Seibal
Etymology
Etymology
"Seibal" is a corruption of the Spanish word ceibal, meaning "place where many ceiba trees grow". El Ceibal was the name of a lumber camp near the ruins at the time of their discovery. The change in spelling originated with a publication by Teoberto Maler in 1908, which used a Germanic form with initial "s".
Location
Seibal is located on bluffs about 100metres (330ft) above the Pasin River, a major tributary of the Usumacinta River. About 100kilometres (62mi) downstream, the Pasin River joins with the Salinas River to form the Usumacinta, which flows northwards to the Gulf of Mexico. The site lies in the Petn department of northern Guatemala, 16kilometres (9.9mi) east of the modern town of Sayaxch. Seibal lay 27kilometres (17mi) east of the Late Classic city of Dos Pilas and 100kilometres (62mi) south of Tikal. Lake Petn Itz lies 60kilometres (37mi) to the north of the ruins.
Seibal lies among tropical rainforest on a limestone plain that is intermittently hilly and flat.
Population
Maya civilization
Peoples Languages Society
Religion Mythology Human sacrifice
Architecture Calendar
Textiles Trade
Pre-Columbian Music Writing
History
Classic Maya collapse
Spanish conquest of Yucatn
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Surveys have revealed an average of 436 structures per square kilometer (1118 per square mile) in the site core, falling to 244 structures/km (626/square mile) in the periphery. At its height in the Late Preclassic, the population has been estimated at 1600 in the site core with a further 8000 dipersed through the periphery, to produce an estimated total population of almost ten thousand. In the Early Classic the population suffered a sever decline, population is estimated to have dropped to 34% of peak population. In the Late to Terminal Classic the population increased to 85% of its Late Preclassic level, an expansion that appears to have occurred rapidly and spread to all parts of the site, perhaps as the result of an influx of refugees arriving from other sites around AD 830. This was followed by a population crash to 14% of peak Preclassic population in the Early Postclassic (AD 9001200) prior to the complete abandonment of the site.
Known rulers
All dates A.D.
Name
Title or nickname
Ruled
Yich'aak B'alam
"Jaguar Claw"
c.735747+
Ajaw B'ot
"Ruler D", Ah-Bolon-Abta
771?
Wat'ul Chatel
Aj B'olon Haab'tal
830889+
History
The site was occupied by the Middle Preclassic, then declined from the Late Preclassic through to the Early Classic, with a renewed expansion in the Late to Terminal Classic before being completely abandoned.
Preclassic
Seibal was first settled around 900 BC in the Preclassic Period. It reached its peak population in the Late Preclassic around 200 BC. Ceramics from the deep Middle Preclassic levels at Seibal belong to the little known Xe phase, found in the western Petn region. A cruciform-shaped Olmec-style cache consisting of a bloodletter and jade celts is similar to those found in the Olmec heartland on the Gulf Coast of Mexico, and the artifacts were probably manufactured at La Venta. This cache dates to approximately 900 BC.
The earliest settlement in the Middle Preclassic was mostly confined to GroupA. After 300 BC, in the Late Preclassic, settlement expanded to include GroupD.
By the end of the Late Preclassic (or Protoclassic), Seibal experienced an unexplained decline in population.
Early Classic
During the Early Classic, the decline that began in the Late Preclassic continued unabated until the site was all but abandoned around AD 300 for unknown reasons.
Late Classic
Stela 16 from Dos Pilas depicts the defeated king of Seibal Yich'ak Balam.
Seibal underwent a revival in the Late Classic with an expansion of occupation linked to the great city of Tikal. About AD 650 new inhabitants moved into the city in order to found a new kingdom. GroupsA and D saw new construction, with a particular emphasis on GroupD, which became an important part of the ceremonial centre. Any monuments raised by the Late Classic rulers responsible for this renewed occupation were defaced when the city suffered a catastrophic defeat in the 8th century AD.
