Christophe Helmke | University of Copenhagen (original) (raw)

Uploads

Papers by Christophe Helmke

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2017

Arqueología Mexicana, 2021

Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl, 2017

More than four decades ago, H. B. Nicholson compared the so-called Palace Stone from Xochicalco t... more More than four decades ago, H. B. Nicholson compared the so-called Palace Stone from Xochicalco to a page in a Meso-american codex. Showing numerous calendrical dates and toponymic signs connected by a path marked by footprints the monument readily recalls the cartographic tradition that is well-known for the central Mexican highlands at the time of the Spanish conquest. In this paper, we explore the Epiclassic evidence of this tradition, discussing not only central features of the Palace Stone, but also additional monuments from Xochicalco and sites in the vicinity.

Mexicon, 2018

In 1988, an unusual sculpted vault capstone, bearing a short text of three glyphs, was found atop... more In 1988, an unusual sculpted vault capstone, bearing a short text of three glyphs, was found atop the spinewall of a collapsed, two-chamber building surmounting a pyramidal platform at the site of Buenavista del Cayo in western Belize. This building, designated Structure 4, closes the south side of the site’s Central Plaza. Curated with other materials from that season, the stone was recently relocated in our storage facility, while reorganizing materials for repatriation to the Belize Institute of Archaeology. Contextually and stylistically dated to the seventh century AD, the capstone appears to refer to a dedication event and may provide the ancient name of the building. This identifies Structure 4 as marking the completion of an ambitious seventh century elaboration of the Central Plaza at Buenavista. Herein we describe the capstone and its context, and discuss its glyphic text in terms of content and of paleography allowing us to explore the possible connections to other courts and realms that this text implies.

Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology, 2012

Recent research in the Caves Branch River Valley (CBRV) has focused on discerning and defining co... more Recent research in the Caves Branch River Valley (CBRV) has focused on discerning and defining connections between ancient Maya communities and special function sites in Central Belize. During the past three seasons, discoveries and investigations of multiple "new" civic-ceremonial centers and cave sites have advanced our understanding of ways Classic period Maya groups utilized ritually-important natural and constructed elements of the cultural landscape. We are currently considering the possibility that temporal variations in the use of these locations reflect a variety of factors, including demographic, socio-political, and environmental changes that took place in the southern Maya Lowlands between the Late Preclassic and Terminal Classic periods. Our ongoing investigations of landscapes in and around the CBRV are providing us with an improved understanding of how ritual was centrally important in defining and negotiating group and community identities in this part of the Maya area.

Ancient Mesoamerica, 2018

The importance of emblem glyphs to Maya studies has long been recognized. Among these are emblems... more The importance of emblem glyphs to Maya studies has long been recognized. Among these are emblems that have yet to be conclusively matched to archaeological sites. The Water Scroll emblem glyph is one such example, although it appears numerous times in the Classic Maya written corpus between the sixth and the eighth centuries. These many references are found at a variety of sites across the lowlands, attesting to the importance of this ancient kingdom and the kings who carried this title. In the present paper, we review the epigraphic and archaeological evidence and propose that this may be the royal title of the kings who reigned from Altun Ha, in the east central Maya lowlands, in what is now Belize. In so doing, we also begin to reconstruct the dynastic history of the Water Scroll kings, from the vantage of both local and foreign sources.

