ThePARIJournal A quarterly publication of the Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute Volume VII, No. 4, Spring 2007 In This Issue: Stela 45 of Naranjo and the Stela 45 of Naranjo Early Classic Lords of Sa’aal and the Early Classic Lords of Sa’aal ALEXANDRE TOKOVININE by Harvard University Alexandre Tokovinine VILMA FIALKO and Vilma Fialko Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala PAGES 1-14 • During the 2004 field season of the Project wise unknown Early Classic king of Nara- of Archaeological Research and Salvage njo, Tzik’in Bahlam, and suggest that the Of Snake Kings at the site of Naranjo, Peten, Guatemala, seat of the lords of Sa’aal was at Naranjo and Cannibals: a team of archaeologists led by Dr. Vilma by the fifth century AD. A Fresh Look Fialko uncovered Early Classic sculpture at the Naranjo fragments in the fill of the main structure of Archaeological Context of Stela 45 Hieroglyphic Triadic Acropolis C-9. This paper presents Stairway the results of preliminary epigraphic and The site of Naranjo, located to the north- by iconographic analysis of these fragments, west of the town of Melchor de Mencos Alexandre Tokovinine which belong to a previously unknown near the Guatemala-Belize border (Figure 1), was the capital of one of the most pow- PAGES 15-22 monument (Stela 45) commissioned by the king Naatz Chan Ahk. Among other erful Classic Maya kingdoms governed by • things, the inscriptions and imagery on the dynasty of the “holy lords of Sa’aal.” An Updated the new stela make reference to an other- Its history has been investigated and Listing of Early Naranjo Rulers 1 The place name in the Naranjo ‘emblem glyph’ simply sa’ “atole gruel.” is usually transliterated as saal (Martin and Grube If T278:553 is SA’, it remains to be explained by 2000:69). It is spelled with a sign T278:553 followed by why it is substituted by a syllabic sa in the emblem Joel Skidmore li. In the spelling sa-ja-la sajal on Piedras Negras Stela glyph of Naranjo rulers. The full spelling of the latter PAGES 23-24 8, T278:553 apparently replaces one of the common is K’UH-(lu)-T278:553-li-AJAW-(wa). Nevertheless, sa syllabic signs (T1004 and T630). T278:553 is substi- in about forty out of fifty occurrences of the emblem tuted twice by T1004 sa in the Naranjo emblem glyph glyph in Naranjo inscriptions, the spelling is K’UH- Joel Skidmore itself (vase K1398 and Naranjo Stela 23:F16). T278:553 T278:553-AJAW-(wa). Therefore, there is a systematic Editor is not used as a syllabic sa elsewhere. Therefore, it underspelling of li. We believe that it creates an en- [email protected] seems that T278:553 may be ‘reduced’ to a syllabic vironment in which the substitution of T278:553 by sa and may be substituted by sa in certain contexts, sa becomes possible. In other words, the substitu- The PARI Journal but the phonetic value of T278:553 is different enough tion has little to do with the way the emblem glyph 202 Edgewood Avenue from sa to prevent common substitution. is read, but it constitutes a plausible outcome of the San Francisco, CA 94117 In our opinion, the pattern described above sug- way it is habitually spelled. A substitution like sa-’a- 415-664-8889 gests that T278:553 could be a logogram with a pho- li-AJAW may seem to be the correct way of spelling netic value similar to sa except for an additional and the word, but it cannot be derived from the habitual [email protected] potentially reducible feature like a final /h/ or /’/. spelling. What we might expect is a substitution like In Ch’olan languages, sa’ means “maize dough” or sa-’a-AJAW indicating the final glottal. However, Electronic version “gruel” as well as drinks made out of it, like atole or Maya scribes are remarkably inconsistent in indicat- available at: pozole (Kaufman and Norman 1984:130). In Ch’orti’, ing final glottals in words like k’aba’ or ha’, so it is no www.mesoweb.com/ the word stands for gruel in general, e.g., sa’rum for surprise that they did not do so in the case of the two pari/journal/0704 “daub” (Hull 2005:100). T278:553 does appear in the substitutions of T278:553 by sa. names of beverages. Copan Altar K mentions drink- The li sign in the Naranjo emblem glyph then The PARI Journal is made ing SAK-T278:553-chi-ji. The content of some vessels spells the –VVl place name suffix producing sa’aal possible by a grant from is described as T278:553-la ka-ka-wa (K6813, K7529). “the place where (maize) gruel abounds.” The un- Precolumbia Mesoweb Finally, a vessel marked