Theparijournal a Quarterly Publication of the Ancient Cultures Institute Volume XIX, No
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ThePARIJournal A quarterly publication of the Ancient Cultures Institute Volume XIX, No. 1, Summer 2018 The Monolithic Monuments of Nakum, Guatemala Jarosław Źrałka In This Issue: Christophe Helmke Simon Martin The Monolithic Wiesław Koszkul Monuments of Juan Luis Velásquez Nakum, Guatemala by Introduction The Corpus of Monolithic Monuments Jarosław Źrałka Recent excavations conducted as part at Nakum Christophe Helmke of the Nakum Archaeological Project of Simon Martin Based on the initial exploration of the ar- Wiesław Koszkul the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, chaeological site of Nakum in the first half and Juan Luis Poland, and under direction of Jarosław of the twentieth century and especially Velásquez Źrałka, Wiesław Koszkul, and Juan Luis the archaeological work that has been PAGES 1-28 Velásquez have brought about the discov- conducted at the site, initially as part of ery of two new carved monuments, one the Triángulo Project of the Guatemalan dated to the Late Preclassic (c. 300 BC–AD Institute of Anthropology and History Marc Zender 250/300) and the other to the Terminal under the direction of Oscar Quintana Editor Classic (AD 800–900/950). We also con- and later Vilma Fialko (1988–2008), and [email protected] ducted excavations around Stela D, parts more recently the Nakum Archaeological of which had already been discovered at Project (2006–present), we now have a Joel Skidmore the beginning of the twentieth century. In good understanding of the corpus of Associate Editor [email protected] so doing, we found fragments of another monuments at the site. In order to better carved stela that for the most part had convey the results of these various projects been thought to pertain to Stela D on ac- The PARI Journal we tabulate the corpus below, presenting 202 Edgewood Avenue count of contextual proximity. In addition, first stelae and then altars, with our most San Francisco, CA 94117 we have documented carving on one of recent nomenclature of each monument 415-664-8889 the largest altars at the site and uncovered alongside that employed by earlier schol- [email protected] several fragments of at least two here- ars. At present this tabulation focuses on Electronic version tofore unknown plain stelae. Below we freestanding monolithic monuments to the available at: introduce the archaeological context of exclusion of glyphic texts that adorn struc- www.precolumbia.org/ these recently discovered Nakum monu- tures or form part of architectural monu- pari/journal/1901 ments, in light of the previously known ments, including panels, friezes, piers, ISSN 1531-5398 monuments of the site. We also present the and benches, which we hope to present results of the iconographic and epigraphic in another study in the future. All monu- analyses of the monolithic monuments ments are made of local limestone, which of Nakum (Figure 1). This work is based is fairly fine-grained and of relatively soft, on our photographic and 3D documenta- powdery, highly porous microcrystalline tion of all carved monuments at Nakum, calcite (micrite), with friable inclusions which was carried out between 2014 and that are liable to pitting and erosion. Due 2017. In so doing we are able to flesh out to the physical properties of the limestone, some of the major events that these monu- most stelae at Nakum are quite thick ments commemorate in the early and late (i.e. 70 cm ± 11.6 cm), to offset the many horizons of the site’s occupation and to pronounced, naturally occuring bedding situate Nakum among its contemporaries planes in the stone. On the whole the lo- in the eastern central lowlands. cally available type of limestone is thereby The PARI Journal 19(1):1-28 © 2018 Ancient Cultures Institute 1 Źrałka et al. 0 2 4 km Gulf of Campeche MEXICO N BEIE Caribbean Sea El Tigre GUATEMAA HONDURAS El Carmen E SAVADOR Nakum Holmul El Pital Naranjito Tintalito Naranjo Cara Fea La Pochitoca ha Poza Maya ax Arroyo Y Tres Ollas Tractorada La Coloradita El Bajon Yaxha axha Y ab Topoxte Sacn El Ramonal Ixtinto Figure 1. Map of the Parque Nacional Yaxhá-Nakum-Naranjo (Triangle Park) area with the location of Nakum indicated (map by Piotr Kołodziejczyk and Precolumbia Mesoweb Press). comparable to that of other sites in the area, including discrete stelae, or occuring between a set of stelae. At Tikal. Excavations of the Nakum Archaeological Project present no isolated altars have been documented. In all, conducted in 2014 east of the North Plaza brought about eleven altars are known, although they are now badly the discovery of a quarry from which limestone for at eroded. With the exception of one that shows traces of least some Nakum stelae might have been