Mexican archæology : $b an introduction to the archæology of the Mexican and Mayan civilizations of pre-Spanish AmericaJoyce, Thomas Athol
History
Mexican archæology : $b an introduction to the archæology of the Mexican and Mayan civilizations of pre-Spanish America
Joyce, Thomas Athol
Mayas -- Antiquities; Mexico -- Antiquities
have meanwhile succeeded Quicab.[4] The description of the battle is
given in part on p. 292. The power of the Kakchiquel now appears at its
zenith, but their expansion aroused the jealousy of their neighbours.
A revolt occurred of the Tukuchi subject tribe, which was however
suppressed, and with such slaughter that the incident became a landmark
in history. From this point in the annals the number of days which
elapsed subsequent to the revolt is given, with the result that the
revolt itself can be attributed almost with certainty to the year 1494.
The rest of the history until the arrival of the Spaniards consists
in accounts of fights with neighbours, which the annals usually
characterize as the suppression of revolts. Two items of information
however are of importance. Before the death of Oxlahuh Tzii, which
occurred in 1509 or 1510, we read that certain “Yaqui” (i.e. Mexican
traders) were put to death for siding with the revolted Akahal, while
in 1511 messengers were received by Hunyg and Lahun Noh, then ruling,
from Montecuzoma.
It is perhaps impossible in the present state of our knowledge to
unravel the myths given above sufficiently to determine with accuracy
the routes taken by the different tribes, but still the general trend
of migrations may perhaps be gathered from them. The place-name
Nonoual, which occurs both in the books of Chilan Balam and the annals
of the Kakchiquel, is valuable as a fixed point, since it seems
possible to determine the locality with reasonable certainty. The
Kakchiquel obviously reached Nonoual from the west, and then retraced
their steps before turning southward into Guatemala; thus they always
regarded Nonoual as lying in the east. For the Tutul Xiu however it
lay in the west, and this people had settled at Balcalar in southern
Yucatan before they moved north to Chichen Itza. If we add to this
the information found in the Kakchiquel annals that the inhabitants
lived in boats, the conclusion seems inevitable that Nonoual lay
somewhere on the coast between the lower reaches of the Papaloapan
and of the Usumacinta. This agrees absolutely with the site of the
region known to the Mexicans as Nonoualco, and the “sea” crossed by
the Quiché and Kakchiquel before they arrived there may be one of the
lagoons of the Papaloapan basin. The name of Tulan, the starting-point
of the migrations, affords greater difficulties. Tulan is usually
mentioned with the addition of the name Zuiva, and the Popol Vuh gives
it a further title which means the “seven caverns,” and so brings it
into direct relation with the Chicomoztoc at which the various Nahua
tribes foregathered before they descended upon the Mexican valley
(see p. 14). For the Kakchiquel, Tulan was also the starting-point,
but Zuiva lay beyond Nonoual, and evidently not far from it; and this
agrees with the Books of Chilan Balam, since in the latter Nonoual
appears to be a district of the realm known as Tulan Zuiva. A further
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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