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When Alexander the Great entered the city of Gordion in 333 BCE, the city was already ancient, only a vestige of its former glory. By this time it was governed within a satrapy of King Darius III’s Persian Empire, a hegemony that Alexander was determined to dismantle the best way he knew how—by military force. Gordion was a staging point and a place to rest his troops. From here he would muster his forces to march into Cilicia to battle the Persians, but not before he accomplished one important thing — untying the legendary knot that fastened the pole to the legendary oxcart that still stood within the old palace of the ancient Phrygian kings. According to prophecy, anyone who could untie the knot would go on to rule all of Asia.

Ancient writers have told the story in different ways, but arguably the most popular version has it that Alexander, frustrated with his failed attempts to untie the knot with his hands, took his sword and simply cut the knot. The event proved to be a metaphor for Alexander’s way of creating a new Hellenistic empire, and he went on to defeat the armies of Darius at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BCE, leading to the collapse of the Persian Empire.

Gordion, the ancient capital of the Phrygians, is popularly known by another story.  It was in Phrygia that the legendary King Midas lived, known in ancient Greek mythology as the king whose touch turned everything to gold, an ability that was granted to him through a wish to the satyr Silenus. What was initially thought to be a great gift turned out to be a curse, however, as he soon found that even the food he needed for sustenance turned to gold at his touch.

Other than recorded myth and literature, there is little direct, indisputable evidence of the existence of the King Midas of Greek mythology. But historical sources tell of three different kings of Phrygia by the name of Midas, with one who ruled Phrygia in the late 8th century BCE well known from Greek and Assyrian sources. Of the reality of the Phrygian kingdom itself, there is plentiful physical and archaeological evidence, and much of it can be found at the ancient archaeological site of Gordion, otherwise known as Gordium. Located in present-day west central Turkey near modern Yassıhüyük about 70 – 80 km southwest of Ankara, its ruins stand as a testament to Phrygian monumental architecture, an urban presence spanning across two kilometers, dominated by massive buildings and fortifications and over 100 burial mounds, lying strategically as it were where an ancient well-traveled road crossed the Sakarya river between Lydia and Assyria/Babylonia. It was the capital and largest city of an Anatolian kingdom, whose power peaked during the late 8th century BCE under the historical king Midas, when it dominated western and central Anatolia and rivaled Assyria and Urartu to its east for the eastern regions of Anatolia. More anciently, during the Bronze Age, it allied itself with the Trojans, according to Homer’s The Iliad, to battle the Achaeans.

King Midas with his daughter, turned to gold with death at his touch, from A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Painting by Walter Crane (1845-1915).

Today, Gordion’s population is history. It’s inhabitants now consist mostly of a seasonal influx of archaeologists, conservators, excavators, and a mix of other experts and specialists whose tasks revolve around systematically uncovering what remains of the city, restoring and preserving what can be pieced back together again, and showcasing its finds in an onsite museum.

But this work goes back decades. Historically, it has been the focus of on-and-off excavations since it was discovered in 1893 by Alfred Körte, who initiated exploratory excavations at the site in 1900. The best known excavations were conducted under the directorship of Rodney Young of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum) beginning in the 1950’s. His excavations over 17 seasons uncovered major sections of the Phrygian period Citadel Mound, including overlying Hellenistic towns, and a mudbrick fortress and defensive walls of a Lower Town near the Citadel. Young also uncovered no less than 30 burial tumuli, which included the sensational royal ‘Tumulus MM‘ (the “Midas Mound”) and a nearby tomb of a wealthy Phrygian child (‘Tumulus P’). 

Now, under the directorship of Brian Rose of the University of Pennsylvania, teams have, since 2007, uncovered additional finds. Solid new evidence has emerged for defensive works, including massive defensive walls, part of a road, and industrial work spaces dated back to some of the earliest periods of the site, all adding to the historical and chronological sequence of the site.

“Gordion’s historical significance derives from its very long and complex sequence of occupation, with seven successive settlements spanning a period of nearly 4500 years,” says Rose. “What we discovered was a large glacis or stepped terrace wall over 2.5 m in height, dating to the Early Phrygian period, that supported a substantial fortification wall nearly 3 m. wide. This has proven that the western side of the mound was fortified, and that those fortifications had already been established in the Early Phrygian period (9th c. B.C.), neither of which had been known previously.”*

Other massive fortifications, particularly on the eastern side of the Citadel Mound, had already been uncovered through previous expeditions. But the new features now expanded the emerging picture of the Gordion defensive fabric. Rose’s excavations revealed fortifications spanning the entire time period of Phrygian rule in the region.  “We were fortunate this year in uncovering new fortifications dating to three different periods: Early Phrygian (9th c. BC), Middle Phrygian (8th c. BC) and Late Phrygian (6th c. BC)…….it is already clear that the scale of the citadel fortifications throughout the entire Phrygian period was much more ambitious than formerly suspected,” wrote Rose in the report of the 2014 season.*

Aerial view of the newly excavated Early, Middle, and Late Phrygian fortifications on the southern side of the Citadel Mound. Photo by Lucas Stephens. (Picture credit: Penn Museum Gordion Archive, 2014-Area 1 Aerial 5)

View of the Early and Middle Phrygian fortifications on the southern side of the Citadel Mound, looking east. Tumulus MM (Midas Mound) is visible at upper right. Photo by Brian Rose. (Picture credit: Penn Museum Gordion Archive, 2014-7483)

View of collapsed colored stones newly discovered behind the Middle Phrygian fortification wall on the southern side of the Citadel Mound, looking north. Photo by Gebhard Bieg. (Picture credit: Penn Museum Gordion Archive, 2014-1579)

Additionally, Rose’s team excavated a sondage trench through what has been designated the Terrace Building, a structure discovered during previous excavations and thought to be a building where industrial activities occurred. They uncovered a large industrial kiln surrounded by ceramic remains that helped to date the feature to the Early Iron Age, or the 11th century BCE. Above and east of the kiln they excavated an Early Iron Age house structure, which contained objects related to textile manufacture, such as spindle whorls and loom weights, and a bell-shaped pit that contained fragments of Early Iron Age handmade wares and animal bones. “The evidence yielded by the sondage demonstrates that there was considerable industrial activity in this area before the Terrace Building was constructed, beginning in the 11th c. B.C.,” wrote Rose in a recent newsletter report.*

Excavators Olivia Hayden and Jane Gordion digging beneath the rubble fill in the Terrace Building sondage. Photo by Brian Rose. Picture credit: Penn Museum Gordion Archive, 2014-4142)

Excavators Kate Morgan, Olivia Hayden, and Jane Gordion uncovering the Early Iron Age house below the rubble fill under the Terrace Building, looking east. The upper part of a kiln is visible at the bottom. Photo by Gebhard Bieg. (Picture credit: Penn Museum Gordion Archive, 2014-6666)

Aerial view of the Citadel Mound of Gordion in 2014. Photo by Lucas Stephens. (Picture credit: Penn Museum Gordion Archive, 2014-CM Aerial 1)

The Outer Town

The Citadel Mound tells only part of the story of urban Gordion. Beyond and below the imposing defensive bastion thrived a city of people who left vestiges of other monumental public buildings and domestic structures, a Gordion far more robust and expansive than a single citadel. During Young’s excavations decades before at a small mound (called ‘Küçük Höyük’) near the Citadel, archaeologists revealed a mudbrick fortress set atop a mudbrick bastion, interpreted as a probable ancient Lydian construction dated to the late 7^th or early 6^th century BCE. They found that its associated walls, including connected ditch-work, actually enclosed a settlement area they designated as the Lower Town, an area consisting of evidence of residential, or domestic, structures. Remote sensing has since successfully defined the fortification walls, streets and buildings of this settlement area.  

Most recently, a team under the direction of Stefan Giese and Christian Huebner of GGH in Freiburg, Germany, conducted a geophysical survey that yielded traces of yet another associated settlement area, an ‘Outer Town’, using magnetometry and electric resistivity techniques. The Outer Town is a second residential area with detected remains just west of the Lower Town. What they found was no less revelatory than the new Citadel Mound discoveries. They detected signs that this Outer Town was “bordered by a ditch with a defensive wall on its interior”*, which the team believes surrounded the entire Outer Town. And this was not all—the findings included other features that suggested a monumental fort. “At the western end of the Outer Town,” write Rose, et al., “nearly 1 km to the west of the citadel mound, we discovered the presence of what we interpret as a monumental fort, approximately the same size as the fort of Küçük Höyük (the “minor mound”) in the Lower Town.” The new findings seemed to match the pattern found previously with the Lower Town, though they appeared to have been planned as separate residential areas demarcated by a fortification wall between them.

Did these findings suggest or imply something about ancient Godion’s social structure? The investigators have no answers, yet. But further surveys and excavation may shed some light.

