Komkom What May: The Ancient Maya Kingdom of Komkom in Time and Place

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Making and Breaking Boundaries in the Maya Lowlands: Alliance and Conflict across the Guatemala–Belize Border" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Painted and carved pictorial pottery of the Classic Maya (250-850 CE) served primarily as ostentatious serving vessels at feasts and other principal celebrations. The vessels were masterful creations by accomplished artisans and are, for the most part, individualistic expressions. The imagery includes a dedicatory hieroglyphic text ending with the names and titles of the vessels’ patrons/owners, implying they were the proud possessions of royalty and the high elite. Among these are the little-known kings of Komkom, who are mentioned in the monumental glyphic texts at Naranjo, Guatemala and on portable ceramic and other portable objects found at the sites of Buenavista del Cayo and Baking Pot, in Belize. Yet its geographic location remains to be verified. Through detailed epigraphic and chemical analyses of objects bearing reference to the kings of Komkom, this paper presents our recent results combining epigraphic, artistic style, and trace elemental chemical analyses. Research goals focus on (1) discerning the location(s) of manufacture of pottery bearing Komkom nominals, (2) establishing the archaeological identity of Komkom, and (3) shedding light on Komkom’s socio-political interactions during the Classic period.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Making and Breaking Boundaries in the Maya Lowlands: Alliance and Conflict across the Guatemala–Belize Border

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24647