K'an I

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K'an I
King of Caracol
ReignAD 531-534>
Successor Yajaw Te' K'inich II
Consort Lady K'al K'inich
Issue Yajaw Te' K'inich II
Father Yajaw Te' K'inich I
MotherWife of Yajaw Te' K'inich I
Religion Maya religion

K'an I (also known as Ruler II, Lord Jaguar and Antenna Top I) was a Maya king of Caracol in Belize. He reigned AD 531-534>.

Maya civilization Mesoamerican civilization

The Maya civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization developed by the Maya peoples, and noted for its logosyllabic script—the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in pre-Columbian Americas—as well as for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical system. The Maya civilization developed in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. This region consists of the northern lowlands encompassing the Yucatán Peninsula, and the highlands of the Sierra Madre, running from the Mexican state of Chiapas, across southern Guatemala and onwards into El Salvador, and the southern lowlands of the Pacific littoral plain.

King class of male monarch

King, or king regnant is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, while the title of queen on its own usually refers to the consort of a king.

Caracol Maya city in Belize

Caracol is the name given to a large ancient Maya archaeological site, located in what is now the Cayo District of Belize. It is situated approximately 40 kilometres south of Xunantunich and the town of San Ignacio Cayo, and 15 kilometers away from the Macal River. It rests on the Vaca Plateau at an elevation of 500 meters above sea-level, in the foothills of the Maya Mountains. Long thought to be a tertiary center, it is now known that the site was one of the most important regional political centers of the Maya Lowlands during the Classic Period. Caracol covered approximately 200 square kilometers, covering an area much larger than present-day Belize City and supported more than twice the modern city's population.

Biography

K'an was a son of the king Yajaw Te' K'inich I, who was maybe a son of K'ahk' Ujol K'inich I and Lady of Xultun.

His monuments are Stela 16 and Altar 14.

Because it was carved in slate rather than limestone, Stela 15 survives only in fragments, but it seems to record this ruler's accession and states that it took place under the auspices of a higher authority; because so little of the text can be read, it is not known whether this was a superordinate political power or a god. [1] The inscription also mentions an attack against Oxwitza' ("Three Hill Water"), as Caracol was anciently known, and refers to lords from Caracol and Tikal; it is by no means certain, however, that these events happened during the reign of K'an.

Slate A fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, weakly metamorphic rock

Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. Foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering, but instead is in planes perpendicular to the direction of metamorphic compression.

Limestone Sedimentary rocks made of calcium carbonate

Limestone is a carbonate sedimentary rock that is often composed of the skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, foraminifera, and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). A closely related rock is dolostone, which contains a high percentage of the mineral dolomite, CaMg(CO3)2. In fact, in old USGS publications, dolostone was referred to as magnesian limestone, a term now reserved for magnesium-deficient dolostones or magnesium-rich limestones.

Tikal Ruins of major ancient Maya city

Tikal is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park and in 1979 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

His wife was Lady K'al K'inich, who bore him Yajaw Te' K'inich II, his successor. His son was King Knot Ajaw.

Knot Ajaw was a king of the Maya city-state Caracol in Belize, a successor of his father Yajaw Te' K'inich II. He reigned AD 599-613>.

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References

  1. Martin and Grube 2000:87

Simon Martin is a British epigrapher, historian, writer and Mayanist scholar. He is best known for his contributions to the study and decipherment of the Maya script, the writing system used by the pre-Columbian Maya civilisation of Mesoamerica. As one of the leading epigraphers active in contemporary Mayanist research, Martin has specialised in the study of the political interactions and dynastic histories of Classic-era Maya polities. A former honorary research fellow at the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, as of 2018 Martin holds a position at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology where he is an Associate Curator and Keeper in the American Section and is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Nikolai Grube German Mesoamericanist

Nikolai Grube is a German epigrapher. He was born in Bonn in 1962. Grube entered the University of Hamburg in 1982 and graduated in 1985. His doctoral thesis was published at the same university in 1990. After he received his doctorate, Grube moved to the University of Bonn. Nikolai Grube has been heavily involved in the decipherment of the Maya hieroglyphic script.