The earliest mention of Seibal in hieroglyphic inscriptions is on Stela15 at Dos Pilas, dated to 13 October 721, and refers to Seibal becoming involved in the long-running war between the great cities of Tikal and Calakmul and their respective allies and vassals. Dos Pilas was a newly founded city in the Petexbatn region, established by Tikal to exert its control over the Pasin River, a strategy that backfired when Calakmul seized control of the fledgling kingdom.
Defeat
In AD 735 Ucha'an K'in B'alam, the third king in the dynasty of the vigorous new Dos Pilas kingdom, attacked Seibal, capturing Yich'aak B'alam, its king. The captive king was not executed but rather became a vassal of his more powerful neighbour. Ucha'an K'in B'alam raised monuments to his victory over Seibal at Dos Pilas, Aguateca and Seibal itself. Yich'aak B'alam is shown under the feet of Ucha'an K'in B'alam on Aguateca Stela2. At Seibal a hieroglyphic stairway was built recording the city's new status as a vassal of Dos Pilas. At the same time as he erected these monuments to his victory, Ucha'an K'in B'alam ordered the destruction of the hieroglyphic records on the earlier monuments of Seibal, with inscriptions at Dos Pilas and Aguateca specifically recording the destruction of Seibal's previously recorded history using phrases that translate as "they destroyed the writing" and "they chopped the writing off the statues that were made".
Yich'aak B'alam continued as a vassal under the next king of Dos Pilas, K'awiil Chan K'inich, who presided over rituals at Seibal in 745 and 747.
Seibal regained its independence in the late 8th century with the destruction of the Dos Pilas kingdom. Ajaw B'ot acceeded to the throne in AD 771, restoring Seibal as an independent capital. After AD 800 Seibal fell into a thirty-year hiatus during which no new monuments were erected.
Terminal Classic
Detail of Stela 11 at Seibal, showing king Wat'ul Chatel.
With its independence came a new apogee, and for a brief time Seibal became a prominent regional capital located on the important Pasin River trade route. The architecture and ceramics from this period demonstrate connections with the northern Yucatn Peninsula and the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Seventeen stelae carved between AD 849 and 889 show a mix of Maya and foreign styles, including a lord wearing the beaked mask of Ehecatl, the central Mexican wind god, with a Mexican-style speech scroll emerging from the mouth. Some of these stelae have a stylistic affinity with the painted murals at Cacaxtla, a site in the central Mexican state of Tlaxcala. This hybrid style seem to indicate that the new lords of Seibal were Maya lords adapting to changing political conditions by adopting a mix of symbols originating from both lowland Maya and central Mexican sources. Some of the more foreign-looking stelae even bear non-Maya calendrical glyphs. Changes at Seibal at this time are associated with the Chontal-controlled trade flowing along the Pasin River. The Chontal Maya themselves were warrior-merchants originating from the Gulf Coast of Mexico who displayed a mixture of Maya and non-Maya characteristics.
Hieroglyphic texts at Seibal indicate that the city's newly refound vigour was sponsored by a new alliance formed by the cities of Caracol and Ucanal in the east, two sites that had so far survived the spreading Classic Maya collapse. It is likely that they were attempting to reopen the old Pasin-Usumacinta trade route and were drawn to Seibal by its defensible location overlooking the Pasin River. Seibal's refounding took place in AD 830 with the installation of its new lord, Wat'ul Chatel, as a vassal of Chan Ek' Hopet of Ucanal. The new king dedicated a new building and stelae in 849, overseen by "Jewel K'awil", king of Tikal, and Chan Pet, king of Calakmul. Wat'ul Chatel built an innovative new temple-stelae arrangement to the south of the Central Plaza of GroupA. StructureA-3 consists of a low radial pyramid with an inventive arrangement of sculpted monuments.
Wat'ul Chatel's last monument was erected in 889, almost 60 years after his accession. This stela is also the last dated monument raised at Seibal and by 900 the city was all but abandoned, the whole region had been engulfed by the Classic Maya collapse and trade no longer flowed along the Pasin-Usumacinta route. Most Classic Maya capitals had already been abandoned and whatever external support Seibal had received from its overlord had vanished.
