Editing Uaxactun

{{Short description|Mayan sacred place in present-day Guatemala}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name       = Uaxactun
| image_size = 300px
| caption    = Temple of the Masks
| map_type   = Guatemala
| relief     = 1
| region     = [[Petén Department]],&nbsp;[[Guatemala]]
}}
[[File:Uaxactun.png|thumb|275px|City glyph]]
[[Image:Uaxactun1.jpg|thumb|275px]]
'''Uaxactun''' (pronounced {{IPA|myn|waʃakˈtun|}}) is an ancient sacred place of the [[Maya civilization]], located in the [[Petén Basin]] region of the Maya lowlands, in the present-day [[Departments of Guatemala|department]] of [[Petén (department)|Petén]], [[Guatemala]]. The site lies some {{convert|12|mi|km}} north of the major center of [[Tikal]].<ref>Martin & Grube 2000, p. 30.</ref> The name is sometimes spelled as '''Waxaktun'''.

==History of discovery==
With recent{{When|date=February 2016}} achievements in the [[decipherment]] of the ancient [[Maya hieroglyphics|Maya hieroglyphic]] [[writing system]], it has been determined that the ancient name for this site translates roughly as '''''Siaan K'aan''''' or "Born in Heaven". The name ''Uaxactun'' was given to the site by its rediscoverer, archaeologist [[Sylvanus Morley]], in May 1916. He coined the name from Maya words ''Waxac'' and ''Tun'', to mean "Eight Stones". The name has two meanings; Morley's stated reason for the name was to commemorate it as the first site where an inscription dating from the 8th Baktún of the [[Maya calendar]] was discovered (making it then the earliest known Maya date). The other meaning is a pun, since "Uaxactun" sounds like "[[Washington, D.C.|Washington]]", the U.S. capital and home of the [[Carnegie Institution for Science|Carnegie Institute]] which funded Morley's explorations.<ref>O'Neil, '' The Maya'' p. 143</ref>

Morley's initial investigation of the site mostly focused on the hieroglyphic inscriptions; after that Uaxactun was not visited again until 1924, when [[Frans Blom]] made a more detailed investigation of the structures and mapped the site. The Carnegie Institution conducted archeological excavations there from 1926 through 1937, led by Oliver Ricketson.  The excavations added greatly to knowledge of the [[Mesoamerican chronology|early Classic and pre-Classic]] Maya.{{Citation needed|date=February 2016}} The remains of several badly ruined late Classic era temple-pyramids were removed, revealing well-preserved earlier temples underneath them.

[[Image:Uaxactun GroupE fromTempleOfMasks.png|thumb|276px|right|View of E Group from the temple of masks at Uaxactun]]
For most of the Carnegie team's time at Uaxactun, communication with the outside world was via a four-day [[mule]] convoy to [[El Cayo]], [[Belize|British Honduras]]. Towards the end of the time an airstrip was opened. Flights to Uaxactun continued and a small village grew there, as it became a center for gathering of [[chicle]] sap from the Petén jungle. In 1940 A. L. Smith and [[Edwin M. Shook|Ed Shook]] of the Carnegie project returned to make some additional excavations. In the late 1970s a rough road was opened, connecting Uaxactun to Tikal and thence to [[Flores, Guatemala]]. Air flights were discontinued.  In 1984 the road was much improved. Shook returned again in 1974 to oversee consolidation and restoration of some architecture excavated earlier. In 1982 Guatemala's ''Tikal National Park'' was expanded to include the ruins of Uaxactun within its protected area. In 1990 the Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR) was created, including Uaxactun as a part of the reserve's Multiple Use Zone.

In 2009 an excavation project of Slovak Archaeological and Historical Institute (SAHI) was started by professor Milan Kováč.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sahi.sk/uaxactun.php|title=Slovenský archeologický a historický inštitút – SAHI|access-date=5 February 2016|archive-date=July 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701095119/http://www.sahi.sk/uaxactun.php}}</ref>

== Conquest of Uaxactun by Siyaj K'ak' ==
[[Linda Schele]], in ''A Forest of Kings'', devotes an entire chapter to a war between [[Tikal]] and Uaxactun, in which Uaxactun was defeated by forces led by Fire is Born<ref>{{cite magazine
 | last = Gugliotta | first = Guy
 | title = The Maya Glory and Ruin: The Kingmaker
 | magazine = National Geographic | volume = 212 | issue = 2
 |date=August 2007 | pages = 74–85
 | url = http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/08/maya-rise-fall/gugliotta-text
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080409073052/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/08/maya-rise-fall/gugliotta-text
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = April 9, 2008
}}</ref> ([[Siyaj K'ak']], formerly identified as Smoking Frog<ref>''ibid.''</ref>) of Tikal. In this chapter, she also gives a brief overview of the known history of Uaxactun up to the final year of the war (378 AD) and of the Uaxactun kings who claimed descent from Fire is Born. The combined political entity of Tikal-Uaxactun dominated the Guatemalan [[Petén Basin|Petén]] for the following 180 years.

