Vacation in a Vacation: Ruins of Quirigua
On old piles of stones day 2 (Monday), we took on our third Maya ruin, on the impressive site of Quirigua. Quirigua was a Maya city founded around 200 CE and a dependency of the aforementioned Copan for centuries. In the course of time, however, it began to grow and contest the rule of Copan, and shortly before 738 CE, its ruler, K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat, refused to pay his tribute to the King of Copan, 18 Rabbit. 18 Rabbit launched a military expedition to punish the impetuous administrator, but the army of Quirigua captured him. They executed the king in 738 and won their independence.
K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat celebrated this victory by ordering the construction of monumental stelae in his city, which remain to this day. K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat did not have the artistic resources of the kings of Copan, but he needed to demonstrate his superiority nonetheless. He compensated by building his stelae higher than those of Copan. The slabs of carved stone reached 10 meters (30 feet) into the air, the highest in the Maya world. The site also, of course, features the typical Maya pyramids in various states of decomposition, as well as ball-courts and temples. The city was abandoned by 850, probably during the same ecological disaster that did Copan in. It was well worth the trip.
Just a note on the pictures: you may notice that many of the stelae have had the faces chipped away. The reason for this is that when a given king died, the new king had to demonstrate to the people that he had passed and that he held no more power. However, in a hereditary monarchy, kings must be able to document their lineage. To accomplish this double need, the kings would remove the faces of their fathers from their monuments, but leave the monument itself standing to recount the successes of the dynasty to the ages.
Enjoy the photos!
December 30th, 2009 - 05:12
Howcome most of these carvings are incredibly well preserved? Fail to understand how they could have been restored either…
December 30th, 2009 - 16:45
Indeed, there are few restorations in Quirigua. The carvings are well preserved for a few reasons. The best preserved ones (ie, those that still have traces of paint) were underground for a very long time. However, many of the largest stelae have actually remained upright. These are well preserved for two reasons. First, there is an unusual limestone in the area that is soft when cut from the ground and easy to carve, but on contact with the air it actually hardens to become incredibly durable. Secondly, the trees here easily grow over 30m high, and their leaves provided protection from the elements.