The late stelae at Seibal show a marked reduction in quality over a span of about forty years, with the loss of Classic Period traits, and bearing flatter and cruder representations than earlier stelae. This may reflect the loss of expertise in the Terminal Classic, with craftsmen less able to work monuments and large structures as time progressed.
Modern history
The ruins of Seibal were probably discovered around 1890 by loggers working for the Hamett Mahogany Company. Federico Artes first reported the existence of the ruins in 1892 after he was sent to Petn by the Guatemalan government in order to find material to be displayed in the Guatemalan exhibit for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He took molds from some of the stelae and the resulting casts were displayed in the Exposition, bringing the recent discovery of the ruins to the attention of archaeologists for the first time. Two years later, in July 1895, Seibal was explored by Teoberto Maler on behalf of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University. He made a site plan and discovered a new stela to add to those already discovered. He returned to the site for further investigations in August 1905 but discovered no new monuments. The Peabody Museum published Maler's work in 1908, including good quality photos of the stelae.
Seibal was next investigated by Sylvanus Morley in 1914 on behalf of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Dr Barnum Brown visited the ruins in 1948, and members of the Altar de Sacrificios Expedition of the Peabody Museum made visits in 1961, 1962 and 1963.
In 1964, the Peabody Museum returned to the site with a thorough investigation that continued until 1968, led by Gordon R. Willey as Director and A. Ledyard Smith as Field Director. Further excavations were carried out from May to June in 2006 by the Proyecto Arqueolgico Ceibal-Petexbatun (Seibal-Petexbatun Archaeological Project).
The site
Seibal is a medium-sized site. The site core is divided into three principal hilltop groups (Groups A, C and D) connected by causeways and covers a little over 1km. The causeways were faced with masonry and had parapets in places. CausewayI is the western causeway, CausewayII is the south causeway and CausewayIII is the eastern causeway. GroupD is a fortress refuge concealed above the river frontage. GroupB is a small complex located about 3kilometres (1.9mi) from the site core. GroupA is smaller than GroupD but has most of the sculptured monuments. Various small housemound groups lie beyond the site core. They are spaced between 50 and 100 metres (55 and 110yd) apart, extending for several kilometers to the north, south and west.
Only two structures have been restored at Seibal, the A-3temple platform and the C-79circular platform. Both were restored during the investigations carried out by the Peabody Museum in the 1960s.
Seibal possesses a satellite site located to the north, known as El Anonal. This site has large structures built from clay that date to the Middle Preclassic period.
Architecture
Group A is in the site core. It features three plazas, the North, South and Central Plazas and lies at the west end of CausewayI. GroupA has more than fifty mounds arranged around the three plazas. Monuments dating to the period when Seibal was a vassal of Dos Pilas (AD 735761) are situated in the Central Plaza of the group.
Group C lies on CausewayII, which passes through it to end at the circular StructureC-79. GroupC has over forty mounds.
Group D is a compact group at the east end of CausewayIII, it is perched in an easily defensible position at the edge of the bluffs overlooking the Pasin river. It has more than seventy structures crowded around five plazas. GroupD only had one stela, which was a plain monument erected in front of a 20-metre (66ft) high stepped pyramid.
The East Patio of GroupA is part of an acropolis complex located behind StructureA-14. The complex is situated upon a massive platform raised almost 7metres (23ft) above the natural surface level. The patio was accessed by a stairway on the south side. It includes StructuresA-15 and A-16.