Siyaj K'ak' might have come from [[Teotihuacán]], been the general of the Teotihuacano ruler [[Spearthrower Owl]], and conquered Tikal earlier the same year. This was a watershed moment of the Classic Maya. Some scholars suggested that new kings were installed at Tikal, Uaxactun, Rio Azul, El Peru, El Zapote and Bejucal during the Teotihuacan intrusions, new rituals and images were introduced, and a new order was established in the Maya Lowlands, while others suggested a less hegemonic role of Teotihuacan in its relationship with the Maya.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/estrada_belli308/|title=Antiquity Journal|access-date=5 February 2016}}</ref>

== After 378 AD ==

After the conquest by Siyaj K'ak' in 378 AD, Uaxactun was still able to keep elite prerogatives of monument carving, temple erection, and rich burials during most of the Early Classic era.<ref>"Polities in the northeast Peten, Guatemala" by T. P. Culbert, ''Classic Maya Political History: Hieroglyphic and Archaeological Evidence'', edited by T. P. Culbert.</ref> During the Hiatus period (about 600 AD) between Early Classic and Late Classic, Uaxactun experienced a lack of architectural activity and ceramic production, which coincided with the decline of the power of Teotihuacán and Tikal. There was no erection of dedicatory monuments between 554 AD and 711 AD. By the middle of Late Classic, Uaxactun showed evidences of population increase, new construction, remodeling of old structures, and appearance of new residential areas, plaza groups, and buildings. There was a time of distinctive population decrease towards the end of Late Classic.<ref>''Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia'' edited by S. T. Evans and D. L. Webster</ref> The last inscribed monument in Uaxactun is dated to 889.<ref>"Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya World" by L. V. Foster</ref> By the end of  Terminal Classic, Uaxactun and Tikal were virtually abandoned.<ref>"Changing Political Alliance in the Three Rivers Region" by L. A. Sullivan and K. L. Sagebiel, "Heterarchy, Political Economy, and the Ancient Maya: The Three Rivers Region of the East-central Yucatàn Peninsula" edited by V. L. Scarborough, F. Valdez, and N. P. Dunning</ref>

== References in popular culture ==

The Italian composer [[Giacinto Scelsi]] composed a piece in 1966 entitled ''Uaxuctum''. It is subtitled: "The legend of the Maya city, destroyed by themselves for religious reasons".<ref>{{cite web |last1=McComb |first1=Todd |title=Uaxuctum (1969) |url=http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/works/scelsi/uaxuctum.php |website=ClassicalNet |access-date=27 May 2020}}</ref>

Uaxactun was the location mentioned in the opening scene of the 1994 video game ''[[Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure]]''. The game was released on various platforms from 1994 until 2009.{{Citation needed|date=February 2016}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{Commons category}}
{{refbegin|indent=yes}}<!--BEGIN biblio format. -->
* {{cite book |author=Martin, Simon |author-link=Simon Martin (Mayanist) |author2=Nikolai Grube |author2-link=Nikolai Grube |year=2000 |title=Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya |location=London and New York |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] |isbn=0-500-05103-8 |oclc=47358325 |url=https://archive.org/details/chronicleofmayak00mart }}
* {{cite book |author=Schele, Linda |author-link=Linda Schele |author2=David Freidel |year=1990 |title=A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya |publisher=[[William Morrow and Company|William Morrow]] |location=New York |isbn=0-688-07456-1 |oclc=21295769 |url=https://archive.org/details/forestofkingsunt0034sche }}
* {{cite book |author=Sharer, Robert J. |author2=Loa P. Traxler |year=2006 |title=The Ancient Maya |edition=6th edition (fully revised) |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |location=Stanford, CA |isbn=0-8047-4816-0 |oclc=28067148 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientmaya0006shar }}

{{refend}}<!-- END biblio format style -->

== External links ==
{{wikivoyage}}
{{External links|date=February 2016}}
* [http://www.anthroarcheart.org/uaxactun.htm Uaxactun on anthrarcheart.org] photos
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111005134305/http://www.uaxactun.sk/ Project Uaxactun]

{{Coord|17|23|36.82|N|89|38|4.32|W|type:landmark|display=title}}
{{Clear}}
{{Maya sites}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Maya sites in Petén Department]]
[[Category:Maya Classic Period]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Guatemala]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Guatemala]]