New Light on Dzibanché and on the Rise of the Snake Kingdom’s Hegemony in the Maya Lowlands

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "New Light on Dzibanché and on the Rise of the Snake Kingdom’s Hegemony in the Maya Lowlands" at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Since 1995, the Kaanul (Snake) kingdom has been known as one of the most influential states in Classic Maya history. According to epigraphic evidence, its kings acted as overlords over most of the southern and central Maya Lowlands’ kingdoms. The notion that a vast hegemony encompassing much of the lowlands has since subverted prior assumptions on the complexity and scale of Classic Maya states. However, many questions remain regarding the place of origin of the Kaanul kingdom and the processes that led to its rise as a hegemonic state, as well as a nuanced understanding of the nature of the hegemony. The location of its capital had long been a subject of debate, first erroneously identified with La Corona, Guatemala, then, correctly, with Calakmul, Campeche. Later finds leave little doubt that before Calakmul, the site of Dzibanché, Quintana Roo, was an earlier capital of the Kaanul kingdom. Here we present currently available archaeological, lidar, and epigraphic data recovered from Dzibanché and affiliated lowland sites with updated interpretations on the early history of the Kaanul kingdom and on the urbanistic features of the center of a hegemonic Classic Maya state.

Other Keywords
Maya: Classic • Iconography and epigraphy • Social and Political Organization: States and Empires • Historical Archaeology • Mortuary Analysis • Indigenous • Monumentality • Social and Political Organization • Remote Sensing/Geophysics • Digital Archaeology: 3D Modeling

Geographic Keywords
United Mexican States (Country) • Belize (Country) • North America (Continent) • Peten (State / Territory) • Yucatan (State / Territory) • Orange Walk (State / Territory) • Cayo (State / Territory) • Corozal (State / Territory) • Belize (State / Territory) • Stann Creek (State / Territory)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-10 of 10)

  • Documents (10)
Documents
  • An Account of the Kings of Kanu’l as Recorded on the Hieroglyphic Stair of K’an II of Caracol (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Christophe Helmke. Sergei Vepretskii.

    This is an abstract from the "New Light on Dzibanché and on the Rise of the Snake Kingdom’s Hegemony in the Maya Lowlands" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Much remains unknown as to the hieroglyphic stair dedicated by 642 AD by K’an II, the great king of Caracol. Constituent panels were discovered at a number of different sites, including Caracol, Ucanal, Naranjo, and Xunantunich. The most recently discovered panels contribute greatly to our...

  • Datos arqueológicos del asentamiento prehispánico de Dzibanché, Quintana Roo (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sandra Balanzario Granados.

    This is an abstract from the "New Light on Dzibanché and on the Rise of the Snake Kingdom’s Hegemony in the Maya Lowlands" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. El asentamiento prehispánico de Dzibanché, se localiza en el Sur de Quintana Roo, tiene una extensión aproximada de 60 km2, superficie que incluye las áreas destinadas a la producción de alimentos y áreas habitacionales. Dzibanché fue el asiento de la dinastía Kaanu’l, durante el periodo del...

  • Dzibanché: The Capital of the Kaanul (Snake) Kingdom Seen through Lidar (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Francisco Estrada-Belli. Sandra Balanzario.

    This is an abstract from the "New Light on Dzibanché and on the Rise of the Snake Kingdom’s Hegemony in the Maya Lowlands" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Dzibanché is an archaeological zone in southern Quintana Roo encompassing several large ceremonial complexes, Dzibanché, Tutil, Kinichna and Lamay connected by causeways. According to contemporary texts, it was the early capital of the Kaanul (Snake) kingdom with vast hegemonic influence across...

  • The Kaanul Dynasty and the Early History of the Northwest Petén (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Tomas Barrientos. Marcello Canuto. David Stuart.

    This is an abstract from the "New Light on Dzibanché and on the Rise of the Snake Kingdom’s Hegemony in the Maya Lowlands" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the past two decades it has become increasingly clear that the ancient Maya political landscape was permeated by regional systems of political asymmetry. These hegemonic networks fluctuated through time, but the steady presence of a few especially dominant polities shows that they were a...

  • Los gobernantes de la dinastía Kaanu'l en Dzibanché, Quintana Roo, México (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Erik Velásquez García.

    This is an abstract from the "New Light on Dzibanché and on the Rise of the Snake Kingdom’s Hegemony in the Maya Lowlands" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Diversos hallazgos arqueológicos en Dzibanché (Kaanu'l) y en otros sitios de las tierras bajas mayas orientales han revelado que el asiento original de los gobernantes de la dinastía Kaanu'l o "Cabeza de Serpiente" se encontraba en el sur del actual estado mexicano de Quintana Roo. En esta...

  • Nuevos datos, nuevas interpretaciones: Resultados preliminares de escaneo 3D y fotogrametría de algunos rasgos, monumentos y artefactos de Dzibanché (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sandra Viskanta Khokhriakova. Alexandre Tokovinine. Dmitri Beliaev. Sandra Balanzario.

    This is an abstract from the "New Light on Dzibanché and on the Rise of the Snake Kingdom’s Hegemony in the Maya Lowlands" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper presents some preliminary results of the first field season of 3D documentation of buildings, monuments, and portable artifacts from the archaeological site of Dzibanché in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Four building facades, 20 stairway blocks, nine miscellaneous sculpture fragments, and six...

  • “Serpent Emperor”: The Reign of K’ahk’ Ti’ Ch’ich’ and the Origins of Dzibanché Hegemony (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Dmitri Beliaev. Simon Martin.

    This is an abstract from the "New Light on Dzibanché and on the Rise of the Snake Kingdom’s Hegemony in the Maya Lowlands" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent studies of the inscriptions related to the Kaanul dynasty has revealed a new ruler named K’ahk’ Ti’ Ch’ich’. He is mentioned in various Maya sites (El Peru, Uaxactun, Naranjo) as a high king and overlord with a wide dominion. His accession in 550 CE is recorded on the wooden Lintel 3 from...

  • The Snake Dynasty: What We Know and What We Don’t (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Marc Zender.

    This is an abstract from the "New Light on Dzibanché and on the Rise of the Snake Kingdom’s Hegemony in the Maya Lowlands" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Epigraphic discoveries of the last few years now make possible a fresh engagement with questions about the origins and development of the Snake dynasty, of its external political influences during both the Early and Late Classic periods, and of the multiple physical centers from which the dynasty...

  • Snake Queens and Political Consolidation: How Royal Women Helped Create Kaanul—A View from Waka’ (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Olivia Navarro-Farr. Mary Kate Kelly. David Freidel.

    This is an abstract from the "New Light on Dzibanché and on the Rise of the Snake Kingdom’s Hegemony in the Maya Lowlands" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Our paper demonstrates the key role played by royal women of the Kaanul realm in fortifying and consolidating that realm’s power and hegemony in the seventh to eighth centuries CE. We draw upon archaeological, visual, and textual evidence from Waka’, including preliminary analysis of recently...

  • The Team for the New Age: Naranjo and Holmul under Kaanul’s Sway (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alexandre Tokovinine. Francisco Estrada Belli.

    This is an abstract from the "New Light on Dzibanché and on the Rise of the Snake Kingdom’s Hegemony in the Maya Lowlands" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The paper presents the results of the last decade of archeological and epigraphic research that clarify the history of the reigns of Holmul and Naranjo during the expansion of the Dzibanché dynasty in eastern Petén in the second half of the sixth century and the first half of the seventh century...