The President and Fellows of Harvard College
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Kings of Stone: A Consideration of Stelae in Ancient Maya Ritual and Representation
Author(s): David Stuart
Source: RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, No. 29/30, The Pre-Columbian (Spring - Autumn,
1996), pp. 148-171
Published by: The President and Fellows of Harvard College acting through the Peabody Museum of
Archaeology and Ethnology
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148
RES 29/30 SPRING/AUTUMN
1996
Figure 1. Stela 3. Aguateca, Guatemala.
Photo: Courtesy of IanGraham.
Kings of stone
of stelae in ancient Maya
A consideration
and
ritual
representation
DAVID STUART
Among
sculpture,
the varied
the stela
types of Maya monumental
is perhaps the most well known
and
(fig. 1). During the Classic period
A.D. 250-850),
nearly all Maya
(approximately
lowland
the
southern
of
region displayed
kingdoms
and
stelae in ceremonial
plazas
temple precincts. Most
of these upright stone slabs or statues bear portraits of
commonplace
texts
hieroglyphic
in
stations
the Maya
commemorating
important
calendar
("Period Endings," as they are usually called).
to the inscriptions, some calendar
rites
According
royal figures along with
ritual bloodletting
and dancing by the king,
acts.
other
ceremonial
However, many newly
among
texts also reveal that royal ceremonies
deciphered
involved
of the
and dedication
centered on the placement
a
monuments
than
Rather
themselves.
being simply
of royal deeds and
medium
for the commemoration
other events, stelae played very direct and active roles
in ancient Maya ritual life.
But what precisely were these
ideas and
roles? What
and use
the
meanings
production,
placement,
underlay
monuments?
the
obvious
of these conspicuous
Despite
to the understanding
of
importance of such questions
Classic Maya religion and politics, they have never been
answered with much clarity or precision.
Recently,
in the texts upon
however, deciphered
hieroglyphs
stelae reveal much new information about portrait
in the
stelae and their roles as active "participants"
new
ceremonial
These
landscape.
decipherments
elucidate ancient Maya notions of portraiture and
notions bear on
and how these complex
representation
the ancient
display
of political
authority.
Iwould
like to acknowledge
for his important
Stephen Houston
our
to many of the ideas
here, especially
expressed
and nuanced
collaborative
effort to arrive at a more satisfactory
refined presentation
of this
of the word bah. A more
understanding
of
its
for
"self" will
and
the
the
Maya
implications
study
decipherment
contributions
appear
several
in a forthcoming
early drafts and
issue of RES. Bridget Hodder
Stuart read
to clarify many points. Adam
forced me
offered a number of constructive
comments,
Herring of Yale University
on many of the topics
and our discussions
included herein have
enriched my understanding
of them. Karl Taube and an anonymous
reviewer
also
several
improvements
suggested
Great thanks are also due
important citations.
and Cynthia
Elmas
for their thoughtful
comments
and pointed
to Francesco
me
toward
Pellizzi
and editing.
From the outset it should be stressed that Maya stone
amount of stylistic
monuments
display a considerable
who visits a few
and formal variation?anyone
of this.
sites will soon become conscious
archaeological
are
flat, upright slabs of limestone bearing royal
Many
the texture of the
portraits on one or two faces. Where
local stone permits, stelae can assume a much more
as at Copan and
rounded or statuesque appearance,
Tonina. Curious blank stelae in the form of undecorated
slabs or columns are found throughout the region, and
several prominent
sites, including Palenque and some in
the Puuc region, lack stelae altogether. So-called
"altar"
is
stones are perhaps more widely
this
found, although
a somewhat
term applied to sculpted boulders,
or
tables; each type should perhaps
cylinder pedestals,
be considered
separately. Often these smaller stones
were placed before stelae, probably as pedestals
for the
vague
ritual fires, and other offerings. Stelae
display of censers,
may have been among the largest and most public of
but as the ensuing discussion will show,
monuments,
in some
their role as ritual objects probably overlapped
degree with altars and other types of stone monuments.
Tuns and time-keeping
of the role of stelae and other
Any consideration
stones in Classic Maya ritual practice must begin with
an assessment
of their function in calendrical
reckoning
The significance
and record-keeping.
of stones in the
native conception
of time has long been known,
use of the Mayan word tun, "stone"
to
due
principally
or "precious stone," in reference to the basic calendrical
1983; Long
period of 360 days (Justeson and Mathews
Native historical
1950:144).
1925:579; Thompson
chronicles
from colonial Yucatan, such as the Books of
Chilam Balam, routinely make use of tun in temporal
statements such as "in the first tun . . .," or "in the
twelfth tun . . .," a custom that has led Maya scholars
to ubiquitously
translate tun as "year" when found in
contexts
calendrical
(in these documents,
twenty tuns
a
a
time
unit
of
called
k'atun).
comprise
larger
it iswell worth noting that no early dictionary
However,
of Yucatec Maya or any other Mayan
language cites
150 RES 29/30 SPRING/AUTUMN
1996
attested
for tun. Rather, the widely
"year" as a meaning
word for "year" in the purely temporal sense is hab or
some cognate form of this root. Ibelieve,
therefore, that
the translation of tun as "year" is a modern one having
arisen
esoteric
from a scholarly misunderstanding
of the
that
native
surrounded
Maya
terminology
when composing
timekeeping. Maya record-keepers,
in their texts, referred to
such temporal statements
"stones" that in some way
specific numbered
represented periods of 360 days.
The ethnohistories
of Yucatan
support this literal
the ritual use of stones in
interpretation by discussing
connection
with calendar ceremonies.
The Books of
the
Chilam Balam, for example, often mention
establishment
of "stones" in certain towns at the end of
In the Book of Chilam
k'atun (twenty tun) period.
Balam of Chumayel,
for example, we read: "12 Ahau.
10 Ahau. The stone was
The stone was taken at Otzmal;
taken at Zizal; 8 Ahau. The stone was taken at
A sixteenth
Kancaba," etc. (Roys 1933:142-143).
source
as
de Chicxulub
known
the
Cr?nica
century
each
the placement
of stones
describes
somewhat cryptically
in connection
with k'atun periods: "In this year the
Katun ended, and then ended the putting in place of the
for at each twentieth stone they came to
town-stone,
the
the Spaniards
town-stones,
place
formerly, when
come
to
not
to
this land; since the
had
Cuzamil,
yet
it has ceased to be done." The idea of
Spaniards came,
stone "placement"
to mark time was evidently
important,
in his Historia de Yucatan notes:
for Collogudo
The lustres coming in periods of five years, which made
twenty years, which they call 'katun,' they placed an
engraved
stone
upon
another
which
was
also
engraved,
the "seating" sign (probably CHUM) to refer to
at the inception of each k'atun period in
"stone-seating"
the Long Count calendar
(fig. 2b). With the passing of
every 360 days, a tun is added to this reckoning, so that
the glyphs "13 Tun" or "15 Tun" specify specific stations
within a k'atun period (fig. 2c). Justeson and Mathews
with
as
that tun in such cases is to be understood
no
reason
to
is
but
there
the
notion
dismiss
that
"year,"
in some way used to reckon the
actual stones were
passing time periods, much as inYucatan several
suggest
centuries
later. In fact, their overall argument that tun
means "year" in the Classic texts rests on incorrect
contexts whose
values are
readings of two hieroglyphic
now well established.1 As in the later histories of
that ancient glyphs
Yucatan, there is no strong evidence
for tun ever refer to "years" in the abstract sense.
the considerable
Despite
time-depth of these
the
records,
temporal
precise symbolic connection
funs and time units of 360 or 7,200 days,
between
while
evidently extremely close, remains poorly
kinds of stones are being referred to?
understood. What
tun refers to stelae (Justeson
In the Classic
inscriptions,
to the so-called
and Mathews
1983) or, alternatively,
"altars" often dedicated with them. For example,
Stela E
from Quirgua, Guatemala,
erected on the Maya date
9.17.0.0.0
13 Ahaw 18 Cumku,
is named the "13 Ahaw
tun." Here the stone is named for the Period Ending
on 13 Ahaw. Such names immediately
recall the
falling
at some sites,
so-called
"giant Ahaw altars" encountered
which assume the form of flat stones bearing
large
Ahaw day-signs on their upper faces. These are literally
presented as "13 Ahaw tuns," "7 Ahaw tuns," and so on,
marking specific Period Ending dates (Satterthwaite
and set itwith lime and sand in the walls of their temples,
and of the houses of their priests, as we still see them today
in the houses in question, and in some old walls in our
convent
in Merida,
over
which
are
some
cells.
cited in Tozzer 1941:38
There is considerable
evidence
that the Classic Maya
also used stones to mark the passing of years. From
have been aware of the
early in this century, Mayanists
ancient custom of dedicating
stelae on so-called
on the endings of
dates, especially
"period-ending"
k'atuns or smaller periods within the k'atun (e.g.,
In their important paper on the early
1920:577).
