K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo'

K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' ("lit." "Great-Sun First/Green Quetzal Macaw", ruled 426 – ca. 437) is named in Maya inscriptions as the founder and first ruler of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization polity centered at Copán, a major Maya site located in the southeastern Maya lowlands region in present-day Honduras. The motifs associated with his depiction on Copan monuments have a distinct resemblance to imagery associated with the height of the Classic-era center of Teotihuacan in the distant northern central Mexican region, and have been interpreted as intending to suggest his origins and association with that prestigious civilization. One of the most commonly cited motifs for this interpretation is Yax K'uk' Mo's 'goggle-eyed' headdress he is commonly depicted with, seemingly an invocation of the northern central Mexican rain deity known as Tlaloc to later peoples such as the Aztecs. However, modern strontium isotope analysis of the human remains recovered from the tomb attributed to him indicate that K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' spent his formative years much closer to Copan, at Tikal, and had not himself lived at Teotihuacan.

His tomb in the center of the Copán acropolis buried with jade and shell jewelry, including his 'goggle-eyed' headress. His image occupies the first position in the carving on Altar Q showing the dynasty's king list and his image is found in significant positions in other monuments of later rulers.

Archaeological work done at Copan in 2000 excavated the tomb considered to be that of K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo under the Acropolis. The skeleton exhibited a number of traumas including healed fractures of the arm, sternum and shoulder which have been argued to have resulted from ball court matches. Analysis of strontium in the teeth of the skeleton indicates that the individual spent his early years near Tikal in the Petén Basin region and then at some point between Tikal and Copan, and the isotopic signature did not match with a Teotihuacan origin. Chronologically and epigraphically, however, much evidence points to the general ascension of rulers who were sent into the lowland Maya region either as invaders or envoys from Teotihuacan during the late 4th century; particularly the widely-known and powerful Nun Yax Ayin of Tikal, son of Teotihuacan lord Spearthrower Owl [see Stuart (1998)] . The implication of this, regardless of K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo's physical point of geographic origin, is that later Copan rulers, in particular K'ak' Yipyaj Chan K'awiil and Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat retrospectively sought to attribute Teotihuacano heritage to the 'founding' ruler of their dynasty as a means of legitimising the dynastic claim. [See Skidmore (n.d.) for summary of recent research.]

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References

*cite web |author=aut|Stuart, David |authorlink=David Stuart (Mayanist) |year=1998 |title="The Arrival of Strangers": Teotihuacan and Tollan in Classic Maya History |url=http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/news_archive/25/strangers/strangers.html |work=PARI Online Publications: Newsletter # 25 |format=Extract of October 1996 paper |publisher=Precolumbian Art Research Institute |accessdate=2007-01-18
*cite web|author=aut|Skidmore, Joel |year=n.d. |title=Copan's Founder |work=Recent Findings in Maya History |url=http://www.mesoweb.com/features/findings/founder_text.html |publisher=Mesoweb |accessdate=2006-12-18
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2804maya.html "Lost King of the Maya"] , Nova, PBS series, accessed April 8, 2006