Society for American Archaeology

Sak Tz'i', a Classic Maya Center: A Locational Model Based on GIS and Epigraphy
Author(s): Armando Anaya Hernndez, Stanley P. Guenter and Marc U. Zender
Source: Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Jun., 2003), pp. 179-191
Published by: Society for American Archaeology
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SAK TZ'I', A CLASSIC MAYA CENTER:

A LOCATIONAL MODEL BASED ON GIS AND EPIGRAPHY
ArmandoAnaya Hernandez,Stanley P. Guenter,and Marc U. Zender

The ancient Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions of the upper Usumacinta region record an intensive interaction that took place
among its regional capitals. The precise geographic locations of some of these sites are presently unknown.Through the
application of the GravityModel within theframework of Geographic InformationSystems (GIS), we present the probable
locations and possible territorial extents of a few of these: Sak Tz'i', Hix-Witz,and the "Knot-Site."On this occasion, however,we concentrate our discussion on the role that the kingdomof Sak Tz'i'played in the geopolitical scenario of the region.
It is our belief that this case study constitutes a good example of how, througha conjunctive approach that integrates the
archaeological with the epigraphic data, GIS can representan excellent analytical tool to approach archaeological issues
such as the political organization of the Maya Lowlands during the Late Classic period.
Las inscripcionesjeroglificasMayas contenidasen los monumentosde la regiondelAlto Usumacintadan cuentade una intensa
interaccion que se dio entre las capitales regionales, algunas de las cuales aun desconocemos su ubicacion geogrdfica. En
este trabajo,a traves de la aplicaci6n del Modelo Gravitacional,dentro del marco de los Sistemas de Informaci6nGeogrdfica (SIG), proponemos la probable ubicacion y extensi6n territorial de algunos de estos centros: Sak Tz'i', Hix-Witz,y el
"Knot-Site."En esta ocasi6n, sin embargo,nuestra discusi6n sobre la organizacionpolitica de la regi6n se centrardexclusivamente en el importantepapel que desempeno el reino de Sak Tz'i' en el escenario geopolitico. A nuestrojuicio este caso
constituyeun buen ejemplo de como, a travis de un enfoque conjuntivoque reune tanto el dato arqueoldgico con el epigrdfico, los SIG representanuna importanteherramientaanalitica para abordarel problemade la organizacidnpolitica durante
el periodo Cldsico Tardioen las tierras bajas mayas.

he hieroglyphic corpus of the Upper

UsumacintaRiver describesintense interactionsamongthevariouskingdoms'of the
region.The mainprotagonistsin this areawere the
major centers of Piedras Negras, Yaxchilan,
Bonampak, and Lacanha (Figure 1). However,
these were by no means the only major centers
involved. Mathews (1988:379) has proposedthe
existence of two "bufferstates,"with the centers
"JaguarHill"(knownfromthe inscriptionsas HixWitz), and the "SerpentSegment"site (currently
known as Maan). A third importantpolity surroundingthe "Knot-Site"was identifiedby Houston (1986) andis dealtwithin moredetailby Palka
(1996). A fourthpolity was also later identified,
Sak-Tz'i' (Schele and Grube 1994), whose lords
werenotonly majorantagonistsof PiedrasNegras,
Yaxchilan,and Bonampak,but also crucialactors
T

andcatalyzingagentsof the hegemonicbalancein

the region.
Sak-Tz'i' is mentioned a dozen times in the
extant hieroglyphic corpus. Nikolai Grube (in
Schele and Grube 1994:111, 116) was the firstto
compile all known occurrencesof the Sak Tz'i'
emblem glyph andto illustrateits regionalimportancefromatleast9.9.11.12.3 to 9.17.16.3.12. Perhaps more importantly,Grube(Schele and Grube
1994b:118) pointedout thatthe specificpatternof
epigraphicmentions of Sak Tz'i' at other Upper
Usumacintacenters,and not outsidethis immediatearea,stronglysuggestedthatit was "asite somewhere between El Cayo, Bonampak, Piedras
Negras, and La Mar."
These texts present Sak-Tz'i' as an important
playeron theregionalpoliticalstage:it foughtwars,
winning some and losing others. Perhaps most

Armando Anaya Hernandez and Stanley P. Guenter * School of Archaeology,La Trobe University,Bundoora,Victoria,
Australia3083
Marc U. Zender * Departmentof Archaeology,University of Calgary,2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary,Alberta, Canada,
T2N, 1N4
LatinAmericanAntiquity, 14(2), 2003, pp. 179-191
CopyrightO2003 by the Society for AmericanArchaeology
179

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180

LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY

[Vol. 14, No. 2, 2003]

