“This do I believe, Pakal. Nothing is ever truly lost. The essence of being never dies. What is required for this earth-walk is to fulfill our life path with courage and creativity. To accomplish the destiny the gods have given us, and to do it as completely and artistically as we can.”
Pakal’s face was brighter and this brought gladness to Sak K’uk’s heart. Her deep love for her son had not diminished, although responsibilities kept her away more than she wished. She was saddened by the burden he already bore, but knew it could not be averted or lessened.
“You remember our talk about visions of your grandmother Yohl Ik’nal that I had trouble recalling? Much have I thought on these, and now memories have awakened. She also had a vision about the future of the Maya people that frightened and dismayed her. She foresaw immense changes for our people and cities, with dispersion of populations and destruction of customs. Our great civilization appeared lost, the people fallen into ignominious conditions, the cities lying in ruin among jungle vines and trees. But yet to come is another cycle in which our greatness will be re-discovered. Foreign people of many lands will come to study and learn; to marvel and appreciate what the Mayas accomplished. Much is written upon the face of time and space that we now cannot read, but that comes to fruition as the cycles unfold.”
“Then what lies before me to do, my destiny as ruler of our people, does matter,” Pakal reflected.
“Yes, it matters greatly,” Sak K’uk reassured him. “It will shape Lakam Ha, the B’aakal polity, and the lives of our people now. It will leave a legacy for future people, both Mayas and foreigners that will affect their world. You are here in the space-time reality of earth-cab and you cannot avoid taking actions. Even not making decisions or choices is taking an action. All actions have consequences, and your actions have larger influences than most. So you must act, my son, even when your heart aches under the burden of your knowledge.”
Pakal nodded, for he immediately grasped the truth of his mother’s words. His destiny would have its way; he could not avoid actions, so he best make those choices that brought the noblest outcome.
4
The day of Pakal’s accession was at hand. He had passed twelve tuns, stood half a head taller than his mother and matched his father’s height. He had undergone the transformation rites moving him from childhood into adolescence a short time before. Time and cycles of wandering stars-planets figured prominently in determining the date of accession.
Chak Ek (Mars) was already linked with Pakal during his hoof-binding ceremony. This harbinger of rain and bringer of watery itz formed an important symbol of the ruler’s capacity to bring fertility to the land and sustenance to crops. Pakal’s accession was timed to the planet’s first stationary point in its 780-day cycle. The interval between its conjunction with the sun and first stationary point is 352 days, close to the 360-day Haab calendar cycle. After that point, it moves retrograde for 75 days, and then reaches its second stationary point from which it travels another 352 days until sun conjunction.
The combined symbols of rain bringing, crop nourishing, and two Haab agricultural cycles firmly established Pakal in the role of Yum K’ax, the young maize god. All Maya rulers had deep associations with sprouting corn stalks, and the god’s youthful face framed by foliated and tasseled imagery attested to their powers of renewal, both of plant growth and human life.
Another important wandering star entered the timing of Pakal’s accession. Yaax Ek (Jupiter) was in conjunction with the sun. This large stellar body was associated with the deity of royal lineage, K’awiil who also embodied rulership, lightning and thunder. He was frequently depicted with a snake foot and mirror on his forehead, or emerging from the jaws of a double-headed serpent sky bar that Maya rulers used as a royal insignia. Yaax Ek was linked to katun endings, and his head was the insignia of Katun Lords who were usually depicted seated on sky-band thrones. Presenting the head of Yaax Ek to the new ruler in katun ceremonies or during accession rites signified the passing on of the royal lineage. When Yaax Ek was conjoined with K’in Ahau-Lord Sun, the two most powerful symbols of rulership merged. Selecting this day for Pakal’s accession was a potent declaration of his right to rulership.
