Representing divine rule in Actuncan's Preclassic site design

Actuncan's site plan was established during the Late and Terminal Preclassic periods. Renovations during the Early Classic period added height and volume but did not significantly modify the layout of the site. As Actuncan's early rulers attempted to consolidate power, they adopted conventions already in use across the Maya heartland to build the site centre. Although the arrangement of structures was likely determined in part by the preexisting topography, Actuncan's architecture includes many constituent parts common during the Late Preclassic period, including a triadic temple group, a large E-Group complex and a ball-court (Doyle Reference Doyle2017; Estrada-Belli Reference Estrada-Belli2011; Hansen Reference Hansen and Houston1998). Range structures, long multi-roomed buildings, framed the plazas of Actuncan north. These structures defined the site's six public plazas, which, along with the single broad causeway, likely played critical roles as spaces for day-to-day interaction, administration and periodic community celebrations.

The construction and arrangement of Actuncan's architecture served to support the ruler's power in at least three ways. First, the urban core provided a setting for the everyday administration of the polity (Inomata Reference Inomata, Inomata and Houston2001, 29–32). Second, the site's temples and associated plazas served as important ritual performance venues where leaders could act out the cosmological underpinnings of their rule (Inomata Reference Inomata2006; Schele & Freidel Reference Schele and Freidel1990, 96–129). Third, these buildings and the broader site plan evoked cosmological principles that emphasized the ruler's place as interlocutor between the population and the supernatural (Ashmore Reference Ashmore, Hanks and Rice1989; Reference Ashmore1991). Together, these functions played a critical role in integrating the sacred and managerial roles of Maya rulers by metaphorically connecting spaces associated with periodic ritual and daily administration into a coherent whole.

Actuncan South's large triadic temple group anchors the site's tallest ritual architecture around Plaza A. Structure 1 is the tallest pyramid in Actuncan's site core, rising 27 m above the plaza surface. Actuncan South consists of two nested triadic arrangements of temples forming a ‘fractal-type’ triadic group (Szymański Reference Szymański2014). Three small pyramids, including the vaulted Structure 1, are located on top of the monumental pyramidal platform, Structure 4. The second triadic arrangement is centred on Structure 4, which is flanked by Structures 5 and 6 on the east and west sides of Plaza A.

Within Preclassic Maya centres, triadic temple groups likely served as community gathering locations for ritual ceremonies that promoted the divine authority of rulers. The elevated platform of Structure 4 provided a stage from which the king or queen could perform and a restricted space for gathering elite in private ceremonies (cf. El Tajín: Reese-Taylor & Koontz Reference Reese-Taylor, Koontz, Koontz, Reese-Taylor and Headrick2001). These events took place in a space rich in cosmological references. Structures 4 and 5 were adorned with monumental stucco masks (McGovern Reference McGovern2004), which would have placed events within the triadic group in a vivid supernatural context. Though the mask programs of different triadic groups vary, they often represent themes that can be related to Maya myths of creation and rebirth (Szymański Reference Szymański2014). Furthermore, the triadic arrangement of structures has been viewed as a metaphor for the place of creation or the place of the Maize God’s resurrection (Freidel et al. Reference Freidel, Schele and Parker1993, 140; Hansen Reference Hansen and Houston1998, 80; Szymański Reference Szymański2014). As such, the triadic group symbolized the ruler’s divine power by placing performances within a sacred space filled with cosmological references (Freidel & Schele Reference Freidel and Schele1988).

