
- 360 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
The Skyband Group is an impressive elite site in the urban core of Copán, Honduras, which is dominated by the palatial compounds of Maya sub-royal nobles. Such grandees often bore court titles showing that they were clients and officials of kings, but also competitors for political power, especially just before the dynastic collapse around AD 800. Penn State University excavations in 1990 and 1997 revealed large vaulted buildings, richly embellished with facade sculpture, and an elaborate carved throne in the form of a sky band, replete with celestial images of the sun, moon, and Venus. Artifacts andburials retrieved from these buildings and smaller ancillary structures are characteristic of elite residences, but the iconography of the facades and the throne also reveals connections with Copán's royal dynasty and efforts by the last ruler to shore up his faltering kingdom. Activity at the Skyband Group and other sites in the Copán valley continued after the abruptpolitical debacle, an example of the 'slow collapse' process that is increasingly evident among the great Maya centers in the southern lowlands of Mesoamerica.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- About Access Archaeology
- Title Page
- Copyright Information
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Preface
- Chapter One: Maya Places and Elites
- Chapter Two: Group 8N-11
- Chapter Three: Operations in the Plaza and the Str. 66 Complex
- Chapter Four: The Skyband Bench and its Neighbors
- Chapter Five: The Façade Sculpture
- Chapter Six: Operation 50: The Ancillary Buildings
- Chapter Seven: Operation 63: The 1997 Field Season
- Chapter Eight: Features and Burials
- Chapter Nine: Artifacts
- Chapter Ten: Group 8N-11: The Short Chronology
- Chapter Eleven: The Long Chronology
- Chapter Twelve: Final Thoughts
- Appendix A: Radiocarbon Dates from Burials and Archaeomagnetic Dates
- Appendix B: Illustrations of Selected Artifacts
- Bibliography