in celebration of residence and is in this way functionally five tuns of reign, at 9.16.6.0.04. comparable to 9N-82 in the 9N-8 residential Copan’s benches, dedicated by non- complex at Copan (Cohodas personal com- royals, are also frequently characterized as munication and 1993).5 anomalous. For example Berthold Riese In my ongoing “bench-venture” I (1989) suggested that it was unusual that have found evidence of such structural coun- non-royal elites had access to impressive terparts, with benches frequently located displays of iconography and epigraphy glori- centrally, within dominant residential struc- fying their persons. In fact, however, tures situated directly opposite entrances to Copan’s benches fit into an entire category plazas at secondary sites. This evidence of sculptures which, unlike stelae, could be meshes well with models of Maya sociopo- erected by non-royal lineage heads as well as litical organization currently being inves- by rulers (see Hendon 1991). These vary by tigated by Demarest and Houston, among region, but an abundance of carved lintels, others, wherein replication in peripheral wall panels and stairway panels, three units of aspects of the larger whole, are to be dimensional pieces, and entire structures expected in less centralized/more segmen- throughout the Maya area attest to similar tary organizations (Demarest 1992; Houston raising of monuments by non-royal lineage 1993). Although such seats of authority have heads, both in urban and suburban regions of been recovered primarily from Late Classic major cities as well as in subordinate or contexts, there is also evidence that benches satellite polities. For example, on a wall had become one of the characteristic markers panel, Chac-Zutz recorded his seating as a of Maya authority by the Early Classic.6 Late sahal of Palenque, thereby validating his Classic polychrome vase paintings of the authority within a particular section of the Peten region frequently show rulers and site and in relation to the downtown ruler, other lineage heads seated on bench/thrones. presumably his half brother. There seems no Combined with the evidence from Copan, it evidence that this action was a contestation is clear that benches were a category of of centralized power. Lintels in subsidiary architecture/sculpture shared by both royal compounds of Palenque and Chichen Itza, and non-royal lineage heads. declaring dedicatory events, have other par- Benches have usually been described allels in the Usumacinta region. A t as either thrones or beds, according to their Yaxchilan, the lintels from Structure 23 are degree of elaboration and to their context. I clearly dedicated by members of a non-royal wish to make a distinction between lineage. The dedications on the main door- central/axial seats of authority (sometimes way lintels record Lady Xoc as the protago- misnamed thrones), and non-central beds, 3 as on the reused Olmec jade of Dumbarton Oaks.7 Small jades from many eras depict persons seated upon cushions, benches, and serpentine monsters. As interpreted from later and more lengthy texts, the ceremony of accession often involved several stages: announcement of one’s having been appointed to some office; adornment with some regionally accepted symbol of authori- ty; commissioning of some marker of the ceremony; and the dedication and setting-up of that marker. An unpublished panel, presumed to be from Lax Tunich, a site subsidiary to Yaxchilan, illustrates several of these points (fig. 3). 1. It depicts Yaxchilan’s ruler engaging simultaneously with his secondary lord, presumably the lineage head of the Lax Tunich polity. Fig. 3 Unprovenanced panel, presumably from 2. Both officials share the same bench or Lax Tunich, (Panel 4). seat of authority. keeping in mind that the person in greatest 3. The bench carving is a representation of authority could also sleep upon the central the pan-Maya image of origin, the seat, while males of lesser authority could supernatural source, the reptilian axis also sit on the non-central beds. In other which connects all realms—the words, it is possible that the positioning of bicephalic cosmic monster. central versus non-central benches is not 4. Here, as with Copan’s benches of sub- determined by function of seating versus sidiary lineage heads, glyphs forming sleeping, but by position of lineage head the body of the serpentine bench-mon- versus other males. Whether the benches are ster record its dedication. plain uncarved stone slabs, cantilevered 5. Here, as with Copan’s suburban benches, assemblages in stone or painted depictions of the downtown bench of Structure 22, the same, designed to represent zoomorphs accession benches at Palenque, and (jaguars or reptilians), carved from stone Piedras Negras, all display the same with glyphic messages, or representations of motif: the bench-monster, the bicephalic inscribed stones in ceramic or in mural paint- source of one’s secular and sacred ing, they are all seats of authority, the author- power, is held up by pawatuns, old ity of whomever is seated upon them. They ancestral gods of the underworld, or are validations of one’s having been seated bakabs whose presence at the initial or appointed at some level of authority, royal creation of the world, the separation of or non-royal. chan/sky and caban/earth, is implied via A vast data-base of Maya textual and images of the bicephalic chan/serpent- figural references to seating occurs within all chan/sky. These images are commonly chronologically determined stages of Maya found on benches, seats, daises, thrones, society. The chum-wan/’seating’ glyph itself, and altars from the Southern Lowlands originates with the sketch of a seated figure, to the Yucatan. 