page_title: Qʼumarkaj
section_title: Temple of Awilix
hierarchical_section_title: Qʼumarkaj / Site description / Temple of Awilix
caption_attribution_description: English: Temple of Awilix at Q'umarkaj (Utatlán) in El Quiché department, Guatemala. Español: El Templo de Awilix en las ruinas de Q'umarkaj (Utatlán) en el departamento de Quiché, Guatemala.
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: The Temple of Awilix is on the east side of the plaza. Awilix was the patron goddess of the Nijaib lineage and is identified with Ixbalanque, one of the Hero Twins from the Popul Vuh. According to a drawing made by Rivera y Maestre, the temple of Awilix was not as tall as the temple of Tohil. This structure was apparently the second most important temple in Qʼumarkaj. Originally this temple was formed of a large rectangular platform supporting a smaller platform and a temple structure on the east side. A wide stairway climbed the west side of the temple, it was flanked on the lower level by two large talud-tablero panels. The exterior stonework of the building has been completely stripped away. The temple is similar in form to a temple mound on the west side of the first plaza in Iximche, the postclassic capital of the Kaqchikel Maya. There were four principal phases of construction and there is evidence that the temple had been repaired various times prior to the Conquest. The floor under the third phase of construction had been painted dark green. Archaeological investigations found fragments of incense burners underneath the first building phase.
caption: The Temple of Awilix.
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