Figure 1. Map of the Western Maya Lowlands indicating the study area of the Upper Usumacinta Region (adapted from
Mathews 1988).

importantly,it seems to havedominated,for a time,

both the kingdomof Bonampakand the site of El
Cayo. WithPiedrasNegras,the foremostregional
power, Sak Tz'i' had a complex relationship,at
times subservient,and at othertimes antagonistic.
Clearly,we can betterunderstandUsumacintapolitics by knowingSak-Tz'i'sgeographicallocation,
the region it controlledthroughtime, as well as
which cities/politieswere its closest neighbors.
The Sak-Tz'i'emblemglyphis mostcommonly
composed of three parts: the logograph SAK
"white,"TZ'I' "dog,"andAJAW"lord"(Figure2).
On occasions the TZ'I' logographcan be substitutedforby the two syllabicsignstz'i (Stuart1987)
and 'i (Tozzer1941),yieldingthe completelyphonetic spellingtz'i-'i > tz'i', "dog"(Thenameof the
polity,therefore,was Sak-Tz'i'"whitedog").Nikolai Grube (1991:226-227) and Stephen Houston
(citedin Stuart1987:10)werethe firstto applythis
spellingto theemblemglyphunderdiscussion,and
to read the T58.563a:679/1000d2 SAK-tz'i-'i'AJAW and T58.T168:"DOG" SAK-TZ'I''AJAW collocations as Sak-Tz'i'-'Ajaw "White
Dog Lord."
Anaya Hemrnndez(2001) applied Geographic

InformationSystems (GIS) to model movement

over naturalterrainin order to estimate cost of
movement.This,in turn,aidedin estimatingtheterritorialextent of the Upper Usumacintaregional
polities, as well as in identifying probablecommunicationroutes. Anaya Hernandez'sresearch
was framedwithinthecontextof landscapearchaeof thephysology,assumingthatthecharacteristics
ical settingof the UpperUsumacintaValleygreatly
influenced the location of the more important
archaeological sites (Aliphat Fernandez 1994;
2001). The locationof thesesites
AnayaHermandez
was constrainedby what Hammond(1975) has
describedas "strategicfactors"such as theirproximity to the criticalpoints along majorcommunication routes. Through the application of the
(2001) proposed
GravityModel,AnayaHernmndez
the plausiblelocationsof Sak Tz'i' and the other
unknownsitesmentionedattheoutset,showingthat
the reconstructionof ancientgeopoliticalmaps in
conjunctionwithepigraphicevidencewasfeasible.
The Gravity Model and GIS Modeling
The GravityModel has been appliedin archaeology to gauge the level of interactionbetweencen-

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REPORTS

181

Accordingto this model the amountof interaction betweentwo places is obtainedby the following equation(see Waters1995:179):

SAK

AJAW

Iij = k (( Pi) (Pj) / (dij)2)

TZ'I'
a

tz'i'

Where
k = a constantthatis case specific
Pi and Pj = the populationof i andj
(Dij)2= the squareddistancebetween i andj
Reilly (1931) modifiedthis equationin orderto
estimate the breaking point between the service
areasof two adjacentcentersof differentsize:
Dxj = dij /1 + Pi / Pj

SAK

AJAW
b

AJAW

SAK

Figure 2. Examples of the emblem glyph of Sak Tz'i': (a)

Brussels Panel (after Mayer 1978: Plate 18), (b) Piedras
Negras Stela 26 (after Maler 1901: Plate XXIII), (c) El
Cayo Panel 1 (after Maler 1902: Plate XXXV). (All glyph
drawings by Marc Zender unless stated otherwise.)

ters (Dunham 1990; Hodder and Orton 1976;

Tobler and Wineburg 1971). Hodder and Orton,
however,cautionedthat althoughhigherlevels of
interactionare more likely to occur between centers and their nearestneighborsthan with centers
located furtheraway, attentionshould be paid to
the size and importanceof the sites. Thus, larger
centerstendto attractinteractionfromlargerareas
(Hodder and Orton 1976:188); the interaction
shouldincreaseproportionallywith the size of the
centeranddecreasewith distance.