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2018

A B S T R A C T When recovered from ritual contexts at ancient Maya sites, obsidian blades are fr... more A B S T R A C T When recovered from ritual contexts at ancient Maya sites, obsidian blades are frequently viewed as blood-letters used for auto-sacrifice. Most evidence supporting this interpretation is circumstantial and derives from iconographic and ethnohistoric sources. Such a deductive approach does not provide a means to determine whether individual blades were used to let blood. In contrast, microscopic use-wear analysis of lithic artifacts can be used to examine blades for evidence of their use, and—provided comparative experimental data are available—to determine if they were blood-letters. The technological and use-wear analyses of 48 obsidian blades recovered from a Late Classic (c. 550–650 CE) dedicatory cache at the site of Pook's Hill, Belize, serve as a test case to explore the relationship between obsidian blades and ancient Maya auto-sacrificial blood-letting. The results of the analyses indicate that some blades from the cache may have been used to let blood; however, not all obsidian blades appear to have been used in the same way. The obsidian blood-letters recovered from the cache were used in cutting, piercing, and piercing-twisting motions. Although some blades were used to let blood, the edge and surface wear on most of the used obsidian blades are consistent with other functions, including cutting meat/skin/fresh hide, cutting or sawing wood and dry hide, cutting or sawing other soft and hard materials, and scraping hard materials. Clearly, not all blades from this ritual deposit were blood-letters, which raises questions about the manner in which such a ritual deposit was formed and the nature of ritual activity associated with caching behavior at Classic period Maya sites.

Smoke, Flames, and the Human Body, 2018

In the present essay, we explore the importance of pyrolatry in the archaeological record, as wel... more In the present essay, we explore the importance of pyrolatry in the archaeological record, as well as in the iconography and epigraphic corpus of Early Classic Teotihuacan (ca. AD 1–650). We will focus on the role of fire in rituals related to transition and transformation, review the evidence of New Fire rituals that appear to have been centered on the Pyramid of the Sun, and discuss the role of fire as a transformative agent in funer-ary rituals at Teotihuacan. This discussion builds on Karl Taube's seminal work on the iconography of elaborate, theater-style incense burners as well as on the religious and metaphorical significance of butterflies as these pertain to a cult of elite warriors (Taube 2000). We wish to emphasize the conceptual overlap between the cremation of the bundled years that have expired and human mortuary bundles. This may add to our understanding of years and time intervals as personified entities, which could be born, named, and enthroned and would eventually die and undergo the same con-flagratory transformation as prominent human beings. In addition, we offer a reexamination of the Late Postclassic Aztec perception of Teotihuacan as the place where the sun was created by fire rituals and immolation, and we suggest that the above-mentioned aspects may indeed be traced all the way back to Teotihuacan.

Latin American Antiquity, 2017

Antiquity, 2017

Recent archaeological investigations at Tipan Chen Uitz, Belize, yielded two remarkable Classic M... more Recent archaeological investigations at Tipan Chen Uitz, Belize, yielded two remarkable Classic Maya ballplayer panels. Iconographic and glyphic analysis of these panels within a regional context provides new insights into large-scale socio-political relationships, demonstrating that the ballgame was an important means and mechanism for macro-political affiliation in the Maya Lowlands. The panels suggest that Tipan was part of a wider system of vassalage that tied it to other Maya centres, including Naranjo, a regional capital under the dominion of Calakmul where the Snake-Head dynasty held sway. The data presented here underpin a more general discussion of archaeological approaches to ancient interaction spheres.

Bioarchaeological investigations at Actun Uayazba Kab (AUK), in west-central Belize, sought to ch... more Bioarchaeological investigations at Actun Uayazba Kab (AUK), in west-central Belize, sought to characterize the nature of the site's mortuary use by reconstructing aspects of social identity. Skeletal analyses provided data related to the age, sex, health, diet, and geographic origins of individuals buried within the rockshelter-like entrance to AUK. Changes in the site's ritual use were contextualized with current archaeological data from the surrounding region, demonstrating that burial activity was initiated in the Late Preclassic and was likely by a local kin group. Cessation of primary burial sometime around the 3 rd century AD generally coincides with the construction of monumental civic-ceremonial architecture in the area, after which activity at the site appears to have shifted to rituals pertaining to the propi-tiation of rain. While small cave and rockshelter sites typically receive little research attention in Mesoamerica, the data from AUK illustrate how ritual activities at small, non-elite sites are indeed dynamic and can inform broader models of social and political organization.

