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An abandoned city

The Maya of the Classic period, which begins at approximately AD 250, lived in an area that now includes Guatemala, Chiapas and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, western Honduras, Belize, and El Salvador. The Classic period Maya were organised into numerous small city-states, each with their own king. Within the large cities that served as the capitals of these kingdoms, the Mayan people erected grand public buildings, including palaces and temples, large plazas, and reservoirs to collect water. They also recorded history in hieroglyphic writing, which was carved onto stone monuments called 'stelae', and documented events in the lives of their kings. However, the Classic period was also plagued by continuing warfare between the various kingdoms and their allies. Ultimately the endemic warfare was an important factor in the downfall of the Classic period Maya, that resulted in the abandonment of most cities and their surrounding territories by AD 900.

The ancient city of Naachtun is situated in the heart of the Maya region, just one kilometre south of the Mexican border, in far northern Guatemala. It was rediscovered by western archaeologists in 1922, and remains one of the most remote sites in the Maya area. In fact, it has been the subject of only a few fleeting visits over the past 80 years.

Despite its present-day isolation, however, Naachtun was very much in the thick of things during the Classic period (AD 250-900). The site lies about 44km (27 miles) south-south-east of Calakmul, and 65km (40 miles) north of Tikal - these being the two 'superpowers' of the Classic Maya world. Lying directly between two such powerful entities, Naachtun held not only a strategic position, but also a vulnerable one during the frequent wars of the time, and control of the city must have been seen as a necessary prologue to any attempt by Tikal or Calakmul to attack the other.

Wartime affiliations

The dates recorded on the Naachtun monuments span a period from AD 504 to 762, suggesting that the city flourished for most of the Classic period. Yet because of its geographical position, Naachtun was tied either to Tikal or Calakmul for much of its existence, changing its affiliation several times during its history.

Naachtun's central position and fluctuating political affiliation can be deduced from the architectural diversity found at the site. Buildings in the Tikal tradition are evident in the main plaza, while the extensive, rambling, elite residential section of Naachtun is reminiscent of the Calakmul palace precinct.

The layout of an area of Naachtun  © However, another building at Naachtun (Structure XXXIX on the map) is built in yet another style - constructed with cut-stone masonry that is characteristic of Río Bec architecture. This is a widespread architectural style that is found across the region to the north of Naachtun. This array of architectural influences, probably reflecting the site's shifting political affiliations and regional connections, makes Naachtun one of the most interesting of all Classic Maya sites for study.

History of investigations

Many ceremonial sites have been found at Naachtun  © Naachtun was rediscovered by the archaeologist Sylvanus Morley, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, on 3 May 1922. Morley had heard of the site from a chiclero - a person who collects sap, used for making chewing gum, from chicle trees - named Alfonso Ovando, who first saw the site in 1916. Morley and a Filipino photographer, Juan Sopeña, subsequently spent a total of seven days at the site, where they investigated many of the standing buildings and discovered 19 of Naachtun's 40+ stelae.

Morley named the large Maya city Naachtun because of the site's extreme inaccessibility (naach meaning 'far' and tun meaning 'stone', in Mayan). In fact Naachtun is still one of the most remote sites in the Yucatan peninsula, and one of the least known of all major Classic Maya centres.

The next western visitor to Naachtun was Cyrus Lundell, who reached the site on 5 January 1932. He spent three days exploring and mapping it, in the company of one Garcia, a chiclero guide. He also discovered eight new stelae. But while Morley and company had reached Naachtun from the south, Lundell had reached it from the north, and mistakenly thought he had found a new site about 20km (12 miles) north of the Mexico-Guatemala border. He named the supposedly new site 'Nohoxna'.

