page_title: Qʼumarkaj
section_title: Caves
hierarchical_section_title: Qʼumarkaj / Site description / Caves
caption_attribution_description: Manmade tunnel under the K'iche' Maya ruins of Q'umarkaj in El Quiche department, Guatemala. This gives some idea about how smokey it was down there.
context_page_description: Qʼumarkaj is an archaeological site in the southwest of the El Quiché department of Guatemala. Qʼumarkaj is also known as Utatlán, the Nahuatl translation of the city's name. The name comes from Kʼicheʼ Qʼumarkah "Place of old reeds".
  Qʼumarkaj was one of the most powerful Maya cities when the Spanish arrived in the region in the early 16th century. It was the capital of the Kʼicheʼ Maya in the Late Postclassic Period. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, Qʼumarkaj was a relatively new capital, with the capital of the Kʼicheʼ kingdom having originally been situated at Jakawitz and then at Pismachiʼ. Qʼumarkaj was founded during the reign of king Qʼuqʼumatz in the early 15th century, immediately to the north of Pismachiʼ. In 1470 the city was seriously weakened by a rebellion among the nobility that resulted in the loss of key allies of the Kʼicheʼ.
  Archaeologically and ethnohistorically, Qʼumarkaj is the best known of the Late Postclassic highland Maya capitals. The earliest reference to the site in Spanish occurs in Hernán Cortés' letters from Mexico. Although the site has been investigated, little reconstruction work has taken place.
context_section_description: In addition, a series of three caves tunnel straight into the limestone immediately to the north of the site.  The first and most extensive cave is about 30 meters long with various altars carved into the rock inside. Some modern Quiché, although officially Roman Catholic, still burn candles and incense at the ruined temples. The caves may have represented Tulán Zuyuá, the "Place of Seven Caves" described in the Kʼicheʼ origin legend recounted in the Popul Vuh.
caption: Smoke filled tunnel under the ruins of Qʼumarkaj.
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