ANCIENT MAYA QUEEN LADY SIX SKY CONQUERS THE YUCATÁN PENINSULA

Stela found at Naranjo of Lady Six Sky (or K'awiil Ajaw)

PART 4 

Warrior queens were not uncommon in the waning days of the Late Classic Period of the Maya, roughly 600 to 900 AD, though their domains tended to be concentrated in southern Mexico and Guatemala.

              

Map showing Dos Pilas, Naranjo, Calakmul and Tikal by Todd Decker

LADY SIX SKY

The warrior queen Lady Six Sky, also known as Lady Ik Wak Chan Ajaw or K'awiil Ajaw, entered the world in the seventh century, 667 AD to be exact, in Dos Pilas in the Peten, Guatemala, but during the course of her life, traveled far from there. And what a winding road she took while serving as de facto ruler of the city Naranjo, once if not twice, as she waged war against numerous competitors.

Drawing of Lady Six Sky from Stela 24 by artist/scholar Linda Schele

Born into a centuries-old ruling dynasty of Dos Pilas, at a young age she was selected over her older brother to be sent to the failing capital of Naranjo. At that time, first born sons stayed in the kingdom while second sons would normally be dispatched to handle tricky political or military business, so this situation was unique. Instead, the king used her as a political pawn as part of an arranged marriage between the Maya cities of Dos Pilas, where she was from, and Naranjo, to bring it into the Calakmul-Dos Pilas alliance and to help regenerate its obliterated dynasty.

Rendering of Dos Pilas from Alcheron, the Free Encyclopedia

Her father authorized the young princess to clean up the city which was in a shambles as indicated by hieroglyphics and stela dated at that period. (Stela are large limestone slabs placed in front of pyramids to commemorate births, deaths, victories). Stelas Number 24 and 29 from Naranjo depict Lady Six Sky trampling captives in a manner well-known to warrior kings, evidence that she'd taken her father's marching orders seriously.

A child of Lady B'ulu' and Calakmul ruler B'alaj Chan K'awill, her courageous deeds helped assure that her dynasty retained power. Though she was always loyal to her home, she became known as one of Naranjo's rulers during the Late Classic Period. Monuments note she was also a spiritual leader. Even though she performed many rituals she was never given the title Holy Lady Six Sky. She was also a day keeper of the Maya calendar, counting moon phases and one such ceremony commemorating the Long Count calendar was memorialized on Stela 29 at Naranjo. In it, the caption indicates she is impersonating a goddess, and is dressed in spiritually charged regalia. In the portrait she underscored both her strategic prowess and divine right to rule.

Stela 29 text, drawing Linda Schele

Archeologist Kathryn Reese-Taylor (University of Calgary) found the epigraph or inscription from the work of renowned Maya scholar Linda Schele which revealed that at the height of the rainy season in 683, a Maya princess from Dos Pilas (now in what is west Central Guatemala) arrived in shattered Naranjo, just west of the Belize-Guatemalan border.

Enemy kings had long fought over the region's lucrative river trade, which had prompted her father to dispatch his daughter to marry the king, indicating a declaration of peace. When the ruler died shortly after they married, he left Lady Six Sky in charge.

She didn't blink, stepping deftly into the role of leader. Over five years, she launched eight military campaigns, torching the cities of her enemies.

Her successful battlefield record helped archeologist Reese-Taylor understand the trajectory of women warriors through Maya history. And as evidenced by Parts 1-3 of Maya Musings' warrior queen posts, Lady Six Sky wasn't the only Maya princess who scooped up the reigns of power.

Rendering of Maya Warrior Queen from Discover magazine

Beginning in 2004, another Maya archeologist and author of Ancient Maya Women, Traci Ardren (University of Miami), also sifted through evidence from royal tombs and inscriptions searching for traces of female rulers. Two dozen tombs of women queens have been discovered so far.

Ardren has "brought together studies from throughout the ancient Maya world to show that women were not sidebars in Maya society but significant actors in their own right," stated Reese-Taylor in a Discover magazine article detailing her recent Maya excavations.

Reese-Taylor is now building on Ardren's work and continues to search for clues about powerful queens who were also fierce warriors. (Women Warriors, Part 1, October 1).

 

Sacred White Road near Cobá, from News.Miami.edu

In her quest to conquer more Maya cities to better her clan, Lady Six Sky may have been affiliated with the Maya sac-be, a 62-mile sacred white road, that stretched from Cobá to Yaxuná, two cities in southern Mexico she sparred with during her conquering phase, according to Journal of Archeological Science.

"There's still no concrete evidence pointing to who built the elevated 26-foot wide road or how long it took to construct it," archeologist Travis Stanton (University of Riverside) told Live Science.

