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K'inich Yax K'uk Mo'

Header: K'inich Yax K'uk Mo'
Also known as: K'inich Yax K'uk Mo'; primary name: K'inich Yax K'uk Mo'; other name: Great-Sun First Quetzal Macaw; other name: Kinich Yax Kuk Mo; other name: Yax K'uk Mo'
Details: individual; ruler; Maya; Male
Other dates: 426- (active)
Biography: Founding ancestor of the Classic Maya site of Copan. Another sculptural monument from this renowned site was Altar Q which recounts the story of Copan's inception. On 5th September 426 the founder assumed control of the snake-footed k'awiil sceptre and rose to kingly status. The same monument tells us that his formal investiture took place in a special 'Foundation House' that was far distant from Copan and closely associated with dynastic genesis. The portrait shown here was carved some 350 years later in c. AD 776 by the sixteenth king and comes from the inner shrine of the Late Classic Temple 16. The 'goggle eyes' of the sculpture suggest connections with the contemporary great highland Mexican metropolis of Teotihuacan. In 1995 an archaeological team working on the early phases of Temple 16 found a vaulted crypt cut into the floor. Within were the remains of an aged male, adorned with a suitable royal collection of jades including a large bar pectoral, ear ornaments and tooth inlays. The skeleton showed evidence of several injuries consistent with battle wounds, including a broken right arm that had never properly healed. It has been noted that Yax K'uk' Mo's portait on Altar Q shows a stunted right limb obscured by a small square shield, perhaps an accurate detail. Lying at the very core of the Acropolis, beneath a sequence of at least seven further buildings each dedicated to his enduring memory, this body seems certain to be that of the founder himself.

1 related objects

figure

Museum number: Am1923,Maud.9 |
Cultures/periods: x103733 Classic Maya |
Production date: 776 |
Findspot: Found/Acquired:Portrait of K'inich Yax K'uk Mo'

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