While Actuncan South functioned as sacred space with predominantly periodic use, Actuncan North served as the primary setting for everyday public life at Actuncan. This portion of the site contained intertwined spaces dedicated to sacred and mundane activities. Aside from Actuncan South, the most important sacred space at Actuncan is the E-Group complex situated around Plaza F (Donohue Reference Donohue and LeCount2014; LeCount et al. Reference LeCount, Mixter, Simova and LeCount2017; Simova Reference Simova, Mixter and LeCount2018; Reference Simova, Mixter and LeCount2019; Simova & Mixter Reference Simova, Mixter, LeCount and Mixter2016). E-groups are nearly ubiquitous within Late Preclassic centres and were critical to early community life and for establishing territorial claims (Chase & Chase Reference Chase, Chase and Grube1995; Doyle Reference Doyle2012; Freidel et al. Reference Freidel, Chase, Dowd and Murdock2017). Consistent with the typical arrangement of E-Groups, Plaza F is bounded on the east by a long linear platform and on the west by a tall radial pyramid. Although studies indicate most E-Groups were not aligned as functioning solar observatories, they were quite standardized in form and size and likely served as metaphorical referents to the passing seasons (Aimers & Rice Reference Aimers and Rice2006; Aveni & Hartung Reference Aveni, Hartung and Aveni1989). Additionally, E-Group plazas may have functioned as important early venues for periodic gatherings and, perhaps, economic activities (Doyle Reference Doyle2012; Simova et al. Reference Simova, Wells, Mixter and LeCount2018; Stanton & Freidel Reference Stanton and Freidel2003). Recent research indicates that E-Groups are the earliest form of Preclassic Maya monumentality (Inomata et al. Reference Inomata, Triadan, Aoyama, Castillo and Yonenobu2013) and were often replaced or superseded by triadic temple groups by the end of the Late Preclassic period, perhaps reflecting the increased verticality of Maya hierarchies (Hansen Reference Hansen and Houston1998; Saturno et al. Reference Saturno, Rossi, Beltrán, Brown and Bey2018).

Aside from the E-Group, Actuncan North was composed of facilities dedicated to polity administration and urban residences. Actuncan North features several range structures, including Structures 12, 19a, 31, and 39, which likely served as venues for a variety of functions related to polity administration. Research on range structures from across the Maya Lowlands indicates that activities in these spaces include audiences and meetings hosted by rulers and elite administrators, the storage of tribute and ritual regalia and the production of specialized elite crafts (Inomata & Triadan Reference Inomata and Triadan2000; LeCount et al. Reference LeCount, Wells, Jamison and Mixter2016; Reents-Budet Reference Reents-Budet, Inomata and Houston2001; Terry et al. Reference Terry, Fernández, Parnell and Inomata2004). Although occasionally implicated in preparations for rituals, these spaces were most commonly dedicated to the political and managerial roles of rulers and their supporting bureaucracy, reflecting the practical rather than divine role of Maya rulers.

In contrast to the ritual specificity of Actuncan South, Actuncan North is an integrative space that through its design likely facilitated the mundane interactions required for the daily construction of community and the operation of the state while also providing performance venues for periodic events. Individuals living in the urban elite and commoner residences surrounding Actuncan North likely would have interacted with each other and the government apparatus as they went about their daily lives within the large public plazas and administrative buildings. These individuals would have developed community-level social and economic relationships through encounters and conversations while transiting the urban core (Low Reference Low2000). Additionally, community members would periodically have interacted with royal administrators, for example during negotiations over access to public goods (LeCount et al. Reference LeCount, Walker, Blitz and Nelson2019). As a whole, Actuncan North functions as the city's economic, civic and social hub and highlights the role the ruler as head of state plays in facilitating these interactions.

For the ancient Maya, holy lords’ power was based in their role in facilitating daily life and ensuring the continuation of that life through appeals to the supernatural (Freidel Reference Freidel and Brisch2008; Houston & Stuart Reference Houston and Stuart1996; Iannone et al. Reference Iannone, Houk and Schwake2016). This integration would have been strongly manifest in ritual processions connecting the cosmologically charged Actuncan South to Actuncan North—the hub of everyday life (see Figure 2). These spaces were coupled by a broad formal causeway or sacbe. Previous research into the uses of Maya causeways has drawn on ethnographic sources, ancient Maya site plans and ancient Maya depictions to show that these roads were used for ritual processions as well as daily access (Keller Reference Keller2006; Reese-Taylor Reference Reese-Taylor and Stone2002). The sacbe at Actuncan places Structure 19a, the site's tallest range structure, in opposition with the broad staircase that forms the formal entrance to Actuncan South's Plaza. Royal processions likely would have first passed from Structure 19a—likely the symbolic administrative centre of Actuncan—through the ball-court located at the northern end of the sacbe. Ball-courts are often interpreted as portals (Schele & Freidel Reference Schele, Freidel, Scarborough and Wilcox1991). In this case, the ruler and his entourage could be understood as passing from the world of humans to the supernatural place of creation located at Actuncan's triadic temple group. The royal procession down the sacbe from the human world through the portal into the supernatural world may have materialized the connection between the ruler's civic duties as head of state—represented by Structure 19a—and his roles as divine interlocutor—represented at Actuncan South.