Structure A-3
Structure A-3 is a temple platform located in the centre of the south plaza. It has a stairway ascending each of its four sides. Five stelae are associated with this structure, one located at the base of each stairway and a fifth inside the building surmounting the platform. Three large jade cobbles were interred under the central stela. This structure and its associated stelae were dedicated in AD 849 by king Wat'ul Chatel (also known as Aj B'olon Haab'tal). StructureA-3 has the remains of a corbeled vault, the only surviving example at Seibal. The arrangement of the radial pyramid with its associated stelae was highly innovative. The radial temple form was ancient in the Maya region, dating back to the Late Preclassic, but Wat'ul Chatel placed upon it a square shrine with four doors, one opening onto each of the stairways. The temple building contained three vaulted chambers oriented north-south, with doors joining each chamber along an east-west axis. The cornice of the temple supported a brightly coloured stucco frieze. The frieze collapsed with the temple in ancient times. Archaeologists were able to recover portions of the fallen frieze and attempt a reconstruction of how it originally appeared. Each of the four doors was originally topped by a larger-than-life sculpture of king Wat'ul Chatel. Twelve smaller figures were spaced around the cornice, one at each corner with an additional figure positioned half way between each corner and the central figure of the king. It is not known who these smaller figures represented. The spaces between the figures were occupied by panels with cross-hatch designs and sculpted vegetation and animals. Old gods sat in the centre of each of the sixteen panels, including Itzamna and Pawatun. StructureA-3 was built over an ealier platform structure.
Structure A-10, a 28-metre (92ft) tall temple-pyramid, is the tallest structure at the site.
Structure A-13 is a radial pyramid. Excavations uncovered a mass burial (Burial 4) with parts of eleven people, including two women and a child. This was not a traditional Classic Maya burial and has been dated to AD 930, very late in the occupation of the site.
Structure A-14 is covered by the forest that has overgrown the northern part of the Central Plaza. It is a range structure running north-south and once had a hieroglyphic stairway detailing Seibal's defeat by Dos Pilas, although the inscriptions have now been removed to the old project camp. The structure was found to contain an elite female burial, labelled as Burial1.
Structure A-15 is located on the north side of the East Patio of the North Plaza. It is a long, low structure running east-west and closing the patio on the north side. It measures 24 by 8 metres (79 by 26 ft) by 1.5metres (4.9ft) tall. The building contained a long room with a wide entrance opening southwards onto the patio, raised from the patio by a step. The room contained a stone bench built from reused blocks. The structure was superimposed upon two earlier substructures, the earliest of which had a different orientation to the final building. All three periods of construction appear to date to the Terminal Classic, with the last phase perhaps dating to about the time of the fall of the city.
Structure A-16 is located on the northeast side of the East Patio of the North Plaza. It is a rectangular structure measuring 16 by 10 metres (52 by 33 ft), running north-south and facing to the west. The remains of the structure stand 2.7metres (8.9ft) high. The western side of the building had been damaged by looters prior to archaeological investiagtion. The looters' trench measured 5 by 0.8 metres (16 by 2.6 ft) by 3.5metres (11ft) deep and cut through the structure's floor, bench and rear wall but did not uncover any burials or offerings. Fallen limestone blocks and slabs reveal that the structure once had a corbel-vaulted chamber. Fragments of stucco were also recovered, they once made up a colourful frieze above the front of the building that included modelled human figures. The stucco still had traces of orange, green and yellow paint. The building was a palace-type structure with perhaps six rooms, three on the west side and three on the east, and it was originally roofed in stone. The interior had an L-shaped bench. The structure was built of finely cut limestone blocks and the walls were coated with stucco painted orange and turquoise. It is believed that the building was part of a Terminal Classic royal palace with architectural features similar to those of the temple StructureA-3.
The unusual circular structure C-79.
Structure A-19 and Structure C-9 are ballcourts. They have a resemblance to ballcourts at Chichen Itza. Both ballcourts are aligned east-west, an unusual feature in the Maya area, although the topography of the site severely restricted the layout of the city to a principally east-west orientation. BallcourtA-19 lies on the west side on the north plaza.
Structure C-79 is a circular three-tiered platform built during the Terminal Classic on top of a pre-existing structure dating to the Late Preclassic Period. Circular structures such as this have their origin in central Mexico, where they are typically temples of Ehecatl, the god of wind. However, the structure at Seibal was surmounted by a rectangular building platform, whereas the temple buildings of Ehecatl were also circular. StructureC-79 has two stairways, the larger ascends the west side, the smaller is on the east side. A circular jaguar altar rests on three pedestals befo
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