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2017

Arqueología Mexicana, 2021

Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl, 2017

More than four decades ago, H. B. Nicholson compared the so-called Palace Stone from Xochicalco t... more More than four decades ago, H. B. Nicholson compared the so-called Palace Stone from Xochicalco to a page in a Meso-american codex. Showing numerous calendrical dates and toponymic signs connected by a path marked by footprints the monument readily recalls the cartographic tradition that is well-known for the central Mexican highlands at the time of the Spanish conquest. In this paper, we explore the Epiclassic evidence of this tradition, discussing not only central features of the Palace Stone, but also additional monuments from Xochicalco and sites in the vicinity.

Mexicon, 2018

In 1988, an unusual sculpted vault capstone, bearing a short text of three glyphs, was found atop... more In 1988, an unusual sculpted vault capstone, bearing a short text of three glyphs, was found atop the spinewall of a collapsed, two-chamber building surmounting a pyramidal platform at the site of Buenavista del Cayo in western Belize. This building, designated Structure 4, closes the south side of the site’s Central Plaza. Curated with other materials from that season, the stone was recently relocated in our storage facility, while reorganizing materials for repatriation to the Belize Institute of Archaeology. Contextually and stylistically dated to the seventh century AD, the capstone appears to refer to a dedication event and may provide the ancient name of the building. This identifies Structure 4 as marking the completion of an ambitious seventh century elaboration of the Central Plaza at Buenavista. Herein we describe the capstone and its context, and discuss its glyphic text in terms of content and of paleography allowing us to explore the possible connections to other courts and realms that this text implies.

Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology, 2012

Recent research in the Caves Branch River Valley (CBRV) has focused on discerning and defining co... more Recent research in the Caves Branch River Valley (CBRV) has focused on discerning and defining connections between ancient Maya communities and special function sites in Central Belize. During the past three seasons, discoveries and investigations of multiple "new" civic-ceremonial centers and cave sites have advanced our understanding of ways Classic period Maya groups utilized ritually-important natural and constructed elements of the cultural landscape. We are currently considering the possibility that temporal variations in the use of these locations reflect a variety of factors, including demographic, socio-political, and environmental changes that took place in the southern Maya Lowlands between the Late Preclassic and Terminal Classic periods. Our ongoing investigations of landscapes in and around the CBRV are providing us with an improved understanding of how ritual was centrally important in defining and negotiating group and community identities in this part of the Maya area.

Ancient Mesoamerica, 2018

The importance of emblem glyphs to Maya studies has long been recognized. Among these are emblems... more The importance of emblem glyphs to Maya studies has long been recognized. Among these are emblems that have yet to be conclusively matched to archaeological sites. The Water Scroll emblem glyph is one such example, although it appears numerous times in the Classic Maya written corpus between the sixth and the eighth centuries. These many references are found at a variety of sites across the lowlands, attesting to the importance of this ancient kingdom and the kings who carried this title. In the present paper, we review the epigraphic and archaeological evidence and propose that this may be the royal title of the kings who reigned from Altun Ha, in the east central Maya lowlands, in what is now Belize. In so doing, we also begin to reconstruct the dynastic history of the Water Scroll kings, from the vantage of both local and foreign sources.

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2018

A B S T R A C T When recovered from ritual contexts at ancient Maya sites, obsidian blades are fr... more A B S T R A C T When recovered from ritual contexts at ancient Maya sites, obsidian blades are frequently viewed as blood-letters used for auto-sacrifice. Most evidence supporting this interpretation is circumstantial and derives from iconographic and ethnohistoric sources. Such a deductive approach does not provide a means to determine whether individual blades were used to let blood. In contrast, microscopic use-wear analysis of lithic artifacts can be used to examine blades for evidence of their use, and—provided comparative experimental data are available—to determine if they were blood-letters. The technological and use-wear analyses of 48 obsidian blades recovered from a Late Classic (c. 550–650 CE) dedicatory cache at the site of Pook's Hill, Belize, serve as a test case to explore the relationship between obsidian blades and ancient Maya auto-sacrificial blood-letting. The results of the analyses indicate that some blades from the cache may have been used to let blood; however, not all obsidian blades appear to have been used in the same way. The obsidian blood-letters recovered from the cache were used in cutting, piercing, and piercing-twisting motions. Although some blades were used to let blood, the edge and surface wear on most of the used obsidian blades are consistent with other functions, including cutting meat/skin/fresh hide, cutting or sawing wood and dry hide, cutting or sawing other soft and hard materials, and scraping hard materials. Clearly, not all blades from this ritual deposit were blood-letters, which raises questions about the manner in which such a ritual deposit was formed and the nature of ritual activity associated with caching behavior at Classic period Maya sites.