Where
Dxj is the distance from breakingpoint (x) to
the center(j).
Dunham(1990) appliedthis modifiedequation
to his researchproblem concerningthe developmentof secondarycentersalong the boundariesof
theterritoriesof pre-existingprimarycentersin the
Mayalowlands.Withit, he was able to reconstruct
the boundarybetweenthe polities of Nim Li Punit
andLubantuunlocatedin southernBelize, in order
to addressthedevelopmentofXnaheb,a smallLate
Classic site located between them (Dunham
1990:148-152, 641-643).
ToblerandWineburg(1971) presenteda tantalizing applicationof the GravityModel for archaeological site location. They employed this model
to estimate the geographicalposition of several
unidentifiedpre-Hittitetownsmentionedon a series
of tablets from Bronze Age Anatolia (ca. 1940 to
1740 B.C.). These authors used a total of 754
tablets, on which 62 differenttowns were mentioned.The numberof occurrencesof a town name
was takenas proportionalto its population.A frequency table was then createdin which the numbers of joint mentions of particulartowns were
tallied. Toblerand Wineburg(1971:2-3) inverted
the formulafor the GravityModel to solve for distance, and subsequentlytransformeddistances to
coordinatesthroughan iterative,least squaretrilaterationtechnique (i.e., multidimensionalscaling). The Upper Usumacintaregion contains far
fewer texts, approximately200 monumentswith
hieroglyphicinscriptions.Of these, 11 mentionSak

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LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY

182

[Vol. 14, No. 2, 2003]

Table 1. NumericalValues Assigned To VariousTypes Of Site Interaction.

Value

Type of Interaction
Statementsof direct political subordination,e.g., "Underthe aegis of..."
(u kab'ji); "The vassal lord of..." (yajaw)
Statementsof political alliances, e.g., royal visits;
"In the presence of..." (yichnal)
Majorwar events, e.g., "Starwar";"Downed was his flint and shield"
(hub'uy u took' u pakal)
Marriagealliances, denotes the establishmentof political alliance,
e.g., royal marriages
Confirmationof political ties, e.g., foreign wives participatingin rituals
Takingof captive as status markerdenotes political importanceof captive.
"Wascaptured"(chuhkaj)
Statementsthat imply political peerage. "In the company of..." (yitaai)
Exhibitionof captives priorto sacrifice, denotes political importance
of captive. "He was adorned(for sacrifice)"(nawaj)
Isolatedoccurrenceof foreign emblem glyph or toponym.
Denotes political interactionof unknown significance
?-1111

L...'-

I-

--

'"

100

90
90
80
60
60
40
30
30

-----"-

Tz'i'. However, it is important to note the diversity

of these references both in terms of the type of
interaction recorded and the geographic distribution of the monuments. References to Sak-Tz'i'
occur in the texts of such sites as Piedras Negras,
Bonampak, El Cayo, Tonina, and Nuevo Jalisco.
Although our dataset is considerably smaller than
that used by Tobler and Wineburg, their tablets
dealt with fundamentally economic transactions,
while the monuments of the Upper Usumacinta
region recorded a whole range of political relations. We believed this context also would be well
suited for application of the Gravity Model.
The interaction between sites was measured on
the basis of the type of relationship expressed in
the texts (warfare, royal visits, statements of political submission, royal marriages, etc.); the measure
of interaction was obtained by assigning a numerical value to the different relationships identified in
the inscriptions. To formulate this measure, the
logistics necessary to establish and maintain effective control or contact between sites was taken into
consideration. For example, war events that are
recorded as mere captures could have taken place
anywhere between two polities. Wars in which the
center of one polity was attacked and burned by
another, implying actual movement of a sizeable
army from one center to the other, were given
greater weight than a mere capture. Royal marriages, although of prime importance for the parties involved, could be established over long
distances, and thus were accorded less weight in

the model. On the other hand, the participation of

foreign rulers in the domestic affairs of another
polity has much stronger implications for either
the size or proximity of the controlling party.There
is an unavoidable element of subjectivity in assigning these values but we believe that, in general
terms, they reflect both the importance of the interaction and the distance between centers. Table I
shows the values assigned to the various types of
site interaction.
Table 2 gives all the figures used in the Gravity
Model calculations. In this case, the constant k was
obtained by performing a simple linear regression
between interaction and distance. Pi and Pj represent the total number of individual references to one
site from the inscriptions of another, and are
included in the second and third columns of Table
2. The terms of the Gravity Model were then modified to use distances between sites of known location to obtain distances for the unknown sites. The
modified equation is:
dij = /1 / k [(Pi) (Pj) / lij
The results obtained with this equation (which
we have termed "gravity distance") are included in
the last column of Table 2. These figures show an
inverse relation to distance; in other words, the
smaller the distance the higher the value. In order
to translate these figures to Euclidean distance, the
data were grouped by site and distances were calculated in two stages. First the ratio between real

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183

REPORTS

Table 2. GravityModel Values for Some of the Upper UsumacintaSites.

