The K’ab’awil, or Protective Deities, of the Maya Highlands: Symbols of Identity and Political Integration

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In the Late Postclassic period (AD 1250–1524), the deities called k’ab’awil had an important role in the formation of collective identities in the Maya highlands, together with the language and the territory. In the political field, the k’ab’awil were vital in integrating the peoples that fell under K’iche’ rule and with whom they maintained dependency alliances. In the Late Postclassic, the K’iche’ established several ideological mechanisms to stay in power and strengthen relations with their allies. Some of these strategies included the development of public ceremonial activities and the veneration of the main K’iche’ k’ab’awil by the allies, which is related to the integration of K’iche’ lineages in the sociopolitical organizations of other polities. In this presentation, I will present archaeological and historical evidence to show some of the ideological mechanisms that the K’iche’ used to keep the social order and strengthen the alliances with their allies, including the Kaqchikel, Rab’inaleb’, Tujal, and Tz’utujil, among others. I will provide evidence that would support the hypothesis originally proposed by Florine Sloane, who stated that the existence of double and twin temples in the highlands was an innovation of the K’iche’ to manage the conquered polities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Regimes of the Ancient Maya   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36182.0