Smoke, Flames, and the Human Body, 2018

In the present essay, we explore the importance of pyrolatry in the archaeological record, as wel... more In the present essay, we explore the importance of pyrolatry in the archaeological record, as well as in the iconography and epigraphic corpus of Early Classic Teotihuacan (ca. AD 1–650). We will focus on the role of fire in rituals related to transition and transformation, review the evidence of New Fire rituals that appear to have been centered on the Pyramid of the Sun, and discuss the role of fire as a transformative agent in funer-ary rituals at Teotihuacan. This discussion builds on Karl Taube's seminal work on the iconography of elaborate, theater-style incense burners as well as on the religious and metaphorical significance of butterflies as these pertain to a cult of elite warriors (Taube 2000). We wish to emphasize the conceptual overlap between the cremation of the bundled years that have expired and human mortuary bundles. This may add to our understanding of years and time intervals as personified entities, which could be born, named, and enthroned and would eventually die and undergo the same con-flagratory transformation as prominent human beings. In addition, we offer a reexamination of the Late Postclassic Aztec perception of Teotihuacan as the place where the sun was created by fire rituals and immolation, and we suggest that the above-mentioned aspects may indeed be traced all the way back to Teotihuacan.

Latin American Antiquity, 2017

Antiquity, 2017

Recent archaeological investigations at Tipan Chen Uitz, Belize, yielded two remarkable Classic M... more Recent archaeological investigations at Tipan Chen Uitz, Belize, yielded two remarkable Classic Maya ballplayer panels. Iconographic and glyphic analysis of these panels within a regional context provides new insights into large-scale socio-political relationships, demonstrating that the ballgame was an important means and mechanism for macro-political affiliation in the Maya Lowlands. The panels suggest that Tipan was part of a wider system of vassalage that tied it to other Maya centres, including Naranjo, a regional capital under the dominion of Calakmul where the Snake-Head dynasty held sway. The data presented here underpin a more general discussion of archaeological approaches to ancient interaction spheres.

Bioarchaeological investigations at Actun Uayazba Kab (AUK), in west-central Belize, sought to ch... more Bioarchaeological investigations at Actun Uayazba Kab (AUK), in west-central Belize, sought to characterize the nature of the site's mortuary use by reconstructing aspects of social identity. Skeletal analyses provided data related to the age, sex, health, diet, and geographic origins of individuals buried within the rockshelter-like entrance to AUK. Changes in the site's ritual use were contextualized with current archaeological data from the surrounding region, demonstrating that burial activity was initiated in the Late Preclassic and was likely by a local kin group. Cessation of primary burial sometime around the 3 rd century AD generally coincides with the construction of monumental civic-ceremonial architecture in the area, after which activity at the site appears to have shifted to rituals pertaining to the propi-tiation of rain. While small cave and rockshelter sites typically receive little research attention in Mesoamerica, the data from AUK illustrate how ritual activities at small, non-elite sites are indeed dynamic and can inform broader models of social and political organization.

