A Dynasty Born In Fire- How an upstart Maya king forged a new social order amid chaos

At the beginning of the Terminal Classic period (ca. A.D. 810-1000), many of the great kingdoms of the southern Maya lowlands-among them Tikal, Palenque, and Calakmul-were being abandoned or collapsing. For many years, scholars have assumed that most, if not all, the other kingdoms across the Maya world must have also been in steep decline.

- By Jarrett A. Lobell

A singular event took place at the beginning of the ninth century A.D. that must have stunned the residents of the Maya city of Ucanal, capital of the K'anwitznal Kingdom, in northern Guatemala's Petén region. Their new ruler, Papmalil, presided over a sensational public ceremony during which the bones of four of his predecessors, which had been removed from their tombs inside one of the city's pyramids, were placed on a pyre. As Ucanal's citizens looked on, the flames reached nearly 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit, scorching and warping bone and shattering some of the precious objects that had also been taken from the tombs. The roar of the flames must have been thunderous, especially when punctuated by the sharp pops of exploding stone. Families that had been loyal to Ucanal's earlier dynasties were doubtless concerned for their future. Those who supported Papmalil likely rejoiced. Perhaps a musician accompanied the ceremony by playing the flute.

Pieces of greenstone and obsidian from a Maya funeral mask were discovered in a deposit of material that was removed from royal tomb in antiquity

While the precise details of how the ceremony unfolded are unknown-the event is not described in any text or recorded on any monument-the recent discovery of the burned bones and broken objects has provided evidence of what archaeologist Christina Halperin of the University of Montreal identifies as a tipping point in the K'anwitznal Kingdom's history. "This event marked the symbolic and literal destruction of an earlier K'anwitznal dynastic line," Halperin says. "It's so rare in the archaeological record to see a moment of fissure like this, where people immediately understand that they're doing away with a previous historical moment and entering into a changed political system."