Separating divine from rule

When the local community abandoned the rule of divine leaders during the Terminal Classic period, they were tasked with reconstructing their political institutions to ensure continued order in community interactions. Because the collapse included the end of divine kingship, the resilience of the community depended on members’ ability to rework the articulation of new authority structures with their cosmology. At Actuncan, the community appears to have decided to symbolically separate political and religious institutions by physically isolating the spaces dedicated to each of these spheres of life.

The several-century gap in Actuncan's use as a centre of authority from the early part of the Early Classic period to the Terminal Classic period resulted in a clear discontinuity in the use of monumental architecture and public space. This gap provides an unusual opportunity to look at how a Terminal Classic community repurposed an earlier centre during the post-collapse period. The major exception is Structure 19a, Actuncan's largest range structure. During the Late Classic, this Preclassic building was converted into an elite residence, which likely served as the palace of a secondary elite who ruled Actuncan under the auspices of a Xunantunich king or queen (Mixter et al. Reference Mixter, Jamison and LeCount2013). Contemporaneously, limited renovations took place on the ball-court, along the sacbe and within the triadic temple group (McGovern Reference McGovern2004). These renovations appear to have reified the major processional route established during the Preclassic period. However, these activities presumably took place under the aegis of Xunantunich and were likely intended to emphasize the power of the noble vassal inhabiting Group 8, perhaps as part of an effort to strengthen Xunantunich's claim over Actuncan's earlier history (Ashmore Reference Ashmore, Ciudad Ruiz, Fernándex Marquínez, García Campillo, Iglesias Ponce de León, García-Gallo and Sanz Casto1998; Mixter Reference Mixter2017a).

In contrast, excavations into other Preclassic ritual and civic architecture indicate that these locations were only used in a limited manner during the Late Classic period (McGovern Reference McGovern2004; Mixter Reference Mixter2016). Furthermore, the site's public plazas do not appear to have been maintained after the Early Classic period (Mixter Reference Mixter, LeCount and Keller2011, 52). The lack of investment in public architecture during the second half of the Early Classic period likely reflects the move away from local rule, while the select reoccupation of ritual and administrative spaces during the Late Classic period reflects the site's utilization as a secondary centre during Xunantunich's apogee. Importantly, many of the site's urban residences remained occupied continuously, and their inhabitants witnessed Actuncan's fluctuating role in the local political geography (Mixter Reference Mixter2017a; Mixter et al. Reference Mixter, Fulton, Bussiere and LeCount2014).

During the Terminal Classic period, the local community systematically reengineered Actuncan's site plan by constructing a new monumental political centre and selectively revering, renovating and actively dismantling public architecture remaining from the era of royal rule. This reorganization effectively divided the centre into two disconnected parts, a political centre focused on Actuncan North and a ritual centre in Actuncan South. While the original site plan spatially integrated Actuncan's political and ritual functions through the sacbe and shared space, Terminal Classic patterns of architectural use disconnected the major centres of political and ritual life and instead created separate political and ritual realms that better fitted post-royal rule.

Monumental construction efforts during the Terminal Classic period focused primarily on the construction of Group 4, a complex of structures located at the west end of Plaza D (Fig. 3). The largest effort focused on the construction of a large (approximately 35×20 m) basal platform with an average height of 1.5 m above Plaza D. This construction was the largest labour investment marshalled by the Terminal Classic community, indicating its centrality to the organization of the post-collapse community. The platform supported approximately six buildings along the north, west, and southern perimeters of the platform. These structures likely housed the administrative and political functions previously located in range structures during the Preclassic and Classic periods. Additionally, the broad patio space constructed between these structures may have served as a venue for community gatherings and as a stage for performances directed at an audience located in Plaza D. In contrast to the exclusive nature of Classic period polity business that took place inside the small interior spaces of elevated range structures, Group 4 is an open, accessible space that would have housed a more inclusive political organization in the post-royal period (Mixter Reference Mixter2016; Reference Mixter2017b).

Figure 3.