The ceremony followed the model used for Muwaan Mat, except that Pakal wore minimal regalia when he was borne on the palanquin around the palace main plaza. The palanquin was decorated with symbolism of Chak Ek and Yaax Ek, along with foliated maize stalks. Pakal was adorned with a simple headdress that held a forelock of hair over his forehead and a ponytail behind, with water lily and flower motifs. Around his neck and over his bare chest hung a large jade pectoral with an Ik’ symbol carved in the center, and in his earlobes were heavy jade ear pendants. Wrist cuffs of grooved bronze had jangling disks and beads. His loincloth was white trimmed by a red border and waistband, and his feet were bare.
The simplicity of Pakal’s regalia emphasized his youthful freshness and the newness of rebirth. The bright midsummer day was graced by wispy clouds overhead and a soft, cooling breeze. The birds seemed to sing more sweetly as he lithely ascended the palace stairs to the throne chamber, accompanied by a slow single drumbeat. Following enunciations by the High Priest and Priestess stating his lineage and rightful position in accession, he entered the chamber and sat upon the double-headed jaguar throne.
Sak K’uk was seated on a mat next to the throne where she awaited his entry. In the side chambers stood his father Kan Mo’ Hix and grandfather Yaxun Xul along with many elite ahauob and warriors. Only his mother was in the throne room, not clad in Muwaan Mat’s regalia but wearing the classic costume of royal women: A cape and skirt in the woven mat pattern over a white huipil, with embroidered fringes and waistband, wrist cuffs matching Pakal’s, bare feet and a small headdress of ancestor faces and white cloth flaps hanging behind. She ceremoniously lifted a large “drum-major” headdress, its tall dome decorated with four rows of round silver discs with center obsidian dots, lined top and bottom by a row of square white stones, with the sun god face in front and several long quetzal tail feathers soaring above two rows of green leaves.
This headdress was associated with sacred battle on several levels. It signified the struggle each person was fated to have with his or her own baser nature in order to ascend to higher levels of consciousness, and expand that animal nature into the divine essence of all true humans. In addition, the headdress implied battle with forces of disruption and decay that inevitably confronted human society. Political and economic systems needed to be surmounted and subdued to serve the people’s well-being. Lastly, sacred battle on the physical level often was necessary to defend one’s city against oppression and exploitation by bellicose neighbors.
Pakal first removed his simple headdress and tied on his forehead the white headband. This symbolic act had been passed down from ruler to ruler since the dynasty began. In primordial times, Muwaan Mat was the first in the lineage to tie on the white headband, and it had become the ultimate symbol of assuming rulership in B’aakal. With this gesture, Pakal was tied into the rulership, hok’ah ti ahaulel. He then took the “drum-major” headdress from Sak K’uk and placed it securely on his elongated skull.
Two and a half katuns later, Pakal would have this scene immortalized in a lovely sculpted panel that adorned the back wall of his new Sak Nuk Nah. This panel was called “The Oval Palace Tablet” by scientists who later visited the ruins of Lakam Ha. The date of Pakal’s accession was commemorated in stone glyphs at several locations in the city:
Baktun 9, Katun 9, Tun 2, Uinal 4, Kin 8 on the date 5 Lamat 1 Mol.
(July 29, 615 CE)
The High Priest approached and handed Pakal the white jade K’awiil scepter. Taking the scepter in his right hand, Pakal lifted it that all below might see. He twisted his body to face the plaza and made scattering gestures with his left hand.
Throaty cheers arose from the crowd gathered in the plaza, followed by several rounds chanting their new ruler’s name and title.
/> “K’inich Janaab Pakal, K’uhul B’aakal Ahau!”
Pakal stood and moved regally to the edge of the palace platform. Standing between tall censers, carved with faces of K’in Ahau and Yum K’ax, he recited his dynasty’s long history and retold the story of their people’s creation, as his grandmother Yohl Ik’nal had done in the same place nearly a katun and a half ago. Lazy, fragrant smoke curled upward from censers as the people of Lakam Ha stood silently, rapt in the tale so beloved by all, the lilting cadences of Pakal’s strong young voice carrying them into the intoxication of trance.
