COPAN SITE IN HONDURAS

Copan site in Honduras

Copan site in Honduras

I Introduction

This research paper will be on the Copan site in Honduras. An ancient site of the Mayan Culture; Copan is a popular site in Mayan History the site of extreme architectural wealth and ruling power. Scholars have studied Copan for the last century piecing together the time period and what exactly happened to the residents of Copan and what ultimately led to its demise. Archeologists have studied the region and its architecture for clues about the Copan Maya. (Sharer, 1999)

II Copan, Honduras-- Basic Background

In a tropical valley on the western edge of Honduras lie the massive ruins of Copan. Here Maya farmers once lived, ruled by powerful kings who built magnificent decorated temples and were buried amid a wealth of objects. Today Copan's importance is recognized in its designation as a World Heritage Site.

During the Classic period of Maya civilization Copan was the prosperous capital of a major city-state. The ruins of this ancient capital cover an area of about 4 square kilometers in the center of the Copan Valley . The archaeological site is composed of a civic and ceremonial core surrounded by elite and non-elite residential groups, ranging from the remains of masonry palaces to low mounds that once supported pole-and-thatch dwellings. At the center of the site lies the Acropolis , the accumulation of many royal temples and palaces built over the course of the Classic period. Its initial constructions belong to the Early Classic, dated at Copan to ca. AD 400-650. The University of Pennsylvania Museum's Early Copan Acropolis Program (ECAP) is excavating and integrating the overall sequence of this buried architecture. Our efforts are providing one of the most complete records of the origins and development of an Early Classic royal complex found anywhere in the Maya area. (Sharer, 1999)

Much of our work has involved tunnels, which have the advantage of being far less destructive of buried architecture than trenching. ECAP's tunnels originate from the corte (river cut), a unique exposure created over the past thousand years as the Copan River swept away the eastern margin of the Acropolis, leaving a cross-section of the layers of buildings . (The river has since been diverted away from the Acropolis.) Our tunnels follow each level of superimposed buildings westward from the corte, which is over 200 meters long (north-south) and up to 30 meters high. This is possible because the ancient Maya builders buried each successive stage of architecture with wet-laid fills that can be tunneled without requiring additional support. By the close of our final season of excavation in 1996, we had opened some 3 kilometers of tunnels. By linking the ECAP network to previously excavated tunnels beneath Temple 16 and Temple 26 (see box on the history of the Copan excavations), we have an excellent overall architectural sequence. (Renfrew, 2008)

The Copán River has carved out an immense cross section of the buried East Court, exposing numerous construction sequences to scientific ...