                                                                                                                                                                    

LiDAR scan of Sacred White Road, by Traci Ardren

But some scholars believe, as does Ardren, Lady Six Sky may have either constructed the road or used it—already built—for moving troops from Cobá to Yaxuná as she continued her warring phase. In 2021, an archeological team plans to complete a dig at the site of a settlement identified by new LiDAR (light detection and ranging technology) imaging scans. Scholars believe the white road that derived its name from sascab, a Maya limestone plaster, would have been visible even at night. The mixture for the road would eventually prove to be a recipe similar to that of Roman concrete.

Whatever the material, this road connected thousands of people and hundreds of villages across what was once harsh, jungly terrain. Whoever controlled it took ownership of the central Yucatán Peninsula.

Previous researchers found evidence that a queen of Cobá set out on

numerous wars of territorial expansion. If it was Lady Six Sky, whose 

Badly eroded stela at Cobá, photo Richard Crim 

image appears on a monument at Cobá, and she was said queen, she held that power. If eventually the stela is verified as Lady Six Sky, this sign of dominance and respect will secure her place as a ruler of great renown in the Maya world.

Lady Six Sky was first recognized in the 1960s by the famous Russian archeologist, Tatiana Proskouriakoff, pioneer of Maya inscriptions, who dubbed her Lady of Tikal. At the time, however, three Maya cities used the same emblem glyph, so it's not a sure sign she actually had affiliations with Tikal. And first and foremost, Lady Six Sky's loyalty was to Dos Pilas, where her death was recorded in 741 AD.

There are so many Maya mysteries yet to be uncovered, but thanks to ongoing excavations, one recurrent theme is dominant: Women, too, ruled the Maya world.

If you enjoyed this post, check out my memoir Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya. It's available on Amazon with tales of expat life and living within 100 miles of four major pyramid sites. Also, check out my website at www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival, and Tulum Takedown, are available on Amazon where my overview of the 2012 Maya calendar phenomenon, Maya 2012 Revealed—Demystifying the Prophecy, can also be found. 

MAYA WOMEN OF POWER — HOLY SNAKE LORD LADY K'ABEL, SUPREME WARLORD, PART 2

 

Rendition of Stela 44 Honoring Lady K'abel at Her Burial Site

Until fifteen years ago, Maya warrior queens were not the stuff of conversation much less legend in archeological circles. The idea was too far-fetched. The Maya hieroglyphic code had only been broken a few decades earlier in the 1970s at the famous Palenque Round Table talks in southern Mexico. Dozens of the world's finest archeologists and scholars gathered at the great site to put their heads together and try to break the problematic code. Besides that, hundreds of Maya sites had yet to be excavated. And no one had a clue as to how many sites were still undiscovered.

But in 2004, everything changed. Archelogist Kathryn Reese-Taylor, University of Calgary, headed a dig at a relatively unknown site, Naachtun. Sitting between powerful Tikal and Calakmul in the Yucatán lowlands of southern Mexico and northern Guatemala, Reese-Taylor and her team spent three months excavating the area. Their search proved fruitful and uncovered Lady Yohl Ik'nal, the Maya's first recorded female ruler, in 623 AD. (See Maya Warrior Queens Part 1, October 1 blog).

Maya queens rose to power after a seismic geo-political shift occurred in the mid seventh century. Power was moving into the area of the central lowlands and its vast forests in the middle of the Yucatán Peninsula.

Stela 34, Lady K'abel found in El Perú-Waka' 

ENTER LADY K'ABEL

In 2012 archeologists discovered the royal tomb of Lady K'abel, queen of the abandoned city El Perú-Waka', located in northern Guatemala between powerhouses Calakmul and Tikal. Known as the Centipede Kingdom, it played second fiddle to Calakmul, Snake Kingdom, that sat to the northeast. In a political power play, Lady K'abel, daughter of the ruler of Calakmul, was married to Tikal's ruler Kinich Balam II to serve as governor of El Perú-Waka' on her father's behalf. Archeologist Olivia Farr-Navarro (College of Wooster), a leader on the team, said they excavated the royal burial site located beneath a stairway platform located at the foot of the main Maya pyramid temple on site.

Archeologist Olivia Farr-Navarro at El Perú-Waka'site during excavation

STELA SHEDS LIGHT ON LADY K'ABEL

Until this discovery, scholars had known Lady K'abel as the Kaloomte', a Maya high king or queen who is military leader, the highest power in the kingdom. But Lady K'abel was hardly anonymous to those who studied the Maya. She had previously been identified by a stela (large limestone slab placed in front of a pyramid with hieroglyphic writing) that is on display at the Cleveland Art Museum, known as Stela 34 of El Perú. In it she is shown as a queen in warrior dress.

Investigation of this platform started before 2006 when Farr-Navrro studied under archeologist and author David Freidel, Washington University in St. Louis, and co-director of the site with Guatemala's Juan Carlos Pérez. El Perú-Waka' was being excavated by Freidel's team and planned to not simply uncover tombs but to focus on studying "ritually-charged" features such as shrines, altars, and dedicatory offerings.