The fortifications of Gordion detected through remote sensing. The new results in the Outer Town appear at left. Plan by GGH. (Picture credit: Penn Museum Gordion Archive, GGH 2014 Map 4)

The Conservation Task

The combined forces of time, weather, exposure and other elements take their inevitable toll on archaeological sites. Gordion has been no exception. Perhaps most dramatic were the effects caused by a major earthquake in 1999, which left a significant bulge in the masonry of the Early Phrygian Gate (later renamed the East Citadel Gate). Because of its monumentality and importance as the best-preserved citadel gate of Iron Age Asia Minor, it has arguably become one of the most urgent tasks for conservators at the site. “We realized that strategic intervention was necessary if a collapse was to be averted, now and in the future,” wrote Rose, et al.* With the help of a number of organizations, individuals, and consulting firms, solid steps have been taken to shore up the structure, which included erection of a new scaffolding system, removing displaced stones, repairing deteriorated or damaged stones, and inserting steel support straps, among other measures.

Erection of the new scaffolding at the Early Phrygian Citadel Gate (East Citadel Gate) prior to the beginning of conservation. Photo by Brian Rose. (Picture credit: Penn Museum Gordion Archive, 2014-4535)

Other damage was caused by more ancient events, such as an 800 BCE conflagration that damaged the masonry foundations of the Early Phrygian Terrace Building, which anciently was an 8-room industrial complex. Since 2009, conservators and other expert workers have been busy repairing and rebuilding the foundations and walls of the various rooms within the structure.

Like that of other major archaeological sites, the artwork of Gordion has drawn special attention from conservators. In 1956, Young excavated a remarkable late 9^th century BCE pebble mosaic near the Terrace Building, a piece that, according to archaeologists, featured “a series of polychromatic geometric designs that most likely echo the kinds of textiles that would have been produced in the adjacent Terrace Building.”* This effort has involved application of the latest restoration techniques by experts specially trained in the art of repair and restoration.

Sema Küreckçi and Meredith Keller cleaning the pebble mosaic from Megaron 2 (an Early Phrygian period structure). Photo by Gebhard Bieg. (Picture credit: Penn Museum Gordion Archive, 2014-4408)

For Rose and colleagues, there is much more work to do. Countless features and artifacts are left to be uncovered, work that will occupy researchers for many years ahead. But in the short time span of Rose’s research at the site thus far, much has already been accomplished. Popular Archaeology asked Rose what he thought were some of the most important discoveries made since renewed excavations began in 2007.

“We discovered four inscriptions in Tumulus MM, the tomb that probably held the body of Midas’ father [Gordias, the founder of Gordion],” Rose replied. “These may be the signatures of the officials who oversaw the burial. We’ve also been able to determine that the Phrygians used a special pigment to color their clothing, which gave them a golden sheen. This may tie in to the legend of Midas’s Golden Touch.” More recent investigations in the area of the ancient site have uncovered another major tumulus. About 17 meters in height, and like Tumulus MM, this one also features a wooden burial chamber within. Initially found as a result of illegal looting excavations by treasure hunters, Rose now hopes to conduct controlled archaeological salvage excavations at the mound to determine more about its nature and the possible remains of its human occupant. Although detailed information about it is still forthcoming, Rose suggests, based on data thus far acquired, that the new tumulus dates to the 8th century B.C. and may contain the remains of a Phrygian king.

But perhaps the most far-reaching discovery revolves around the newly found immensity of the ancient city itself. “We have been able to determine that the city was twice as large as we previously thought, because we’ve identified the outer fortifications of the city through remote sensing.”  With this in mind, one of Rose’s more immediate goals relates to developing a city plan of Gordion based on the available and emerging data. “We have not yet determined the city plan of the settlement,” says Rose, “but by combining excavation with remote sensing (radar, magnetic prospection), we should be able to do it.”

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Editor’s Addendum: New Developments

Recent years have seen new excavations, discoveries, and conservation results that have only added to the extraordinary story of ancient Gordion’s unearthing. Perhaps most apparent, from a site visitor’s perspective, is the completion of the restoration/reconstruction efforts on the massive East Citadel Gate. Initially constructed during the 9th century BCE and thought by archaeologists to be the main gate entrance to the Citadel Mound complex, it endured as an active city gate until the 4th century BCE. Despite the ravages of time, including earthquakes, the gate construction has been remarkably preserved. Reconstruction was completed in 2018/2019 and it now shows its ancient original height. It is the best preserved and largest ancient Iron Age city gate in Asia Minor.

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The restored East Citadel Gate (9th century BCE) at the end of the 2019 season, looking northwest. Photo by Braden Cordivari. Penn Museum Gordion Archives

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In addition to the East Citadel Gate, conservation efforts have continued on the Early Phrygian Terrace Building on the Citadel Mound. It was an industrial area, a center for weaving and food preparation. Walls of the 8-room complex have been restored. Also in terms of conservation, treatment was continued on the 33 pebble mosaic panels of Megaron 2, dated to about 825 BCE, considered the earliest pebble mosaic floor ever excavated. This type floor is thought to have originated in Gordion and later spread throughout regions controlled by the Assyrians. 

Documentation efforts have continuously improved, including the use of the latest techniques to digitally record and reconstruct Tumulus MM (see more, including the excavation story, below). It was built in 740 BCE and is today considered the oldest standing wooden building in the world.

Also, efforts have been made to visually reconstruct the appearance of the citadel during the Middle Phrygian period, at the time of Midas. Particular attention was focused on the citadel’s megaron buildings, using examples of ancient rock-cut facade remains located about 150 km west of the Gordion citadel mound. Most notable as a model is the so-called “Midas Monument” at ancient Yazilikaya/Midas City, the facade of which has dimensions that are the same as some of the facades of megaron remains at the Gordion citadel.  

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The Midas Monument at Midas City. Photo by Brian Rose. Penn Museum Gordion Archives.

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Conservation of the Early Phrygian (9th century BCE) pebble mosaic in the Gordion Museum. Photo by Brian Rose. Penn Museum Gordion Archives.

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E. Keats Webb planning for a 3D recording of the interior of the Tumulus MM tomb chamber (ca. 740 BCE). Photo by Gebhard Bieg. Penn Museum Gordion Archives.

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New Excavations

New discoveries have marked remarkably successful efforts over the most recent excavation seasons at Gordion. They include:

1. The unearthing of another gate complex on the southern side of the citadel, in what has been designated as Area 1. Named the South Gate, excavations in this area included the discovery of a roadway flanked by well-cut and finished massive ashlar stones. The roadway/complex is determined to have been in use for about 600 years, beginning in the Early Phrygian period.

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The approach road of the South Gate (Area 1), looking northwest. Photo by Gebhard Bieg. Penn Museum Gordion Archives.

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The northern wall of the approach road at the South Gate (Area 1), looking northeast. Photo by Brian Rose. Penn Museum Gordion Archives

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2. Excavations at the center of the Citadel Mound, which revealed material from a nearly complete Phrygian roof destroyed by the Persians in the 6th century BCE. Archaeologists believe that there is enough material from the excavation to reconstruct most of the roof. 

3. The excavation of at least two ‘new’ tumuli, most notably the Beyceğiz Tumulus and Tumulus 52. The Beyceğiz Tumulus. a 15-meter high mound located about 12 km east of the Citadel Mound, became the subject of rescue excavations due to extensive looting. Archaeologists found no tomb chamber, meaning that this mound was constructed as a cenotaph (dated to around 700 BCE based on artifacts) during the reign of King Midas, possibly created to honor important Phrygian warriors who never returned from battle. The second tumulus, designated Tumulus 52, or T52, is a large mound 14 m high and more than 105 m in diameter. The weight of the overlying earth had in time collapsed the rectangular wooden burial chamber within, but in addition the chamber contents had also been extensively looted. Finds suggest a date possibly within the 8th century BCE. The finds include a number of bronze bowls, a bronze cauldron, bronze ladle, bronze fibulae (clothing pins), several ceramic storage jars, an iron weight, many small amber objects, a bronze bird finial, and iron tripod. Evidence for the human remains for two individuals were found — a young female about 25 years old and a child about 8 or 9 years old. These finds are unusual in the sense that the burial of women within tumuli at Gordion were not known to have occurred until after about 580 BCE. and double burials are not common finds. The tumulus and its contents are clearly indications of elite remains. 

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The Tumulus 52 excavation in progress. Photo by Gebhard Bieg. Penn Museum Gordion Archives.

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4. New excavation on the western side of the Mosaic Building, a large complex that is thought to have been the residence for Gordion’s rulers during the 6th century BCE.  Of note at this location is the finding of parts of an armor corselet made of iron and bronze scales, dated to the 6th century. Archaeologists suggest that it was part of the armor of a defender during the Persian attack on the city around 540 BCE.  

5. Geophysical investigations using electric resistivity tomography (ERT), conducted to determine the size and configuration of fortifications surrounding the Citadel Mound and the Outer Town area of the ancient city. Related structures were detected that helped to define the perimeter fortification of the Citadel Mound as well as the defensive wall system of the Outer Town. Researchers were able to confirm that the Outer Town was about 109 — 111 acres in area.  