acquired. carving, all are plain. This assumption is based on the fact that we were able Four groupings of altars can be distinguished, the to identify one large elongated block that seems to be an largest forming pairs with the six known stelae erected unfinished stela (Figure 2). at the base of Structure A (designated as Stelae A1–A6 Previous studies have failed to properly account for by Morley, from north to south) (Figure 3a). Of these, the altars of Nakum and no formal designations have the surface of that paired with Stela A4 was once carved been applied, although in certain instances pairings with with an elaborate scene, although only the faint outlines other monuments, especially stelae, have been noted of a captive remain (Figure 4). This large altar measures (see Tozzer 1913:162-163; Morley 1937-1938:2:9-18). 1.97 m in diameter and 63 cm in height, clearly an Much as with stelae, the largest concentration of altars impressive monument to judge by size alone. Another is found in the large Central Plaza of the Southern Sector grouping of two altars is found at the base of Structure of the site (Figure 3). Altars, following the pattern of the D, the enormous range structure, or audiencia, that eastern central lowlands, are circular with flat or slightly fronts the acropoline palace complex of the site, known convex tops, which most often are set in alignment with as the Acropolis. There the altars were paired with the 2 The Monolithic Monuments of Nakum, Guatemala Figure 2. Two views of a quarry located east of the North Plaza of Nakum found in 2014, with an unfinished monument in situ (photos by Jarosław Źrałka). northern of the two stelae (one with the axial Stela 2 a survey and investigation as part of an expedition by [originally Stela D]; the other with the plain Stela A8). At the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, directed the foot of Structure B are two altars, each set between by Alfred Tozzer. During this research 15 stelae (three the three plain stelae at the base of that pyramidal struc- of them carved) and 11 altars were documented (Tozzer ture (designated as Stelae A9–A11). Another altar was 1913:162, 163, Pls. 42, 43-1, 44-2, 52). In the second and found in the Northern Sector of the site (Figure 5), in third decades of the 1900s Nakum was visited by Sylvanus front of the plain Stela E1, which was raised axially in Morley of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, on front of Structure X (Str. 104), the dominant pyramidal account of his interest in the documentation of carved temple of the eastern platform of a tripartite complex, monuments of the central Maya lowlands. His famous conforming to an E-Group. Oddly though, Stela E1 faces and monumental work, entitled The Inscriptions of Peten, north and was set perpendicular to the primary axis of published between 1937 and 1938, contained detailed the structure, suggesting that the monument was re-set documentation and information on all Nakum monu- in antiquity (see Morley 1937-1938:2:18). ments, especially on the three carved stelae that were known at that time (Morley 1937-1938:2:12-21, 5:Pls. 13b- f, 86d-e). In the 1970s an American researcher, Nicholas Nakum Monuments: History of Research Hellmuth, visited Nakum twice; he attributed numbers The first Nakum monuments were found at the very to nearly all carved and plain monuments that had been beginning of the twentieth century when the site was previously reported by explorers and researchers. In discovered by the French count Maurice de Périgny addition, he discovered a sixteenth monument in the (1908, 1911a, 1911b). Périgny documented three stelae southwestern corner of the Northern Sector of Nakum, that now bear numbers 1, 2, and 3; one of them (Stela in front of Structure 82, which he designated Stela 14 1) was standing in front of what he named “Le Temple (Hellmuth 1992:26). des Hiéroglyphes” (Structure C), another (Stela 3) was In the 1990s Nakum became the subject of in- erected in front of a large pyramidal temple—Structure tensive investigations carried out by the Institute of U (“Le Temple du Roi” according to Périgny’s nomen- Anthropology and History of Guatemala (IDAEH) as clature); the last monument reported by Périgny was part of the Proyecto Triángulo (named after the Parque Stela 2, which was found broken into many pieces in Nacional Yaxhá-Nakum-Naranjo where the project front of the large Acropolis complex of Nakum. As operates, also known as the Triángulo Cultural Yaxhá- part of his work at the site Périgny also made a mold Nakum-Naranjo). Although the major focus of this of Stela 1, which was subsequently transported to Paris project was the excavation and restoration of the most and stored in the collections of the Musée de l’Homme deteriorated structures situated in the monumental (Taladoire 1996:243, 250).