K'atepan

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K'atepan, as seen from across the valley K'atepan 01.png
K'atepan, as seen from across the valley

K'atepan (pronounced [kʼate'pan]), also known as Yolchonab' (pronounced [joltʃo'naɓ]), is an archaeological site of the ancient Maya civilization located 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the east of the modern town of San Mateo Ixtatán, in the Huehuetenango Department of Guatemala. [1] The name K'atepan translates as "old church", while the alternate name of Yolchonab' means "in the village". [2] The site consists of a small temple plaza in front of two large terraces set against a mountainside, accessed by broad stairways. [2] The site was first described by Guatemalan historian Adrián Recinos in 1913. Recinos considered K'atepan to be the most important ceremonial site in the northern Sierra de los Cuchumatanes mountains. [2] A preliminary map of K'atepan was produced in 2007. [3]

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.

San Mateo Ixtatán Municipality in Huehuetenango, Guatemala

San Mateo Ixtatán is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of Huehuetenango. It is situated at 2,540 metres (8,330 ft) above sea level in the Cuchumatanes mountain range and covers 560 square kilometres (220 sq mi) of terrain. It has a cold climate and is located in a cloud forest. The temperature fluctuates between 0.5 and 20 °C. The coldest months are from November to January and the warmest months are April and May. The town has a population of about 10,000, and is the municipal center for an additional 20,000 people living in the surrounding mountain villages. It has a weekly market on Thursday and Sunday. The annual town festival takes place from September 19 to September 21 honoring their patron Saint Matthew. The residents of San Mateo belong to the Chuj Maya ethnic group and speak the Mayan Chuj language, not to be confused with Chuj baths, or wood fired steam rooms that are common throughout the central and western highlands.

Huehuetenango Department Department in Huehuetenango, Guatemala

Huehuetenango is one of the 22 departments of Guatemala. It is situated in the western highlands and shares borders with Mexico in the north and west; with El Quiché in the east, with Totonicapán, Quetzaltenango, and San Marcos to the south. The capital is the city of Huehuetenango.

Contents

Description

Plan of the site core K'atepan plan.png
Plan of the site core

K'atepan possesses 19 structures clustered in six architectural groups. [4] The main temple measures 8 by 13.5 by 2.5 metres (26.2 by 44.3 by 8.2 ft) and stands in the centre of a small plaza. Although it is located on an exposed mountainside, it is relatively well preserved. [2] It does not appear to have been badly damaged by looting though there are some small holes on the northeastern side. [5] The temple has suffered some damage in recent times from plant roots penetrating the masonry. [2] A substantial portion of the southeastern corner of the temple has collapsed, revealing a substructure with finely cut stonework, perhaps belonging to its stairway. The temple was coated with various layers of stucco; the outermost layer remains intact over much of the temple exterior. When Recinos published his description in the early 20th century, photographs showed the temple in a much better state of preservation, with standing walls from the temple shrine upon its summit. [6]

Stucco material made of aggregates, a binder, and water

Stucco or render is a material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture. Stucco may be used to cover less visually appealing construction materials, such as metal, concrete, cinder block, or clay brick and adobe.

The temple is of a style typical of the Postclassic period (c. 950–1539 AD) in the Guatemalan Highlands. The northeastern side of the temple was accessed by a double stairway, with a single stairway on each of the other sides. Directly opposite the double stairway, another double stairway climbs the lower platform of the two terraces. On the southeastern side, the single stairway is matched by a single stairway in a platform opposite. The temple and the platform are not perfectly aligned, but there appears to have been an attempt to produce general symmetry. [6]

Guatemalan Highlands upland region in southern Guatemala, lying between the Sierra Madre de Chiapas to the south and the Petén lowlands to the north; made up of a series of high valleys enclosed by mountains

The Guatemalan Highlands is an upland region in southern Guatemala, lying between the Sierra Madre de Chiapas to the south and the Petén lowlands to the north. The highlands are made up of a series of high valleys enclosed by mountains. The local name for the region is Altos, meaning "highlands", which includes the northern declivity of the Sierra Madre. The mean elevation is greatest in the west and least in the east. A few of the streams of the Pacific slope actually rise in the highlands, and force a way through the Sierra Madre at the bottom of deep ravines. One large river, the Chixoy or Salinas River, escapes northwards towards the Gulf of Mexico. The relief of the mountainous country which lies north of the Highlands and drains into the Atlantic is varied by innumerable terraces, ridges and underfalls; but its general configuration is compared by E. Reclus with the appearance of "a stormy sea breaking into parallel billows". The parallel ranges extend east and west with a slight southerly curve towards their centres. A range called the Sierra de Chamá, which, however, changes its name frequently from place to place, strikes eastward towards Belize, and is connected by low hills with the Cockscomb Mountains; another similar range, the Sierra de Santa Cruz, continues east to Cape Cocoli between the Polochic and the Sarstoon; and a third, the Sierra de las Minas or, in its eastern portion, Sierra del Mico, stretches between the Polochic and the Motagua rivers. Between Honduras and Guatemala, the frontier is formed by the Sierra de Merendón.