P2
P1
Sites
7
3
PiedrasNegras/Yaxchilan
3
1
PiedrasNegras/Bonampak
1
1
PiedrasNegras/Lacanha
1
PiedrasNegras/Pomona
2
8
PiedrasNegras/LaMar
1
5
PiedrasNegras/El Cayo
5
3
Yaxchilan/Bonampak
1
2
Yaxchilan/Lacanha
2
1
Yaxchilan/LaPasadita
3
8
Bonampak/Lacanha
1
1
Bonampak/LaMar
1
1
Bonampak/Nuevo Jalisco
1
Lacanha/NuevoJalisco1
1
4
Sak Tz'i'/Piedras Negras
1
1
Sak Tz'i'/Yaxchilan
2
3
Sak Tz'i'/Bonampak
1
1
Sak Tz'i'/Lacanha
2
2
Sak Tz'i'/La Mar
4
1
Sak Tz'i'/E Cayo
1
1
Sak Tz'i'/Nuevo Jalisco
* Distances obtainedthroughthe applicationof the GravityModel

distanceandgravitydistancewas obtainedwiththe
following equation:
rd = dab/Dab

Where
dab is the gravitydistancebetweenknownsites
Dab is the distancebetweenknown sites.
Secondly,with this ratio the distancebetween
the known sites and Sak Tz'i' was obtainedwith
the following formula(fifthcolumnof Table2):
Dij =((dab - dij) /rd) + Dab

where
dij is the gravitydistancebetweena knownsite
and an unknownsite.
Using the distances obtainedfrom the above
equationas radii, a series of circles were traced
aroundthe known sites. These circles were overlaid, resultingin a residualenclosed area, which
representsthe potentiallimit of the territoryof the
unknownsite. Figure 3 shows these overlaidcircles delimitinga polygon for Sak Tz'i'.3 Finally,
the centralpoint of this polygon was determined
andwas subsequentlyused in the GISmodelingof
refinedterritorialextent.4

I
810
80
80
90
690
510
655
125
200
850
60
100
90
440
60
360
100
180
400
100

Dij
45
56
54
48
14
11
22
25
15
5
48
13
10
13*
25*
25*
11*
13*
11*
11*

k
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671
251.671

dij
.010150
.007048
.007048
.006644
.009599
.006241
.009539
.007973
.006304
.105920
.006010
.006304
.006644
.006010
.008138
.008138
.006304
.006644
.006304
.006304

Threebasic assumptionswere madein the next

stageof (re)constructingtheterritorialextentof the
regionalpolities of the UpperUsumacinta:
1. Thatby takinginto accountthe characteristics of the naturalterrainwe could approximatethe
optimal territoryserviced by a specific primary
center,by estimatingthe cost of moving over it.
2. Thateach primarycenterwould haveprompt
access to the specific subsidiarysites contained
withinits initiallyestimatedterritory.
3. Thatin turn,following the same criteriaas in
the firstassumption,the optimalterritoryserviced
by each subsidiarycenter can be estimated,thus
obtaininga moreaccuratedelineationof a primary
center'sfinal territorialextent.
Based on these assumptions,throughthe applicationof GIS, fourdifferentfrictionsurfaceswere
created.Theserepresenta measureof effortof moving overnaturalterrainduringthedryandrainyseasons, upstream and downstream from the
Usumacinta,Lacanha,andSanPedroRivers.Then
an algorithmthatcalculatescost distancesfrom a
set of designatedfeatures(a seriesof targets,which
in this case are the primarycentersincludingSak
Tz'i' ) while accommodatingthe effects of frictional elementswas used to obtaina series of cost
surfaces. These included both Isotropic and

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184

LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY

10

10

le~~r

[Vol. 14, No. 2, 2003]

20
t

30 Kilometers
i

Figure 3. Gravity Model results for Sak Tz'i'.

Anisotropiccosts. The formerdeals with friction

thatis equal in all directions,while the latterconsidersfrictionsthathave directionand magnitude,
that is, when the cost of movementis not equal in
all directions,e.g., walkingupordowna slope.The
cost surfaceswere used to model the actualcumulative cost in time/energyof moving over natural
terrain.
Thecost surfaceswerethenusedto estimatethe
areasthatwould be optimallyservicedfrom each
primarycenter (for a detailed discussion of this
proceduresee AnayaHernandez2001:44-49). This
analysisproducedthe initialterritorialextentof the
9 regionalpolities. On a map with these territorial
divisions (Figure4), the secondarysites were then
plotted in order to identify the primarycenter to
which they were allocated.5Once againa cost surface was derived,this time using all of the sites,
and the areasoptimallyserviced by each individual site were derived.
Finally,theseindividualareaswereassignedthe
numericalclassifier of the primarycenter under
whichtheyhadoriginallyfallen(Figure4), in order
to compile the final territorialextent for the nine
polities of the Upper Usumacintaregion. Hence,

in this sense the final territorialextents (Figure5)