More information about Gordion and the Gordion Archaeological Project can be found at the project website. For individuals interested in making a donation to the project, see the Friends of Gordion page. Friends of Gordion receive an annual newsletter about the most recent results of research and excavation and may also receive special guided tours of the site.

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• * Rose, C. Brian and Gürsan-Salzman, Ayse, Friends of Gordion Newsletter, September 2014

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A R T I C L E     S U P P L E M E N T

 The Funeral of Tumulus MM

One of the most spectacular discoveries at the Gordion archaeological site came when Rodney Young of the University of Pennsylvania opened an imposing tumulus mound in 1957 known as Tumulus MM, today interpreted to have been the probable tomb of Gordias, founder of the city of Gordion and father of the legendary King Midas. Within a wooden chamber of the tumulus tomb, Young and his colleagues found the remains of a man determined to have died when he was between 60 and 65 years old. His remains had been placed on a pile of dyed textiles inside a wooden coffin. The coffin was accompanied by 14 remarkably well-preserved items of wood furniture, thought to have been dining and serving tables used at a funerary banquet before the interment. Also found were 3 large cauldrons on iron tripod stands, 19 large two-handled bowls, 100 bronze drinking bowls, round-bottomed buckets, 19 juglets, 2 jugs, a ram-headed situla, and a lion-headed situla. Further analysis indicated that vessels had contained a beverage made from a mixture of honey mead, grape wine, and barley beer. Eighteen ceramic jars showed evidence of a spicy funerary feast of lentils and barbecued sheep or goat stew. It was, according to the archaeologists, evidence of an elaborate banquet fit for a king.

Section of Tumulus MM from the north, showing the open trench and tunnel cut during the excavation of 1957. Drawing by Richard Liebhart, after Young 1981: fig. 51. (Picture credit: Penn Museum Gordion Archive 102811, and Richard Liebhart)

Tumulus MM: Center cross-section construction of the tomb chamber complex (looking north). Drawing by Richard Liebhart. (Picture credit: Gordion Archaeological Project, Richard Liebhart)

Above and below: Tumulus MM, 1957: Inlaid table as found, with bronze vessels. Middle Phrygian period, c. 740 B.C.E. (Penn Museum Gordion Archive)

Above: Inlaid table, Tumulus MM, reconstruction drawing by Elizabeth Simpson, 1985. Copyright E. Simpson.

Above: Inlaid table from Tumulus MM reconstructed for display, 1989. Courtesy Gordion Furniture Project.

Above: Tumulus MM, 1957: Remains of a plain table, with bronze bowls, as found. Middle Phrygian period, c. 740 B.C.E. (Penn Museum Gordion Archive, G-2376)

Tumulus MM, 1957: Southern end of the tomb chamber, with bronze cauldrons against the wall, the remains of plain Tables in front, and bowls and jugs scattered across the floor. Middle Phrygian period, c. 740 B.C.E. (Penn Museum Gordion Archive, G-2385)

Tumulus MM, 1957: Bronze-studded leather belts with decorative bronze disc attachments, and bronze trefoil- mouthed jugs, on the floor where they had fallen in antiquity. Middle Phrygian period, c. 740 B.C.E. (Penn Museum Gordion Archive, G-2404)

Tumulus MM, 1957: Wooden serving stands in place: stand A at right and stand B at left. Middle Phrygian period, c. 740 B.C.E. (Penn Museum Gordion Archive, G-2343)

Tumulus MM, 1957: Bronze ram’s-head situla, after cleaning by the British Museum. Middle Phrygian period, c. 740 B.C.E. (Penn Museum Gordion Archive, G-3008)

Decades later, in 2007, Richard Liebhart, Rose and colleagues discovered four Phrygian inscriptions incised on several timbers while investigating the northwest corner of the outer tomb chamber. “The names [NANA, MYKSOS, SI↑IDOS, and KYRYNIS] had clearly been scratched into the beams before they were set in place around 740 BCE,” wrote the researchers about the find. “The hand of the inscriber was steady and sure, and all the words appear to have been inscribed by the same man, at approximately the same size, with SI↑IDOS written slightly larger than the other words. The SI↑IDOS beam was also probably the first one to have been placed on the tomb after the funeral ended.” Rose and colleagues suggest that SI↑IDOS was likely a prominent man in the community of Gordion. 

“One can think of this as an early prototype of the Memorial Name Books that are still used in funerals today,” wrote Rose and colleagues.**

Above and below: The names inscribed on the roof beam in Tumulus MM. Photos by Richard Liebhart (Picture credit: Gordion Archaeological Project, Richard Liebhart)

The Royal Funeral Ceremony Banquet. Reconstruction of the funeral ceremony held before the Tumulus MM burial. Painting by Greg Harlin based on drawings by Elizabeth Simpson, 2001. Copyright G. Harlin and E. Simpson.

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** http://sites.museum.upenn.edu/gordion/articles/history-archaeology/69-the-funeral-in-tumulus-mm

Image, top: Tumulus MM, 1957: Note the long excavation trench running into the mound, and the horse and wagon in front for scale. (Picture credit: Penn Museum Gordion)

In about 2550 BC, the Old Kingdom Egyptian pharaoh Khufu erected his massive pyramidal sepulcher and mortuary temple on a rocky plateau at Giza, on the west bank of the Nile. By any standards, the building of Khufu’s pyramid complex was a staggering achievement and a masterpiece of careful administration and planning. Thousands of skilled and unskilled workers toiled for the benefit of a single man. To the Egyptians of the time, he was the living embodiment of the sun god Re. His successors, Khafre and Menkaure, emulated him. The pyramids of Giza were the supreme achievement of Old Kingdom Egypt, built on the belief that the pharaoh was the foundation of a prosperous world.

In Old Kingdom Egypt, everything depended on the power and spiritual authority of the king. According to Egyptian belief, he was destined to take his place among the gods upon his death. Even before death, however, Old Kingdom pharaohs were living deities, the very essence of divine order in a prosperous world nourished by a bountiful river, the Nile, with its predictable annual inundation. They were symbols of the equilibrium between the forces of order and chaos, of the stability that had sustained Egypt for centuries. For more than four hundred years, Egypt prospered under the rule of despotic pharaohs like Khufu, who ruled like divine kings. Old Kingdom rulers were a blend of force and intelligence, nurture and fear, sustenance and punishment. They were lucky, for they presided over the state during centuries of bountiful flooding that was as predictable as the rising and setting of the sun—the sun god Re—who maintained the verdant kingdom.

Many people assume that the Nile provided Ancient Egypt with plentiful harvests every summer. This was akhet, the inundation that arrived early in the summer. The Nile waters rose, spread over fertile soils of the floodplain, then receded. Egypt’s farmers planted their crops as the water retreated, harvesting enormous grain surpluses that supported the pharaoh’s court in all its magnificence, fed the work teams that built pyramids and temples, and supported the king’s bureaucracy and armies. The cycle of Nile farming life repeated itself seemingly endlessly, supporting one of the world’s earliest pre-industrial civilizations. Wrote a Victorian irrigation expert, William Willcocks, who worked along the Nile in the 1890s: “The Nile looms very large before every Egyptian and with reason.” What is often forgotten is that the average flood plain relief is only about two meters. A rise two meters below average could leave up to three-quarters of some Egyptian nomes (provinces) totally unirrigated.

Thus, for over two-and-a-half centuries, Khufu’s successors ruled over a relatively small population with plenty of farmland to go around. Their rulers fostered the belief that they controlled the inundation, the foundation of human existence. What they did not know was that that their splendid kingdom’s food supplies depended on the Indian Ocean and the whims of El Niños in the distant southwestern Pacific. Though successful pharaohs ruled with near-despotic powers, working well in times of plenty, the good times could not last. A combination of factors would spell trouble for Egypt on the horizon………………

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The great pyramids on the Giza Plateau, including the pyramid of Khufu, are perhaps the most iconic images of ancient Egypt today. Soupysquirrel, Pixabay, Public Domain

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Pepi II: The Ineffectual Pharaoh

Pepi II was the last of the major Old Kingdom pharaohs. He ascended the throne in 2289 BC at the age of six. By the standards of some of his predecessors, he was an ineffectual ruler. His main claim to fame is the length of his reign. According to the Greek historian Manetho, he ruled for a staggering 94 years, but the length of his reign is disputed and was probably significantly shorter.  Whatever the amount of time Pepi spent on the throne, he was certainly in power for a very long time, perhaps longer than any other pharaoh. The officials who buried him named his surprisingly modest pyramid “Nefer-ka-Re [Pepi II] is Established and Living.” At first, a regency council of close relatives advised him, at a time when his predecessors had decentralized some governance. This turned out to be mistake that Pepi was unable to correct. He surrounded himself  with what appear to have been officials with little concern for the state. As the years passed, real political power passed gradually to senior officials, whose bases were in the nomes.