Map of Actuncan North highlighting the locations of Late and Terminal Classic alterations to the site core. The dashed grey ellipses circumscribe unexcavated structures that appear to have been intentionally dismantled. The dashed rectangle highlights the broad platform constructed as a base for Group 4 during the Terminal Classic period.

One notable aspect of Group 4's construction is its location within the heart of Actuncan North on top of a razed building that originally separated Plazas C and D (Mendelsohn & Keller Reference Mendelsohn, Keller, LeCount and Keller2011). Despite the existing public infrastructure within the site core, the community did not reuse the site's range structures or E-Group during the Terminal Classic period. Initially constructed as part of the integrated site plan aimed at supporting the institution of divine kingship, these spaces were no longer appealing to the site's residents. Instead, these buildings were dismantled.

Prior to the Terminal Classic period, Structure 19a served two previous roles in the Actuncan community, first as the site's largest Preclassic and Early Classic range structure and then as the focal point of a Late Classic ruler's residence. During the Terminal Classic period, this structure's vaulted roof and masonry walls were removed and the interior rooms filled and sealed, effectively terminating the use life of this structure (Mixter et al. Reference Mixter, Jamison and LeCount2013, 95–7). The structure's vault stones were specifically selected for incorporation into the filling process (Fig. 4). Similarly dramatic acts of filling or burying palace structures at other Maya sites have been associated with transitions in leadership or the termination of royal rule (Iannone Reference Iannone2005; Laporte Reference Laporte1989; Yaeger Reference Yaeger, LeCount and Yaeger2010). Excavations at the base of the structure uncovered only a small amount of collapse debris, indicating that the stones from the deconstructed superstructure were carefully removed, not simply hurled off the platform (Jamison Reference Jamison and LeCount2013, 21–3). Additionally, many of the blocks that composed the staircase used to access the summit of Structure 19a appear to have been removed in antiquity. Figure 5 is a photograph showing the terminal version of the staircase during excavation. Most of the steps were defined based on in situ river cobbles that backed the staircase's cut limestone block risers in the original construction. A few remaining cut limestone blocks illustrate the original engineering of the staircase. The general lack of in situ cut stones and the absence of substantial collapse debris indicate that the missing stones did not fall but were intentionally removed. This act would have rendered the summit of Structure 19a unreachable by any formal route.

Figure 4.

A large vault stone buried in a door of Structure 19a's superstructure. (Photograph: Thomas R. Jamison.)

Figure 5.

The terminal staircase of Structure 19a as found in excavations is seen in the foreground. The few original cut limestone blocks that formed the original stair risers were found in situ, as annotated by arrows in the photograph. All other stones are river cobble stones from the structure fill. We largely defined the staircase based on irregularly shaped river cobbles that backed the cut stone facings. Importantly, many cut stones, but not the river cobble backing, were removed. The few remaining cut stones speak to the staircase's original engineering and the unsystematic way in which the stones were removed. (Photograph: Lisa J. LeCount.)

Despite the E-Group's cosmological importance during the Preclassic period, it does not appear to have been used during the Terminal Classic period. Instead, our excavations indicate that both Structure 26, the linear eastern platform, and Structure 23, the western pyramid, were dismantled in a manner similar to Structure 19a. The Terminal Classic Maya removed most of the cut stones from Structure 26's staircase, leaving the fill below in place (Donohue Reference Donohue and LeCount2014). Yet the fact that a few stones were left in place indicates that this dismantling happened somewhat casually rather than as a concerted effort to destroy the staircase. Additionally, the complete absence of fallen cut stones at the foot of the stairs indicates that natural processes did not lead to the dismantling of Structure 26. Excavations on the eastern side of Structure 23 also found few facing stones (Heindel Reference Heindel, LeCount and Mixter2016). Only the rubble core remained of the final construction phase, indicating that the building's façade was dismantled in antiquity.

