The Snake Dynasty: What We Know and What We Don’t

Summary

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 held sway. On present evidence, the Snake dynasty seems to have emerged at or near Dzibanché in the late first or early second century AD, and during the next 600 years it would experience a dramatic series of successes and reversals including a dramatic sixth-century expansion, a disastrous seventh-century civil war, and a relocation of its capital to Calakmul during the long reign of Yuhknoom Ch’een (AD 635–685) and two successors. Perhaps of equal importance with its political influence were the unique cultural elements either introduced or disseminated by the Snake dynasty during its ascendance: market economies, public sports, increased prominence of women in public art, and increased visibility of non-royal nobility. Several of these features seem to have survived the early ninth-century collapse, influencing later Maya civilization of the northern lowlands and southern highlands.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Light on Dzibanché and on the Rise of the Snake Kingdom’s Hegemony in the Maya Lowlands   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33433