Pepi ruled at a time when life expectancy was no more than twenty-five to thirty-five, so his regal experience was impressive and theoretically invaluable as he ruled by precedent. At his accession, Egypt was immensely powerful, very wealthy, and probably somewhat complacent. The court in Memphis enjoyed a long-established royal monopoly on trade in ivory and tropical projects with Nubia far upstream of the First Nile Cataract at Aswan. Pepi also controlled the long-established timber trade with Byblos in what is now Lebanon on the eastern Mediterranean coast. But the pharaoh lost authority steadily, as his provincial administrators usurped more and more civil and religious offices, even individuals as lowly as local magistrates. Their tomb inscriptions proclaimed them holders of such offices as “overseer of Upper Egypt in the middle nomes” or “god’s seal bearer.” Their concern was a happy and influential eternity, not the welfare of the pharaoh’s domains.

Unfortunately, the ineffective Pepi ruled in turbulent times. Thirty years into his reign, a Mesopotamian king, perhaps the celebrated King Sargon of Babylon, sacked Byblos and destroyed a major source of Egyptian wealth. At the time, Pepi was spending enormous sums on foreign expeditions. Throughout his long reign, Egypt’s authoritative grip over neighboring lands became progressively weaker, especially upstream of the First Cataract, in Nubia. A powerful coalition of Nubian kingdoms threatened long-established trade ties. By now, the pharaoh was older and progressively less effective, not the more decisive ruler of earlier decades. At home, the pharaoh had long worried about his ambitious and increasingly powerful nomarchs. They were his tax and tribute collectors, and assembled military levies. Some of their loyalty became suspect, so he resorted to appeasement by lavish distributions of wealth. The nomarchs trimmed their sails to the political wind as long as the pharaoh had close control of his domains. But as he grew older and became more detached from the business of governance, the nomarchs increasingly aped the pharaoh and built themselves elaborate tombs in their provinces. A strong and decisive leader might have avoided trouble, but Pepi had outlived most of his sons, which may have meant that the succession was in dispute. The succession was always an unseen elephant in the political room, as factions of courtiers, and even the king’s sons, jostled for power. As the years passed, the monarchs became bolder, more powerful, and less respectful of Memphis. With Pepi’s demise, Egypt would face disruptive chaos.

The pharaoh died in about 2184 BC and was buried in a magnificent pyramid. His oldest son and successor, Merenre II, did not last long. Economic and political chaos ensued. The Greek historian Manetho writes of seventy rulers who reigned for seventy days, more a reflection of chronic instability than historical reality. High officials competed for power. In the end, Pepi’s descendants still ruled from Memphis, but their domains rarely extended beyond the city’s boundaries and they failed their people.

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Relief of Pepi II from the temple of Min in Coptos; Petrie Museum, London, UC 14281. Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

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Rock inscription of Pepi II at Wadi Maghara, Sinai. Karl Richard Lepsius (1810-1884), Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

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The 4.2 ka Event

This was the moment when the Great Megadrought of c. 2200 to 1900 BC descended over vast areas of the world. An unprecedented arid cycle known to climatologists as the 4.2 ka Event, descended on human societies from the Americas to Asia, from the Middle East to Europe and tropical Africa. Today, evidence of the megadrought can be discerned in lake sediments from Iceland and Greenland and in European tree-rings. High-resolution stalagmite growth rings from Turkey, Iran, and India document the drought as the Indian monsoon faltered. For example, a stalagmite sequence attestation from Mawmluh Cave in northeastern India links falls in East African lake levels, also much reduced Nile inundations with deflections of the Indian monsoon. The unstable East Asian monsoon created stress for well-established farming communities in eastern China. Thus, the megadrought rippled across kingdoms, prosperous civilizations and rural landscapes, with catastrophic economic and political effects on Egypt.

The Egyptian state depended on carefully directed, authoritarian leadership from Memphis, ample floodwaters. and a close, cooperative relationship between the pharaohs, his nomarchs, and high officials. With these ingredients in place, Egyptian civilization worked well in well-watered years. But it was highly vulnerable to long-term drought, which was virtually unknown during the reigns of Pepi II and his forebears. Today, numerous climatic proxies discovered in the region of ancient Egypt, indirect records of climatic change, document the onset of the 4.2 ka Event as it impacted Egypt. Lake Tana in Ethiopia, one of the Nile sources, has produced freshwater cores that record a serious dry spell in 2200 BC. Brine sediments in the Red Sea hint at a major drought at the same time. A core from Saqqara in Lower Egypt reveals a meter of dune sand overlying formerly arable fields. A series of low floods cut off Lake Qarun in the fertile Fayum Depression west of the Nile from the great river. Even tree-rings lifted from a cedar coffin reveal a drought from 2200 to 1900 BC.

These sudden, catastrophic long-term declines in the inundation caused almost immediate famine and paralyzed well-established political institutions. The pharaohs had long proclaimed their mastery over the capricious Nile and its inundations. They were, after all, gods. But the people were hungry. Stored grain ran short, as a revolving door of incompetent rulers cycles through the court at Memphis. There were repeated famines for three centuries. Desperate farmers planted their crops on river sandbanks. Inevitably, with little central control, Egypt fractured and became a patchwork of competing provinces in the hands of ambitious nomarchs, some of whom ruled like monarchs. Centuries later, a  seer named Ipuwer lamented the incompetence of the pharaohs of the day: “Confusion is what you set through the land, also the noise of tumult.”

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Global distribution of the 4.2 kiloyear event. The hatched areas were affected by wet conditions or flooding, and the dotted areas by drought or dust storms. Another map for reference in (15 April 2018). “The timing, two-pulsed nature, and variable climatic expression of the 4.2 ka event: A review and new high-resolution stalagmite data from Namibia”. Quaternary Science Reviews 186: 78–90. DOI:10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.02.015. ISSN 0277-3791. Jianjun Wang, Liguang Sun, Liqi Chen, Libin Xu, Yuhong Wang & Xinming Wang, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

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Fertile, well-watered land abutting the Nile near present-day Luxor, Egypt. Anciently, agriculture in Egypt was also much dependent on the condition of the Nile. Bionet, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

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Ankhtifi and Khety the nomarchs

Ankhtifi from his tomb at el-Mo’alla. Роман Курносенко, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license, Wikimedia Commons

Fortunately during these trying times, some nomarchs were competent administrators. They boasted of their achievements on their tomb walls, perhaps not a reflection of reality. Ankhtifi of Hierakonpolis and Edfu, two of the southernmost nomes of Upper Egypt, had such a high opinion of his military abilities and of himself that he called himself the “great chieftain.” He became nomarch just as low floods became commonplace. “All of Upper Egypt was dying of hunger,” his tomb inscriptions tell us. There were reports of cannibalism, of people eating their children; his province becoming like “a starved grasshopper.” As so often happened in famines everywhere, hungry villagers wandered aimlessly in search of food and people fought over water. People were so hungry that they were said to be eating their children. “I managed that no one died of hunger in this nome,” he claimed, as tomb-robbers plundered the dead. Ankhtifi’s grandiloquent inscriptions boasted of loaning precious grain to people upstream, of forbidding the nome’s inhabitants to leave. The nomarch ruled like a pharaoh. “I am the beginning and the end of humankind, for my equal has not and will not come into being.” Fortunately, he controlled food supplies, imposed rationing, and erected temporary dams to impound water. These short-term measures worked and saved many lives, for his leadership was decisive and based on hard-earned local knowledge.

By any standards, another nomarch, Khety II of Assiut, was well connected. He grew up at the royal court and boasted in his tomb inscriptions that he learned swimming with the pharaoh’s children. Young Khety grew up during prosperous times, when brimming Nile floods irrigated the fertile lands around Assiut. Profoundly loyal to the pharaohs, he rose to become nomarch of Assiut, a tax collector and powerful administrator who served as the king’s  representative in his nome, a province far upstream from the court at Memphis. But the good times were over. Flood after flood peaked quickly, at much lower levels than before. Thousands of hectares of normally fertile soil received no water from the usual inundation. In desperation, villagers planted crops on sand banks exposed by the receding water. Khety soon found himself confronted by famine. Though unlike many Egyptian officials of the day, he was a proactive administrator, who paid careful attention to impending flood levels predicted by his scribes. His sepulcher boasted of the drastic measures he took to feed his people: “I nourished my town, I acted as [my own] accountant in regard to food and as giver of water in the middle of the day.” He dug a canal 10 meters wide to divert precious irrigation water to drought-stricken farmland. Like Ankhtifi, he built dams, drained water from swamps for irrigated lands, and rationed grain, placing guards on grain bins.