4 6. The Lax Tunich panel, and similar content however, the textual style is extrava- images and texts at Yaxchilan’s other gantly executed, often with rare full-figure secondary sites, are not read as evidence glyphs, wherein entire human figures are of resistance to royalty. Rather, they are employed as syllabic signs. A similar juxta- generally understood as documents of position of extraordinary stylistic expression the validation of authority for non-royal with simplified content also occurs with the elite, by the royal elite authority, a mutu- non-textual imagery of the benches. Unlike ally rewarding situation. intricately carved royal portraiture, lavishly The question then is why have subur- interwoven with frolicking deities and ban benches of Copan been construed to sig- foliage, the benches include no portraits and nal a breakdown of centralized, autonomous, no frills. Recognition is unmistakable. The royal control? Characteristic of Copan’s seats are carved to represent a Maya-perva- benches is that the inscribed texts are short sive, two-headed, serpentine monster, whose and to the point. They begin with a Calendar body is formed here by an exquisitely carved Round, not the Long Count date commonly inscription between the heads. used by kings to situate their events within It appears that diagnosis of the cosmic cycles of time. They record dedica- inscribed seats as signals of social discord tion ritual, not period endings, sacrifices, may derive not only from a presumed func- warfare or other public rites. The actors tion of the benches, but also from a pre- receive only abbreviated mention with their sumed innovative form of the benches. Even name and some relationship to the ruler though benches themselves, and similarly noted. They neither ignore the polity-ruler, sensitive carving occur through the reigns of nor usurp royal prerogatives for mention on several rulers of Copan, the suburban the stelae, radial , and ballcourts benches are too rarely understood as being Cohodas has found generally indicative of consistent with, and typical of, the regional state institutions.8 So far then, there is little expression of texts and inscriptions.9 That reason for interpretation of these benches as they are aesthetically seductive for many substantiation for contestation of kingship by viewers, has contributed to their acceptance suspect subsidiaries. as irregular replications of royal privilege. In contrast to the simplified textual I quote here from “Elites and Social

Fig. 4 Bench of Structure 10L-11, Copan, Honduras (from Schele and Freidel 1990:326-327). 5 Stratification:” For many years we have looked at Archaeologists have identified the elite by data concerning the ancient Maya with possession of certain markers, and then they underlying concern for explanation of the reify the markers by explaining elite power as a Maya collapse. The problem is, if we start function of their possession. with a model of presumed collapse, our It is equivalent to saying that the wearing of interpretations may include subtleties of tuxedos is a marker of elite status; therefore, the causality, often found as inherent weakness elite get their power through wearing tuxedos. (Kowalewski, Feinman, and Finsten 1992:261- or flaws, especially when evolutionary and 262) dichotomous pan-Maya comparison is Maya elite do not get their power by employed, without sufficient regard for having elaborate benches. Benches do not regional and temporal difference. Instead, identify royalty, neither do they identify con- maybe we need to focus less on causes of testing imitations of royalty by non-royals. elite downfall and disintegration of specific Instead, the elaboration of benches is merely sites, and look more for clues to what must one way in which elite lineage heads demon- have been a compelling interrelationship of strate a position of authority among their royal lineage heads and their non-royal, yet own lineage members and a position in the royally required, subsidiary lineage heads. administration of the state, in which they can Stephen Houston advocates a region- in fact work out the ambiguities of this dual al emphasis for epigraphic study, as the role. complexity and variability of Classic Maya A third structural feature at Copan history militates against a pan-Maya that has been configured as exemplary of the perspective. He maintains also though, that power struggle between the royal house and any study too narrowly