Dynastic Marriage and Succession at Tikal

Abstract

Use of the Colonial Yucatec Maya as an ethnohistoric analogy suggests that the Classic Maya at Tikal practiced bilateral cross cousin marriage, traced descent in both the male and female lines (double descent) and recognized both matrilineages and patrilineages. Further, Colonial Yucatec Maya inheritance patterns and kin terms suggest that the Classic Maya may have intended political office to pass alternately to matrilineal and patrilineal heirs, rather than strictly patrilineal heirs, as has been proposed (Haviland, 1977). When these rules are applied to the genealogical relationships of the rulers of Tikal proposed by Coggins ( 197 5), the resulting diagram strongly implies that, while two or more patrilines competed for the ruling position, the line of succession was defined by a specific pair of matrilines for each 13 katun cycle.