Quirigua

Quirigua, a modest Classic Period Maya site, is strategically located in the lower Motagua River valley in Guatemala, near the Honduran border, 40 miles from the Caribbean. The site is closely linked with Copán, 30 miles south, and stone inscriptions at Quirigua record the success of a raiding party that captured Waxaklahuun Ub'aah K'awiil (18 Rabbit), ruler of Copán in 738 ce. Masonry structures date from the Early Classic Period. Dated inscriptions span 8.19.10.17 (426 ce) on Zoomorph P to 9.19.0.0.0 (810 ce) on Structure 1B-1, constructed by Jade Sky, the last recorded ruler of Quirigua.

The site center is adjacent to an earlier bed of the Motagua River; and evidence indicates that, during the century following 737 ce, Quirigua controlled river trade of jade and obsidian passing down the Motagua and then northward along the Caribbean coast to Yucatán.

The Great Plaza of Quirigua is studded with enormous stelae and zoomorphic stone sculptures with inscriptions. Most portray Waxaklahuun Ub'aah K'awiil, the ruler whose war party captured K'ak Tiliw Chan Yopaat and began Quirigua's domination of the area. To the south of the plaza is a ball court surrounded on three sides by terraces and steps. Behind these and further south is a large acropolis of ceremonial and elite residential structures built over an earlier ball court. Much of this architectural plan was realized after 737 ce and may have been a deliberate attempt by K'ak Tiliw Chan Yopaat to imitate (and surpass) the ceremonial precinct of his greatest conquest, Copán.

Modest activity continued into the Terminal Classic Period, and early metallurgy is documented by copper disks and cast copper bells. Following the possible arrival of settlers from Central Mexico, Quirigua was ultimately abandoned before the close of the Early Postclassic Period.

See alsoArchaeology; Maya, The.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Quirigua Reports, Vol. 1, ed. Wendy Ashmore. Philadelphia: University Museum Monograph No. 37, University of Pennsylvania 1979.

Quirigua Reports, Vol. 2, ed. Edward Mark Schortman and Patricia Urban. Philadelphia, PA: University of Philadelphia, 1983.

Quirigua Reports, Vol. 3, ed. Edward Mark Schortman. Philadelphia: University Museum Monograph No. 80, University of Pennsylvania, 1993.

Looper, Matt. "New Perspectives on the Late Classic Political History of Quirigua, Guatemala." Ancient Mesoamerica 10 (1999): 263-280.

                                  Walter R.T. Witschey