Editing Copán (section)

===Main Group===
[[File:IMG 2314.JPG|thumb|right|Stela M and the Hieroglyphic Stairway<ref name="Sharer & Traxler 2006, p. 342"/>]]
The Main Group represents the core of the ancient city and covers an area of {{convert|600|x|300|m|ft|sp=us}}. The main features are the Acropolis, which is a raised royal complex on the south side, and a group of smaller structures and linked plazas to the north, including the Hieroglyphic Stairway and the [[Mesoamerican ballcourt|ballcourt]]. The Monument Plaza contains the greatest concentration of sculpted monuments at the site.{{sfn|Sharer|Traxler|2006|pp=339–340}}

The '''Acropolis''' was the royal complex at the heart of Copán. It consists of two plazas that have been named the West Court and the East Court. They are both enclosed by elevated structures.<ref name="Sharer & Traxler 2006, p. 340"/> Archaeologists have excavated extensive tunnels under the Acropolis, revealing how the royal complex at the heart of Copán developed over the centuries and uncovering several hieroglyphic texts that date back to the Early Classic and verify details of the early dynastic rulers of the city who were recorded on Altar&nbsp;Q hundreds of years later. The deepest of these tunnels have revealed that the first monumental structures underlying the Acropolis date archaeologically to the early 5th&nbsp;century AD, when K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' established the royal dynasty.{{sfn|Sharer|Traxler|2006|p=342}} These early buildings were built of stone and [[adobe]] and were themselves built upon earlier earth and cobble structures dating to the predynastic period.{{sfn|Sharer|Traxler|2006|pp=342, 344}} The two styles of building overlap somewhat, with some of the earthen structures being expanded during the first hundred years or so of the dynastic history of the city.<ref name="Sharer & Traxler 2006, p. 344">{{harvnb|Sharer|Traxler|2006|p=344}}.</ref> The early dynastic masonry buildings of the Acropolis included several with the Early Classic apron-molding style of Tikal and one built in the ''[[talud-tablero]]'' style associated with Teotihuacan, although at the time the ''talud-tablero'' form was in use at both Tikal and [[Kaminaljuyu]] as well as in Central Mexico.<ref name="Sharer & Traxler 2006, p. 344"/>

'''Structure 10L-4''' is a platform with four stairways situated by the Monument Plaza.<ref name="Sharer & Traxler 2006, p. 340"/>

[[File:Honduras-0153 (2213588425).jpg|thumb|left|upright|A stone head at the bottom of Structure 10L-11]]
'''Structure 10L-11''' is on the west side of the Acropolis. It encloses the south side of the Court of the Hieroglyphic Stairway and is accessed from it by a wide monumental stairway. This structure appears to have been the royal palace of Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat, the 16th&nbsp;ruler in the dynastic succession and the last known king of Copán. Structure 10L-11 was built on top of several earlier structures, one of which probably contains the tomb of his predecessor K'ak' Yipyaj Chan K'awiil. A small tunnel descends into the interior of the structure, possibly to the tomb, but it has not yet been excavated by archaeologists.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharer|Traxler|2006|pp=334, 340}}; {{harvnb|Martin|Grube|2000|p=208}}.</ref> Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat built a new temple platform over his predecessor's tomb in AD&nbsp;769. On top of this he placed a two-storey superstructure with a sculpted roof depicting the mythological cosmos. At each of its northern corners was a large sculpted [[Pawatun]] (a group of deities that supported the heavens). This superstructure had four doorways with panels of hieroglyphs sculpted directly onto the walls of the building. A [[Copán Bench Panel|bench]] inside the structure, removed by Maudslay in the nineteenth century and now in the [[British Museum]]'s collection, once depicted the king's accession to the throne, overseen by deities and ancestors.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 209"/><ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3428767&partId=1&place=9697&plaA=9697-3-1&page=1 British Museum Collection]</ref>