focused on a single non-royal lineage heads is Structure 22A, site is equally undesirable for attempts at identified by Barbara Fash as a p o p o l - reconstruction of political org a n i z a t i o n Na/council house. Her identification is made (1993:9ff.). That is, in order to test what is on the basis of several elite figures in the locally determined as significant or atypical, facade sculpture and a series of different it must also be weighed within a broader glyphs which include the place-indicator nal scale or model that can account for regional (see Fash 1991:fig. 84). While an adminis- components of complex patterns of autocra- trative council likely did arise to include cy and segmentation, rulers and subordi- both the king, as head of the royal lineage, nates, domination and resistance. and non-royal lineage heads, (as depicted By drawing parallels of socio-politi- perhaps, with twenty seated lineage heads at cal organization between officially appoint- Structure 11, fig. 4), there is nothing in the ed brothers at Copan and a joint-rule or mul- images or texts of Structures 22A or 11 that tepal of brothers at Chichen Itza is to insist suggests a threat to royal authority. Indeed, on a parallel formulation spanning time and Schele and Freidel have identified a popol- space, with no allowances for regional na in Late Preclassic (1990:159), changes and choices. If however, Copan is and we may similarly identify House A at seen without “collapse-colored-glasses,” Palenque (Cohodas, personal communica- then archaeological materials that once seemed to demonstrate sociopolitical deteri- tion).10 Again the institution represented by oration, may instead demonstrate sociopolit- this type of structure appears to be integral to ical interrelationships expressed through dis- the established relationships articulated tinctively localized renderings of a wide- between lineage and the state, rather than a spread and long-standing recognition for late-appearing symptom of imminent subsidiary lineage heads, whose support of, collapse. 6 and support by, royal lineage heads of the Cohodas, Marvin center-city was a necessary and expected n.d. Parallel Discourses. Paper presented at aspect of Maya society. 26th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Ar- chaeological Association, May 5-8, 1993, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Montreal. Demarest, Arthur A. and Geoffrey W. Conrad I wish to express my gratitude to the 1992 Ideology and Pre - C o l u m b i a n people involved in research at Copan. . Santa Fe: School of Without their years of work, generous shar- American Research. ing of methodologies and models, insights and illustrations, and patient support, this Fash, William L. paper would not have been possible. Thank 1991 Scribes, Warriors and Kings: the City of you to the Instituto Hondureño de Copan and the Ancient Maya. New York Antropologia e Historia and Ricardo and London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd. Agurcia; to Barbara Fash and Bill Fash of the Copan Acropolis Project; to their staff; to Hendon, Julia A. 1991 Status and Power in Classic Maya Society: graduate students, Lisa, Jodi, Manuel, Julia An Archaeological Study. A m e r i c a n and Alfonso; to Linda Schele and many of Anthropologist 93:4:894-918. her students; and to Marv Cohodas and his graduate students. Houston, Stephen D. I wish to thank Marv Cohodas specif- 1993 Hieroglyphs and History at : ically for his comments and suggestions on Dynastic Politics of the Classic Maya. this paper, though I am of course responsible Austin: University of Texas Press. for all errors, oversights or omissions. Without the generosity of Barbara Kowalewski, Feinman and Finsten and Justin Kerr, this study would have been 1992 The Elite and Assessment of Social significantly limited. Their gift of access to Stratification in Mesoamerican Archaeology. In Mesoamerican Elites, An their archives is much appreciated. William A rchaeological Assessment, edited by Morrow and Company gave permission to Chase, D. Z. and Arlen Chase, pp. 259- include figures 1, 2, and 4. 277. Norman, University of Oklahoma The Social Sciences and Humanities Press. Research Council of Canada generously gave support for my work (Fellowship Leventhal, Richard M Award #753-91-0021). 1981 Settlement Patterns in the Southeast Maya Area. In Lowland Maya Settlement REFERENCES Patterns, edited by Wendy Ashmore, pp. 187-209. Albuquerque: University of New Bardsley, Sandra Press. 1990 New Insights from “New” Incensarios. Copan Note 77. Copan Mosaics Project Riese, Berthold and the Instituto Hondureño de 1989 The Inscription on the Sculptured Bench Antropologia e Historia. of the House of the Bacabs. In The House of the Bacabs, edited by David Webster, Chase, Diane Z. and Arlen F. (editors) pp. 82-88. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton 1992 Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Oaks Research Library and Collection, Assessment. Norman: University of Okla- Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and homa Press. Archaeology No. 29.

