Contextualizing a Patron Deity: Analysis of the Akan Figurine from the Tomb of a Royal Queen at Classic Maya City of El Perú-Waka'

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In 2012, the tomb of a royal woman was discovered in a buried subphase of a central ceremonial building in the heart of ancient El Perú-Waka' (henceforth Waka’). The interred is Lady K’abel, the site’s most significant Snake Dynast whose Calakmul origins and title of Ix K’aloomte positioned her as superior in rank to her spouse, Waka’ ruler K’inich Bahlam II. The artifact, a roughly hewn figurine carved from soft karstic material, has been identified as a depiction of Akan, a deity commonly associated with disease, drinking, death, and self-decapitation. Chemical analyses planned for this object may shed light on the significance of this source material, its composition, and potentially its source. The deity Akan is also one of Waka’s most central patrons. In this poster, we discuss the object’s placement as well as the significance of its identification of a fetich representation of the city’s primary patron deity. Our goal is to explore the nature of this figurine as an effigy, and contextualize this nature based on ritually and spiritually significant themes at Waka’.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52296