obtainedthroughGISrepresenttheareasthatwould
be best serviced or covered by a specific primary
center.
Sak Tz'i' in History
As can be observedfrom Figure5, the domainof
Sak-Tz'i'occupieda "keystone"positionbetween
the two most important polities of the region,
PiedrasNegrasandYaxchilan.Sak-Tz'i'seems to
havebeen locatedalmostintrusivelyon theboundarybetweenthesetwo kingdoms,extendingacross
theUsumacintaRiverandencompassingthestrategically locatedsite of El Chile. Fromthis position,
Sak-Tz'i' could have easily restrictedtravelboth
along the riverandinlandroutes,not only forYaxchilan and PiedrasNegrasbut also for Bonampak
and Lacanha.In supportof this interpretation,
the
Sak-Tz'i'
evidence
throughout
presents
epigraphic
most of its historyas a greatantagonist;it attacked
andwas attackedby PiedrasNegras,La Mar,Yaxchilan, and Bonampak.
Sak Tz'i's earlyhistoryis not well known,due
to a dearthof texts from the EarlyClassic,butthe
earliestinscriptionis crucialto establishingitspolit-

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185

REPORTS

1. Pomonala Seccion
2. Panhale I & II
3. Lindavista
4.Chinikiha
5. Sta. Margarita
6. Paso El Naranjito
7. Las Delicias
8. San Jose de los Rieles
9. Ojo de Agua/Usumacinta
10. San Claudio
11. Sto.Tomas
12. El Porvenir
13.Texcoco

14.LaMar
15. El Cayo
16. El Chile
17. Anaite II

%^, _

18.LaPasadita
19.ElChicozapote
SantaClara
| ..y^^-20.
^y

21. Anaite I
22. ElTornillo
23.
La Cascada/Lacanha
i ,""'S^^
^
i^
@
l,:2 fism
^^24. Nuevo Jalisco
25. El Cedro

26.Landeros
/

10
FM

27. EIPato

20

10

30 Km
l
I

Figure 4. Initial territorial extents of the nine regional polities of the Upper Usumacinta region, including the secondary
centers.

10

10

20

30 Km

Figure 5. Map of the Upper Usumacinta region showing the proposed territorial extent for the nine regional polities.

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LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY

186

[Vol. 14, No. 2, 2003]

,
K'ab'
ChanTe'

Ch'ok
B'ahlam

Sak Tz'i'

the ajk'uhuun
of...

Lord

(the)king
of Palenque

Figure 6. Piedras Negras Stela 26 depicting the Piedras Negras king and his captives Ch'ok B'ahlam of Palenque and
K'ab' Chan Te' of Sak Tz'i' (after Maler 1901: Plate XXIII, and an unpublished drawing by John Montgomery).

ical affiliations.Stela26 of PiedrasNegras(Figure

6) portraysits king, Yo'nal Ahk I, arrayedin his
battlegear over two captiveshe took in A.D. 624.
The captive on the right is named as Ch'ok
B'ahlam,the aj k'uhuunof the king of Palenque,
who at the time was the famous K'inich Janaab'
Pakal (Schele and Grube 1994:111).The captive
to the left of the king is namedas K'ab'ChanTe',
lord of Sak Tz'i' (Schele and Grube 1994:111),
andas bothof thesemenwerecapturedon the same
dayby thePiedrasNegrasking,it canbe established
thatSakTz'i' andPalenquewereallies at this time.
Because Palenqueis situatedfarto the west of the
UsumacintaRiverin present-dayMexico, we may
assume that Sak Tz'i' had importantconnections
with the westernside of the Usumacintaregion.
K'ab' ChanTe' reappearson the Brussels and
DenverPanels6(Berlin 1974;Mayer 1980;Schele
and Grube 1994) that, by the content of their
inscriptions,are believed to have been originally
fromthe site of Sak Tz'i' itself7(Figure7). Unfortunatelytheopeningpassageof themonumentwith
these panelsis missingand/ordestroyed,so we do
not have the associatedverb.Whateverthe event
may have been, it involvedYo'nalAhk, then king

of PiedrasNegras, and was carriedout by K'ab'

Chan Te' of Sak Tz'i' (see Schele and Grube
1994:116).Given the laterrhetoricof these monuments,however,it is most likely thatthis was a
wareventof some kind.The text goes on to record
that five years later the center of Sak Tz'i' was
burnedby Nik Mo' of La Mar,a subsidiarycity of
PiedrasNegras.La Maris locatedon the Mexican
side of the Usumacinta River, directly west of
PiedrasNegras and northof LagunaSantaClara.
A day later,afterSakTz'i' hadbeen sacked,K'ab'
Chan Te' capturedand decapitatedNik Mo'. He
thenpursuedhis attackers,who apparentlyincluded
a contingentfrom Bonampak,for Ek' Mo' of that
site is includedin a list of captivestakentwo days
later.It is interestingto note that PiedrasNegras,
on therightbankof theUsumacinta,does notattack
SakTz'i' directly,butemploys the servicesof vassals fromthe left bankof the river,lendingweight
to our placementof the site of Sak Tz'i'.
After these events, Sak Tz'i' enters a lengthy
hiatusof more thanfifty years, duringwhich it is
not mentionedon any known monuments.When
the sitefinallyre-entershistoryit does so on a grand
scale.A set of hieroglyphicmonuments,theNuevo