The surveyed architecture consisting of the temple plaza and associated platforms is apparently the core of a larger group of buildings. Investigators highlighted overgrown buildings further down the mountainside, the dimensions of which suggest another temple similar in size and design to the central temple. A small platform is located up the slope to the southeast, beside a road, and there are likely to be further remains as yet undescribed. [6]

The architectural style of the K'atepan temple is very similar to that of the remains of a pre-Columbian temple at Titz'am, the nearby salt springs in the valley below, [7] and the two sites are closely linked in local tradition. [8]

Folklore

In local tradition, the site is linked to the Tojolabal Maya, and is said to have belonged to an ancient lord. [6] Tradition holds that K'atepan was the home of the Tzapaluta people, [9] the local name for the Tojolabal, [6] and the former name of La Trinitaria in Chiapas, in neighbouring Mexico. [10] It is generally not considered to be sacred by the modern Chuj Maya inhabitants of San Mateo Ixtatán. The Tojolabal Maya are said to have been expelled from the area by the Chuj after a war over the local salt springs. The Tojolabal are now located in Chiapas, and they have a tradition that they originally came from the San Mateo Ixtatán region; they make yearly pilgrimages to San Mateo to pray for rain. Originally these pilgrimages were to K'atepan, but in recent times the focus has moved across the valley to San Mateo, the neighbouring ruins of Wajxaklajun, and the local salt springs. [6] By 2013, the organisation of these traditional pilgrimages was carried out by Tzeltal Maya of La Trinitaria, but still included ethnic Tojolabal. [11] The Tzeltal participants have no traditions concerning K'atepan. [12]

La Trinitaria, Chiapas Municipality in Chiapas, Mexico

La Trinitaria is a town and one of the 119 Municipalities of Chiapas, in southern Mexico.

Chiapas State of Mexico

Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the 31 states that along with the federal district of Mexico City make up the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 124 municipalities as of September 2017 and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Other important population centers in Chiapas include Ocosingo, Tapachula, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Comitán and Arriaga. It is the southernmost state in Mexico. It is located in Southeastern Mexico, and it borders the states of Oaxaca to the west, Veracruz to the northwest and Tabasco to the north, and by the Petén, Quiché, Huehuetenango and San Marcos departments of Guatemala to the east and southeast. Chiapas has a coastline along the Pacific Ocean to the south.

Mexico Country in the southern portion of North America

Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost 2,000,000 square kilometres (770,000 sq mi), the nation is the fifth largest country in the Americas by total area and the 13th largest independent state in the world. With an estimated population of over 120 million people, the country is the eleventh most populous state and the most populous Spanish-speaking state in the world, while being the second most populous nation in Latin America after Brazil. Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and Mexico City, a special federal entity that is also the capital city and its most populous city. Other metropolises in the state include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana and León.

Notes

  1. ↑ Wölfel and Frühsorge 2008, pp. 86–87. Straffi 2013, p. 257 n24.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Wölfel and Frühsorge 2008, p. 89.
  3. ↑ Wölfel and Frühsorge 2008, p. 91.
  4. ↑ Straffi 2013, p. 257. n24.
  5. ↑ Wölfel and Frühsorge 2008, pp. 89–90.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wölfel and Frühsorge 2008, p. 90.
  7. ↑ Wölfel and Frühsorge 2008, pp. 87, 92.
  8. ↑ Wölfel and Frühsorge 2008, p. 92.
  9. ↑ MINEDUC 2001, p. 18.
  10. ↑ Cuadriello Olivos and Megchún Rivera 2006, p. 31.
  11. ↑ Straffi 2013, p. 257.
  12. ↑ Straffi 2013, pp. 261–262.

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References

Cuadriello Olivos, Hadlyyn; and Rodrigo Megchún Rivera. Tojolabales . Pueblos indígenas del México contemporáneo (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Comisión Nacional para el Desarollo de los Pueblos Indígenas. ISBN   970-753-051-0. OCLC   137295493. Archived from the original on 2015-01-28. (in Spanish)
MINEDUC (2001). Eleuterio Cahuec del Valle, ed. Historia y Memorias de la Comunidad Étnica Chuj (PDF) II (Versión escolar ed.). Guatemala: Universidad Rafael Landívar/UNICEF/FODIGUA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-02-05. (in Spanish)
Straffi, Enrico (2013) Interpretaciones mayas de los sitios arqueológicos: un análisis (in Spanish) In Cairo Carou, Heriberto; Cabezas González, Almudena; Mallo Gutiérrez, Tomás; Campo García, Esther del; Carpio Martín, José. XV Encuentro de Latinoamericanistas Españoles, Nov 2012, Madrid, Spain: Trama editorial; CEEIB, pp.252–271, 2013. <halshs-00873762> (in Spanish)
Wölfel, Ulrich; and Lars Frühsorge (August 2008) Archaeological Sites near San Mateo Ixtatán: Hints at Ethnic Plurality Mexicon. (Mexicon) 30 (4):86–93. JSTOR   23759262. (subscription required)

Coordinates: 15°50′07″N91°28′07″W / 15.835341°N 91.468562°W / 15.835341; -91.468562

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