{|class="wikitable" style="float:right;margin:.5em"  border="1"
|+'''Phases of Temple 16 (Structure 10L-16)'''
! Phase !! King !! Date
|-
|Hunal
|K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo'
|early 5th century AD
|-
|Yehnal
|K'inich Popol Hol
|mid-5th century AD
|-
|Margarita
|K'inich Popol Hol
|mid-5th century AD
|-
|Rosalila
|Moon Jaguar
|mid-6th century AD
|-
|Purpura
|Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil
|early 7th century AD
|}
[[File:Copan (125) sm (4289308339).jpg|thumb|The West Court of Copán]]
'''Structure 10L-16''' (Temple 16) is a temple pyramid that is the highest part of the Acropolis. It is located between the East and West Courts at the heart of the ancient city.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharer|Traxler|2006|pp=334, 340}}; {{harvnb|Agurcia Fasquelle|Fash|2005|p=201}}.</ref> The temple faces the West Court within the Acropolis and is dedicated to K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo', the dynastic founder. The temple was placed on top of the original palace and tomb of the king. It is the final version of a number of temples built on top of each other, as was common practice in Mesoamerica.<ref name="Sharer & Traxler 2006, pp. 334, 340">{{harvnb|Sharer|Traxler|2006|pp=334, 340}}.</ref> The earliest version of this temple is nicknamed Hunal; it was built in the talud-tablero style of architecture that was typical of Teotihuacan, with traces of brightly colored murals on the surviving traces of the interior walls. The king was buried in a vaulted crypt that was cut into the floor of the Hunal phase of the building, accompanied by rich offerings of [[Jade use in Mesoamerica|jade]]. K'inich Popol Hol, son of the founder, demolished the palace of his father and built a platform on top of his tomb, named Yehnal by archaeologists. It was built in a distinctively Petén Maya style and bore large masks of K'inich Tajal Wayib', the sun god, which were painted red. This platform was encased within another much larger platform within a decade of its construction. This larger platform has been named Margarita and had stucco panels flanking its access stairway that bore entwined images of [[Resplendent quetzal|quetzals]] and macaws, which both form a part of K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo's name. The Margarita phase contained a [[Margarita Tomb|tomb]] with the richly accompanied burial of an elderly woman nicknamed the "Lady in Red". It is likely that she was the widow of K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' and the mother of K'inich Popol Hol. The upper chamber of the Margarita phase temple was converted to receive offerings and the unusual Xukpi stone, a dedicatory monument used in one of the earlier phases, was reused in this later phase.{{sfn|Martin|Grube|2000|pp=193–196}}

[[File:CPN Rosalila 01.jpg|thumb|left|Life-size reconstruction of the Rosalila temple at the site museum of Copán{{sfn|Martin|Grube|2000|p=199}}]]
One of the best preserved phases of Temple 16 is the Rosalila, built over the remains of five previous versions of the temple. Archaeologist Ricardo Agurcia discovered the almost intact shrine while tunneling underneath the final version of the temple. Rosalila is notable for its excellent state of preservation, including the entire building from the base platform up to the [[roof comb]], including its highly elaborate painted stucco decoration. Rosalila features K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' placed at the centre of a mythological tableau, combining the founder of the dynasty with the [[List of Maya gods and supernatural beings|sky deity]] [[Itzamna]] in avian form. The mythological imagery also includes [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] mountains, skeletons and crocodiles. Vents in the exterior were designed so smoke from incense being burned inside the shrine would interact with the stucco sculpture of the exterior. The temple had a hieroglyphic stone step with a dedicatory inscription. The stone step is less well preserved than the rest of the building, but a date in AD&nbsp;571 has been deciphered. Due to the deforestation of the Copán valley, the Rosalila building was the last structure at the site to use such elaborate stucco decoration — vast quantities of firewood could no longer be spared to reduce limestone to plaster. A life-size copy of the Rosalila building has been built at the Copán site museum.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, pp. 198–199"/>

Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil encased the Rosalila phase under a new version of the building in the early 8th&nbsp;century AD. An offering was made as part of the rites to terminate the old phase and included a collection of [[Eccentric flint (archaeology)|eccentric flint]]s worked into the profiles of humans and gods, wrapped in blue-dyed textiles, as well as a 5-ft shark brought to the city from the nearest ocean, some 42&nbsp;km distant.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 204">{{harvnb|Martin|Grube|2000|p=204}}.</ref>

'''Structure 10L-18''' is on the southeastern side of the Acropolis and has been damaged by the erosion caused by the Copán River, having lost its eastern side. Stairs on the south side of the structure lead down to a vaulted tomb that was looted in ancient times and was probably that of Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat. It was apparently plundered soon after the collapse of the Copán kingdom.<ref name="Sharer & Traxler 2006, p. 340"/> Unusually for Copán, the summit shrine had four sculpted panels depicting the king performing war dances with spear and shield, emphasizing the rising tensions as the dynasty came to its end.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 212"/>

[[File:CPN STR 22 01.jpg|thumb|right|The interior doorway of Structure 10L-22]]
'''Temples 10L-20''' and '''10L-21''' were probably both built by Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil. They were lost to the Copán River in the early 20th&nbsp;century.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 204"/>

'''Structure 10L-22''' is a large building on the north side of the East Court, in the Acropolis, and faces onto it. It dates to the reign of Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil and is the best preserved of the buildings from his rule. The superstructure of the building has an interior doorway with an elaborate sculpted frame and decorated with masks of the mountain god ''Witz''. The outer doorway is framed by the giant mask of a deity, and has stylistic similarities with the [[Chenes]] regional style of distant [[Yucatán (state)|Yucatán]].<ref>{{harvnb|Sharer|Traxler|2006|p=340}}; {{harvnb|Martin|Grube|2000|p=204}}.</ref> The temple was built to celebrate the completion of the king's first K'atun in power, in AD&nbsp;715, and has a hieroglyphic step with a first-person phrase "I completed my K'atun". The building symbolically represents the mountain where maize was created.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, pp. 204–205"/>

'''Structure 10L-25''' is in the East Court of the Acropolis. It covers a rich royal tomb nicknamed Sub-Jaguar by archaeologists. It is presumed to be the tomb of either Ruler&nbsp;7 (B'alam Nehn), Ruler&nbsp;8 or Ruler&nbsp;9, who all ruled in the first half of the 6th&nbsp;century AD.{{sfn|Martin|Grube|2000|pp=197–198}}

{|class="wikitable" style="float:right;margin:.5em"  border="1"
|+'''Phases of Temple 26 (Structure 10L-26)'''
! Phase !! King !! Date
|-
|Yax
|K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo'
|early 5th century AD
|-
|Motmot
|K'inich Popol Hol
|mid-5th century AD
|-
|Papagayo
|Ku Ix
|mid-5th century AD
|-
|Mascarón
|Smoke Imix
|7th century AD
|-
|Chorcha
|Smoke Imix
|7th century AD
|-
|Esmeralda
|Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil
|early 8th century AD
|-
|N/A
|K'ak' Yipyaj Chan K'awiil
|mid-8th century AD
|}
'''Structure 10L-26''' is a temple that projects northwards from the Acropolis and is immediately to the north of Structure 10L-22. The structure was built by Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil and K'ak' Yipyaj Chan K'awiil, the 13th and 15th&nbsp;rulers in the dynastic succession. The {{convert|10|m|ft|adj=on|sp=us}} wide Hieroglyphic Stairway ascends the building on the west side from the courtyard below.<ref name="Sharer & Traxler 2006, pp. 334, 340"/> The earliest version of the temple, nicknamed Yax, was built during the reign of K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo', the dynastic founder, and has architectural features (such as inset corners) that are characteristic of Tikal and the central Petén region.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 193"/> The next phase of the building was built by Yax K'uk' Mo's son K'inich Popol Hol and is nicknamed Motmot. This phase of the structure was more elaborate and was decorated with stucco. Set under the building was the Motmot capstone, covering a tomb with the unusual Teotihuacan-style burial of a woman, accompanied by a wide variety of offerings that included animal bones, [[mercury (element)|mercury]], jade and [[quartz]], along with three severed human heads, all of which were male.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 194"/> Ku Ix built a new phase of the building over Motmot, nicknamed Papagayo.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 196"/>

