Yokib' continued

An artistic interpretation of what Yokib' looked like at the end of Late Classic Period (AD 700-800 ). The earliest ruler dates to AD 460 but the inscriptions show two references that count back in time; one reference that has to be in mythical time 4691BC and the other perhaps more realistic AD 297. Several rulers names were based on an old deity "God N" who wore a turtle carapace marked with Kan meaning yellow/precious. Over the 600 or so years Yokib' was a regional power of varying strength. References in the inscriptions are made to various sites that are unknown and well known. Some were important as allies, some important as enemies, and all were sources of captives. Yokib' itself was a source of captives for other sites. Yaxchilan was one of these polities responsible for the demise and destruction of Yokib' with the capture of Ruler 7 in AD 808. The site lingered on for two more years when the last altar was carved after which Yokib' came to a violent end.

Tatainia Proskouriakoff's depiction of the site below shows multiple doorways with carved lintels. Many stela were erected commemorating period endings as well as accession of rulers. Carving quality varied from shallow relief to nearly 3/4 relief in the later stela.

The collage below are the remains as seen today.

The two collages below show the state of the remaining carvings. Very little can be made out of the glyphs not covered in moss.

There are a few monuments on the site that can be still be deciphered.

Continued in next blog.