At the Maya site of Pook's Hill, in Belize, a diverse collection of Terminal Classic (AD 830–950)... more At the Maya site of Pook's Hill, in Belize, a diverse collection of Terminal Classic (AD 830–950) ocarinas have been unearthed. These instruments are rendered as diminutive effigies representing supernatural dwarves and animals, including owls, turkeys, crested birds such as guans, and the noctural cacomistle. In this paper we intend to explore the relationship between the sounding capability of the ocarinas, the animals they represent and their relationship with the local bird life of the Belize River Valley. We hope that an exploration of the instrument’s capacity for symbolism and mimicry may shed light on the intended functions of these instruments at Pook’s Hill.
**Look for this paper in the upcoming fourth volume of "Flower World: Music Archaeology of the Americas"**

ISSN 2080-8216, 2016

The calendrical ritual known as the New Fire ceremony was in many ways the paramount rite of cult... more The calendrical ritual known as the New Fire ceremony was in many ways the paramount rite of cultures of the central Mexican Highlands. Here, we will examine this ritual and its connection to caves as manifested at the Cerro de la Estrella, where the last New Fire ceremony was celebrated by the Aztec in AD 1507. Based on continuities in rock art and archaeological evidence we suggest that New Fire ceremonies were already celebrated at the Cerro de la Estrella during the Epiclassic (c. AD 750-950) if not during the latter centuries of the Early Classic. We present results of investigations and contextualise our findings in relation to the ethnohistoric sources that pertain to the New Fire ceremony. We also suggest that the close connection between caves and fire-drilling rituals is established by mythological precedent recorded in the ethnohistoric manuscripts, wherein the emergence of humans from Chicomoztoc – the fabled ‘seven caves place’ – is closely followed by the drilling of the First Fire, an important aspect that heretofore has been overlooked and neglected by recent scholarship. For this reason, all subsequent New Fire rituals are in essence recreations of this foundational First Fire and materializations of the distant past.

ISSN: 2448-4822, Jun 2019

La resurrección de Jesús infunde esperanza en los corazones de los devotos de la Ciudad de México... more La resurrección de Jesús infunde esperanza en los corazones de los devotos de la Ciudad de México, como también la ceremonia del Fuego Nuevo calmó las preocupaciones de los antiguos habitantes de la cuenca de México. Ambos eventos en sí mismos representan intrínsecamente la renovación. De esta manera, el Cerro de la Estrella hace referencia a un lugar de devoción que es tanto prehispánico como cristiano, personificando la mezcla que es tan característica de la cultura mexicana. Estas celebraciones, hacen resonar el eco del pasado en el presente, y nos dan la pauta para detenernos a reflexionar sobre nuestra herencia cultural compartida.

Estudios de Cultura Maya, 2017

Resumen: Los glifos emblema incorporan nombres de lugares, de los cuales algunos hacen referencia... more Resumen: Los glifos emblema incorporan nombres de lugares, de los cuales algunos hacen referencia a espacios primordiales y a escenarios de eventos mitológicos. Uno de estos glifos emblema sobrenaturales es el título k'uhul kanu'l ajaw, 'señor divino de Kanu'l', que principalmente fue utilizado por los gobernantes de Calakmul durante el Clásico Tardío. Los textos jeroglíficos en soportes cerámicos del Clásico Tardío sugieren que el topónimo Kanu'l nombraba a una cueva, en la cual el dios del maíz fue derrotado, murió y renació. Evidencias adicionales indican que también los demás topónimos que aparecen en la narrativa de la resurrección del dios del maíz denominaban a lugares primordiales, lo que nos permite ampliar de manera tentativa la lista de glifos emblema sobrenaturales.

Palabras clave: Glifos emblema, topónimos mitológicos, Kanu'l, dios del maíz, cerá-mica estilo códice, danzante de Holmul.

Abstract: Some of the place names incorporated in Emblem Glyphs refer to primor-dial locations and the settings of mythic events. The title k'uhul kanu'l ajaw, 'godly Kanu'l king', most prominently borne by the Late Classic rulers of Calakmul, is one of these supernatural Emblem Glyphs. Evidence from hieroglyphic texts on Late Classic ceramics suggests that the toponym Kanu'l names a cave where the defeat, death and resurrection of the Maize god took place. Additional evidence indicates that other toponyms related to the resurrection of the Maize god also name primordial places, allowing us to tentatively extend the list of supernatural Emblem Glyphs.