Toniná

Toniná is a Classic Maya site located in the highlands of Chiapas. The city reached its maximum development in the Late Classic period, after defeating many kingdoms along the Usumacinta river, including Palenque. The site of Toniná is known for many things, including featuring the last Long Count date on a Maya monument, defining the end of the Classic period at AD 909.

• Read more about the Long Count Calendar

Toniná's Development

The first epigraphic mention of Toniná comes from a throne in the site of Chinikihá, about 45 miles north of the city. This inscription refers to a captive from Toniná and it dates to the Early Classic period.

Archaeologically, it is now attested that Toniná developed in the Early Classic period, and reached its maximum development in the 8^th century AD. The monuments visible today in the archaeological zone all date to this period, since most of the Late Classic temples were built on earlier structures.

Toniná has always been known among the Maya cities for its military emphasis on monuments as well as for its historical and recurrent conflicts with Palenque. The two cities, about 40 miles apart, often fought for control over the Usumacinta region.

At the beginning of the 8^th century Palenque was defeated by Toniná. A stone monument from Toniná, dating AD 711, features the youngest son of Pakal the Great, K’an Joy Chitam, as a prisoner of Toniná. The king is represented with his royal symbols, but in the subjugated position of a captive.

Recent epigraphic evidence, though, shows that the king was then freed and he resumed his role, although probably as a vassal of Toniná, since he is represented in later sculptures in different sites of the region.

Decline of Toniná

Later archaeological and epigraphic evidence is more scant. The last record is registered on Monument 101 which dates to January 15, 909 and represents the last inscription of the Long Count in the whole Maya region.

Scattered materials of later periods suggest a discontinuous occupation of Toniná for another century or so, until the Dominicans founded a church in Ocosingo in 1545, a town 8 miles from the ancient city, which became the new colonial capital of the region.

Site Layout

Toniná lies in the Ocosingo valley, in the eastern highland of Chiapas, on an easily defended mountain slope. It is probable that the site occupied a privileged position between the Maya highlands and the tropical lowlands. The main feature of the site is the huge acropolis, constituted by a high platform developing over seven levels. Here are located the main buildings of the site. In front of the acropolis is the Great Plaza with a sunken Ball court.

• The Acropolis: is the core of the site, consisting of a remodelled hill that reaches a height of almost 70 meters and includes seven platforms. These platforms support 13 temples, each dedicated to important aspects of Maya life such as agricultural cycles, death and the underworld, the harvest, and ancestor veneration. The repetition of the number 13 is also linked to the Maya ritual calendar formed by 20 cycles of 13 days. Important buildings on the acropolis are: The Palace of the Frets, and the Palace of the Underworld.
• The Great Plaza features the largest of the two ball courts of Toniná. This is a Sunken ball court, located on the eastern side of the plaza, and it was dedicated in AD 699, after the successful military campaigns of the king of the Usumacinta Baaknal Chaak. The walls of the ball court feature the stone torsos of six captives, probably representing the subjugated rulers, once vassals of Palenque, historical enemy of Toniná.

A giant stucco mural was discovered in 1992 on the fifth terrace of the acropolis. This was once brilliantly colored and represents a supernatural scene. It is known as the Frieze of the Dream Lord or the Frieze of the Four Suns or Four Eras. The scene depicts a skeletal supernatural being holding severed heads, probably representing a spiritual alter ego. The mural style closely resembles the one of the mural paintings of Teotihuacan, the Early Classic metropolis of Central Mexico.

Toniná Monuments

Toniná is also famous for the series of altars, which are statues of bound captives and kings, carved in three dimensions. One of the best preserved is Monument 168, portraying king Jaguar Bird Tapir who accessed the throne in AD 563. Altars were usually dedicated at each major calendar ceremonies.

Research at Toniná

Toniná was visited by many European explorers in the 19^th century. First it was visited by the Spanish Captain Guillaume Dupaix, who led the Royal Antiquary Expedition in New Spain between 1805 and 1810. The famous explorers Stephens and Catherwood in 1840 visited and described the ruins of Tonina. In the 20^th century Frans Blom and Oliver La Farge investigated the site. In the 1970s and 80s the site was excavated by a French project, and recently the Mexican institutions have been excavating the site and a new museum was inaugurated in 2000.

Sources

This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to Mesoamerica , and the Dictionary of Archaeology.

Martin Simon and Nikolai Grube, 2008, Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya. Second Edition, London and New York: Thames & Hudson.

AA.VV, 2001, Los Altos de Chiapas, Arqueología Mexicana, Vol.9, (50)