Morley
stelae
(1983) offer
cult, Justeson and Mathews
Maya
valuable
information on the history of the root tun in
Mayan
languages, and, most importantly, establish
beyond any doubt the ancient hieroglyph with the value
TUN (fig. 2a). At the neighboring
sites of Palenque,
and
this
Pomona,
Chinikiha,
sign is used in conjuction
1. Fox and
and
(1984:51-52)
Justeson
Justeson
and Mathews
(1983) argue that the TUN logograph (T528 inThompson's [1962]
catalog of signs) is polyvalent,
some contexts.
The evidence
the value HAB, "year,"
carrying
in
cite
support of the HAB value
they
recent decipherments.
in the face of more
now
also
in
appears weak
they argue that a sign that they read as h- when
placed
Specifically,
(h-)HAB.
atop the putative HAB serves as a phonetic
complement:
not a separate
toT528
Their h- is, however,
only
sign, and is attached
in the specialized
context
of these month
examples
element
is iconic
rain deity Chaak.
month
glyphs.
month
glyphs. As early
h
the supposed
demonstrate,
of the
the
tied-hair
bundle
representing
of four Maya
glyphs
in origin,
This god
is featured
in the animated
forms of these
Fox and Justeson that the glyph used in the Long
it is nearly
for a period of 360 days is read HAB, even though
called
the "tun" sign. The HAB glyph stands for the
ubiquitously
abstract
other types of temporal
statements,
"vague year" in numerous
numbers. This sign never, however,
overlaps with
including distance
Iagree with
Count
TUN;
their distribution
ismutually
exclusive.
Stuart: Kings of stone
Figure
2. The
tun,
"stone"
glyph
its uses
and
spelling TUN-ni for tun. (b)CHUM-TUN-ni
seating."
(c) 13-TUN-ni
for
13
tun,
"thirteen
the sites of Palenque and Pomona,
1954). Curiously,
tun counts described
which
feature the numbered
above, were not in the custom of erecting stelae or
large outdoor altars. Clearly some other type of "stone"
must be alluded to, perhaps even smaller types of ritual
stones such as jade beads or pebbles
(reminiscent of the
small stones are used by modern day-keepers
and
diviners) although this would be impossible to verify.
For the time being, however, we can see that many
ceremonies
of the same fan-centered
attested in the
in early Maya ritual
conquest era have clear precedence
texts. Moreover,
in hieroglyphic
behavior as expressed
we can conclude with some degree of certainty that
some abstract
of time-keeping
and the
were directly
those
concepts
terminology
surrounding
in important ways with material stone
connected
form they
tuns, whatever
objects, or tuns. Dedicated
took, served in some capacity as representations?one
time itself.
might even say "embodiments"?of
Deciphering
concepts
the ancient
term for "stela"
in the last decade
Among the significant discoveries
studies is the realization that a great
of Maya epigraphic
many texts possess a strong self-referential
quality. That
is to say, texts that grace large public monuments
and
even everyday portable objects such as pottery vessels
in question:
tend to simply record facts about the object
the dedication
date of a stela, the name of the "owner"
of a drinking vessel, and the types of ritual that are used
I
to ceremonially
"activate" these important objects.
would go so far as to say that sacred or important
concern of most of the extant
objects are the principal
than
the
deeds and histories of royal
rather
texts,
Maya
texts
that
do record elite history, in
of
the
figures.2 Many
2. The
interpretation
of
in so-called
common
inscribed
texts as
little more
than
royal
stones."
"year
counts."
151
(a) The
for chumtun, "stone
Drawings:
David
Stuart.
rulers and
fact, concern the ritual interaction between
a significant sub-group of the
objects, stelae constituting
latter. Some stelae were even given their own personal
names and might themselves
be considered
in ancient Maya ritual and historical
"participants"
narrative.
This model of Maya textual practice has emerged
over the last decade and a half through a series of
In 1979, Peter Mathews
related decipherments.
the signs U-tu-pa
inscribed upon a jadeite
deciphered
as
(Mathews 1979; see
u-tup, "his earspool"
earspool
inmind,
I
also Justeson 1983). With this advance
in 1982 the reading U-ba-ki, or u-bak, "his
posited
bone," for a glyph found on a set of inscribed bone
at Tikal.3 Stephen Houston and Karl
artifacts excavated
Taube (1987) soon recognized U-la-ka, or u-lak, "his
dish," inscribed on several ceramic plates. Itquickly
became apparent that various portable media with
inscribed with such name
glyphic texts were commonly
tags, and thus the process of identifying the hieroglyphs
items became a straightforward matter.
for other owned
Itwas soon found that certain hieroglyphs marked with
the pronoun "his, her, or its" consistently
appeared on
with personal
specific types of objects or monuments
names of individuals (Houston et al. 1989).
Itcomes as little surprise, therefore, that hieroglyphs
inmuch the same
incorporating the word tun function
carved jade from
way on stone objects. An unpublished
Tikal, excavated by the University of Pennsylvania,
bears an inscription introduced by the phrase U TUN-ni,
for
u-tun,
Often
"her
stone,"
followed
the same TUN element
by
a woman's
name.
takes on certain
is recently argued by Marcus
(1992). The frequent textual
on
in
in more detail
is discussed
emphasis
things rather than people
Stuart (1995).
in an
3. A decipherment
circulated
among colleagues
propaganda
unpublished
Tikal Bones."
1983
paper
entitled
"Hieroglyphic
Name
Tags on
the
152 RES 29/30 SPRING/AUTUMN
1996
signs that specify the type of stone labeled,
us
to classify Maya monuments
to a
allowing
according
native typology, much
like what has been done with
ceramics
(Houston et al. 1989). At the Maya site of
for
instance, an unusual set of monumental
Copan,
modifying
stone vessels with
lids is labeled with the glyph reading
which
saklaktun,
might be translated as "artificial dish
stone" (fig. 3). These objects served as skeuomorphic
versions of ceramic dishes used for the burning of
incense (lak) and were thus considered
"artificial" in a
sense. The inscriptions on these stone censers usually
Figure 3. Inscription on lid of stone incense burner (CPN 270).
Copan,
Honduras.
Drawing:
David
Stuart.
the name of the royal owner (although this
to be the king)
could be omitted as itwas understood
and a dedication
verb referring to some act performed
include
This principal element verbal
represents the head of a doglike animal
hieroglyph
embellished
by certain distinctive characteristics
in the
(Macleod 1989). Precisely the same verb occurs
on
texts
of
other
and
other
many
inscriptions
dedicatory
stone
monuments.
to
Its
of
is
difficult
types
reading
establish with much assurance, but one possible
reading
upon
the saklaktun.
iswa', meaning
"stand up," recalling one of the attested
we
seen for the dedicatory
term ts'ap.
have
meanings
Taken together, the inscriptions on the Copan censers
would
read "On [a given date] his stone censer
stood-up."
