Yaxchilan

Yaxchilan is an historic Mayan city on the Usumacinta River in what is now the Mexican state of Chiapas. The historical name of the city was probably Pa ' Chan.

Yaxchilan is known for the large number of sculptures found there.

Name

The present name Yaxchilan ("green stones ") of the Mayan city was announced at the end of the 19th century by the German Austrian archaeologists Teobert painter. Other name suggestions, although not prevailed, were Lorillard by Désiré Charnay Ville in honor of the explorer Pierre Lorillard and menche [ mentʃe ] by Alfred Maudslay.

In the course of deciphering the Mayan hieroglyphs, the original name of the place was searched and identified a glyph as an emblem of the city, " born in heaven," according to Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube first as Siyaj Chan (the nacido en el cielo or " heaven -born " cielo nacido ) was read. According to a publication by Martin in 2004, the glyph is, however, as Pa ' Chan [ paʔ tʃan ] (" Divided Heaven," cielo partido ) to read.

Location

The city of Yaxchilan is located in a loop of the river on the Rio Usumacinta near the border between Mexico and Guatemala, is thus bounded on three sides by a river.

Long led street no closer than 100 miles closer to the city. The only way to Yaxchilan was in a hundreds of miles long river trip or in the arrivals by plane. Only when Mexico is a highway along the border with Guatemala goal for the beginning of the nineties, the city was opened up to tourists. Now it is at least possible, by means of a one-hour boat ride on the Usumacinta to reach the city.

Yaxchilan is today sometimes still sought out by traditionally living Lacandon, to venerate the ancient Mayan gods.

History

Yaxchilan was an important town during the classical period and the dominant power in the region Usumacinta. The city ruled over other, smaller cities such as Bonampak, and was long allied with Piedras Negras, at least briefly with Tikal. Yat- Balam, founder of a long -time ruling dynasty, attained the throne on August 2, 320 when Yaxchilan was a minor city. Under the reign of his successor, the city-state grew to become the capital of the region. With the rival city of Palenque led war in 654 years. The dynasty lasted until the early 9th century. Yaxchilan had its greatest power during the long reign of King Shield Jaguar II, who died in 742 over the age of 90.

Research

The first known mention of the modern city is to be found in a statement by Juan Galindo in 1833. Professor Edwin Rockstoh of the Guatemalan National University visited the city in 1881 and published a short report. The explorer Alfred Maudslay and Désiré Charnay visited the city only days in a row in 1882 and published further, more detailed reports on the ruins with drawings and photographs. Teoberto painter visited Yaxchilan repeated from 1897 to 1900 and wrote in 1903 a documentary about the town and other nearby places.

After the Mexican government was guarding the ruins in 1927, led Sylvanus Morley in 1931, an expedition of the Carnegie Institution by Yaxchilan, which measured the city and other monuments discovered. A major breakthrough in the research of the dynasties of the classic period of the Maya delivered in the years 1963 and 1964 Tatiana Avenirovna Proskouriakoff that could work out by the decipherment of the inscriptions of Yaxchilan the dynastic history of the city.

The Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History ( INAH ) conducted from 1972 to 1973 and again in 1983 an archaeological survey in the city by. Further excavations took place in the early 1990s. In recent times Yaxchilan is threatened by a proposed dam.