Description
Book SynopsisThe Skyband Group is an impressive elite site in the urban core of Copán, Honduras, which is dominated by the palatial compounds of Maya sub-royal nobles. Such grandees often bore court titles showing that they were clients and officials of kings, but also competitors for political power, especially just before the dynastic collapse around AD 800. Penn State University excavations in 1990 and 1997 revealed large vaulted buildings, richly embellished with facade sculpture, and an elaborate carved throne in the form of a sky band, replete with celestial images of the sun, moon, and Venus. Artifacts and burials retrieved from these buildings and smaller ancillary structures are characteristic of elite residences, but the iconography of the facades and the throne also reveals connections with Copán’s royal dynasty and efforts by the last ruler to shore up his faltering kingdom. Activity at the Skyband Group and other sites in the Copán valley continued after the abrupt political debacle, an example of the ‘slow collapse’ process that is increasingly evident among the great Maya centers in the southern lowlands of Mesoamerica.
Table of ContentsPreface
Chapter One: Maya Places and Elites
Chapter Two: Group 8N-11
Chapter Three: Operations in the Plaza and the Str. 66 Complex
Chapter Four: The Skyband Bench and its Neighbors
Chapter Five: The Façade Sculpture
Chapter Six: Operation 50: The Ancillary Buildings
Chapter Seven: Operation 63: The 1997 Field Season
Chapter Eight: Features and Burials
Chapter Nine: Artifacts
Chapter Ten: Group 8N-11: The Short Chronology
Chapter Eleven: The Long Chronology
Chapter Twelve: Final Thoughts
Appendix A: Radiocarbon Dates from Burials and Archaeomagnetic Dates
Appendix B: Illustrations of Selected Artifacts
Bibliography
