Pacal the Great
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pacal II, also known as Pacal the Great (the most recent work gives his full name as K'inich J'anaab Pakal[1] (26 March 603 - 31 August 683), was ruler of the Maya polity of Palenque. He ascended the throne at age 12 on 29 July 615, and lived to the age of 80. The name "Pacal" means "shield" in the Maya language.
Pacal saw expansion of Palenque's power in the western part of the Maya states, and initiated a building program at his capital that produced some of Maya civilization's finest art and architecture.
He was preceded as ruler of Palenque by his mother Lady Zac-Kuk. As the Palenque dynasty seems to have had Queens only when there was no eligible male heir, Zac-Kuk transferred rulership to her son upon his official maturity.
After his death Pacal II was succeeded by his son Chan Bahlum II. A younger son, Kan Xul II, succeeded his brother Chan Bahlum II.
After his death, Pacal the Great was worshiped as a god, and said to communicate with his descendants. Pacal the Great was buried within the Temple of Inscriptions, one of the only Mayan pyramids known to be used as a tomb. Though Palenque had been examined by archaeologists before, the secret to opening his tomb—closed off by a stone slab with stone plugs in the holes, which had until then baffled archaeologists—was discovered by Mexican archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier in 1948. It took four years to clear the rubble from the stairway leading down to Pacal the Great’s tomb, but was finally uncovered in 1952 [2]. His skeletal remains were still lying in his coffin, wearing a jade mask and bead necklaces, surrounded by sculptures and stucco reliefs depicting the King's transition to divinity and figures from Maya mythology.
That the bones within the tomb are really those of Pacal the Great himself is under debate due to the fact that the analysis of wear on the skeleton’s teeth places the age of the owner at death as 40 years younger than Pacal the Great would’ve been at his death. Epigraphers insist that the inscriptions on the tomb indicate that it is indeed Pacal II entombed within, and that he died at the age of 80 after ruling for around 70 years. Some contest that the glyphs refer to two people with the same name or that an unusual method for recording time was used, but other experts in the field say that allowing for such possibilities would go against everything else that is known about the Maya calendar and records of events. The most commonly accepted explanation for the irregularity is that Pacal the Great, being an elite, had access to softer, less abrasive food than the average person so that his teeth naturally acquired less wear [3]. Despite the controversy, it remains one of the most spectacular finds of Maya archaeology. A replica of his tomb is found at the National Museum of Anthropology and History in Mexico City, Mexico.
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[edit] Erich von Däniken's "Maya Astronaut"
Pacal the Great’s tomb has been the focus of attention by some fringe cult archaeologists since its appearance in Erich von Däniken's 1968 best seller, Chariots of the Gods?. Von Däniken reproduced a drawing of the sarcophagus lid (incorrectly labeling it as being from "Copan") and comparing Pacal's pose to that of 1960s Project Mercury astronauts, interpreting drawings underneath him as rockets, and touting it as supposed evidence of Extra-terrestrial influence on the ancient Maya.
Cases out of context:
Though at first glance one could see a similarity of the pose, von Däniken's claim is not considered a credible interpretation by any professional Mayanist. For example Ian Graham responded to von Däniken's claims, "Well I certainly don't see any need to regard him as a space man. I don't see any oxygen tubes. I see a very characteristically drawn Maya face" [4].
[edit] José Arguelles' "Pacal Votan"
Another example of this carving's manifestation in pseudoarchaeology is Jose Arguelles' identification of "Pacal Votan," of whom he claims to be an incarnation named "Valum Votan," who will act as a "closer of the cycle" in 2012 (an event that is also significant on Arguelles' 13 Moon calendar. Daniel Pinchbeck, in his book 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl (2006), also uses the name "Votan" in referring to Pacal the Great. However, this is a spurious identification that derives from Arguelles' writing and is rejected as fantasy by academic archaeologists, epigraphers, and iconographers. Arguelles claims a connection between Pacal and the semi-historical Toltec figure Ce Acatl Tolpitzin Quetzalcoatl, but this is also unsupported by archaeological or epigraphic evidence.
[edit] Actual iconography of the tomb
The widely accepted interpretation of the sarcophagus lid is that Pacal is descending into Xibalba, the Maya underworld. Around the edges of the lid are glyphs representing the Sun, the Moon, Venus, and various constellantions, locating this event in the nighttime sky. Below him is the Maya water god, who guards the underworld [5]. Beneath Pacal are the "unfolded" jaws of a dragon or serpent, into whose mouth Pacal the Great descends. This is a common iconographic representation of the entrance of the underworld. Other examples of this imagery are found in sculpture on Monument 1 "El Rey" and Monument 9 at the Olmec site of Chalcatzingo, Morelos, on Altar 4 at the Olmec site of La Venta, Tabasco, and in recently discovered murals at the Late Preclassic Maya site of San Bartolo, Guatemala.
