Principal Group

The Principal Group is the assemblage of ruins with the oldest and most sensational history of research. Juan Galindo discovered a remarkable tomb there in 1834 and John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood conducted their trendsetting work there in 1839 (published in 1841 by Stephens). Today we are certain that the Principal Group was the ceremonial and administrative core of the ancient city, beginning as early as the 5th century AD (and possibly somewhat earlier). It was largely abandoned by the early 9th century, though it saw some limited cultural activity in the Early Postclassic period, after about AD 1000.

Principal Group

The Principal Group is defined in most basic terms as the Great Plaza (where the stelae of the 13th ruler are framed by Structure 4 and a massive U-group), the Court of the Hieroglyphic Stairway (including Ballcourt A), and the elevated Acropolis to the south (consisting of separate East and West Courts).The area known as El Cementerio, or Group 10L-2, is south of and contiguous with the Acropolis.

El Cementerio
As the royal residential area, typically El Cementerio is considered part of the Principal Group, though some definitions exclude it. In our definition, we include all of the above as the Principal Group and as well as the area today known as Nuñez-Chinchilla, an extensive architectural complex located just meters north of the Great Plaza. Currently, the archaeologist Seiichi Nakamura is directing excavations at Nuñez-Chinchilla as part of a rescue operation known as PROARCO (Proyecto Arqueologico Copán – Copán Archaeology Project) By 2009, this area will be restored and accessible to tourism as part of the Principal Group and its associated ruins.

The Principal Group is home to the vast majority of all architectural facade sculpture, inscriptions, and public space. The northern stairs of Temple 11 divide the Principal Group in two, separating the public areas to the north from the Acropolis, Courts, and El Cementerio to the south. Until the 1980s, El Cementerio only saw limited excavations conducted in the 1890s (by the Peabody Museum) and the 1930s and 40s (by the Carnegie Institute).

Looking north from top of Temple 11
In the late 1980s, Tulane University undertook research in this area as part of a larger effort spearheaded by William Fash. During this time, we saw the initiation of tunnel excavations beneath the East Court (by the University of Pennsylvania), within Temple 16 (by the Honduran researcher Ricardo Agurcia), and within the Hieroglyphic Stairway (by William Fash, then of Northern Illinois University).

The El Cementerio excavations have determined that this zone was the residence of the royal family. Excavators in the East Court discovered the renown tombs known as "Hunal" and "Margarita", and the probable final resting place of the dynastic founder, among others. The tunnel excavations beneath Temple 16 revealed numerous earlier buildings, including the famous "Rosalila," dating to the 6th century AD and known for its magnificent stucco sculpture and its near-complete state of preservation (normally older structures were destroyed on site, embodied or covered over by their newer versions).

Principal Group
The tunnel work conducted beneath the Hieroglyphic Stairway also revealed numerous important earlier building and construction phases, but is perhaps best known for the discovery of the Motmot tomb and, especially, the tomb of what appears to be the 12th ruler of Copán, located in the single most monumental and complex interment yet found at Copan. Excavations in all of these zones have provided considerable evidence for the many construction phases at Copan and have gone a long way towards linking these phases to the lives and patronage of specific rulers.