A SEVENTH-CENTURY INSCRIBED MINIATURE FLASK FROM COPAN FOUND AT TAZUMAL, EL SALVADOR

What is it about?

The first Maya hieroglyphic record in El Salvador, on the southern edge of the Maya region, suggests that western El Salvador was in a political relationship with the major Maya city of Copan, Honduras. Dating to probably the latter half of the 8th century, the flask was discovered in a burial in the largest pyramid in the country in Tazumal in 1952 by archaeologist Stanley Boggs, and is in MUNA, the Museo Nacional de Antropología Dr. David J. Guzmán, in San Salvador. The Maya hieroglyphic writing system had not been deciphered in 1952, so the full significance of the vessel was not understood. Recent re-analysis by Jeb J. Card (Miami University) and Marc Zender (Tulane University) has deciphered the text as dedicating the vessel to the 12th king of the Copan Dynasty, K’ahk’ Uti Witz K’awiil. This king came to the throne in 628 CE, but around the middle of the century began dramatic expansion outside of the Copan Valley, concluding with his death in 695 CE. The flask appears to be a gift, possibly to a ruler or noble at Tazumal, possibly as a symbol of political patronage on the part of the Copan king.

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Why is it important?

This artifact is the first of this kind of vessel to name a Maya king known from other records, is the first historical record in El Salvador, and is the southern-most Maya text found in situ and changes how we understand the boundaries of the Maya world.