Chochkitam: A Classic Maya Kingdom on the Kaanu’l Path to Tikal—An Update

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Chochkitam is a major ceremonial center in northeastern Petén, situated among sites with inscribed monuments such as Xultun, La Honradez, Río Azul in Guatemala, and La Milpa in Belize, giving us a few data points on the shifting political history of the Early and Late Classic periods. Since the discovery in 2021 of a carved frieze with a dedicatory inscription naming the Kaanu’l king K’ahk’ Ti’ Ch’ich’ as overlord of a Chochkitam ruler, we know that the kingdom was an important ally of the Kaanu’l in their advancement through northeastern Petén Tikal, culminating in the decisive war of 562 CE. A small monument salvaged by our project from a looted structure at Chochkitam attested to potential links between the local dynasty and Tikal in the fourth century, well before the arrival of the Kaanu’l. A new burial found in 2022 in the structure associated with this monument (CHK Stela 3) and other new evidence from the site shed new light on the Early Classic history of the local dynasty and on its changing political affiliations, providing important insights on the shifting political hegemonies in the Maya Lowlands at the end of the Early Classic period.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36983.0