Identifying the Provenance of Puerto Barrios Altar

Vepretskii, Sergei

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4318129.

Vol. 46 (2020), pp. 141–146 •

4.6 MB

RESEARCH ADVANCE

Identifying the Provenance of Puerto Barrios Altar

Identificando la procedencia del Altar de Puerto Barrios

Sergei Vepretskii

Russian State University for the Humanities & Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Moscow, Russia
(servepr@gmail.com)

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Abstract

The provenance of Puerto Barrios altar hosted in the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Guatemala remained unknown despite its good preservation and legible text. Previously it was attributed to the western part of the Maya area. A new epigraphic analysis based on the documentation undertaken by the “Atlas Epigráfico de Petén” project demonstrates that it comes from the region of Itsimte-Sacluk (western Peten).

Keywords

Maya Lowlands; Peten; Itsimte; Late Classic; Mayan epigraphy.

Resumen

La procedencia del altar de Puerto Barrios que se encuentra en el Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología de Guatemala permaneció desconocida a pesar de la buena conservación del monumento y su texto legible. Anteriormente, era atribuido a la parte occidental del área maya. Un nuevo análisis epigráfico, basado en la documentación realizada por el proyecto «Atlas Epigráfico de Petén», demuestra que este altar proviene de la región de Itsimte-Sacluk (Petén occidental).

Palabras clave

Tierras Bajas mayas; Petén; Itsimte; Clásico Tardío; epigrafía.

Cite as

Vepretskii, S. 2020.
Identifying the Provenance of Puerto Barrios Altar.
Arqueología Iberoamericana 46: 141–146.

Received: November 26, 2020. Accepted: December 4, 2020. Published: December 14, 2020.

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Other Persistent Identifiers

PURL: purl.org/aia/4615. ARK: ark:/49934/231.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express deep appreciation to the whole team of the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, especially to the Museum's Director Daniel Aquino. I am also indebted to Mónica de León Antillón, Camilo Alejandro Luín for their collaboration during the fieldwork. Philipp Galeev was responsible for the excellent drawing of the inscription. Special thanks go to Dmitri Beliaev and Albert Davletshin for their important epigraphic comments and to Jan Naumenko for astronomical corrections. The research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 18–18–00454).

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