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REPORTS

._ 1
131k'

HIc

5 Sip

south to the ChinikihaRiver in the north (Figure

(14April,
at 641)
Hescattered
fe

8). As the southern parts of this territory were tra-

t thecenter
Te'
K'abChanTeof'

La Mar
Mor
NL

Lord

(
l

Sak Tz'i'Lord
B'akab'

.???

; day
1 later
1 (on)1 Akb'al

(15April641)

<

he
decapitated
??and
...33^

\;
C

NikMo',
LaMar
Lord

underthe

of
authority
^)having
JK^?3<~

2 K'atun
Lord

KabChanTe'
?XXXV),
q
2 K'an.

Lord
TheK'in

|(
A

CTTrTT~

187

3 Chikchan
~(17 April641)

ditionallyunderthe influence,if not outrightdomination,of Yaxchilan,Sak Tz'i' would have come

into conflict with that site, though open warfaremay

havebeenavoidedatthistimeasYaxchilanwas still
preoccupiedwith PiedrasNegras.
Yaxchilan was involved in its own affairs for
another thirty years, a time that included a defeat

at the handsof PiedrasNegras (Guenterand Zender 1999;MartinandGrube2000:147) and,apparently, a civil warover the royal succession (Grube
Schele 1995; Mathews 1988; Proskouriakoff
1964). When everything was finally settled and
YaxchilanemergedundertheleadershipofYaxuun
B'ahlam IV, it is not surprisingto find Sak Tz'i'
enteredinto alliance with PiedrasNegras,
its old enemy, as both were now threatenedby a
resurgentYaxchilan.This informationis gleaned
from Panel 1 of El Cayo (Maler 1902: Plate
a sitejust southof PiedrasNegras on the
Mexican side of the river. This monument also
records that the sajals, or governors, of El Cayo

ruledunderthe directcontrolof Sak Tz'i' (Figure

wascaptured
Lord9), even though they were officially a partof the
Bonampak
EkMo'
greaterkingdomof PiedrasNegras.Onceagain,this
pointsto SakTz'i's prominenceandpositionto the
Bahlam IV
have
of the river.
river Yaxuun
Yaxuun B'ahlam
west
of
may have
Imay
Figure7. The wars of K'ab'ChanTe'as recordedon the
Denver and Brussels Panels (after Berlin 1974: Figures 12, and unpublished drawings by John Montgomery).

Jalisco panels,8record that Tab' B'ahlam (a.k.a.

"Knot-Eye-Jaguar),originally from the "KnotSite,"9was installedinA.D. 722 by K'ab'ChanTe'
of Sak Tz'i' as king of Bonampakand Lacanha.
Thisimpliesthatby the seconddecadeof theeighth
century Sak Tz'i' had gained control of both of
these kingdoms.10The dominationof the Bonampak/Lacanharegion by Sak Tz'i' follows the conquestof thatregionby K'inichB'aaknalChaakof
Tonina.It may be the case that K'ab' Chan Te'
steppedinto the politicalvacuumleft afterTonina
pulledbackto its home territoryfarto the west. In
so doing, Sak Tz'i' musthave engenderedthe animosity of its neighbors,which had controlledthe
disputedareasbeforeTonina'scampaign.Thus, it
appearsthat aroundA.D. 725, Sak Tz'i' and its
allies controllednearlythe entirewest bankof the
UsumacintaRiverfrom the LacantunRiverin the

received support from Bonampak in his fight for

the throne,as we find him on a sculpturedstone

fromthatsite recordingthathe oversawthe accession of a new kingthere.Thismusthave meantthat
Tab'B'ahlamhadbeen drivenoutof the regionand
likely reflectsa downturnin Sak Tz'i's fortunes.
Yaxchilan'swaragainstSakTz'i'seems to have
continuedfor a numberof decadesbecause,on the
lintels of Bonampak Structure 1, Itzamnaaj
B'ahlamIV ofYaxchilanandYajawChanMuwahn
II of Bonampakled a battleagainstYete' K'inich
of Sak Tz'i' in A.D. 787 (see Mathews 1980:Figure 6). YajawChanMuwahnappearsto have been
carryingout a family grudgeagainstSak Tz'i', as
his father,Aj Sak Tel Huh, is known to have gone
to warwithTab'B'ahlamof the "Knot-Site"when
thelatterwas kingof BonampakandLacanha.This
battle,recordedon the thirdlintel of Structure1 at
Bonampak,took place during the apparentcivil
war at Yaxchilan. PerhapsAj Sak Tel Huh had
decidedto bide his time untilhe could obtainhelp