A specialized
term for "stela," also based upon tun,
can be identified with some ease
in
by its appearance
texts on stelae. Such dedicatory
parallel dedicatory
statements are very common
and are widely distributed
inscribed on
among Maya sites. For example,
30 from the site of Tonina is a typical
record that is structurally
example of a stela dedication
identical to the phrase described above (fig. 4). A date
introduces the inscription (details are illegible,
Monument
and the verb is again the possible wa'
unfortunately)
for
used
the saklaktun censers at Copan
glyph
(fig. 4). A
noun
comes
as
we
next,
which,
possessed
might
is based on the word fun; there is a plantlike
expect,
sign in front of tun that appears to be a modifying
element. The individual who "possesses"
this stone is
named in the last glyph, a name that remains
(1982) has
phonetically
undeciphered,
though Mathews
identified it as a Tonina ruler.4 The inscription therefore
reads: "(Date), it is stood-up,
it is his (plantlike modifier)
4. This ruler is called Ruler 5 in the dynastic
sequence
proposed
at Tonina,
(1982). A recently unearthed
by Peter Mathews
inscription
in Yadeun
illustrated
also names him as a royal
(1993:132),
protagonist.
Figure 4. Inscription on the back of Monument 30. Tonina,
Mexico. From Graham and Mathews 1996:77. Drawing:
Peter
Mathews.
Stuart: Kings of stone
153
stone, (ruler's name)." The inscription contains the
familiar name-tag structure, allowing us to infer that,
noun based
since it appears on a stela, the possessed
can
upon "stone" is the glyph for "stela." We
for the glyph
reasonably suggest such a meaning
its precise phonetic
yet knowing
reading. The
value
of
the
is
the
component
phonetic
missing
tun.
before
plantlike sign
that the "plant stone" glyph (fig. 5) (a
The hypothesis
and not a translation) stands for
label of convenience
on stelae
"stela" is supported by its frequent appearance
it
is
Indeed,
nearly
Maya
inscriptions.
throughout
seem to tag
itwould
found on stelae where
exclusively
inmuch the same manner as we find
these monuments
on smaller ritual objects.
It
simple labels of ownership
should be noted that the glyph in question assumes
various forms determined
by regional style and by the
of
the
system to manipulate
Maya
writing
propensities
the constituent
elements of a glyph block by visually
the
them. Thus we sometimes encounter
conflating
to be a
into
looks
what
"stone"
fused
and
signs
"plant"
a means of conserving
single sign. This may simply be
text space, but the frequency of the combined
signs
as if
an
it
almost
has
that
function,
suggests
logographic
in the
itwere a single sign for "stela." For example,
Peru
recorded
El
Stela
of
35,
during
inscription
of that site by Ian Graham, we find that the
explorations
without
but the constituent
"stela" glyph is conflated,
signs
Here
it
takes
the
remain easily discernible
6).
(fig.
as a
uit
and
suffix
-//,
pronoun
marking
possessive
name of the stela's owner follows
noun.
The
possessed
30.
in the next glyphs as we saw on Tonina Monument
of the plantlike
Does a clue to the decipherment
of the sign itself?
modifier on tun lie in the appearance
Or, put plainly,
could
the word
represented
by this sign
Figure 5. The stela glyph, read lakamtun (LAKAM-TUN-ni).
Redrawn after file drawing by Barbara Fash, CPN 19469,
Copan,
Honduras.
Drawing:
David
Stuart.
Figure
ts'ap-ah
6. Dedication
u-lakamtun-il,
statement
"his
stela
U-LAKAM-TUN-li,
(ts'a-pa-ha
is erected").
Stela 35. El Peru
Redrawn after field drawing by IanGraham, Corpus of Maya
Inscriptions, Harvard University. Drawing:
Hieroglyphic
David
Stuart.
to do with plants or trees? A leaflike
have something
is readily seen at the upper right of the sign, at
element
the study of
the end of a bent "stemlike" device. When
this sign began in earnest in the late 1980s, Linda
Schele and Iposited that the reading of the stela glyph
was perhaps TE'-TUN, or "tree stone"?an
appropriate
it seemed, for a freestanding and upright
description,
stone column
(Schele and Stuart 1986). This reading has
literature (e.g., Schele and
filtered into much Mayanist
Friedel 1990:71). However, on the basis of new
Iam now in the position to reject
epigraphic evidence,
this earlier interpretation.
As we now know, the pictorial qualities of a
to
sign are seldom a firm basis upon which
hieroglyphic
a
new
is
Not
the
propose
image
only
reading.
sometimes difficult to recognize, but without phonetic
the
have little basis for establishing
clues we would
A
"tree"
the
word
image.
might be
Maya
represented by
this
used to represent several different concepts. With
a
move
now
to
toward
it
is
forward
said,
possible
at
by looking at its varied contexts and
decipherment
It
is
to
the
clues
sign's reading.
possible phonetic
is by no means
helpful that the sign in question
in a
restricted to its pairing with TUN, appearing
it precedes
For example,
number of other combinations.
the sign HA', "water," in the ancient place name
associated with Palenque (Stuart and Houston
1993). It
name
as
in
in
of a
the
also
names,
may
appear
personal
it intercedes
noted sculptor from Piedras Negras, where
between K'IN-ni and cha-ki (respectively k'in, "sun,"
and Chaak, a deity name).5 In reviewing all of these
it is noteworthy
that the phonetic
contexts,
sign -ma is
often attached to the bottom of the plantlike sign. This
a final -m is a part of
association
strongly suggests that
the sign's value. In another case, the sign la- is attached
5. For a discussion
(1989)
and most
of the Piedras
recently Montgomery
Negras
sculptors,
(1995).
see Stuart
154 RES 29/30 SPRING/AUTUMN
1996
An additional piece of evidence
for the lakamtun
comes
use
from
the
of
the
stela
reading
glyph as a
in
of
the
upper
toponym, especially
inscriptions
Usumacinta
River area. At Yaxchilan, a captive named
7. Probable
Figure
A. Copan.
Drawing:
stela
hieroglyph
Stuart.
David
(la-ka-ma-TUN-ni).
"Black Deer" (probably pronounced
Ik' Chij) is said to
be a "Lord of Lakamtun," suggesting
that the word
In fact, there is a strong likelihood
served as a place.
into the Colonial
that this place name survived well
A
river
of
the
Usumacinta
has
period.
large tributary
as
a
name
was
R'o
been
known
the
that
Lacantun,
long
also applied to a major indigenous settlement on nearby
Late Classic site on an
Lake Miramar. The extensive
Stela
to the top of the sign in question, perhaps suggesting,
though less strongly, that an initial la- is also part of its
phonetic
reading.
These simple clues lead us to the inscription on Stela
A at Copan, part of which appears to be a dedication
record (fig. 7). The text refers to a "holy 'plant' stone,"
but no personal name of an owner follows, unlike the
other examples
described
thus far. Later in this same
a
stone
ismentioned
of
called a
type
inscription,
la-ka-ma-TUN-ni.
The
is
lakamtun, spelled
hieroglyph
with
lakam
the
largely syllabic,
prefix
being
transparent. No other Maya
inscription
phonetically
makes use of this syllabic spelling la-ka-ma in
association
with "stone"; given the phonetic clues
associated with the "plant" or "tree" sign (initial la- and
final -m), I suggest that on Copan Stela A, la-ka-ma may
function as the actual phonetic
spelling for the prefix in
question. Any other interpretation of the lakamtun
reference would
render it absolutely
unique in the
not probable.
of
but
corpus
Maya texts?possible,
is
not
to
it
unreasonable
Thus,
propose that the stela
common
in
its
to
is
form
be read LAKAM-TUN,
glyph
or
"lakam
The "binding
stone."
upright standards that once graced architectural plazas
an uncommon
and terraces?not
sight in ancient
is difficult to
This
interpretation, however,
graffiti.
confirm at present. Perhaps the most simple (if not too
for
of the stone"
With a more secure understanding
of the ancient
term for "stela" in hand, we can now approach some of
the issues that remain concerning
stelae as foci of ritual
behavior. What were the actual uses of stelae in ancient
ceremonies,
particularly those associated with
stations
in the Maya calendar? We know they
significant
served to "commemorate"
Period Endings in the Long
an
is
but
this
far
from
of
Count,
adequate explanation
these "big stones"
why the Maya chose to emphasize
in their record-keeping.
and other types of monuments
Their purpose was not simply to bear images and texts
in a permanent way. In fact, many stelae were erected
or inscription whatsoever?a
we will soon return to.
that
phenomenon
seems
it
texts
clear
Rather,
enough that the "dedicatory"
often aimed to explain and contextualize
the very
stones upon which
inscribed. In effect, the
they were
medium was an essential part of the message.
without
curious
The word lakam (or its cognate
lokom) means "flag,
banner" in several Mayan
languages. Most
interestingly,
it appears
inYucatec as part of lakamtun, meaning
"piedra grande" or "piedra enorme"
(Barerra-Vasquez
"Banner stone" may refer as well to the
1980:434).
conceptual
origin of stelae as stone versions of the
is that the ancient Maya word
revealing) explanation
stela translates as "big stone."6
island in this lake (Rivero 1992) could perhaps be the
ancient Lakamtun to which
the inscriptions refer and
from which
the captive "Black Deer" hailed.7
any decoration
As already noted, the ts'ap event deciphered
by
is one of the more frequent stone-centered
Grube
rituals
inMaya texts: "so-and-so's big stone is
described
clear example),
(Stela 11 having a particularly
sculpture of Yaxchilan
held by individuals
in ritual dance.