7 Schele, Linda 3 Detailed drawings, decipherment, and 1986 Paraphrase of the Text of Altar U, Copan interpretation of such “altar” and “incensario” Note 5. Copan Mosaics Project and the texts are found in Schele and Stuart (1986), and Instituto Hondureño de Antropologia e Bardsley 1990. Hieroglyphic texts record that Historia. Yax-Pas, the sixteenth successor of Copan’s founder, Yax-Kuk-Mo, was “seated” on 6 Caban Schele, Linda and David Freidel 10 Mol (9.16.12.5.17). Glyphic records show as 1990 A Forest of Kings, The Untold Story of the well that two siblings of Yax-Pas were also “seat- Ancient Maya. New York: William Mor- ed” to some office, on the same date, 6 Caban 10 row and Company. Mol, (Altar U and Incensario fragments-CPN #’s 22351, 22079, 22342). Schele, Linda and Mary Ellen Miller 4 Sculptural references to activities of these 1986 The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in heirs are as follows: Palenque; Kan-Hok-Chitam, Maya Art. New York: George Braziller, Palace Tablet, K12-K15, Kan-Balam, Tablet of Inc., in association with the Kimbell Art the Cross, Secondary Text G1-L3, Yaxchilan; Museum, Fort Worth. Chel-te with Yaxun-Balam, Structure 33 Lintel 2. Stuart, David 5 Marvin Cohodas personal communication 1989 Kinship Terms in Mayan Inscriptions. A 1992; and 1993, a paper presented at Annual paper presented at The Language of Maya Meetings of Canadian A r c h a e o l o g i c a l Hieroglyphs, a conference held at the Uni- Association and Canadian Association for versity of California at Santa Barbara. Mesoamerican Studies, May 5-9, Montreal. February, 1989. 6 Early Classic ceramics frequently depict figures seated on benches, surrounded with Tate, Carolyn E. imagery which later contexts show to be associ- 1992 Yaxchilan: The Design of a Maya ated with social authority (Justin and Barbara C e remonial City. Austin: University of Kerr archives). Texas Press. 7 See Schele and Miller (1986.) Webster, David (editor) 8 Marvin Cohodas personal communica- 1989 The House of the Bacabs. Studies in Pre- tion; and 1993. Columbian Art and Archaeology No. 29. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks. 9 Note that inscribed stair-risers, steps, 1992 Maya Elites: The Perspective from Copan. altars, and other “seats” are evident throughout In Mesoamerican Elites, A n Copan’s history; 10L-16/Margarita step, 10L- A rchaeological Assessment, edited by 26/Papagayo step, 10L-22/last riser-seat, 10L- Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase, pp. 11/sub, 10L-18 riser-seat 135-156. Norman: University of Exceptional carving style is also in long- Oklahoma Press. standing evidence at Copan, a result of local materials and local preference. Willey, Gordon R., Richard M. Leventhal, and 10 The figural similarity between the seated William L. Fash figures of Copan’s Altar Q and the Structure 11 1978 Maya Settlement in the Copan Valley. Ar - bench (figure 5) has suggested that Structure 11 chaeology 31:32-43. may, like Altar Q, similarly refer to a dynastic succession of rulers. However, the figures of NOTES Structure 11 are not named as rulers and may 1 See Schele and Freidel (1990), and W. represent instead a complement of twenty line- Fash (1991). age heads. The medallions of Palenque’s House A may likewise represent a complement of thir- 2 Stuart (1989) first deciphered the glyphic teen lineage heads. compound yitah as a reference to “siblings.”

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