Bejucal (Mesoamerican site)
Encyclopedia
Bejucal is a Maya
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...

 archaeological site in the Petén Department of Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

. It is located 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) northeast of El Zotz
El Zotz
El Zotz is a Mesoamerican archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in the Petén Basin region around west of the major center of Tikal and approximately west of Uaxactun. It is so called because of the large number of bats living in caves in the nearby cliffs...

 and was subservient to that city. The site is thought to date to the second half of the 4th century AD, in the Early Classic
Mesoamerican chronology
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic , the Classic , and the Postclassic...

 period.

Location

The site is located within the San Miguel La Palotada biotope
Biotope
Biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of plants and animals. Biotope is almost synonymous with the term habitat, but while the subject of a habitat is a species or a population, the subject of a biotope is a biological community.It...

 in the municipality
Municipalities of Guatemala
The departments of Guatemala are divided into 332 municipalities or municipios. The municipalities are listed below, by department:-Alta Verapaz Department:*Cahabón*Chahal*Chisec*Cobán*Fray Bartolomé de las Casas*Lanquín*Panzós*Raxruha...

 of San José
San José, El Petén
San José is a municipality in the El Petén department of Guatemala. It contains 3,602 people. It lies on the north shore of Lake Petén Itzá and is located a few kilometers from the Classic Period Maya ruin of Motul de San José...

 in the department of Petén in northern Guatemala. The biotope is a part of the Maya Biosphere Reserve
Maya Biosphere Reserve
The Maya Biosphere Reserve is a nature reserve in Guatemala managed by Guatemala's National Council of Protected Areas...

 that is bordered on the east by the Tikal National Park
Tikal
Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centres of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala...

 and surrounded on all other sides by designated multiple-use zones of the Reserve. Bejucal is situated 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) west of the ruins of Tikal.

History

Bejucal was the original capital of the royal dynasty that later ruled El Zotz, apparently transferring their capital to that city.

The Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas...

-linked general Siyaj K'ak' ("Fire is Born") conquered Bejucal in the 4th century, together with many other sites in Petén
Petén Basin
The Petén Basin is a geographical subregion of Mesoamerica, located in the northern portion of the modern-day nation of Guatemala, and essentially contained within the department of El Petén...

, including the great city of Tikal.
A text at the site mentions Siyaj K'ak' as overlord of Bejucal in AD 381. Stela
Stele
A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...

 1 from Bejucal also indicates that Siyaj K'ak' was overlord of nearby El Zotz. From around this time the kings of Bejucal began to refer to themselves as vassals of Tikal, their giant neighbour, using the y ajaw
Ajaw
Ajaw is a political rulership title attested from the epigraphic inscriptions of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, with a meaning variously interpreted as "lord", "ruler", "king" or "leader". It denoted any of the leading class of nobles in a particular polity and was not limited to a single...

phrase meaning subordinate lord.

Inscriptions at Bejucal all fit within a very short 40-year span in the second half of the 4th century, ending about AD 396. The abrupt cessation of inscriptions at Bejucal is possibly the result of the expansion of the Tikal polity.

In the late 1970s Ian Graham
Ian Graham
Ian Graham is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the VFL during the 1960s.His best season came in 1964 when he won the Copeland Trophy for Collingwood's Best and Fairest player...

 visited Bejucal and recorded two stelae
Maya stelae
Maya stelae are monuments that were fashioned by the Maya civilization of ancient Mesoamerica. They consist of tall sculpted stone shafts and are often associated with low circular stones referred to as altars, although their actual function is uncertain. Many stelae were sculpted in low relief,...

and a sculpted altar.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK