The Quiché Mayas of Utatlán : the evolution of a highland Guatemala kingdom
Robert M. Carmack (Author)
"At the time of the Spanish conquest the Quichés were the most powerful group in the Guatemala highlands. Over a period of several hundred years they had migrated from the Gulf Coast to the region north of Lake Atitlán, established dominion over the native peoples, subjugated other Maya groups, and built a military and political empire that was comparable to the ancient empires of the Mediterranean. The Quichés ruled from the city they built on the highland plains, an architectural wonder to which they gave the splendid name K'umarcaaj, but which became known throughout the Maya world as Utatlán. A markedly creative people, they evolved a complex cosmology at one with nature, a calendric system, and a system of writing. From this rich culture came their consummate achievement, the Popol Vuh, the 'first book of the New World.' The city Utatlán became a political, military, and religious center that was also a crossroads for trade and commerce. The author re-creates this setting of empire, describing the temples, the houses, the all-important ball court of the city, and peoples them with the rulers, the priests, the warrior-heroes, the allies, and the travelers that gave it life. The Quichés had enemies, among them the rival Cakchiquels, who refused to join forces with them against the Spaniards and betrayed them to the militarily superior invaders. The author describes the fall of Utatlán, the collapse of the empire, and the Quichés' efforts to retain a semblance of their political structure and belief system during the colonial period and after. But the power of Utatlán was gone. Only the rural communities--many of which still bear their ancient Quiché names--remained fundamentally Quiché in culture. The author describes traditional regions where some of the ancient Quiché practices have survived. Today 'the cacophony of howling jaguars, mountain lions, and coyotes and of screaming parakeets, bluejays, and eagles has been largely silenced. Deer no longer roam the forests and canyons as they once did. The forests are cut down. The source of the Quichés' totemic view of nature is gone.' But the glory of that great civilization is recalled in this first comprehensive account of a brilliant Maya culture. The author draws upon a rich store of recent archaeological discoveries and native and Spanish written documents, producing a work that is essential to an understanding of the Quiché people and indispensable to a full appreciation of their immortal work, the Popol Vuh. This major contribution to Mesoamerican ethnohistory is Volume 155 in The Civilization of the American Indian Series." -- Book jacket
Print Book, English, 1981
First edition
University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1981