Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk II

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For his grandfather, see Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk I.
Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk II
Ajaw
Maler Researches in the Central Portion of the Usumatsintla Valley Plate XV 3.png
Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk II's portrait in Stela 6
King of Piedras Negras
ReignJanuary 2, 687 - 729
PredecessorItzam Kʼan Ahk I
SuccessorItzam Kʼan Ahk II
Born29 December 664
Piedras Negras
Died729
Piedras Negras
ConsortLady K'atun Ajaw of Namaan
Issue
FatherItzam Kʼan Ahk I
Mother
ReligionMaya religion
SignatureKʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk II's signature

Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk II (born December 29, 664), also known as Ruler 3, was the ajaw (king) of Piedras Negras, Maya city in Guatemala. He reigned from January 2, 687 until 729.

Because his monuments were used in the pioneering historical research of Tatiana Proskouriakoff, his history has been better-studied than many other Maya kings.[1]

Biography[]

Birth[]

Stela 1 is Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk II's monument, though here he pictures his wife Lady K'atun Ajaw.
Stela 6 was erected by Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk II.

He was born on December 29, 664. His father and mother were Itzam Kʼan Ahk I and . He was a grandson and namesake of Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk I, and his grandmother was .

His pre-regnal name was Kooj - "Puma". Upon his accession, he took as his regnal name that of his grandfather.

Reign[]

Before his accession, he married Lady K'atun Ajaw of Namaan. Their daughter was .

Piedras Negras was extremely influential on Classic Maya society despite its small size, and K'inich Yo'nal Ahk II oversaw a flourishing city that produced high-quality art and trade goods.[1] A mask from the site ended up as far north as Chichen Itza.[2] Still, the king seems to have lost important territory, and the influence of the city in the broader Maya world may have constricted during his reign.

Yoʼnal Ahk recorded a number of important ritual events, such as the anniversary of his accession into the kingship and a possible dance in a place called the White "Yek?" House in February 20, 724 described on Stela 8. He celebrated a five-tuns lacking event on December 29 706 (9.13.15.0.0 in the Maya calendar) which is memorialized on Stela 1 and Panel 15. Also, he celebrated a k'atun ending on December 3, 711 (9.14.0.0.0) which is memorialized on stelae 3 and 8.

He displayed a proper reverence for his father by commemorating the twenty-year anniversary of his burial with a burning ritual. He captured a sajal of in 726. Like his father, he reigned for more than forty years.

No known records note his death, but the following ruler was in office by November 11, 729, according to Altar 2. As he was alive for a wedding on June 28, 729 according to a set of conch shells from a burial in Piedras Negras, he must have died in that year.

The conch shells paint a confusing picture of the end of his life. Because his only known child was a girl, there may have been a dynastic struggle over her role in the city's government. One interpretation of the confusing grammar of the shells is that, toward the end of his life, he attempted to marry a new woman--possibly a woman from Palenque based on her name, Ix Matawiil Sotz'--to produce a male heir, but died before producing a child. [2]

On the other hand, the grammar aligns with descriptions of his own wedding; in his wedding, his father served as an observer before dying shortly afterward. This leads some scholars to suggest that the marriage describes the marriage of Yo'nal Ahk's daughter (going under an adult name) to someone else, possibly Itzam K'an Ahk II, the ruler to serve immediately after Yo'nal Ahk.[3] Such a marriage would explain why there is a gap of less than a year between the death of Yo'nal Ahk and the accession of Itzam K'an Ahk II, whereas at Yaxchilan, one dynastic interruption took nearly ten years to resolve.

References[]

  1. ^ Nelson, Zachary (2016). Nancy Gonlin, Kirk D. French (eds.) Human Adaptation in Ancient Mesoamerica: Empirical Approaches to Mesoamerican Archaeology. University Press of Colorado.
  2. ^ a b Pitts, Mark (2011). "A Brief History of Piedras Negras as Told by the Ancient Maya" (PDF). FAMSI. Retrieved 2020-10-31.
  3. ^ Josserand, Katherine (2002). Ardren, Traci (ed.). Ancient Maya Women. AltaMira.
  • Proskouriakoff, Tatiana. 1960. Historical Implications of a Pattern of Dates at Piedras Negras, Guatemala. American Antiquity 25(4):454-475.
  • Zachary Nelson. 2016. In Nancy Gonlin, Kirk D. French (eds.) Human Adaptation in Ancient Mesoamerica: Empirical Approaches to Mesoamerican Archaeology
  • Pitts, Mark. 2011. A Brief History of Piedras Negras as Told by the Ancient Maya. Online document, http://www.famsi.org/research/pitts/piedras_negras_history_part1.pdf and http://www.famsi.org/research/pitts/piedras_negras_history_part2.pdf. Accessed 4 November 2018.
  • Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens by Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube
  • Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk II at Mesoweb
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