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Facsimile of the paintings on the north wall of the burial crypt in the tomb of Khety. Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

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Transformation

Despite these efforts, the fragile unity of the state collapsed. By 2040 BC, bitter rivalry between the ruling family at Thebes and rivals in Lower Egypt led the south to split off into a separate kingdom. Constant border clashes marked the frontier between the two domains as Thebes tried to conquer its northern rivals. In 2060 BC, Mentuhotep I became ruler of Upper Egypt. He reigned for a half-century, the early years of his reign marked by bitter fighting with northern rivals. Mentuhotep put down rebellion by the city of Abydos, relatively close downstream, with great severity in 2046 and reunited Egypt under his rule. He became known as the “Uniter of the Two Lands.”

Thus began the Middle Kingdom of Egyptian history, two-and-a-half centuries of prosperity and abundance. There were periods of low floods, but nothing approaching the great hunger. Mentuhotep and his successors presided over a strongly centralized state during years of exceptionally high floods. They also learned from earlier centuries that the doctrine of an infallible pharaoh was unsound. They proclaimed that the sun god Re had charged them to establish the philosophy of ma’at, “rightness” on earth, a philosophy that did allow for a king’s failure. Middle Kingdom pharaohs saw themselves as shepherds of the people, more concerned with the common welfare than their predecessors. They were also efficient administrators who imposed a firm bureaucracy on every aspect of Egyptian life, including irrigation and grain storage. None of them forgot that their power, as guardians of the natural order of things, depended on the erratic Nile inundation. Middle Kingdom artists depicted their rulers not as eternally youthful monarchs, but as careworn rulers of brooding seriousness.

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A Block from the Sanctuary in the Temple of Mentuhotep II at Deir el-Bahri. Made during the Middle Kingdom in Dynasty 11, during the reign of Mentuhotep II. Found at Egypt, Upper Egypt; Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, Temple of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep, EEF 1907. Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

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There were still periods of political uncertainty when floods were low, but the different provinces now cooperated more closely in times of trouble, while technological innovations like the lever-operated shaduf allowed farmers to irrigate their land outside the flood season. The best and most powerful pharaohs prospered because they deployed their subjects to create an organized oasis out of natural bounty. This produced far larger food surpluses than subsistence needs, enabling them to become godlike managers of an agricultural state that supported an ever-rising urban and rural population. They were successful. Despite occasional vicissitudes, ancient Egypt prospered until Roman times.

Cover Image, Top Left: The Digital Artist, Pixabay, Public Domain

As discussed in the first article in the Series, Early States in the Andes, there were two noticeable architectural and ritual trends emerging during the Late Preceramic (3000-1800 BCE), and into the Initial Period (1800-900 BCE). While the last article focused on the specific differences and the most well-known centers associated with these highland versus coastal “canons,” this article will expand on the geographic region, or space between, these two zones, and focus on one site in particular, the Cosma Complex, located in the upper reaches of the Nepeña Valley, Peru.

Early and contemporary scholars have long held debates about highland and coastal developments for the onset of Andean Civilization. The number of early sites clustered along the coast, paired with the complexity and monumentality of most of these centers, has often led researchers to lean toward favoring coastal origins of state development in Peru. Highland researchers, however, have argued that the quantity of early coastal sites may in fact be more representative of survey bias (many researchers focus on coastal sites due to the ease of travel and logistical planning for crews during excavation, compared to the more mountainous and hard-to-reach highlands). Distinct dividing lines were drawn within this early archaeological analysis, categorizing and classifying regions, sites and theories into “coast” vs. “highlands.” This distinction often left the geographic regions between these spaces, mostly the area comprising the western flank of the Cordillera Negra Mountains within the Department of Ancash, to be neglected by archaeologists until more recently. 

Highland Sites

To recap, coastal Late Preceramic centers consisted of complexes with large pyramid mounds associated with sunken circular courts and expansive public plazas. Many of these centers included a multitude of mounds and courts, such as those found at the sites of Caral in the Norte Chico region of coastal Peru. In contrast, contemporaneous highland centers were composed of smaller, privatized chambers that included single entrance-ways, wall niches, sunken floors, and a focus on a central hearth feature. This tradition was dubbed the “Kotosh” or the “Mito” tradition, most notably named from the distinctive architectural features found at the type site of Kotosh, located in Huanuco, Peru. Kotosh-Mito structures have been found throughout the Department of Ancash and Huanuco —mainly in the highlands, at the sites of Kotosh, Shillacoto, Huaricoto, La Galgada, Piruru, el Silencio, Chavín de Huántar and Hualcayan (Bonnier 1997; Bria 2017; Burger and Burger 1985; Contreras 2010; Grieder et al. 1988; Izumi and Sono 1963; Izumi et al. 1972; Montoya 2007; Quilter 1991).

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A view of the great pyramids at Caral. Dr. Kimberly Munro

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Above and below: The remains of Kotosh. Pitxiquin, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license, Wikimedia Commons

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Dates for these complexes range from the Late Preceramic into the Initial Period, with a few centers’ use extending into the Early Horizon (900-200 BCE). Comparatively, the quantity and megalithic features of coastal sites far outweighs the sample size recorded to date for the highlands. A number of archaeologists have interpreted this as evidence for civilization originating along the central coast, mostly in the Norte-Chico region (mainly due to the rich marine resources associated with the coastal sites, which could support large populations, cities, and more complex life-ways). 

The early dates and repeated occupation at Guitarrero Cave, however, paired with new research in the highlands, and areas in between, or “border’ zones, may indicate that highland developments were equally complex and contemporaneous with the earliest monumental constructions along the coast.

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The Guitarrero Cave. Ondando. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, Wikimedia Commons

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Cosma

As mentioned above, traditionally, archaeologists have focused their excavations at coastal centers and highland sites, leaving a large temporal and geographic gap for zones in between these regions. Recently, however, aerial and pedestrian surveys paired with excavations have expanded out into these outlying ‘in-between’ regions, adding to our understanding of the architectural and religious networks that gave rise to early Andean civilizations.

One of these centers was first recorded by archaeologists in 2013. Known as the Cosma Complex, it is located at the headwaters of the Nepeña River, in the department of Ancash, Peru. Cosma, named because of its proximity to the modern community of Cosma, is unique in location, situated outside of the traditional Kotosh-Mito cultural zone and at the headwaters of a coastal river valley. This site features a mixing of highland and coastal elements, and may not in fact be an outlier, but only one in a multitude of early mound centers that bridge the gap between coastal and highland developments during the Late Preceramic Period by incorporating shared or localized elements in their constructions and life-ways.

Cosma sits at an altitude of 2650 meters above sea level (masl). It is situated in a key ecological zone known as the quechua (2,300-3,500 masl), a productive agricultural region for growing tubers, cereals, and maize. While the Cosma basin is actually located in an isolated box canyon, surrounded on three sides by the steep ridges of the Cordillera Negra Mountains, it is also located in between two major Preceramic trading routes between the coast and the highland basin known as the Callejón de Huaylas. The sites’ strategic location may account for its importance as a Mito-Kotosh center in the past, and why it exhibits coastal, highland, and vernacular Late Preceramic architectural elements.

Based on survey and archaeological excavations, we now know that the earliest occupation at Cosma dates to the Late Preceramic Period, and habitation appears to have had multiple occupational peaks throughout a 5000-year time span. The complex itself is composed of two early platform mounds, surrounded by Prehistoric terraces and domestic areas that are situated near the modern community, with ancient walls, agricultural terraces, and canals interspersed between the modern farmlands. In addition, the hillsides are home to later domestic structures, an Early Horizon fortress and Inka carved stonework.

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View of the Cosma basin, and Cosma community. Photo taken from the Caja Rumi hilltop, facing towards the northwest. Both mounds can be seen in the photo. Dr. Kimberly Munro

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Excavations

Excavations in Cosma began in 2014 and ran three seasons through September of 2016, focusing on the Late Preceramic mounds at the site. These mounds, known as Acshipucoto and Kareycoto, measure 10m and 18m in height respectively. Surprisingly, relatively shallow into the excavations of the Acshipucoto mound, a large Kotosh-Mito structure was uncovered early in 2014. To date, 6 chamber-like rooms have been documented within the smaller of the two mounds, though only one has been fully excavated. At least 8 radiocarbon dates taken from 3 of these chambers have calibrated date ranges falling between 2819-2462 BCE. The oldest of these rooms, known as “the AC-1 chamber” had not only been ritually sealed similar to other Kotosh-Mito sites, but also included a sunken floor, wall niches, a single entrance way, and a central hearth. While central hearths at other Kotosh centers are typically stone lined with ventilation shafts/flues, the central hearth in AC-1 was a shallow clay fire feature with no real delimiting characteristics. There were no offerings found within the hearth, although a large spondylus shell was recorded just to the west of it. A carbon sample associated with the shell was dated to 2866 – 2572 BCE. This falls in line with the date of the central hearth, 2866- 2500 BCE, suggesting an early tie/connection to a coastal network, given that spondylus come from the warm waters off the coast of Ecuador, and Cosma is located at least 60km inland. 

