The south area of the Gran Plaza of Yaxchilan, memorial and legitimation space during the Late Classic
Abstract
In the Southern Maya Lowlands, during the Late Classic (600-900 AD), the ruling elite sustained much of its social power in the ideological domain, resorting to various persuasive strategies, one of them being the ancestor whorship, a practice that strengthened their legitimacy in power; in such a way that the places where the remains of the deceased rulers were deposited became spaces of commemoration. This study addresses the specific case of Yaxchilan, Mexico, a site in the Usumacinta region, where it is postulated that the space that fulfilled these functions was located in the southern area of the Great Plaza, on a series of terraces conditioned in the surrounding hills, where several of the most important buildings of the site are located, among which, archaeological explorations, between 1978 and 1985, allowed to locate four sumptuous tombs associated with the ruling elite.
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