Early Classic ritual deposits within the Copan acropolis: The material foundations of political power at a Classic period Maya center

Despite a long history of research into Classic period (AD 400--850) Maya political and social organization, little is known of the establishment and early history of ruling dynasties and the strategies dynastic founders and their early successors used to introduce, solidify, and maintain political authority within Maya centers. This study examines the use of primary deposits (caches, tombs, and burials) and the buildings that contain them to materialize and extend a new royal dynasty at the Classic Maya center of Copan, Honduras, during the Early Classic period (A.D. 400--600). Tunneling excavations and artifact analysis combine to investigate ritual deposits, sensitive indicators of change and continuity in political power, ritual practice, resource procurement, and wealth. Shifts in construction patterns and the location, content, and form of ritual deposits correlate with the founding of a new dynastic line at Copan in A.D. 426/7 by K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo', who was venerated as the dynastic founder by all subsequent Classic period (A.D. 400--850) Copan rulers. Much of this veneration was focused on the architectural complex that grew up around two royal tombs thought to contain his remains and those of an important female member of the royal house, most likely his wife. The patterning and contents of these ritual deposits and others within the Early Acropolis emphasize connections between the founder, his descendants, foreign centers of power, including the central Mexican capital of Teotihuacan, and the supernatural. These deposits also work to create spaces within the built environment that support and perpetuate social memory, transforming the royal dead into venerated divine ancestors through whom claims of legitimate rulership were made. This examination of the 400 year sequence of shrines dedicated to the dynastic founder and the placed deposits it contains demonstrates the instrumental importance of the built environment in the creation and maintenance of political power at Classic period Maya centers and beyond.