Day 15 June 6
Part 2






Two of the stelae beside the main temple which display the unique Seibal ceremonial style. (The dress, ornamentation, and facial features are non-Maya.) Occupying generals from the Mexican highlands, perhaps? Since the Maya were in many ways the most advanced people in Pre-Columbian America, it is not surprising that their conquerors might try to adopt some Maya customs-- indeed, even the practice of erecting stelae.

Seibal was first occupied around 800 BC, and throughout its history, has warred continually with its neighbors. Yich'ak Balam, the king of Seibal, was captured-- and probably sacrificed -- in 735 AD by the Maya city of Dos Pilas, leading to about sixty years of foreign rule. In the ninth century, waves of non-Maya or "mexicanized Maya" peoples came to settle, ushering in a new period of prosperity and "hybrid vigor" for the weakened kingdom. Perhaps as a result, Seibal lasted longer than most other cities in the Petén, and was permanently abandoned only around 930 AD. The city has some of the last erected stelae in the ancient Maya heartland.

After the fall of the Classic lowland centers, Maya civilization would endure in a form often mingled with the cultural and military symbols of the northern conquerors. The chief example is Chichen-Itzá in the Yucatan, where Toltec warrior statues and colonnades stand beside traditional Maya pyramids.

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Into Guatemala 1989. © 1999 J. L. Pe