CENTER OF RITUALS AND SACRIFICES

The city had long been a center of ritualistic activity and sacrifice, and signs implied it retained that significant presence long into the post-collapse era of the Maya after 900 AD when kings no longer ruled.

"The platform is the central focus point of the plaza in front of the largest temple at the site," said Farr-Navarro about El Perú-Waka'.  It was in a position of power.

Carved conch with woman's face emerging

As they dug at the foot of the staircase, long overshadowed by the platform, they found the entombed bones of a woman, surrounded by jade, fine pottery, and other signs of royalty. Most remarkable was a small alabaster jar carved to resemble a conch with a woman's face emerging from the shell as a stopper. The hieroglyphs for Lady K'abel's name were on the bottom.

WHITE SOUL FLOWER JAR DISCOVERED

The vessel, says Farr-Navarro, was most likely the "white soul flower" jar of Lady K'abel. Painted with red cinnabar, in ancient Maya mythology the flower jar essentially contained the soul of Lady K'abel. Though items can be moved around as a sign of veneration in burials, the white soul flower jar is an inalienable item that "could not be removed from her person," Farr-Navarro claims.

Clocking in to agree with Farr-Navarro's premise is archeologist Traci Ardren, from University of Miami, FL, and author of Ancient Maya Women. Though not part of the excavation, Ardren stated, "I'm completely convinced this was her tomb. The alabaster jar is really strong evidence."

The tomb site had been under study for almost a decade. Freidel and colleagues found artifacts suggesting a high-ranking female personage had been buried there, and Lady K'abel was the number one candidate. But it took the alabaster jar, small enough to fit in a queen's hand, to clinch the case. Carved to look like a shell, with head and arm of an aged woman emerging from the opening, four Maya hieroglyphs carved into the jar referred to the owner: Lady Snake Lord and Lady Waterlily Hand, two titles associated with Lady K'abel. Other artifacts found in the tomb suggest the person buried there was held in great reverence—red cinnabar pigment was used by the Maya in royal burial chambers and again, the white soul flower vessel, thought to hold one's soul, is specified in several Maya religious texts.

THE MAYA REVERED POWERFUL WOMEN

This find underscored the powerful role women played in the Maya world. At least eight women attained the Kaloomte' title held by Lady K'abel, Ardren said. Queens ruled at various times across the Maya world with standardized symbols for their titles. Though they may have been uncommon, they were not rare. And veneration of a powerful woman's tomb centuries after her death would not be so unusual. 

Alabaster jar on site with inscriptions of Lady K'abel

"She was married off for the greater good of the alliance between two cities. She left everyone and everything she'd known to travel to another city at a time of warfare."

A plate found on the left side of Lady K'abel's skeleton resembles a shield that would befit a warrior queen, Farr-Navarro explained. "Although it wasn't likely she'd fought in the rain forest battles that marked her reign, she was certainly not a shrinking violet."

Professor Freidel summed up the prime positioning of Lady Ka'bel's tomb: "In retrospect, it makes sense that the people of Waka' buried her in this particularly prominent place in their city. Archeologists now understand the likely reason why the temple wa so revered: K'abel was buried there."

LADY K'ABEL CONSIDERED GREATEST RULER OF LATE CLASSIC PERIOD

"Lady K'abel was considered the greatest ruler of the Late Classic period, and ruled with her husband, King K'inich Bahlam II for at least 20 years, from 672-692 AD," said Freidel. "She was the military governor of the Waka' kingdom for her family, the imperial house of the Snake King, and she carried the title Kaloomte' which translated to Supreme Warrior, higher even in authority than her husband, the king.

Figurine at El Perú site thought to be Lady K'abel

"She was not only a queen, but a supreme warlord, the most powerful person in the kingdom during her lifetime. That would put her in the same class as other ruling women of the ancient world, ranging from the biblical Queen of Sheba to Cleopatra."

After Lady K'abel's reign, Tikal's ruler continued their war against Waka' and Calakmul. By the middle of the eighth century, Tikal bested their rivals in the Maya superpower struggle. But by the middle of the ninth century, the Classic Maya civilization was on the way to its mysterious collapse.

In spite of that, even long afterwards, the lady's tomb remained a place of ritual, reverence, and pilgrimage for the Maya, apparently serving as a monument to a take-charge woman warrior who had gained her people's love and respect.

Part 3 in Maya Warrior Queens will include two more women rulers. If you enjoyed this blog, check out my memoir Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya. It's available on Amazon with tales about ex-pat life and living within 100 miles of four major pyramid sites. Subscribe to my bi-monthly blog posts above, or check out my website at www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival,  and Tulum Takedown are available also on Amazon.