Smoke Imix demolished the Papagayo phase and ritually interred the broken remains of its sculpted monuments, accompanied by stone macaw heads from an early version of the ballcourt. He then built a pyramid over the earlier phases, nicknamed Mascarón by archaeologists. It in turn was developed into the Chorcha pyramid with the addition of a long superstructure with seven doorways at the front and back. Before a new building was built over the top, the upper sanctuary was demolished and a tomb was inserted into the floor and covered with 11 large stone slabs. The tomb contained the remains of an adult male and a sacrificed child. The adult's badly decayed skeleton was wrapped in a mat and accompanied by offerings of fine [[jade]], including ear ornaments and a necklace of sculpted figurines. The burial was accompanied by offerings of 44 ceramic vessels, [[jaguar]] pelts, [[spondylus]] shells, 10 paintpots and one or more hieroglyphic books, now decayed. There were also 12 ceramic incense burners with lids modeled into human figurines, thought to represent Smoke Imix and his 11 dynastic predecessors. The Chorcha building was dedicated to the long-lived 7th-century king Smoke Imix and it is therefore likely that the remains interred in the building are his.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 202"/> Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil had sealed the Chorcha phase under a new version of the temple, nicknamed Esmeralda, by AD&nbsp;710. The new phase bore the first version of the Hieroglyphic Stairway, which contains a lengthy dynastic history.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 204"/> K'ak' Yipyaj Chan K'awiil built over the Esmeralda phase in the mid-8th&nbsp;century. He removed the Hieroglyphic Stairway from the earlier building and reinstalled it into his own version, while doubling the length of its text and adding five life-size statues of rulers dressed in the garb of Teotihuacano warriors, each seated on a step of the stairway. At the base of the stairway, he also raised Stela&nbsp;M, with his own image. The summit shrine of the temple bore a hieroglyphic text composed of full-figure hieroglyphs, each placed beside a similar glyph in faux-Mexican style, giving the appearance of a bilingual text.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, pp. 207–208"/>

[[File:Copán Ballcourt.jpg|thumb|right|The final version of the ballcourt was dedicated by Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil in AD&nbsp;738.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 205"/>]]
The '''Hieroglyphic Stairway''' climbs the west side of Structure 10L-26. It is {{convert|10|m|ft|sp=us}} wide and has a total of 62&nbsp;steps. Stela&nbsp;M and its associated altar are at its base and a large sculpted figure is located in the centre of every 12th&nbsp;step. These figures are believed to represent the most important rulers in the dynastic history of the site. The stairway takes its name from the 2200&nbsp;glyphs that together form the longest known Maya hieroglyphic text. The text is still being reconstructed, having been scrambled by the collapse of the glyphic blocks when the façade of the temple collapsed.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharer|Traxler|2006|p=340}}; {{harvnb|Martin|Grube|2000|p=208}}.</ref> The staircase measures {{convert|21|m|ft|sp=us}} long and was first built by Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil in AD&nbsp;710, being reinstalled and expanded in the following phase of the temple by K'ak' Yipyaj Chan K'awiil in AD&nbsp;755.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 208"/>

The '''Ballcourt''' is immediately north of the Court of the Hieroglyphic Stairway and is to the south of the Monument Plaza.<ref name="Sharer & Traxler 2006, pp. 334, 340"/> It was remodeled by Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, who then demolished it and built a third version, which was one of the largest from the Classic period. It was dedicated to the great macaw deity and the buildings flanking the playing area carried 16 mosaic sculptures of the birds. The completion date of the ballcourt is inscribed with a hieroglyphic text upon the sloping playing area and is given as 6&nbsp;January 738.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 205"/>

The '''Monument Plaza''' or '''Great Plaza''' is on the north side of the Main Group.<ref name="Sharer & Traxler 2006, pp. 334, 340"/>