In 1933, thinking that Lundell had discovered a new site, the Carnegie Institution of Washington sent an expedition into southern Mexico to find and document it. This expedition, whose members were Karl Ruppert, John H Denison Jr and JP O'Neill, spent 12 days there in May 1933. They discovered many new stelae, as well as several new buildings, and O'Neill completed the map of the site that is in use today. It was only when Ruppert, Denison and O'Neill returned from the field and compared their photos with those from Morley's earlier expedition that they realised that Nohoxna and Naachtun were in fact one and the same place.

Gathering the evidence

Marc Zender examines a building at Naachtun  © In the mid 1970s, Eric von Euw, of the Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions project at Harvard University, visited the site for a few days and made field drawings of several stelae. And in the 1990s, Nikolai Grube, of the University of Texas at Austin, also visited Naachtun, and recorded the inscriptions on several stelae. While von Euw illustrated many of the previously unknown stelae at the site, Grube discovered the ancient name of the Naachtun kingdom on Stela 1. According to Grube, the Classic period Maya of Naachtun called their kingdom Masuul.

The most recent visit was made in July 2002 by archaeologists Kathryn Reese-Taylor and Marc Zender, of the University of Calgary, and Ernesto Arredondo Leiva of Guatemala's Del Valle University. One of the principal aims of this trip was to investigate Naachtun with an eye to conducting a long-term archaeological project there, and after four days at the site it became clear that such a project was definitely called for.

The Kingdom of Masuul

The emblem glyph representing the name of Masuul  © The size of Naachtun, the grandeur of its public architecture, and the presence of over 40 stelae, indicate that it was the centre of a very powerful kingdom during the Classic period. Yet the name of the kingdom, as recorded in hieroglyphic texts, remained a mystery until the mid 1990s, when the epigrapher Nikolai Grube discovered the ancient Mayan name of Naachtun.

In a fragmentary passage on Stela 1, he found an 'emblem glyph' (a hieroglyphic compound), which included the names of Classic period Mayan kingdoms. According to the emblem glyph, Naachtun's ancient name was 'Masuul'.

References to the Masuul kingdom are found not only in hieroglyphic inscriptions at Naachtun, but also on scattered monuments throughout Guatemala and Mexico. Taken as a whole, the inscriptions on these monuments record a history for the Masuul kingdom that spans from AD 486 to 761, and includes details of familial relationships, warfare events and funerary rites.

Traces of ritual

Hieroglyphs which describe the conquering of Masuul  © The earliest dated reference to the Masuul kingdom is found on Tikal Stela 10. Dating to 486, the passage states that the capital of the Masuul kingdom (ie Naachtun) was conquered by Tikal. The defeated king was brought before the Tikal king 'seven days later' and may well be the captive shown on the front of Stela 10.

The early hostilities between Naachtun and Tikal were almost certainly the result of power struggles with Calakmul, Tikal's bitter enemy. Earlier on it seems probable that Naachtun had been in Calakmul's sphere of influence. Yet during the early fifth century, Tikal went on the offensive against Calakmul, and pushed northwards in a series of campaigns aimed at enlarging and consolidating its northern frontier.

However, during the late sixth and early seventh centuries, Tikal suffered a series of defeats at the hands of Calakmul and its allies. Consequently Naachtun was forced to switch allegiance back to the nearer neighbour, and a hieroglyphic block from Structure 4 at Calakmul includes a reference to the Masuul kingdom from about this period.

In the late seventh and early eighth centuries, Naachtun's loyalties changed again. Tikal resurged, defeating Calakmul's armies in 695. Indeed, the next reference we have to the Masuul kingdom is on Tikal Altar 5, which records a series of events beginning in 692 and involving the king of Masuul and the king of Tikal. The final passage dates to 711, and describes the funerary rite of an important woman - a rite overseen by both kings. Details of this ceremony are depicted on the face of Altar 5, where both kings are captured in the act re-interring the bones of the deceased in a prominent area of Tikal. This type of ritual re-interment of a deceased individual is very rare and, in this instance, signals the significant role that this woman played in the political relationship between Tikal and Naachtun. Such personal interaction strongly implies that the two kings were each related to the deceased woman, and hence to one another.