It is possible
apparently
engaged
a
or a staff with
that the LAKAM sign originally
depicted
flag
hanging
this ?conic origin may eventually
have been forgotten
cloth, although
as a
times when
it came to be reanalyzed
by Late Classic
vegetation
motif. The early examples
of the LAKAM sign, in fact, show no
plantlike motifs whatsoever.
7. From its colonial
usage, the name Lakamtun or "Lacantun"
to unconquered
in the slightly corrupted
widely
Maya
applied
form "Lacandon."
There seems good reason to suppose,
therefore,
to the modern-day
the name applied
Lacandon
derives ultimately
was
sign
sign
6. "Flag" or "banner" may
in some contexts,
however.
is sometimes
pictured
on
be the appropriate
translation
for the
in the LAKAM
The motif
represented
"flap-staff"
banners
depicted
in the
from the pre-Columbian
name
for stelae.
that
Stuart: Kings of stone
155
such texts, prevalent at Copan and
However,
El Peru among many other sites, really do little to
explain what such rituals involved and why they took
in the way
place. Other "dedicatory" events offer more
erected."
of explicit
information.
as
One such event I suggest may be deciphered
or
a
more
want
for
of
k'altun,
precise
"stone-binding,"
translation. Stone binding was a ritual that, judging from
in the inscriptions, was particularly
its frequency
common
in the Classic period. The glyph for this event
a
(fig. 8) has sometimes been called the "fun-over-hand"
glyph, in reference to itsmost common visual form, but
we know that this is in fact a graphic combination
of
two signs, one a verb root represented by the hand, and
is the verb's
the other the familiar noun tun, which
occur
When
these
the
hand verb
separately,
subject.
assumes a more complete
form with a "mirror" element
shown resting on its palm.8 As we will see, the same
verb glyph occurs with other nouns beside "stone."
The "mirror" element
that is placed
above
the hand
b
(so identifiedby Schele and Miller [1983]) deserves
is not a mirror,
The sign probably
but
rather
derives
from
the
thought earlier,
an
stone
to those
of
"celt"
similar
representation
oblong
on
stelae
from
the
of
belts
rulers.
portrayed
hanging
special
as was
consideration.
Several Maya examples of these flat, oblong stone
texts and
objects bear figurai portraits and hieroglyphic
resemble what might be called miniature
stelae
closely
(Porter 1996). The famous Leyden Plaque is perhaps the
example of this type of object, and its
to early stelae
in
format and presentation
similarity
quite striking. The "celt" sign is often an important
in the proper names of stelae at Copan
component
Quirigua,
perhaps making a direct reference to
as "celts" or at least linking them
monuments
in some way. The dedicatory
passage
conceptually
states that "the .
Stela C from Copan, for example,
stone 'celt' is the name of his big stone."
as
The k'altun reading deserves some comment,
best-known
has not been
is
and
from
. .
it
now.
In the inscriptions
published
of Chichen
Itza and northern Campeche,
the hand
mirror verb is replaced by the syllabic sequence k'a-la,
suggesting the logographic value K'AL (fig. 9a). In
another much earlier inscription from the Bonampak
before
it
region, the hand "holds" the syllable k'a, where
a
serves
as
in
k'a
presumably
phonetic complement
8. In the combined
form, the "mirror" is in effect hidden by the
tun glyph. This is one of many examples
known
from the Maya
in order to
atop another
script of one sign being "superimposed"
conserve
space.
Figure 8. The "tun-over-hand verb/' possibly for k'al-tun,
"stone binding/' (a) Panel 1. Pomona, Mexico, (b) Stela 1.
Sacchana,
Mexico.
Drawings:
David
Stuart.
K'AL (much like we saw the initial la- working before
the LAKAM logograph above) (fig. 9b). By means of this
substitution evidence we may arrive at the reading
K'AL-TUN for this ritual event phrase.
The term k'altun should sound familiar due to its
similarity to k'atun, the name given in the Yucatec
ethnohistories
for the period of 7,200 days (20 tuns).
The ancient hieroglyph
for this same time period,
however, was probably never read k'atun in Classic
times, for phonetic complements
suggest a value
wiwith
for
winikox
winak, both
beginning
(possibly
common words for "twenty" in
It has
Mayan
languages).
means
as
been
assumed
that
k'altun
tuns,"
long
"twenty
k'al
is the word
for "score" in Cholan and Yucatecan
is somewhat more
but
the
languages,
etymology
as a verb "to
K'al
also
carries
the
complex.
meaning
a
It
is
enclose."
that
fasten,
interesting
parallel case
exists in Tzelatalan
where
the
word for
languages,
"twenty," tab , also means "knot, tie." This connection
may have its origin in the tying or bundling of things
in units of twenty, but this is sheer speculation.
counted
Whatever
the case, the entry for k'atun in the
Diccionario
Cordemex
suggests that the name of the
time period originated
not simply as a numerical
term
156
RES 29/30 SPRING/AUTUMN
1996
Figure 9. Evidence for the k'al-ah ("is bound") value of the
mirror-hand glyph, (a) k'a-la-ha substitution for mirror-hand.
Column 1. Zcalumkin, Mexico. From Graham and Von Euw
1992:173. (b) k'a-K'AL-ha verb from Early Classic panel of
unknown
provenience.
Drawing:
David
Stuart.
but more
precisely as "piedra que cierra," or "closing
1980:386).
(Barrera-Vasquez
Following this
can also be
term
I
that
the
k'altun
suggest
suggestion,
translated as "stone binding" and that this came to be
stone"
used
as the
later Yucatec
name
for the period
of
7,200 days.
I read as k'altun, "stone binding,"
The hieroglyph
seems to describe a special calendar
ritual associated
is
with stelae and other monuments.
If "stone-binding"
the correct interpretation, what does it signify, precisely,
Figure 10. Stela binding scene. Carved peccary skull. Tomb 1,
Copan. Note the K'AL-TUN hieroglyph in the lower left of the
in regard to the ritual event? A probable
representation
of the ritual appears on the famous peccary skull
inTomb 1 of Copan
unearthed
(fig. 10). In the central
cartouche engraved on the peccary skull, two figures
are shown flanking a large upright object marked with
k'atun endings. At the great lowland site of Tikal, the
in the so-called
stelae erected
twin pyramid groups?
on a particular k'atun ending
each built and dedicated
(Jones 1969)?bear
inscriptions that feature the k'altun
In
twin
each
glyph.9
pyramid group, a dominant pair of
defines
the eastern and western
pyramidal platforms
sides of a large plaza. To the south of each plaza, a
vaulted range structure with nine doorways was built,
and to the north, a large walled enclosure
inwhich one
carved stelae with an associated
altar was erected. The
stelae each bear a portrait of the current Tikal ruler
in a so-called
engaged
"scattering" ritual (Stuart 1984)
"stone" elements?the
distinctive marks of the TUN
in
size
The
and
of the large central object
sign.
shape
the scene strongly suggest that it is a stela, and, most
to our inquiry, it appears to be wrapped with
significant
Shown before the upright stone is a
in the tradition of some of the altars
"altar"
zoomorphic
in Copan's main plaza. The hieroglyphic
visible
caption
this scene reads, applying the new
that accompanies
interpretation of the event glyph: "1 Ahaw 8 Ch'en (is)
bands of tied cloth.
the stone-binding (of) [ROYAL
NAME]."The initialdate
to the Period Ending on 8.17.0.0.0
(21
corresponds
a.D. 376). Thus, the peccary skull image
October
depicts the k'altun ritual overseen by two nobles,
that the rite refers to the fastening of
demonstrating
cloth around the stone monument. We may assume that
the ritual relates in some manner to the more general
or bundling
sacred
religious practice of wrapping
with
cloth.
objects
the Classic period records of this
Appropriately,
k'altun ritual are strongly associated with records of
accompanying
text.