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LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY

188

[Vol. 14, No. 2, 2003]

Pomona

W...PiedrasNegras

UmrYaxchilan
""--:~ SakTz'i
a

-///
m

ElChorro
"KnotSite"
Hix-Witz
10

10

20

30 Km

Figure 8. Map of the Upper Usumacinta region illustrating Sak Tz'i's domain during the early part of the eighth century.

He was invested

in saja/ship

Aj Chak Suutz'

K'utiim

under the authorityof

Aj Sak Maax

Sak Tz'i'Lord

Figure 9. El Cayo Panel 1, accession of Aj-Chak-Suutz' as sajal "under the auspices" of Aj Sak-Maax, Sak Tz'i' ajaw.
(after Maler 1902: Plate XXXV)

fromthatcity to overthrowthis "foreignoverlord"

for he seems to have come to some sort of agreement with Tab' B'ahlam and recognized his
supremacy.Weknowthathe dideventuallyreceive

this help and did fight his "warof independence"

against Tab' B'ahlamras his son, Yajaw Chan
MuwahnII, accededas king of thejoint kingdoms
of Lacanhaand Bonampakin A.D. 776.11

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189

REPORTS

Unfortunately for Sak Tz'i' its major ally,

PiedrasNegras,was atthistimeobsessedwithconflicts with its northernneighborssuch as Pomona.
Around this time Palenque'sdemise began, and
Toninaonce again irruptedinto the region, sacking Sak Tz'i' itself, and taking a numberof captives (Anaya Hernandez 2001:72; Martin and
Grube2000:188). However,while the rest of the
UpperUsumacintafell silentattheturnof theninth
century,Sak Tz'i' may have held out for a number
of decadesas the RandallStela (Grubeand Schele
1995;Mayer 1980) recordsthe deathandeventual
burialof B'ahlamChilkay,a sajal of a final K'ab'
ChanTe' of Sak Tz'i' in A.D. 864. Although this
stelais nota SakTz'i' monumentit does recordthe
nameof the lastking of thatsite andcloses its written history.
Conclusions
The GravityModel, ratherthan pinpointingSak
Tz'i's location, has provided us, in conjunction
with the historicalrecords of the region and the
applicationof GIS cost surfacemodeling,with an
areathatmay representthe territorialextentof this
politywhereinthe site itself shouldbe located.The
history of the ancient Maya, as recordedin their
monumental inscriptions, dovetailed with the
resultsobtainedfromtheGISmodeling.Ourunderstanding of the geopolitical composition of the
UpperUsumacintaregionled us to proposethe territorialextentof nine majorpolities.Fromthe historicalrecordscontainedin the hieroglyphictexts
it is obvious thatthese nine kingdomswere organized in a hierarchicalpoliticalarrangement.Nevertheless,eachof thesekingdomshadits ownruling
dynastyand domain.Though attemptshave been
madethroughthe use of Thiessenpolygonsto presentthe geopoliticalcompositionof theMayalowlands (e.g., Hammond 1974; Mathews 1991), to
date a comprehensivestudy addressingthe issues
surroundingthe demarcationand maintenanceof
boundariesbetweenthevariousClassicMayastates
has been lacking.
By takinginto accountthe characteristicsof the
naturalterrainalong with a moredetailedanalysis
of the specificmentionsof site interaction,we hope
to present a more realistic political map of the
UpperUsumacintaregion. These maps, however,
representa workinghypothesisthat is fully open

to adjustments with the recovery of new data.

Nonetheless,we believe thatthebasic assumptions
as statedabove will remainvalid. This, we think,
well illustratesthe potential for interdisciplinary
approachesto the solutionof archaeologicalproblems.
Acknowledgments.The authors would like to express their
gratitude for the ongoing support they have received from
ProfessorTim Murray,Head of the School of Archaeology at
La Trobe University,and Dr. J. Scott Raymond, Head of the
Archaeology Departmentof the University of Calgary. Dr.
Peter Mathews has been a continuous source of academic
discussion and encouragement,as was Dr. Nigel Waters of
the Geography Department of the University of Calgary.
Thanks are also due to John Montgomeryfor allowing us to
use his drawings in this paper.ArmandoAnaya Hernmndez
would also like to acknowledge CONACYTfor the financial
supportreceived throughouthis graduateprogram.Likewise,
Stanley Guenteracknowledges the financialsupportreceived
from La Trobe University through a La Trobe University
PostgraduateResearch Scholarship. We would also like to
thankour reviewers for all their helpful comments.