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Oblique view of the Cosma basin, with the Acshipucoto mound in the foreground and Kareycoto mound in the background. Photo taken facing towards the north (slightly northeast). Dr. Kimberly Munro

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View of the Kareycoto and Acshipucoto mounds relative to each other within the research area. Dr. Kimberly Munro.

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View into the AC-1 chamber during excavation during the 2015 field season. Dr. Kimberly Munro

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Late Preceramic rooms exposed in the Acshipucoto mound, showcasing rooms rebuilt on top of each other and ritual fill in between. Facing east. Dr. Kimberly Munro

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AC-1 chamber in the Achsipucoto mound after excavation. Niches can be seen flanking the entranceway.Photo taken facing the east. Dr. Kimberly Munro

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View into the AC-1 chamber after excavation, spondylus shell exposed to the west of the sunken circular hearth. Dr. Kimberly Munro

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At the larger mound, known as Kareycoto, two hearths were identified in the lower levels of excavation, and at least three separate floor phases and two circular rooms were exposed associated with the Late Preceramic. A Preceramic date taken from one of the hearths in the upper Preceramic floor dates to 2464 – 2207 BCE. Unlike the architecture and purposefully filled chambers in Acshipucoto however, all of the exposed walls had been broken in antiquity. Large rockfill did cover the walls; the consistency of the fill, however, was different from the ritual fill found in Acshipucoto (lacking the deep level of clay capping). This fill also was not clean, or sterile,  as the Acshipucoto fill was, and was intermixed with ash and burnt/fragmented animal bones and  lithic debitage. Additionally, a black polished stone bead preform and a chipped stone projectile point were collected from an ash lens associated with a broken Preceramic floor. Similar points have been recovered within the Preceramic layers at the type site of Kotosh.

While the hearths documented in the smaller Acshipucoto mound did not include any artifacts, the hearths and ash lenses in the Preceramic layers at Kareycoto included burnt bones, lithics, and at least one large stone blade. A small llama head bead/pendant was also recovered from within an area of ash. This llama bead was carved out of a pale purple soapstone, not local to the area, and is recognizable by its distinct pink/purplish hue. These items were most likely left purposefully in the hearth as an offering, as is the pattern with many Kotosh-Mito hearths in the highlands. 

Smaller hearth, fish vertebrates and bones were collected. In addition to the broken walls and lack of clean fill, layers of ash and burnt faunal remains were recovered between the walls of two rooms, as if the burnt remnants from fires were purposefully discarded as part of the fill for the rooms. Some of the ash deposits at Kareycoto were also located “beneath” floors, but critically, the floors were clearly broken above the ash pits. This suggests these informal hearths were created by digging into earlier floors to create a hearth, as opposed to creating new, purposeful hearths, as was the pattern at other Kotosh sites, that often included stone-lining and ventilation shafts. The hearths present in Cosma were simple, relatively shallow, clay-lined features, except for one large stone-lined hearth at Kareycoto.

The remnants of broken or partial walls and presence of at least two preceramic floors have exposed at least four Late Preceramic structures on the Kareycoto mound. From the pattern recognized at other Late Preceramic sites it can be surmised that more rooms are present beneath the layers exposed by our excavations. Considering the rooms/walls exposed are located very shallow into the mound top (2-3 meters into an 18-meter mound), and that most Kotosh-Mito structures are built on top of platforms, and constructed over earlier rooms, we can surmise that the earliest construction of these temples are closer to the lower platform level of Kareycoto (Bonnier 1997; Izumi & Terada, 1972; Onuki 2016). 

Located on the eastern edge of the Kareycoto mound, at least two thirds of the way up, an underground gallery was also exposed during excavation. This gallery fits a pattern similar to those found at another large Kotosh-Mito center, La Galgada. The gallery located on the northeast side of the mound slope also illustrates connections to La Galgada (Figure 6.32-6.33). At La Galgada, gallery tombs were constructed after the sealing of old Kotosh-Mito chambers, when the hallways between them were roofed over with large stone slabs and human interments were placed inside (Grieder et al 1988; 60). The gallery at Kareycoto had been previously dug by looters, so no human remains were documented by our team during excavation. Its construction, however, appears to align in function with gallery tombs, rather than the labyrinth style tombs seen under the temples of Chavín de Huántar.

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Profile view of the main mound of Kareycoto. Dr. Kimberly Munro.

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3D imaging of Kareycoto made from total station points collected during the 2014 season. Dr. Kimberly Munro and the Cosma Archaeological Project.

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The interior wall/room excavated at Kareycoto. Dr. Kimberly Munro.

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Late Preceramic architecture exposed on the top of the Kareycoto mound. Associated with ash lenses and zoological remains. Dr. Kimberly Munro

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Stairway leading into gallery within Kareycoto. Dr. Kimberly Munro

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While Kareycoto and Acshipucoto were both established during the Late Preceramic, their sequences follow divergent paths after Kotosh-Mito ritual activities ceased within the Cosma basin. The Acshipucoto mound, the smaller of the two, measures 10 m in height and is located a half kilometer across the ravine, due south of Kareycoto. Our excavations revealed at least six separate Kotosh-Mito structures, three of which have radiocarbon dates corresponding to the Late Preceramic. The largest of these structures, AC-1, was a large circular room, 6 m in diameter, located on the SW quadrant of the mound top. Architectural elements included those classified for contemporaneous Kotosh-Mito structures, such as the wall niches, a split level floor, and a central hearth. Moreover, several additional features were present in the room not found at other traditional Kotosh-Mito sites. These included two pony, or half walls, which flanked the entrance; an elevated platform directly across the entrance to the west; and unlike several Mito structures, the entrance into the room was through a platform and 6 steps which sunk down into the structure. Additionally, AC-1 was constructed in a circular shape, a pattern reminiscent of coastal traditions at the time, unlike the majority of Mito temples, which are either square or rectangular with rounded corners. In contrast, the stairway into the room is similar to those stairways seen in the sunken circular plaza styles on the central coast—for example, at the contemporaneous sites of Caral and Sechín Bajo. Finally, the entranceway is flanked by two half, or pony walls, which lead someone entering into the room directly onto the sunken floor. Similar pony walls have been noted for the earliest construction of the circular plaza at Sechín Bajo, which is coeval to the AC-1 room. Only one additional Mito structure has been documented containing “pony walls.” This room, excavated by Daniel Contreras (2010) at Chavín de Huántar, however has been dated well into the Early Horizon.

Interpretation

The past two decades have uncovered a number of additional sites and radiocarbon dates to allow us the opportunity to revisit and rethink the classification for Late Preceramic religious development in the highlands and on the coast.

When we start to include these new datasets, sites like Hualcayan, El Silencio, and Cosma, and their local variations as well as their similar patterns in mound shape and composition, we can add several unexplored, yet documented sites to this list of potential Mito-Kotosh centers.

Dr. Kimberly Munro at the end of the 2016 field season, standing “in the Late Preceramic,” with walls/architecture of 4 of Late Preceramic Kotosh-Mito temples exposed. Dr. Munro is leaning against the retaining wall to the AC-1 chamber, which was excavated fully in 2015. Dr. Kimberly Munro

Mounds such as Quellcayrumi in Huanuco, Pueblo Viejo Santa Ana in the Lacramarca valley, Chupacoto in Huaylas, and sites like the Rayan mounds off the Jimbe branch of the upper Nepeña River Valley are all sites that share similarities in mound pattern and composition with either the Acshipucoto mound (low mounds with associated flat “plazas” such as Santa Ana, Rayan), or the Kareycoto mounds (multi-tiered and coma shaped – such as Chupacoto, Quellcayrumi). This list of sites are most likely large Preceramic centers similar in size and scope to the six main preceramic highland centers previously recognized and utilized to create the architectural typology (Kotosh, Piruru, La Galgada, Huaricoto, Hualcayan, and Cosma).  By expanding our scope outside of what has been perceived as the traditional geographic region, and including these local variants, the distinction between highland versus coastal traditions may become more blurred, specifically at sites like El Silencio, La Galgada, and Cosma, which include localized variations at individual sites, and can be found along prehistoric trade routes between the coast and highlands.

Cosma’s appearance may add a new classification of sites, bridging a gap in our knowledge of Late Preceramic development and interaction networks in the Andes. As readers will see in the next series installment, the early dates from Cosma may also suggest a reworking of our understanding of state development in the Andes — that it most likely did not originate exclusively in a central locale, either on the coast or the highlands, respectively. Interactions between the two regions were most likely continuous and more fluid than researchers originally may have posited.

*See more about the Cosma Archaeological Project at the Facebook page and website.

What makes Dzibilchaltún so perplexing are seven crudely made clay figurines found buried below the altar archaeologists have named Temple of the Seven Dolls. At its peak, Dzibilchaltún, which means “where there is writing on flat stones,” was one of the oldest settlements of the northwestern Maya lowlands of Yucátan in Mexico. Anciently, it was a large and complex community, engaged in the exploitation of nearby seaside resources, especially salt, and long-distance coastal and inland trade. In its heyday, the city had more than “8,000 buildings spread out over twenty five square miles, most of which are one or two-room platforms that once supported dwellings made of pole-and-thatch. Its population may have reached over 25,000 souls; at that time, it was the biggest city on the peninsula” (Kurjack, 1979 in Andrews, 1980).