Drawing:
Barbara
Fash.
use in their inscriptions of the
prominent
under
The imposing walls
consideration.
glyph
built around these stelae may refer to their "enclosing"
a sort of
of k'al, as well)?perhaps
(an attested meaning
or
text
architectonic
of Stela
"bundling"
"binding." The
and make
k'altun
31 of Tikal
includes several examples of the k'altun
in direct association with a k'atun Period
(fig. 11). The pattern is very similar to that found
each
glyph,
Ending
9. These
are Stela
Stela 22
(9.16.0.0.0),
For a full discussion
Jones
(1969).
16 (9.14.0.0.0),
Stela 19 (9.18.0.0.0),
Stela 20
14 (9.13.0.0.0).
and Stela 30/Altar
(9.17.0.0.0),
of the Twin-Pyramid
at Tikal, see
Groups
Stuart: Kings of stone
157
idea is arguably at work with regard
The same general
to stones that are "wrapped" on or near Period Ending
dates. From what we know of the importance of cloth
inMesoamerican
ritual (Benson
and bundles
wrappings
to
1976; Stenzel 1968; Stross 1988), it is reasonable
suppose that the purpose of the k'altun ritual was to
held within
the
protect and contain the divine essence
stones
time and itsmovement.10
that embodied
Stelae,
this divine soullike quality (what
like rulers, possessed
in some way
the present Maya call ch'ulel ) and were
"holiness."
invested
with
considered
ch'ul,
living things
Ibelieve, by the occasional
This is indicated,
labeling of
as ch'ul lakamtun, "holy big stones." The
monuments
or
possibility exists as well that the idea of wrapping
a far
a
stone
derives
from
sacred
monumental
enclosing
small divining
tradition of containing
older shamanistic
stones or crystals in bundles, what the modern Quiche
call baraj (Schele et al. 1993:226; Tedlock 1992:65). At
the very least it is interesting that both ancient stelae
and stones of divination are intimately tied to the
practice of time-keeping.
Ido not wish to overstate the importance of stelae in
the k'altun ritual, for "altars" found in direct association
with stelae seem to have also been the focus of this rite
at some sites. At Copan, the circular altar of Stela I is
images of knotted bands,
view of a "bound" stone (fig.
providing
in support of our interpretation, the
12). Again,
accompanying
inscription records the k'altun glyph as
the principal dedicatory event. A number of other altars
at Copan display similar decoration,
and Ican only
surmise that they were the ritual stones used in such
A related image is found in
Period Ending ceremonies.
on the monuments
at
several repetitive depictions
Yaxchilan where a ruler is shown spilling his blood?the
his
material of holiness and divine rulership?from
hands (fig. 13) (Stuart 1984; T?te 1991). In
outstretched
all of the scenes, the blood stream falls upon a squat
decorated
11.
Figure
Mountain"
Guatemala.
a
stone-binding
Passage
recording
on 8.18.0.0.0
(8 July a.D. 396).
Stuart.
David
Drawing:
ritual
Stela
at "Fire
31, Tikal,
"stone seating" glyphs, also featured in association
it is not
k'atun ending dates, and perhaps
that both the "seating" and "binding" of
coincidental
stones recall the terminology of royal office-taking.
As noted above, "binding" is a concept that has
inMesoamerica.
The
considerable
religious importance
as a wrapping material
use of cloth or paper, especially,
with
with
iswell attested both in
for sacred objects and bundles
ancient and modern custom. The intent may be to
protect a holy object or substance or to contain some
held within
sacred essence
(Stenzel 1968). The
a
at his accession
iswell
of
ruler
metaphor
"bundling"
attested among the Classic Maya (Schele and Miller
1983; Stross 1988), and this may have given rise to the
use of the headband
to "wrap" the divine king in office.
with carved
a compelling
by knotted strips of cloth. The size
"pedestal" enclosed
of this image relative to the rulers' figures suggests that
they are the short circular "column altars" found
in
throughout the site of Yaxchilan, again usually placed
close proximity to the stelae. Very often these altars bear
texts with Period Ending dates. They are, I
hieroglyphic
venture, the tuns shown bound with cloth in k'altun
later apparently sanctified
of the king.
bloodletting
rituals,
10. Hendry
the
importance
(1993) offers
of ceremonial
a
fascinating
wrapping
through
comparative
in traditional
the
treatment
Japan.
of
158
RES 29/30 SPRING/AUTUMN
1996
Figure 12. Altar of Stela I (partial roll-out view of the perimeter) with carved representations of knotted cloth
bindings. A probable k'altun glyph appears after the first date in the inscription. Copan. Drawing: David Stuart.
our discussion
In order to conclude
of the k'altun
we
a
to
turn
to
similar
and historically
rite,
ought
briefly
inMesoamerica.
documented
ritual found elsewhere
This is the xiuhmohpilli
("Binding of the Years")
was
that
ceremony
among the more significant rites
by the Mexica Aztec at the time of the
(Sahagun 1953). As noted, N?huatl xihuitl
tun seem to be related in their common
of
both "precious stone" and "year."
meanings
Xiuhmohpilli,
equally translatable as the "binding of
performed
Conquest
and Maya
renewal
stones," referred to the rite of cosmic
precious
at the close of the fifty-two year cycle, when the "new
fire" was drilled at midnight atop the hill of Citlaltepec.
The event was celebrated
by the burning of ritual
bundles consisting of fifty-two reeds lashed together in
a rope (see Pasztory 1983:165).
to the
Ifa connection
a
to
rite
k'altun
it
would
have
be
distant
exists,
Maya
one, of course, for the Mexica
ceremony was centered
upon the fifty-two-year cycle of the Calendar Round
and not the Maya concept of the twenty-year k'atun; the
two cultures were separate in both time and space.
in the
there is enough
However,
ideological continuity
Mesoamerican
culture to render this similarity an
interesting one.
Extensions
of the royal "self"
have seen that stelae probably serve as
on the tuns mentioned
in Classic Maya
serve
as
records
and
also
the
foci of important
temporal
calendar rituals such as the k'altun ceremony. However,
stelae have a much more obvious and public role as
We
elaborations
media for royal portraits?a
role that perhaps ought to
in light of these more specific ritual
be reviewed
contexts. So common are portraits on stelae that one
might easily be tempted to assume that these
were
monuments
little more than stone "billboards" for
No
doubt
this would be a gross
royal history.
an interpretation does
for
such
oversimplification,
numerous
to
the
blank or uncarved
explain
nothing
stelae found at many sites, none of which appear to
have ever been decorated with painted or stuccoed
task in
?mages. Clearly, then, we face a complicated
as
to
stelae
self-reflective
ritualized,
attempting
explain
on the one hand, and as objects that
monuments,
the royal image, on the
"presented" and celebrated
other. To address this issue with any satisfaction, we must
relations between
the royal
begin to address the complex
that go
person and the monumental
object?connections
to the heart of what
Ibelieve to be the Maya and
Mesoamerican
notions of figurai "representation."
numerous
to
According
inscriptions on stelae,
were "owned" by particular
monuments
individuals
on
even
certain
deities.
