Report No. 4. Five Newly Discovered Carved Monuments at Tikal and New Data on four Others

Set in Stone: Hiatuses and Dynastic Politics at Tikal, Guatemala

“…We now know that some polities continued to erect carved monuments during the period defined by Morley. Throughout the Classic period other sites experienced gaps at different times, and some, like Tikal, experienced more than one (Guenter 2002:Tables 3–5; Satterthwaite 1958b). Nevertheless, the notion still persists that a hiatus in dates on monuments must be a sign of a site's overall decline.…”

“…Based upon present knowledge, four hiatuses of 30 years or longer interrupted the Tikal monument sequence (Table 1). Satterthwaite (1958b:122–123) suggested 30 years because it exceeds the time span of a k'atun . The endings of k'atuns were widely commemorated by one or more carved stone monuments at settlements throughout the Maya lowlands.…”

“…Tikal's second and third hiatuses occur from 9.4.13.0.0 ( a.d. 527 on Stela 10) to after 9.6.3.9.15 ( a.d. 557 on Stela 17; Jones and Satterthwaite 1983:24–25, 38–42; Martin and Grube 2008:39) and from 9.6.3.9.15 (Stela 17) to 9.13.0.0.0 ( a.d. 692 on Altar 14) (Jones and Satterthwaite 1982:62–63, Figure 50). Satterthwaite (1958b:120–123) referred to the second hiatus as Gap 1. It began late in Manik 3B complex times and lasted into the initial appearance of Ik complex ceramics.…”

“…The fourth and last Tikal hiatus of 60 years began in late Imix times after the k'atun ending of 9.19.0.0.0 ( a.d. 810) on Stela 24 (Jones and Satterthwaite 1982:52–55, Figures 37–39) and ended in 10.2.0.0.0 ( a.d. 869) with the setting of Stela 11 and Altar 11 (Figure 1) (Jones and Satterthwaite 1982:29–12, Figure 16). It corresponds to Satterthwaite's Gap 3 (Satterthwaite 1958b:120).…”