Later most people indulged in more worldly inebriation during the feasting that lasted well into the night. Balche flowed freely and washed down savory stews of deer and peccary, simmered with squash and tomatoes, fragrant with spices of coriander, oregano, annatto and chile. Music and dance, conversation and story-telling filled their celebratory evening as the people of Lakam Ha rejoiced, for their royal dynasty continued in the inspiring form of this exceptional young ahau who brought promise of a bright future.
SAK K’UK – V
Baktun 9 Katun 9 Tun 5 –
Baktun 9 Katun 9 Tun 8
(618 – 621 CE)
1
The young architect stepped back from his model for a critical look. Slowly circling the table, he examined it from every angle making certain he had considered horizontal and vertical gravity loading in the design. He checked the model against drawings sketched on bark paper demonstrating the actual dimensions and heights of the structure. Once again he re-calculated the mathematics of gravity resistance by the axial forces generated by the compression and tension members (qualities) of the structural design. All seemed in order. The structure should stand solidly and resist natural stresses from wind and seismic effects.
Yax Chan recalled his conversations with K’inich Janaab Pakal, K’uhul B’aakal Ahau, leading to this exploration of new construction design. Pakal had dreams of building extensive new structures in Lakam Ha, as well as repairing and improving the older temples damaged in the Kan attack. The young ruler’s overall intention was to have taller temples and buildings with loftier roofs, higher arches and wider chambers. This posed an architectural challenge and spurred Yax Chan into a flurry of creative thinking. What techniques of building would permit higher arches capable of supporting chambers with wider roofs?
Maya buildings were constructed of cut masonry stone blocks using native limestone that had great compressive strength. Ancient technicians had invented the process of making hydraulic cement far in the past (300 BCE) using a firing kiln. The kiln was an assembly of self-consuming timber fuel in a geometric shape that induced very high temperatures by drawing oxygen rich air from below the wood into a central shaft. Small limestone blocks sat on top of the woodpile and the extreme heat changed their chemical composition. These were allowed to cool and be exposed to dew and rain, which expanded the stones into a dome of fluffy white powder several times the original bulk. This hydraulic cement was collected and ground into a fine powder, later mixed with water, loosely ground limestone and aggregate pebbles to create cast-in-place concrete. This was used as mortar for stonework and pavements, and stucco for plastering both exterior and interior walls of buildings.
Residential buildings had rectangular chambers with straight walls and often had multiple stories. Palaces were larger with more rooms and interspersed patios, some chambers residential and others for administration and reception purposes. Pyramids usually were constructed in stages, growing in size and height over time. Most did not contain functional interior spaces but were a mass of stone and fill material such as compacted clay, rubble, and broken pottery. The exterior façade was made of composite stone and concrete encapsulating the interior mass, stepped upward in three to nine levels and terminating in a temple platform, accessed by staircases leading from the ground to the top. When an existing pyramid was enlarged by later construction, a series of retaining walls were used to confine the new fill material, built just inside the perimeter of the new exterior. A new exterior skin was then applied, decorated and painted.
The key structural element that concerned Yax Chan was the arch that supported the chamber roofs, whether in pyramids, palaces or residences. This was the limiting factor in both the height and width of rooms. The huge gravitational pressures of building with stone required construction design that guaranteed adequate support. The Maya used a design called the corbelled arch. It was formed by stair-stepping successive blocks of masonry stone from the spring line (point where the arch begins) upward. Adding one block that protruded outward a little farther than the one below formed an upside-down stair, and gradually brought the wall of the chamber upward, until the two sides met in the center of the ceiling where a capstone was placed.
The vault created by this corbelled arch assumed an upward pointing wedge. It was not a true rounded arch and used different force dynamics to support the load of the ceiling. It required thick walls and an abutment to counteract the horizontal stresses generated by this gravity load. The chamber could neither be very wide nor tall. To meet Pakal’s requirements for new buildings, a different arch structure was needed.
