ABSTRACT
Classic Maya mathematics served important scientific, religious, and political functions. In the centuries between the Classic Maya collapse and the arrival of Spaniards, a number of Maya polities arose in the highland regions of western Guatemala and southern Mexico. Prominent among these was the Kaqchikel kingdom. The Kaqchikel capital at Iximche' must have been an amazing sight in its heyday. Spanish colonization exacted dramatic changes in Kaqchikel lifeways. Colonial life was rife with exploitation, and archival documents from the period record a steady stream of Indian complaint over forced labor, excessive tribute demands, and fraudulent land claims. Xpantzay retained a Spanish legal advocate and in 1658 submitted to the court a set of Kaqchikel documents now known as the "Títulos de los Xpantzay". As is common in such colonial petitions, the Xpantzay documents begin by tracing the history of the Kaqchikel people from long before the arrival of the Spaniards.