One
is
and,
occasions,
example
a
Stela 3 from El Zapote, Guatemala
is
This
(fig. 14).
small Early Classic stela distinctive
for bearing a portrait
of a deity, in this instance the rain god, on its front side.
is unusual
from the
among Classic monuments
we
where
find
lowlands,
usually
portraits
body-length
of historical, contemporary
kings. The inscription on the
back of the El Zapote stela bears a long count date and
a familiar dedicatory
statement: ts'ap-ah u-lakam-tun-il,
in this case is not
"his big stone is erected." The owner
a historical person, but is specified as YAX-HA'-CHAAK,
This
Stuart: Kings of stone
at the
13. Bound
altar stone
Figure
Yaxchilan.
David
Stuart.
Drawing:
ruler's
feet.
Stela
4,
"Clear Water Chaak," the name of a
prominent aspect of the rain deity (Taube 1992:19).
There can be no doubt that Yaxhal Chaak names the
supernatural figure portrayed on the front of the
Yaxhal Chaak,
Later in the same text we find a
event,
retrospective account of the same dedication
which
states, "Yaxhal Chaak was erected." Here it is not
but rather Yaxhal Chaak
just the stela that is dedicated,
monument.
himself
pers. comm.). From this
(Stephen Houston,
we
are
to view the named
example,
compelled
"owners" of stelae not as those that simply commissioned
monuments
and oversaw their dedication,
but more
as
the
the
of
precisely
portrait
identity
specifying
Inmy survey of references to "owned" stelae,
subjects.
have found that all bear portraits in this way and that
the named individuals, whether
they be persons or
to
the
gods, correspond
figurai representations.
30 of Tonina (fig. 4) is labeled
Likewise, Monument
as the lakamtun of a ruler who
is portrayed on the stela.
As on many Tonina monuments,
the glyphic text is as
as possible,
unobtrusive
down
the back of the
running
can
once
it
where
read
viewer
is
be
the
figure
only
I
Figure 14. The front of Stela 1. ElZapote, Guatemala.
Redrawn after field drawing by IanGraham, Corpus of Maya
Hieroglyphic
Inscriptions, Harvard University. Drawing:
David
Stuart.
159
1996
160 RES29/30 SPRING/AUTUMN
from the frontal image. The text reads "On
disengaged
[unreadable date] it is stood up, big stone of [ruler's
name]." Here again, perhaps, the sense of the text is
is "stood up"
that it is the king, the stelae's owner, who
as at El Zapote,
in ritual on the given day. The emphasis,
the stela as a "body" of the
appears to be on conceiving
it
be
god or ruler.
represented subject,
were found in
Tonina
the
of
Many
figurai sculptures
in front
association with inscribed disklike altars placed
of the king's statue (fig. 15a-b). As we have seen at
other sites, these altars bear large Ahaw day signs that
to particular Period Endings, recalling labels
correspond
such as the "12 Ahaw stone." The royal portraits at
^^^HI^S^S??&i?^^^^^^H?^^^^HII^^^^^??^ii??hI^bH?^b
toward
Tonina are often posed with hands outstretched
the disks inwhat appears to be the "scattering" gesture.
the altar is directly "acted upon" by
In this arrangement,
the king, receiving the blood or incense that fell from
his hands (both substances were used in the "scattering"
rite). The result is a three-dimensional
arrangement
reminiscent of the Yaxchilan
images of royal sacrifice
and
Tonina monuments
(fig. 13). I suggest that these
others like them might best be viewed not as static
I
of ritual action.
"portraits" but as direct representations
stone
of
as
so
to
"dioramas"
them
far
call
might go
stone altars bear evidence
royal ceremony. The circular
that the image of
of burning inmany cases, suggesting
fires associated
the ruler may have tended ceremonial
with the Period Ending. The altars, with their large
central Ahaw date glyphs and running texts around their
to some
bear a striking resemblance
circumferences,
painted bowls (fig. 15c), and it is likely that the disks
were
for ritual fire and
receptacles
Taube
(in press) has
(fig. 15d).
other
that
types of stone altars
suggested
best interpreted as skeuomorphs whose
conceived
blood
sacrificial
persuasively
are probably
shape derives
and censers.
as stone
from cornais
(ceramic
cooking
pans)
are rituals "in
If the stela-and-altar
complexes
in
enactments
of
royal ceremony,
stone"?perpetual
are led to interpret many of the stelae
effect?we
or extensions
as in some way embodiments
themselves
is suggested by
of the royal person. This interpretation
several lines of evidence. One of the most important of
that is nearly
is yet another hieroglyph
these concerns
in
to
in
connection
figurai representations
ubiquitous
or
all
ceramic
stone, paint,
epigraphers
(fig. 16a). This,
its translation
agree, reads U-ba-hi, or u-bah, although
u-bah
has been debated for some time. When
name of the
the
hieroglyphic
portraits,
accompanies
subject
follows
directly. Tatiana
Proskouriakoff,
although
Figure 15. Stela and altar complex
"diorama" of royal ritual. Typically
before a stone "plate" (lak) bearing
current time period, (a)Monument
at Tonina suggesting a
the king's ?mage stands
the "Ahaw" name of the
30. Photo: IanGraham.
Stuart: Kings of stone
Figure 15. (b)Monument
center. Private collection.
Guatemala.
Drawing:
161
135 bearing the central date "7 Ahaw." Photo: Peter Mathews. (c) Painted plate with Ahaw day name in
Drawing: David Stuart, (d) Figure showing bloodletting into ceramic bowl. Panel 19. Dos Pilas,
David
Stuart.
162 RES29/30 SPRING/AUTUMN
1996
ignorant of the glyph's phonetic
reasoned out one of its possible
. . . because
it is used
in a wide
reading,
nevertheless
meanings:
range
of contexts,
and
almost always occurs at the beginning of a passage, and
often appears in direct association with individual figures,
itmust stand for some widely applicable expression, such
as
for example:
'Here
is
portrayed
(or recorded)'
. . .
1968:247
More
recently,
some
have argued
that u-bah
Figure 16a. The glyph u-bah, "his/her self" of "his/her person."
Drawing: David Stuart.
is a verb
(Bricker 1986:136; Schele 1982:26; 1996) connected to
or possibly
"he goes." Such
bloodletting
meaning
are
for
the
readings
unlikely,
glyph almost surely
a
noun, u- being the common
represents
possessed
word for "his, her, its" in lowland Mayan
languages.
noun root inMayan
Bah is a widespread
"self"
meaning
and in Chorti, a language strongly related to the Classic
texts, it carries the meaning
"body, person" (Fought
in recent collaborative work by
1971:91). As suggested
and Stephen Houston,
this translation makes
more sense for the
in question
considerably
hieroglyph
as itwould
label portraits and figurai images as "the
'self of. . ."or "the body of. . ."11
Bah appears as part of a wider set of terms closely
myself
to concepts of imagery and representation
in
In
Yucatec
is
the
bah
of
basis
Mayan
languages.
Maya,
the related terms k'oh-bah
(from k'oh, "mask,
connected
and win-bah
(from win-ik, "man") both
representative")
or
meaning
"?mage"
"portrait." Indeed, bah is glossed
a otra"
also ?nClassical Yucatec as "cosa semejante
InTzotzil Mayan,
the specific
(Martinez 1929:123).
of "face" or "visage" is applied to ba, as in
meaning
anichimal ba anichimal
sat, a phrase of ritual prayer to
deities meaning
"thy beautiful visage, thy beautiful
face" (Laughlin 1975:76). All of these translations are
related, it seems, and they reveal the close
conceptually
connection
between
ideas about the body, the self, and
the "representation"
of people.
We see this close association
in the ancient sources
as well. A
on
the back of Stela 4
inscription
fascinating
at Copan (fig. 17) makes use of the typical
dedicatory
verb ts'ap-ah "is erected," yet in place of the expected
lakamtun glyph we find that the stela is referred to by
the word bah with a "celtlike" prefix (perhaps a
reference to the stela as a "celt"). The "possessor" of the
monument
is recorded
in the following glyph, the name
of a tutelary god of Copan who seems to be
on the stela
"impersonated"
by the Copan ruler
Waxaklahun
Ubah K'awil ("Eighteen are the 'Selves' of
K'awil") (Houston and Stuart 1996). The "celt" sign that
here qualifies bah is not yet deciphered,
but it is
that it is related to "image-related"
tempting to consider
terms similar to those already mentioned.