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Temple of the Seven Dolls –  ©georgefery.com

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Located eight miles from present day Mérida, and seven miles from the coast, Dzibilchaltún’s earliest recorded permanent settlement dates from the Early Formative pre-Nabanchè Phase.1, 900BC. It was continually occupied from the middle to the late pre-Classic 500-250BC, with high and low occupation periods, up to the arrival of the Europeans in 1521. For the purpose of this story, we will focus on the city’s center and the Temple of the Seven Dolls, the easternmost major structure in the urban area where the figurines, or dolls, were found. Archaeologists refer to the temple as Structure 1-sub (Str.1-sub). The temple shares its spiritual powers with those of its westernmost counterpart, a temple known as Structure 66 (Str.66).

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Entrance to the Sacred Plaza –  ©georgefery.com

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The program of investigation and restoration at Dzibilchaltún was initiated by E. Wyllys Andrews IV in 1956, with the sponsorship of the National Geographic Society and the Middle American Research Institute at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana. The archaeological team realized that the 7,000 tons of collapsed rubble identified with Structure 1 (Str.1) was irretrievably damaged and had to be removed, allowing for Str.1-sub, which was below it, to be reclaimed. Str.1-sub was built on an even older sanctuary, unlike those at other Maya sites in the Yucatán. The ancient city’s major structures and temples were painted with various bright colors, among which red was predominant. Str.1-sub, however, was painted white, and so was sacbe1, surfaced with white limestone, then called a “white road”— that is, a raised causeway, which ended at the terrace in front of the temple. Traditionally, in an urban context, an east-west causeway covered with white stucco was associated with the path of the sun, and the Temple of the Seven Dolls was built precisely where the sun rose at equinoxes. Of note is that the temple was named by archaeologists “Temple of the Dolls”, while in all probability its ancient name was “Temple of the Sun”. Its allegorical counterpart, Structure.66, may have been called “Temple of the Moon.”

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The Seven Dolls and Str.66, Str.1-sub and Str.66 partial map – Drawing by George E. Stuart, 1959 –  ©Andrews-MARI

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Str.1-sub is located on the easternmost side of Dzibilchaltún, half a mile from the central plaza. The temple has four windows, unusual in Maya temples of that time, with two trapezoidal doors on both its east and west walls. There are two identical doors, but no windows, on the north and south walls. Str.1-sub, together with the three structures across its plaza and Stela 3 further west, is archetypal of an E-Group such as at Uaxactun. The windows on the east and west walls may have been used to observe the rise of other celestial bodies at dawn and at dusk, to ascertain the course of celestial bodies linked to either the Tzolkin 260-day Maya sacred calendar or the 365-day solar calendar, the Haab. Furthermore, the play of light and shadows that took place on March 21 and September 20 or 23 were strong beacons of the sun’s solsticial course. The first date signals the start of the seeding season, while the second was that of harvesting. The temple main doors on the east and west sides, and no windows on the opposite sides, underline the temple functions by their symmetry. With the four cardinal directions open (the four doors), the open roof of the tower (the zenith) and the dolls cache below the temple floor (the nadir), the sun god confirmed the solstice return when its rays lighted the main chamber floor at noon, above the seven dolls cache. This event directed the priest-shamans to start the seeding rituals in the temple.

In an agrarian based economy, the function of Str.1-sub allowed priest-shamans to observe and ascertain the cyclical rising and setting of the sun, the universal time-clock of agriculture. The monitoring of the unwavering repetition of the cycles of heavenly bodies correlates ritually with Str.1-sub as sun-fire-male-sunrise, and its counterpart Str. 66 as moon-water-female-sunset. The reason why the cycles of heavenly bodies were to be watched at dedicated times by priest-shamans was that since gods and deities were “mind-made” they responded like humans to neglect, contempt and anger. Love was not expected from the gods, for it had to be paid with blood and tears.

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Structure.66 –  ©georgefery.com

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Rituals in ancient communities followed the agrarian cycles under the auspices of their respective deities. The first sanctuaries were built for these mediators between the world at large (nature) and humankind (culture), because culture could not, on its own, control nature. Priest-shamans had to ensure the accuracy of the sun (K’inich Ahau, the sun-faced lord), which never failed to reappear at the exact same place, day after day, solstice after solstice, equinox after equinox. Priest-shamans were helped in their tasks by supplication and invocation rituals during which they addressed the deities of the vegetal world and the powerful god of rain. At times, individuals were praying to their ancestors, personal mediators in the “otherworld” with deities of the family.

Solsticial and equinoxial recurrences were closely observed. Important was the sun’s zenith event—when the sun reached the observer’s zenith, 90° above the horizon, which only happens between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Contreras offers an interesting hypothesis for monitoring this episode. “The high ceiling of the inner room of Str.1-sub forms a tower projecting above the temple roof. Str.1-sub tower’s ceiling may have been made of a lighter material to allow for temporary removal in order to let the sun rays at its zenith to light up the floor of the central chamber below” (Jobbova et al., 2018). Str.1-sub tower collapsed when Str.1 debris were removed in 1959, but its restoration shows a small doorway on the south side for access to its roof. At Dzibilchaltún’s latitude, the sun’s zenith at the spring solstice is traditionally associated with the beginning of the planting cycle and the rainy season.

The monitoring of the repetition of natural events was associated with “mind-made” deities, masters of the seasons and people’s subsistence. The character of the ceremonies, directed by priest-shamans under the auspices of the lords of the realm, were dedicated to the all-powerful rain god Cha’ak, second only in the Maya pantheon to K’inich Ahau, the sun god. Was the Temple of the Seven Dolls conceived allegorically as the “anchor” of the sun, with ceremonies and rituals traditionally associated with the seeding of the earth? Most likely.

And so the seven dolls, which were ritually “planted” by priest-shamans down a duct three feet deep, were dug into the floor at the center of the temple’s altar. Bates Littlehales rendering (1959, in Andrews.1980) depicts the re-enactment of the ceremony of the seven dolls that took place during the Decadent Period’s Chechem Phase (1200-1500AD). The climate record for the Yucatán shows that this ceremony took place within the time frame of recurrent droughts.

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The Dolls Cache 3 — Drawing by George E. Stuart. 1959  ©Andrews-MARI

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What was expected from rituals associated with the seven crudely made figurines? We do not know, and may never know. The figurines were described by archaeologists as displaying physical deformities. Andrews remarks “None of us had ever seen anything like them…we can only guess at their significance. Perhaps these little idols embodied the Maya priests’ formulas for curing disease” (1980). Of note is the fact that their number, seven, places them at the center of the culture’s spiritual world, at the intersection of the four cardinal directions, along with the zenith, the nadir, and the figurines’ position, believed to be the center of the community’s universe. The six females and one male figurines display oversized genitals (the male supports a disproportioned erect member). They are symbolic of the reproductive powers scattered by the sun, master of nature, a ritual found in most other Maya communities, as well as in other ancient cultures.

The disparity in gender, however, is puzzling and leads to the question: why six females and one male? Why not four and three or another mix? Since no consensus could be found with scholars, the next step was to ask respected local shamans (h’men) for their opinion on the gender disparity. A pertinent remark, that may be taken into consideration, “one male and a number of females in age of reproduction would secure the community’s survival, while conversely, one female among any number of males, would warrant the group’s extinction” (2020). A stern observation that may be grounded in the survival of our species’ long lost past.

The figurines are not unlike those made by children. However, they are not “dolls.” Andrews notes that “the tubular shaft at the bottom of which they were buried, a “psyco-duct” as we call it, was not sealed but left open to, we assume, allow these spirits of the tomb to communicate their mysterious powers to the human world above” (1959:107-108). Placed at the very heart of the temple, the figurines may have been the guardians to the portal of the “otherworld,” the place where eternal life rises over death. Their association with nature is symbolically linked with the roots of plants synonymous with the roots of life, for the figurines were made to never be seen.

Scattering rituals were coincident with climatic stress during periods of decreased rain or drought. Is there a correlation between these age-old rituals and the figurines? Probably, because there is no other rationale for the priest-shamans to literally “plant” these deformed crudely made figurines below the floor of the temple’s altar. Furthermore, the scattering of human seeds was still practiced by farmers in early twentieth century in parts of the Americas. It was believed to periodically reaffirm a common law of the “right of blood” for farmsteads inherited from ancestors, as opposed to the “right of land” claimed by invaders.