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Notes
1. In referringto these polities as kingdoms, we follow
Schele and Miller's (1986:14) lead in comparingthe Maya
rulersand theirdomainsto the many independentpetty states
ruled by the early Anglo-Saxon kings, which quite often had
overlords.Recent epigraphicanalysis of Classic Maya political structure(Grubeand Martin1998; Houston 1993; Martin
and Grube 1995, 2000; Mathews and Willey 1991; Schele
and Freidel 1990) reveal a comparable situation in which
independentkingdoms were arrangedin a hierarchicalstructurenot dissimilarto the Anglo-Saxon example.The fact that
certain centers were politically subordinatedto others does
not in any way detract from the existence of functionally
autonomous polities (see for example Grube and Martin
1998:15-25). These kingdoms are identified by emblem
glyphs, which from a social dimension identify all holdersof
this title as ajaw, or "king"and their polities as individual
kingdoms (Mathews 1991). In this context, political hierarchy exists on a separateplane from social status;thus polities
that share the same social standingdid not necessarilywield
the same political power,and were in fact arrangedin hierarchical relationships.
2. T-numbersemployed here refer to the conventionsfor
Maya hieroglyphs devised by J. Eric S. Thompson (1962);
transliterationconventionsconformto those proposedfor the
ResearchReportson Ancient Maya Writing(Stuart1988).

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REPORTS

3. In orderto evaluate the reliabilityof these results we

appliedthe same process to Yaxchilanand PiedrasNegras to
see how well it fitted with these known polities. The results
thus obtainedwere satisfactoryenough to confirm the reliability of this method (see Anaya Hernmndez2001, Figures
4-9).
4. The GIS packages used were: ARC/INFO7.0, to create the digital maps from a series of 19 topographicmaps at
a scale of 1:50,000, comprising a total area of almost 9254
km2. Idrisi for Windows Version 2 was used to create the
Digital ElevationModel (DEM) of the areaandto performall
of the spatialmodeling. Finally,ArcView3.0a was used in the
productionof the final maps.
5. It is importantto stress the fact that in this initial allocation subsidiarysites such as La Pasaditaand El Chile fell
within the territoryof Yaxchilan,and La Mar and El Cayo
were containedwithin the territoryof PiedrasNegras, a situation that is thoroughly supportedby the inscribed monuments, thus lending a higher level of confidence to our
approach.
6. The Denver Panel is presently located at the Denver
Museum of Science and Nature,while the Brussels Panel is
at the Musees Royaux d'Art et d'Histoirein Brussels.
7. These two hieroglyphic panels present the history of
Sak Tz'i' from a local perspective.On this basis, we believe
that these pieces were originallyfrom this site.
8. These panels were recoveredfrom looters working in
the vicinity of Nuevo Jalisco, a site located about 12 km
northwestof Bonampak(see Figure4 for location). They are

191

currentlysafeguardedby INAH in the bodega of Bonampak.

9. The "KnotSite" is the provisionalname that has been
assigned to anotherregional polity whose exact location is
also presentlyunknown.Anaya Hernmndez(2001), however,
throughthe use of the GravityModel has proposed that the
territoryof this kingdom could have extended towards the
southeastof Bonampakand Lacanha(see Figure 5).
10. Two more monuments, the Zurich and New York
Panels (Grube and Schele 1995; Mayer 1987) also date to
9.14.15.0.0 (A.D. 727), and bear additional records of this
king of Sak Tz'i'. This K'ab' Chan Te' is said to be the king
of Bonampak as well as overlord of the nearby site of
Lacanha,furtherreinforcingour reconstructionof the extent
of Sak Tz'i's domain at this time.
11. We know thatAj Sak Tel Huh eventuallywon the war
of liberationfor, though on his own monument, Lintel 1 of
Lacanha,he merely takes the title "he of Lacanha"while Tab'
B'ahlam is given the titles of "King of Bonampak, King of
Lacanha,he of the "Knot-Site,"on Lintel 3 from Bonampak
his son credits him with the very royal titles accordedTab'
B'ahlam on the Lacanhalintel and leaves the latterwith only
his "he of the "Knot-Site"title. This suggests to us thatlate in
his life Aj Sak Tel Huh, likely with the help of Yaxchilan,
overthrewTab' B'ahlam and established himself as king of
his native city of Lacanhaas well as Bonampak.

SubmittedFebruary15, 2002; AcceptedDecember 9, 2002;

Revised December 19, 2002.

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