Whatever
the case, there is little doubt that bah here refers to the
fact that on the stela the king is "representing"
the
the god's
tutelary god or, perhaps more precisely,
or
"self."12
"body"
To shed further light on this body/image
relation, we
can turn to a related concept
in
N?huatl,
expressed
is usually translated as "substitute" or
ixiptla. This word
and is used in numerous
"representation"
indigenous
texts to refer to "images" of
gods, be they cult effigies,
in costume, or wooden
human beings
frames with
masks (Hvidtfeldt 1958). Many such of ixiptlas existed
inMexica-Aztec
concurrently
religious life, all being
of
manifestations
sacred
present
power or teotl
means
of
such materialized
(Townsend 1979).13 By
essence
the
of
teotl
could
be
forms,
contacted,
felt, and
12. Houston
the impersonation
and Stuart (1996) discuss
of deities
as
by Maya
royals. In that article, bah is translated
"image"
reflecting
a
and somewhat
less precise
of the term.
provisional
understanding
13. Inga Clendinnen
some of the difficulties
has cogently
observed
in conceptualizing
?mages do:
I suspect
the N?huatl
that the words
word
between
into our own
which
we
strive
sense
of what
to choose?
'substitute/
'representation/
'impersonator/
'image/
and equally
useful:
'representative'?are
equally misleading
sometimes
not. But given that to a modern
sometimes
appropriate,
ear the notion of
can carry the suggestion
that
'representation'
that which
is
distinct
from that which
is
represents
quite
and given that 'impersonation'
and 'representation'
rather than 'the rendering present by simulation/
to the Mexican
'that
view, perhaps
'god-presenter/
the god to present aspects of himself/
enables
best
represented,
11. Our
Animation
presented
Columbian
coauthored
and Vitality
by Houston
The Living Image:
paper, "The Living Word,
was
in Classic Maya Art and Writing,"
at the Dumbarton
on "Pre
Oaks
symposium
States of Being"
inApril,
1996.
imply pretense
is closer
which
which
approximates
the N?huatl
term.
1991:253
Stuart: Kings of stone
Figure
16b.
Ruler
Euw 1975:55.
portrait
in association
with
u-bah.
Top
of Stela
22.
Naranjo,
Guatemala.
From Graham
and Von
163
164
RES 29/30 SPRING/AUTUMN
1996
of many
"souls" ethnographers
have described
Like
the
the
idea of teotl, these
region.
throughout
essences of human beings are multifaceted
and can be
realized in very different and often extrasomatic ways.
Inmany Mayan
by which
languages, the processes
or
some
essence
one state
from
may
something
change
of being into another are called k'ex. Often this is
translated as "change" or, as a noun, "substitute," but
again these may account for only part of the term's
In their study of highland Maya
intricate meaning.
Carlsen
and
Prechtel discuss how k'ex and
religion,
form "a single system of transformation
related concepts
and renewal"
(1991). Specifically,
theTzutujil Maya
of a dualistic process of change called jaloj
words
k'exoj. This is derived from two complementary
that specify different types of transformation: jal denotes
temporal change based upon the life cycle and k'ex
refers to the transfer and continuity of life across
conceive
Figure
1 7.
impersonated
Passage
god.
with
Stela
stela
4.
named
Copan.
as
"the
Drawing:
'ceW-bah"
David
o? an
Stuart.
even manipulated
and coerced through ritual and
sacrifice. Often
teotl is imprecisely translated as "god"
(1958), itmay be more
but, following Hvidtfeldt
accurate to translate it as something akin to "mana" or
"divine entity." InMayan
languages a very similar, if not
is conveyed
identical, concept
by the word k'uh or
not
which
refers
ch'uh,
simply to idols but to holy
in
that are charged, sometimes
general?items
things
even fleetingly, with a sacred essence
(Houston and
Stuart 1996).
This overarching
concept of a divine essence and its
multifaceted
expression
through material objects
a
to
be
foundation
of Mesoamerican
appears
major
I
But
would
this,
argue, is a logical
religious thought.
a
more
of
conceived
outlook
wherein
part
broadly
essences
of many types can change states of being and
some essential shared identity or unity. It is
retain
yet
not simply teotl or k'uh that can operate
in this way.
a
of
Rather,
variety
beings,
including people, could
in
this
participate
transmutating universe, manifesting
in different forms on different occasions.
themselves
of this pliable nature of being can be found in
Glimpses
numerous Mesoamerican
it has
ethnographies,
although
it deserves, partially due,
hardly received the attention
no doubt, to its fundamental
place in the often hidden
tenets of traditional religious practice. Perhaps itsmost
studied aspect is the concept of the animal companion
spirit or nagual "soul," which could journey out of the
body and reside in animal form. Yet this is but one type
transmutation of certain "personas"
generations?the
over time and space.
is an important feature of some
The k'ex concept
modern Maya curing and sacrificial rituals. One such
is
important rite among the Tzotzil of Zinacantan
known simply as k'exolil, "substitute," referring to the
in house dedication
chickens sacrificed
and curing
rituals (Vogt 1976:91-93).
These birds substitute for the
lives of patients and are offered to the gods in order to
placate them. For some time during curing rituals, the
bodies of the patient and the chicken share a common
identity, seemingly
reflecting a notion of transformation
like that found among the Tzutujil. A
and exchange
number of other k'ex rituals exist in other parts of the
in
Maya region, reflecting the antiquity of this concept
as
ritual
belief
Karl
Taube
has
(1994)
and,
indigenous
shown, many essential elements of these ceremonies
can be traced to pre-Columbian
Maya
iconography
suggest, however,
involving birth and curing. Iwould
that a broader conceptual
framework underlies the role
in such rituals and perhaps the
of corporeal substitutes
role of artistic images.
InMaya art, and Mesoamerican
art in general,
or
were seen as
entities
of
other
portraits
people, gods,
manifestations
of individual identities or
to
is
Mesoamerican
That
personas.
say,
images realize
their subjects in a very literal sense. The term bah used
in inscribed portrait captions?"the
body/person/self
this essential correspondence
between
the
of"?suggests
not
and
the
Such
do
captions
depiction
depicted.
simply label an ?mage or identify the person acting out
some episode or event but may convey the
extrasomatic
understanding
that the image embodies
that figure. This
Stuart: Kings of stone
idea hinges on a notion of an "extrasomatic
self," which
as fundamental
to
Gossen
(1996) recently discusses
Maya thought.
Ifwe consider
that a stela portrait renders a ruler
we
view the ruler's bah or person
then
may
present,
a
as existing
stone
in a perpetual state of
manifested
by
to this understanding,
ritual action. According
the stela
serve as an avatar of the royal body. The
would
in a godly guise, or the
sprinkling of blood, the dancing
a
are
as ever-present
of
in
frozen
time
rival
conquest
documents
of royal power and divinity. Portrait stelae
stand quite literally as rituals in stone. In light of this
view, we should consider more than just the stelae
themselves and also consider the settings inwhich
they
were placed. The locations of stelae often coincide with
architectural
locales where
in ritual events. Stelae were
before
rulers most
likely performed
in rows
often positioned
on terraces, or even on temple
pyramids,
stairways (fig. 18). So, rather than viewing such stelae as
it is perhaps more correct to
freestanding monuments,
see them as "substitutes" for, or extensions
of, the royal
a
in
before a
ritual
person engaged
activity?standing
pyramid, on a terrace, or on a stairway. To cite one
a set of stelae from Dos Pilas individually
example,
dances
of the local ruler Itsamnah K'awil on
"depict"
several important Period Ending dates.14 These
were placed on a terrace platform before a
monuments
a setting
known as "El Duende,"
large pyramid complex
was
a
that
itself probably
place for ritual dance.15
the text captions on these monuments?
Significantly,
and the vast majority of stelae as a whole?are
in incompletive
In narrative terms, the
voice.
presented
action is ongoing
is
(Houston n.d.). Ifmy interpretation
correct, these and similar stone ?mages, all bearing
text captions, do not simply
dates and descriptive
commemorate
but
past events and royal ceremonies
serve to perpetuate
the ritual act into eternity.16
Icannot claim that this interpretation of stelae as
14. This Dos Pilas ruler is otherwise
known as "Ruler 2" (Houston
here is based on a secure reading of the
1993). The name presented
two god names that constitute
name of the
the personal
king:
Itsamnah and K'awil.
