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EMBLEM GLYPHS AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN NORTHWESTERN YUCATAN IN THE CLASSIC PERIOD (a.d. 300–1000)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2006

Daniel Graña-Behrens
Daniel Graña-Behrens
Affiliation:
Institut für Altamerikanistik und Ethnologie, University of Bonn, Römerstrasse 164, 53117 Bonn, Germany
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Abstract

Since the late 1950s, scholars have analyzed emblem glyphs to better understand the political organization of the Classic Maya (a.d. 300–900/1000). These unique glyphs reflect a certain royal self-understanding, for they were used as a title by the rulers to distinguish themselves from other noblemen within a milieu of growing competition for prestige and power. While this has been well documented in the central and southern lowlands, evidence for the existence of emblem glyphs in northwestern Yucatan—a region defined by certain cultural traits also reflected in the inscriptions—has been scarce. This study not only explores whether and how further emblem glyphs can be detected in the inscriptions of northwestern Yucatan by questioning the traditional definition of this title. It also, as a consequence, sheds new light on royal self-representation and political organization in northwestern Yucatan during the Classic period.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , January 2006 , pp. 105 - 123
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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