An innovative arch structure was the subject of Yax Chan’s model. He had pondered the mechanical and gravitational forces involved, had made calculations and consulted other architects, and had arrived at an ingenious idea. By adding a high strength timber thrust beam, he could both raise the ceiling and thin the walls. This created a trapezoidal linear truss of great stability and strength. Due to its trapezoidal structure, this arch resisted large gravity loads through pure compression and tension members. Placing the timber thrust beam at the spring line of the arch, a tall ceiling wall could be angled inward to meet the opposite ceiling wall at the capstone.
The model chamber began at the foundation, its walls lined with stone masonry and filled with cast-in-place concrete. When the height for beginning the arch was reached and the concrete had hardened, the timber thrust beam was placed to span the two walls and inserted deep into the walls. The exterior wall continued straight upward, while the interior began its inward angle using pinion shaped stones carved to form a smooth slope where their faces met. Concrete was put inside after the placement of several pinion stones and allowed to harden. This process continued until the interior walls were close enough to place the capstone. The interior walls thus formed a smooth ceiling that later was covered with plaster. If an especially tall arch was desired, a second timber thrust beam could be inserted some distance above the first.
Timber with long-term resistance to insects and degradation, with dense fibers of high strength, was readily available in such trees as the zapote and mahogany. The tensile strength was similar to low-grade steel and many beams continued to hold ceilings in place long after the Maya no longer occupied their great cities. Although Yax Chan could not imagine this distant future, his goal was to engineer a structural spanning system for permanency, as well as one with inherent strength capable of resisting large levels of vertical and lateral gravity loading. This he believed he had accomplished.
With both eagerness and trepidation Yax Chan revealed to Pakal his model chamber with its innovative trapezoidal linear timber truss. Even in its small size, Pakal could see that the proportions created a sense of harmony. The slender walls and smoothly angled interior ceiling were elegant, and the greater width brought spaciousness to the chamber. Yax Chan explained the principles used in creating the trapezoid.
“This is excellent, Yax Chan,” Pakal said as he circled the model. “It is clever to use a thrust beam to give more strength and stability. How did you think of this?”
“After much time visualizing corbelled arches, I kept seeing the shape of a triangle,” Yax Chan replied. “I imagined the triangle getting larger and larger, but soon the ceiling would collapse. After watching many ceilings fall in my mind, it occurred to me that adding something to support the walls might help hold them up. This idea led to the thrust
beam.”
“Remarkable. We do already use hard wood timber for door lintels, and these timbers are known to last for baktuns.”
“Just so. The strength of the hard wood is not much less than stone.”
“Your use of pinion stones is also fascinating. Why this did not occur to our builders before is strange, for they have long used pinions in wall and bridge structures,” Pakal observed.
“Yes, to achieve a resistant yet smooth façade. Then plaster can be applied and painted, or carved panels can be attached. I too wondered why no builders have used pinion stones to create interior chamber ceilings,” said Yax Chan.
“Possibly because only the corbelled arch was used for chamber ceilings,” Pakal offered. “The stepped stones make it impossible to apply plaster for a smooth surface. With your new approach, we can now have murals and paintings on ceilings. This appeals greatly to me.”
Pakal traced his finger along the exterior roofline. The four sides of the roof sloped gently upward to meet the border framing the rooftop.
“Why is the roof slanted?” he asked. “All the temple roofs I have seen are square and flat.”
“The interior arch construction functions better with a sloped roof,” Yax Chan explained. “The roof runs parallel to the interior slope of the vault inside. This reduces the gravity weight of roof masonry stone, thus making the structure more resistant to collapse. It allows the walls to be thinner, rooms wider and entryways larger. It also adds an esthetic quality, giving the structure an upward thrust and creating an illusion of lightness.”
Pakal re-examined the model, both exterior and interior. He stood back and viewed the roofline from several angles.
“That is so, it does create an impression of lightness and elevation,” he agreed. “Making the roofline sloped is brilliant. It is truly pleasing to the eye.”
The Controversial Mayan Queen: Sak K'uk of Palenque (The Mists of Palenque) Page 20