Copán

     While the The Catholic Healthcare East crew was here we worked hard, but everybody needs a break once in a while.  After a week of hard work, we got ours.  Most of the crew took the day to lay low, escape the heat, and recharge after a hard working and emotional week.  I, however, took advantage of our time off by hopping in a car with two other volunteers and heading across the border of Honduras to see the Mayan ruins of Copán.  It was truly incredible to see the ruins, learn the history, and imagine how this site looked at the height of its empire, 1400 years ago when it was inhabited by thousands of people with a vibrant culture of farming, sports, and art.  What made this trip even more impressive was the guide we had.  He has spent most of his life studying the ancient Maya, participating in archeological digs, and now, sharing his information about the Mayan culture with others.  On our tour I learned a lot about the site of Copán from its glory days all the way its present, as a partially uncovered treasure trove of information for archeologists and historians and photo op for tourists from all corners of the world.  It is in this spirit of good information and great stories that I present you with my history of Copán.  Although I have already forgotten the majority of what I learned on my tour, I will present you with what I remember.  However, I would like to warn you now that I'm not even kind of a historian, so I can't vouch for every piece of information, but I'll do whatever I can to make it a good story.  If you are really into the juicy details, you are more than welcome to find them here.

     The story of Copán begins thousands of years ago with a salty and waterlogged group of Polynesians finding the new world (note, this is not proven, but is the version of the story the tour guide went with).  They landed and, as per their modus operandi, began developing cultures, building buildings and, most importantly, making statues.  Although we have no idea what they called themselves, we call them Olmecs, and know them for their giant stone head statues (sounds familiar).  They inhabited the light green area on the map below.  
     Time passed and civilizations fell.  When the Olmec's day had passed,  the people moved west and, once again began developing civilizations, building buildings, and making statues.  It is during this period that Copán flourished as a city and became the art center of the Mayan world.  This is the dark green area on the map.  During this period the Mayan people developed very advanced architecture and art as well as trade systems and science.
     However, as all civilizations eventually do, this Mayan period also came to an end and, once again, the people moved west and began the last great period of the Maya, denoted by the lightest section on the map in the Yucatan peninsula.  
    

     Copán began its time as a great city around 400 A.D., flourished for 400 years and collapsed around 800 A.D.  It then spend roughly the next 800 years being forgotten until a European explorer whose name I don't remember discovered some funny looking rocks in the middle of the tropical forest now known as Central America. 

     As most old timey explorers did, he started digging and subsequently robbing all the cool stones he could carry.  While the Kings and Queens of whatever nation he was from were probably amused by his funny stone statues, they weren't made of gold so Copán was once again forgotten for over 200 years.  The next group of people who found Copán were of the "uncover everything as fast as you can" mindset, and began to dig.  They were rewarded by finding some absolutely incredible temples and stone architecture. 

     However, these people began to dig at the beginning of the industrial revolution when rain was still made primarily out of water, an element that generally gets along pretty well with stone temples.  Right about this time humans began our love affair with burning stuff: oil, natural gas, coal, trees, corn, and the rain changed into something a little more sinister: a compound which goes by the terrifying moniker "acid rain."  Archeologists now realize that uncovering things, while fun and interesting, exposes them to all of the elements, including this, the great villain of 20th century archeology.  The compromise that was struck in an attempt to balance preservation and discovery was that they would stop wholesale uncovering immediately and do their archeological exploration using tunnels.  The result of this digging ban can be seen in the picture below where half of the temple is uncovered and half is still a mound of dirt.

     In the hundreds of years that Copán was uninhabited the river that once sustained this great city changed its course to flow right over the ruins.  While I stated earlier that water generally gets along well with rocks, this is one of the instances in which is definitely does not.  To save the ruins, the scientists changed the course of the river.  While it did a decent amount to hurt the ruins, it also did an amazing job of uncovering them, and with the river out of the way the scientists began asking questions about the people that once inhabited this area.  Once the waters receded, the archeologists found human remains all over the area pictured below and dubbed it "the cemetery."  After some excavating they discovered that it wasn't a cemetery at all, but the upper class housing area.  The dead bodies were there because of the tradition of burying someone beneath their house after their death.  When the river began to flow over this area it washed out all of the "graves" and uncovered the bodies.

     As the archeologists dug, they discovered more and more about this very intricate civilization and its hierarchy.  The king and royal family were on top, with the king viewed as the link between heaven and earth.  As the artwork in this shrine at the top of the sacred temple suggests, the king was thought to maintain the space between heaven and hell.  He would enter the door, with giant snake statues on either side, angels above him, and skulls below him, to offer burnt offerings to the gods and to communicate with them.

     He would then exit to relay the gods' message to the people of the upper and royal class who were gathered below. 

If Copán was located in the United States me standing there would probably be a federal offense.

     Only the upper and royal classes, consisting of artists, scientists, merchants, and politicians, were allowed in the upper area of temples and stone houses.  When the king spoke to the general population he used a different temple.  At the top of this giant staircase stood the king, with an altar in his honor below for the people to make offerings.  

     His speaking place overlooked the main courtyard where the people gathered for everything from market days to pok-a-tok games.  The acoustics are so good in this courtyard that someone snapping their fingers at the top of the temple can be heard at the far end of the area below!

     The king would also stand at the top of his temple to watch the pok-a-tok games, which were played on courts like the one below.  The players would be in the middle, and would have to launch a ball made of pure rubber against one of these three figures.  The game often took on such a deep spiritual significance that on certain occasions the captain of the winning team might be sacrificed!  It was considered an honor to him and his family.

     Said sacrifices happened on the altar just in front of this one shown below, and the king would then remove the players heart and place it in the divot on top of the round altar, causing the blood to flow down the channeled grooves.

     I'm told it was just like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

     Over its 400 year history, the city of Copán had 16 different rulers but due to the tradition of literally building an entirely new royal area on top of their father's when the new kings inherited power, most of the story revolves around the last king to whom all the exposed temples and statues are dedicated.  That's means that every 25 years they would demolish (or sometimes not) the entire royal area - temples, shrines, royal houses, statues - and rebuild the entire thing. 

     That means that underneath these temples are more temples, like in the above picture.  However, these temples have been completely protected from the elements and maintain their true colors and brilliance.  As far as archeology is concerned, that's pretty awesome.

     Towards the end of the Copán empire, the population outnumbered the land's ability to support it.  For any community, especially one based on agriculture, this is bad news.  To reunite the falling empire the king began building and art projects with the aim of drawing connections between himself and the past kings of Copán.  As his empire was crumbling and the peoples' faith in the king/god was failing, he tried to reinvigorate that faith by showing that he was from the same bloodline as the past kings and therefore had the same power.  This plan failed in reuniting the empire, but succeeded in creating some really cool art, so it wasn't all bad...

     This altar, in front of the death temple, shows all 16 kings of Copán in a circle around its body.  The first king is handing power over to the last king. 

     This is perhaps the most famous thing in Copán; the hieroglyphic stairs.  The entire staircase tells the story of every king of Copán through pictures on the steps.
 
     Though Copán ultimately fell, much as every great empire has, through the efforts of the architects, artists, and builders, we still have pieces of the civilization to help us put together the story of what life was like 1400 years ago in this corner of Central America.  Though the people are gone, the now deserted central courtyard almost seems ready for market and the rebuilt temples still have an aura of mythological power.  With a little imagination you can almost feel yourself there during the height of this great empire.