The removal of cut stones from Structures 19a, 23, and 26 fits a pattern of destruction that appears to extend to much of Actuncan North's monumental architecture. Most of Actuncan North's unexcavated public structures are visually remarkable because they appear to be piles of large river stones rather than nicely formed Maya platforms (i.e. Structure 12, as seen in Figure 6). Like the excavated examples, these buildings likely featured cut stone façades that fronted large stone fill. During excavations we did not encounter enough cut limestone blocks in collapse contexts to account for those missing from the façades of these buildings. At the same time, excavations into the Group 4 platform indicate that the Actuncan Maya largely used cut stones to fill this large substructure. The use of attractive dressed stone as fill contrasts with the rough-hewn limestone or unhewn river cobbles used in the core of the site's Preclassic constructions. The local community had little reason to maintain the monumental architecture associated with the administration of the previous regime. Instead, after ritually closing some spaces, these buildings were systematically mined for stone. Practically speaking, these buildings provided the most readily accessible source of construction material. More importantly, the act shows a clear disregard for the remnants of royal authority at the site. The community chose to build a new political centre and intentionally disassemble the old surrounding infrastructure, patterns that point to the community's break with earlier structures of authority.

Figure 6.

Structure 12 at Actuncan, showing the river cobble core fill emerging from the structure's modern surface. Excavations on Structure 19a (see Figure 5) and 23 (Heindel Reference Heindel, LeCount and Mixter2016; Jamison Reference Jamison and LeCount2013), which also appeared to be cobble-covered prior to excavation, indicate that the cobble-covered appearance of many mounds in Actuncan North resulted from the removal of the cut limestone façades in antiquity rather than natural processes of collapse. The absence of fallen cut stones at the bases of these buildings and the presence of a few remnant limestone blocks in situ speak to the intentional act of removal.

These Terminal Classic actions also destroyed the integration of the political and ritual spheres built into the original site layout. Previously, Actuncan North interdigitated ritual and civic spaces; however, during the Terminal Classic period, these functions became segregated. Actuncan's E-group was dismantled and the largest range structure was capped and dismantled. The destruction on Structure 19a also eliminated one terminus of the processional path connecting Actuncan North to Actuncan South, breaking the metaphorical connection between the site's political and religious centres. Instead, Group 4 replaced the administrative and civic gathering functions previously located in Structure 19a (Mixter Reference Mixter2017b). Group 4 was built facing away from Plaza C and the sacbe and was not connected to Actuncan South by any direct path. This organizational shift physically divided Actuncan into two separate and unconnected realms. Abandoned and partially dismantled buildings in the centre of the city formed a buffer between Group 4 and the remaining religious space located in Actuncan South. The result was a reorganized urban core in which historic venues of royal authority were no longer spatially connected to the Terminal Classic political process.

Despite these changes, one old ritual space at Actuncan did not go out of use. The triadic temple group at Actuncan South was the location of new construction and renewed ritual activity (Fig. 7). During his work recording a large looter's trench into Structure 5, McGovern (Reference McGovern2004) identified an 80 cm thick deposit of burned ceramic materials. The size and density of this deposit indicates an accumulation of materials over time, reflecting repeated reverential ritual. Additionally, four low Terminal Classic platforms were constructed in Plaza A to facilitate this ritual action (Mixter Reference Mixter2016, 263–89). The most important of these is Structure 8, a low platform that would have supported a perishable building. Structure 8 was constructed across the main entrance to Plaza A, dividing this space from the sacbe to the north. This building had three or five narrow doors that community members would have had to pass through to access Plaza A. Structure 8 would have impeded processions along the sacbe, effectively isolating Plaza A from the remainder of this site core. This allowed Actuncan South to remain a place for ritual appeals to supernatural forces and ancestors, without implying a connection between these forces and the community's ruling institutions.

Figure 7.

Map of Actuncan South highlighting the Terminal Classic uses of this space. In addition to Structure 8, the three structures circumscribed by dashed ellipses were constructed during the Terminal Classic period. Note how Structure 8 would have blocked the central access from Plaza A to the sacbe, interrupting the previously unimpeded processional path.

While the original Late Preclassic formulation of Actuncan's site layout emphasized the role of the ruler as a divine interlocutor presiding over the daily political and economic activities of the state and its constituents, the modified landscape explicitly breaks these bonds. When only the buildings in active use are considered, Actuncan's Terminal Classic landscape was clearly divided between a southern ritual group and a northern political space. The destruction of Structure 19a and construction of a low entry building blocking access to Plaza A destroyed the processional path and created separation between the triadic group and the northern civic zone. Additionally, much of the old royal infrastructure in the site's northern sector was terminated and dismantled. In this way, the Actuncan Maya pulled apart the monumental trappings of divine leadership in Actuncan North, rendering them unusable and their associations defunct.