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The Seven Dolls –  ©Andrews-MARI

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Archaeological data reported in Science (2018), show repeated phases of drought in the paleoclimate record from sediments in Lake Chinchancanab on the Yucatán peninsula. During the Maya Classic period (600-900AD), “…annual rain decreased between 41% and 54%, with intervals of up to 70% rainfall reduction during peak drought conditions” (Evans et al, 362:498-501). Furthermore, Metcalf and Davis, in Science & Public Policy Institute (SPPI, 2012), reported that “dry conditions, probably the driest of the Holocene, are recorded over the period 700-1200” (2007). Catastrophic natural events, and droughts in particular, were ascribed to the actions of malevolent deities that punished members of the  priesthood and the nobility, who were at times overthrown as failed agents, for their lack of devotion. “Planting and rain-beckoning rituals are a common way in which past and present human communities have confronted the risk of drought across a range of environments across the world” (Jobbova et al, 2018).

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Dolls Burial Reenactment – Bates Littlehales, 1959  ©Andrews-MARI

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Both Merida and Dzibilchaltún are located inside the Chicxulub crater created by the impact of the asteroid that struck the earth within the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) time-frame (66MYA), and caused the extinction event of the mega-fauna. The chain of cenotes or sinkholes, in this part of the peninsula is clustered outside the circle of the 93-mile impact zone, with a much smaller number found inside. In ancient agrarian societies, bodies of water, besides being vital to life, were at the heart of their religious beliefs and rituals because water was understood to be the essence of all life forms. Cenote Xlacah, (“old town” in Yucatec) is a major surface sinkhole at Dzibilchaltún. It was essential to the life of the city and its neighboring communities, given the lack of rivers in northern Yucatán and within the Chicxulub impact zone in particular. Xlacah’s surface area is bigger (328 feet x 657 feet) than the Sacred Well at Chichén Itzá (164×200 feet x 65 feet deep). It also is much deeper, at 144 feet. Its surface waters, however, are less than ten feet below the rim. Rituals associated with Xlacah were complementary to those that took place in the Temple of the Seven Dolls and in its western counter part, Str. 66. The cenote’s waters and its associated deities were recognized to complement and balance each temple’s predominance, that of the sun and the moon. After all, Xlacah was Cha’ak’s home, “the powerful god of storms, lightning, and life-giving rain” (God.B, Shellhass, 1904) .

Within this mythological context, Xlacah was understood to be the anchor of the permanence and persistence of life, mediator of the nature-culture dichotomy found in the beliefs of ancient societies. In addition to Xlacah, over “ninety-five man-made wells were found in Dzibilchaltún’s twenty-plus square miles populated area” (Kurjack, 1974). They were mostly hand-dug holes, since the water table is but a few feet below the surface. Unlike small wells, however, large cenotes are replenished by circulating underground water, and cleaned by schools of tiny fish and aquatic plants. Located at the southwestern corner of the city’s Central Plaza, Xlacah represents, in Coggins report “…the south and down, or the entrance and exit from the waters of the underworld” (1983:49-23). At its bottom, Xlacah’s floor slopes sharply down then levels off, continuing to an unknown distance in pitch blackness.

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Cenote Xlacah –  ©georgefery.com

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The cenote was the focus of rituals witnessed by more than 3,000 broken ceramic and water jars found at its bottom, together with portions of at least eight human skeletons and animal bones. Its waters were used for both daily needs and rituals that did not involve human or animal sacrifice. The few remains found, therefore, were probably those of people and animals that drowned while collecting water. Surface and underground cenotes are mirrors of two worlds, recognized as Cha’ak’s home, “patron of agriculture and one of the oldest continuously worshipped god of ancient Mesoamerica” (Miller+Taube, 1993). “Xlacah represent the center of Dzibilchaltún’s agrarian universe, its pivotal axis” (Lothrop, 1952, Tozzer, 1957). The powerful god of rain, lightning, and thunder was the master of life and fear, because should rain fail, the life giving maize harvest (corn-Zea mays subsp.) would wither, and lead to hunger, conflict and death. The Mayans have a deep reverence for maize for, in their mythology, the gods created them out of maize dough. It therefore is not only their main staple and daily sustenance, but foremost, it is associated with their very existence, their soul.

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Str.12 and Stela.3 –  ©georgefery.com

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The half-mile causeway 1 runs in a straight line from the city’s central plaza to the Temple of the Seven Dolls. One hundred forty-three feet west of the temple are three structures with two rooms each, built astride the causeway, that controlled the approach to the temple, together with a high defensive stone wall in front (now gone). Access was limited through two narrow passageways, between the central pair of rooms, and underline the sanctity of the complex. Four hundred and forty-five feet west of the defensive wall stood Structure 12 (Str.12), a four-stairway/six-steps quadrangular platform with an eleven-foot-tall limestone monolith, Stela 3. It was covered with stucco and painted with figures of the Maya pantheon, now lost to time. It is one of about thirty such monuments on the site and squarely faces the west side door of the Temple of the Seven Dolls. Its position relative to the temple, however, indicates that it was most probably used as a sighting device reciprocal to those of Str.1-sub for the observation of heavenly bodies through either or both the east-west doors or the windows when sighting was deliberately blocked by Stela 3. Of interest is the fact that, from an allegorical standpoint, structures were important but no more so than the play of light and shadows at dedicated times, such as at solstices and equinoxes. Following the path of the sun, the shadows had the same ritual value as that of structures or select natural landmarks.

Architecturally similar to Str.1-sub, Str.66 is radially symmetrical and is located two and a half miles from Str.1-sub, at the western end of sacbe 2. However, it has not been restored, hence the limited information on both structure and remains. The similarity with the Seven Dolls complex, however, is striking and extends to Str.63 with a four-stairway/six-steps quadrangular platform and an eleven-foot limestone monolith, Stela 21, located 145 feet east of Str.66’s plaza, and built squarely on causeway 2. Like Stela 3 to the east, Stela 21 was covered with stucco and painted with figures of the Maya pantheon, now lost to time. Andrews refers to Str.66 as “a mirror image of the Seven Dolls group” (1961), dedicated to the moon, counterpart to Str.1-sub, which was dedicated to the sun. Like the Temple of the Seven Dolls, it also had its access restricted by Str.64 and Str.65, which were built across its plaza.

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Str.12 and Stela.3 –  Seven Dolls Complex, Edward B. Kurjack  ©georgefery.com

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The first sanctuaries were built for deities, mediators between an unmanageable nature and humankind, to persuade them through prayers and sacrifices to provide or facilitate food. From early human history, daily sustenance was an enduring concern. Dependence on the vagaries of the Yucatán’s seasons, climate, and the “mood of the gods,” kept communities in constant dread. Natural events such as flood, drought, or insect plagues, brought constant fear, anxiety, and hunger. It is not surprising then that communities sought solace and help from their shamans, the needed go-betweens to commune with the overbearing deities of nature, to help people carry their unpredictable burdens.

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Chac Xib Cha’ak Ceremony –  ©georgefery.com

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Yucatec farmers (milperos) today tend their corn fields (milpas) as in the past, with utmost devotion. After planting in early spring, a Chac Xib’Cha’ak ceremony takes place in the field. The ceremony is related to the ancient god Cha’ak, integral to the seeding process before the first rains. It is conducted by h’men (a term that means “he who makes”) and their apprentices (idzat), together with the milpa owner, other farmers and community leaders. All pray to the ancient gods and their associated Christian deities on a field altar that answers to ancestral rituals, adorned with plants and fruits from the land. Young boys crouch at each corner of the altar and mimic the croak of frogs calling for rain. As in the past, the h’men’s rain-beckoning rituals are a common way to pray for the blessed rains for fear that it may be withheld or delayed by malevolent forces.

For centuries, ancient gods and deities were the heartbeat of this great city and helped people cope with environmental stress such as drought, locusts, hurricanes, and other natural events. As is the case for all rituals, prayers and invocations, they helped people contend with an inherently unpredictable nature. The shadows of centuries inexorably blurred gods and deities, but below Str.1-sub altar, undisturbed by time and events, the Seven Dolls kept their relentless watch over Dzibilchaltún.

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Sunrise on Vernal Equinox –  ©turitransmerida.com

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Bibliography / References:

Edward B. Kurjack, 1974 – Prehistoric Lowland Maya Community and Social Organization, A Case Study at Dzibilchaltun, Yucatan, Mexico.

E. Willis Andrews.IV, 1980 – Excavations at Dzibilchaltun, Yucatan, Mexico.

Clemency Coggins, 1983 – The Stucco Decoration and Architectural Assemblage of Structure-1.sub, Dzibilchaltun, Yucatan, Mexico.

MARI-Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA

Orlando Josué Casares Contreras, 2001 – Una Revisión Arqueoastronómica a la Estructura 1-Sub de Dzilbilchaltún, Yucatán – Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Merida.             

Eva Jobbova, Christophe Helkme & Andrew Bevan, 2018 – Ritual Responses to Drought: An Examination of Ritual Expressions in Classic Maya Written Sources – Human Ecology

Mary Miller & Karl Taube,1993 – The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya

Evans et al, 362:498-501). Science (2018)

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