Continuing investigations suggest that the power derived
from the founder began to falter with the capture and sacri-
fice in 738 of Copán’s 13th ruler by the king of a rival city-state.
By King Yax Pasah’s time, a quarter of a century later, the
power of Copán’s rulership had failed to rebound. After the
Maya abandoned this site to the forest and the river, probably
by the year 900, its stone buildings gradually crumbled. And
yet, even in ruin, the site’s remaining ornate buildings and
sculptures make it one of the greatest treasuries of art and
architecture in the Americas.Archaeologists made
a stunning discovery
in 1989 at the ancient
Maya city of Copán
in Honduras: the grave
of a mighty king and
founder of a dynasty
that held sway for
some 400 years.
KENNETH GARRETT (BOTH)KING’S DOMAIN
100 WONDERS OF ARCHAEOLOGY 63