with T278:553 appears in a derspelling of li reflects a well-attested pattern of scene on the vase K8008. A logogram with a value SA’ systemically underspelled –VVl place name suffixes ISSN 1531-5398 would fit all these contexts: sak sa’ chij “white gruel(- in emblem glyphs (e.g. BAAK-AJAW vs. BAAK-la- ish) pulque,” sa’al kakaw “gruel-ish chocolate,” and AJAW or MUT-AJAW vs. MUT-la-AJAW). The PARI Journal 7(4):1-14. Tokovinine and Fialko San Bartolo Selected Sites Rivers Xultun Lakes Bajos Uaxactun Holmul El Encanto Bejucal El Zotz Tikal Uolantun Nakum Naranjo Buenavista Xunantunich Yaxha Topoxte Motul de San Jose La Naya Zacpeten Ixlu Figure 1. Map of northeastern Peten, Guatemala, showing Naranjo and nearby archaeological sites (Precolumbia Mesoweb Maps). Figure 2. Map of the civil-ceremonial core of Naranjo (after Graham and von Euw 1975). Stela 45 of Naranjo and the Early Classic Lords of Sa’aal partially reconstructed in a number of publications on the façade. During the subsequent construction (Beliaev 2000; Closs 1984; Culbert 1991; Grube 1994, episode corresponding to the Early Classic period, 2000, 2004; Grube and Martin 2004; Houston 1987; the fragments of Stela 45 were placed in front of the Martin 1996, 2005; Martin and Grube 2000; Schele and southern lateral stairway of the earlier substructure Grube 1994, 1995). Almost nothing was known about into the fill of limestone blocks of different sizes in the the Early Classic rulers of Naranjo before the reign of matrix of compact, dark grey/black earth with some ‘Ajwosaaj’ Chan K’ihnich (AD 546-615). Political dis- inclusions of charcoal pieces (Figure 3). Ceramics from turbances were blamed, and some scholars even sug- that context could be dated to the Early Classic. The gested that the residence of Sa’aal lords lay elsewhere fragments of Stela 45 were distributed over an area of (Grube 2004). approximately 4.5 m without any apparent order or Two place names—Maxam and Wakabnal—are orientation. They were found above the floor sustain- prominently associated with Naranjo, although the ing the base of the stair of C-9 Sub-2 to a height of 1.2 distinction between the two is still unclear.3 The re- m, about the level of the fourth step of the stair. Part gal-ceremonial core of the site is about one square ki- of the wall and the stair of C-9 Sub-2 were destroyed, lometer and includes over 112 structures grouped in possibly prior to the collocation of the fill containing six triadic complexes, two ‘palace’ compounds, one E- the stela fragments. The remains of Stela 45 could have group, and two ball courts. There are 45 monuments, been part of either a termination ritual or a dedicatory most of which were documented by Graham (Graham offering associated with the construction of the Early 1978, 1980; Graham and Von Euw 1975). Over the last Classic version of the structure. decade, the site has suffered enormously from looters who have cut over 100 trenches and tunnels into major The Monument and its Dating structures (Fialko 2004b, 2004c). Of 54 recovered fragments of the stela (all painted with The Triadic Acropolis C-9 is located in the eastern- cinnabar), 21 correspond with some degree of certainty most area of the site core. This architectural complex is to the front side of the monument (Figure 4). Its upper dominated by a massive mound known as Structure part is fully reconstructible, and there are several large C-9, measuring 79 x 55 meters at its base and reaching the height of 32 meters (Tokovinine and Fialko 2006). 2 We use one of the common transcriptions of the name of this ruler Two lines of carved stelae (Stelae 28, 29, 30, and 31 in (e.g., Martin 2005). However, Simon Martin recently cast doubt on this the first row and Stelae 25, 26, 27 in the second row) reading (personal communication 2004, cited in Zender 2005:8). The name is usually spelled as AJ-?-sa-?. The glyph above sa looks like T67 wo, but once stood on a narrow platform in front of the main it is always upside-down, like T155, even on the late eighth-century Altar stairway of the pyramid, whereas Stela 32 was located 2 of Naranjo (Grube 2004:Fig.13). The grapheme below sa sometimes at the foot of that sanctuary, upon the main terrace of looks like T136 ji. However, other examples of the same name show a the triadic group (Figure 2). different sign that resembles T124. That makes one suspect that the name The remains of Stela 45 consist of 54 fragments of actually consists of AJ followed by an unknown sign partially covered by sa.