Changing allegiances

The Lady of Tikal, depicted on Stela 9 at Naachtun  © A familial relationship with Tikal is also suggested by texts and images on Naachtun Stela 9, dating to 731. This stela depicts a lady of Tikal at Naachtun, probably the wife of a local ruler, and suggests that the political and familial alliance of Naachtun and Tikal continued until at least this period.

Finally, Naachtun changed allegiances again during the later half of the eighth century. In the texts on Naachtun Stela B5, titles closely associated with Calakmul are used to describe an individual at Naachtun. The stela specifically names the individual as 'he of Calakmul' and states that he was responsible for the erection of the stela in 761.

Mayan hieroglyphic texts suggest that Masuul's (Naachtun's) Late Classic existence was a precarious one politically, alternating in affiliation between Calakmul to the north and Tikal to the south - another indication that, throughout its history, the city played the role of 'piggy in the middle' between two superpower neighbours.

Defensive fortifications

A Maya acropolis from Tikal  © Finally, there is a particularly distinctive architectural feature at Naachtun that betrays the political turmoil of the Classic period. The map indicates that Structures VII-XII are surrounded by a wall, and in the 2002 reconnaissance of the site it was confirmed that this feature is indeed a wall. It was also evident that the wall was added some time after Structures VII-XII were built, and that it is reminiscent of defensive walls found at the sites of Dos Pilas and La Joyanca to the south.

The walls from each of these sites date from the very end of the Classic period and were constructed to try to protect a local population under imminent threat from outside attackers. However, there are key differences between these walls and the wall at Naachtun. At points the Naachtun wall is 4m (13ft) high, and it is well constructed with large cut blocks of limestone. This is notably different from the one at La Joyanca, which was only about half a metre (19in) high and served as a base for a wooden palisade. It also differs from the walls at Dos Pilas, which, although large, were not well constructed, and were made by removing the exterior stone facing of the surrounding buildings.

The Dos Pilas fortifications were erected in haste, while the defensive wall at Naachtun appears to have been carefully planned and assembled. This leads to the conclusion that the Dos Pilas and La Joyanca defensive walls were effective responses to the stresses of warfare at the end of the Classic period, while the sizeable and well-built defensive fortifications at Naachtun are an indication that the city had been living with this type of stress for centuries.

During the last decade, Naachtun has revealed many of its secrets. It is now known that the ancient city was the capital of a great kingdom called Massul. We also know that it was a crucial collaborator in the political manoeuvrings of both Tikal and Calakmul. Yet there remain many unanswered questions. Why did this great city arise? Who were these people who settled 'betwixt and between' the two superpowers of the Classic Maya world? How did the lords of Masuul maintain the prosperity of their kingdom through what appears to have been centuries of warfare? And what finally caused this great kingdom to be abandoned? These questions can only be answered through the careful archaeological excavation of the site. And it is to be hoped that the day when this investigation can begin is near.

Find out more

Books

The Maya by Michael Coe (Thames and Hudson, 1999)

The Lords of Tikal: Rulers of an Ancient Maya City by Peter Harrison, Colin Renfrew and Jeremy A Sabloff (Thames and Hudson, 2000)

A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya by Linda Schele and David Freidel (William Morrow, 1990)

How to Read Maya Hieroglyphics by John Montgomery (Hippocrene Books, 2001)

The Fall of the Ancient Maya: Solving the Mystery of the Mayan Collapse by David Webster (Thames and Hudson, 2002)

About the author

Kathryn Reese-Taylor is an Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She has worked in the Maya area for 20 years. Her research has focused on the Late Preclassic period (400 BC-AD 250), as well as on Classic (AD 250-900) Maya political organisation. Her books include Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica (2001) edited with Rex Koontz and Annabeth Headrick. Among her most recent publications is 'Ritual Circuits as Key Elements in Maya Civic Center Design', in Heart of Creation: The Mesoamerican World and the Legacy of Linda Schele.