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The Conversation
The Conversation
Gerardo Aldana, Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

Solstices brought Mayan communities together, using monuments shaped by science and religion – and kingly ambitions, too

An "E-Group" construction at the ancient Maya site of Caracol, in present-day Belize. Gerardo Aldana

K’ahk’ Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil knew his history.

For 11 generations, the Mayan ruler’s dynasty had ruled Copan, a city-state near today’s border between Honduras and Guatemala. From the fifth century C.E. into the seventh century, scribes painted his ancestors’ genealogies into manuscripts and carved them in stone monuments throughout the city.

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