15. The murals
of Room 3 at Bonampak
show an elaborate
dance
on
near
some
terraces
in
elites
and
similar
performance
by
respects to
the environment
the El Duende
where
stelae were erected.
16. The conception
of stelae as "stone bodies" may be traced to
the very beginnings
in the Maya area. Several
of the stela tradition
Late Preclassic monuments
from the highlands
and Pacific slope
bear designs
that explicitly
region of Guatemala
suggest such an
Karl Taube (pers. comm.
1993) has pointed
interpretation.
in the Izapan style "wear" carved
number of these stelae
as if the front of these
of royal headbands
representations
out
that a
applicable; we must
number of stelae
immediately consider the considerable
a
that bear more than one figurai image. Sometimes
stone "bodies"
is universally
in a ritual
represent two nobles engaged
a
more
war
in
much
show
or,
activity
captive
frequently,
the company of a standing or seated ruler (fig. 16b). In
such cases, the carved image alone ismeant to capture
one's attention with
of the
little, if any, consideration
as
we
or
at
Tonina
find
stone-as-image
Copan, for
stela will
single
Iwould venture to suggest that multiple
are somewhat aberrant in the history of
stelae
portrait
at
lowland Maya stelae carving. Early monuments
Uaxactun
and Tikal clearly emphasize
the single,
standing ruler with captives and ancestors consistently
In
tier of representation.
relegated to a "secondary"
these and the vast majority of cases, the sense of
the stone and the portrait is
between
correspondence
example.
quite discernible.
Rulers of time
stone
identification of monumental
us to
with
the
of
"selves"
forces
portraits
royal persons
revisit certain aspects of Maya calendar ritual touched
upon at the outset of this essay. We are familiar with the
The
intimate
inwhich
stelae were used to mark the stations in
ways
the Maya calendar, particularly
the Long Count. Stones
on
erected
particular Period Endings were often named
for those periods as in the label "6 Ahaw tun" applied
to Stela A of Quirigua,
erected on the Period Ending
a.D. 775).
9.17.5.0.0
6 Ahaw 13 K'ayab (29 December
not only were markers for time
Such stone monuments
periods, but perhaps stood in some way as material
tuns
embodiments
of those periods,
like the numbered
in the inscriptions or in the native chronicles
mentioned
of Colonial Yucatan. Having just argued that portrait
stelae can be seen as embodiments
of the royal self, I
now like to explore the overlap between
would
these
two intricately related types of embodiment
and
representation.
Central to understanding
the connection
between
funs and the self is the belief that rulers were
themselves
embodiments
of time and its passage?a
to the cosmological
role that was fundamental
understood
as "faces." The
headbands
instances,
many
leading us to conclude
the headband,
much as a ruler would.
seem
was
to be
described
stones
in cloth
in
appear above figurai scenes
that it is the stone that "wears"
This early evidence
would
or
of stone wrapping
that
binding
in connection
above
with the k'altun ritual. To reiterate,
in the Classic
refers both to the wrapping
of
inscriptions
related
the verb k'al
stelae were
165
to the notions
as well
to the tying of headbands
onto
rulers.
166
RES 29/30 SPRING/AUTUMN
1996
Figure 18. Stelae placed on the terraces and stairway of Structure B-l. Altar de
Sacrificios, Guatemala. From J.Graham 1972:fig. 2.
influences on daily life. Among the present-day Quiche
Maya, each day has its own "face" or identity, and they
are commonly
addressed directly by diviners with the
honorific title ajaw, "lord," as in "greetings sir Lord 8
of divine days are well
Batz" (Tedlock 1992). Concepts
of divine kingship. We find this
underpinnings
most
directly by the overt solar symbolism
expressed
Individual
the office of Maya kingship.
that surrounded
identified with the sun and its
rulers were closely
as the god K'inich Ahaw,
personified manifestation
lord." A shortened form of this honorific,
"sun-faced
is often applied to Maya rulers at Palenque and
k'inich,
rulers are
several other sites. At Yaxchilan, deceased
depicted
consorts
within
within
solar cartouche
the distinctive
that of the moon
(T?te 1992).
and their
In
and in iconographie
settings,
representations
mythical
the Maya sun god himself often wears the
accouterments
of rulership, including the cloth
the ruler
that he was considered
headband,
suggesting
time period is its animate quality (Thompson 1950:96).
Individual days held personal attributes, and the names
for days were the names of entities that exerted certain
time
in modern
Maya
thought
is found
in Gossen
(1974).
is
time in a more general way.
In the Classic Maya calendrical
scheme, the
twentieth day, Ahaw, stands out in importance. All
Period Ending dates of the Long Count calendar?when
on the twentieth day Ahaw,
tuns were dedicated?fell
"Lord." The day Ahaw was thus the "face" or "lord" of
the Period Ending, an association
that may go far
of the heavens.
translated as "sun" or
The word k'in is customarily
more general and
can
its
be
much
but
"day,"
meanings
abstract. "Time" and "divination" are equally applicable
on the context of use.17 For our
glosses, depending
one of the more
here,
however,
purposes
important
Mesoamerican
of
the
concept of the "day" as a
aspects
see Leon-Portilla
17. For a discussion
of k'in and its meanings,
is found
A more
and
nuanced
discussion
(1973:17-20).
specialized
discussions
One of the most
Tedlock
(1992:2-3).
thought-provoking
where
the 260
among the communities
in the
has survived, especially
time
Guatemalan
highlands, but the idea of animated
to
As
and
this
restricted
region
period.
hardly
duties
embodiments
of Win, rulers in their calendrical
sun
of
"faces"
the
and
of
have
been
considered
may
documented
day calendar
in
of
"Lord" appears
toward explaining why the day-name
in
in
the
elsewhere
area;
Mesoamerica,
Maya
only
where the Long Count calendar was not used, the
is usually "Flower." That is, the
day-name
corresponding
it could
twentieth day is named "Lord" only when
"rule" over a Period Ending.
In the iconography of Maya calendrics, we find a
clear identification of the day sign Ahaw with portraits
of political
rulers (fig. 19). In several examples,
portraits
as full-figure
of kings appear within day cartouches
Ahaw hieroglyphs explicitly linking the person of the
Stuart: Kings of stone
king with the current "lord" of time. The cyclical
of the Ahaw day at each Period Ending in
reappearance
the Long Count calendar was not only a renewal of
time but also a renewal, in effect, of the
cosmological
institution of kingship?an
of the
elaboration
sun as
of
the
ruler
and
the
equation
conceptual
already
touched upon. Throughout
ancient Mesoamerica,
certain time periods were believed
to "reign" over the
in
and
Postclassic
cosmos,
Yucatan, the chronicles
state
this
with
explicitly
regard to Ahaw dates and
k'atuns. The Chilam Balam of Chumayel,
to cite one of
I
.; ^;'^i^^Hr^.!v^^:'
:'^
""?,
'!;v.l^'^v.'
ff-.1.^ U.^^^
167
notes that "Katun 11 Ahau is set upon
many examples,
the mat, set upon the throne, when
their ruler is set
. . ."
same
is implicit
up
(Roys 1933:79). The
metaphor
in Classic
rulers (the
iconography where the calendrical
day bearing the name Ahaw) and the political ahaw
could be fused under a common
identity.
This might seem an interpretive leap were
it not for
explicit textual statements that establish a common
time and the rulers. On Stela 22 of
identity between
Naranjo
(fig. 16b), the inscription reads 7 Ahaw 3
Cumku u-bah K'ak' Tiliw Chan Chaak ..., which could
be interpreted as a literal expression
of a common
"7
3
Ahaw
is
Kumk'u
the 'self of K'ak' Tiliw
identity:
Chan Chaak." The ruler is shown enthroned
above a
that on this day
captive, perhaps conveying
supplicating
"7 Ahaw 3 Kumk'u" is also "enthroned"
into its office as
ruler of the present k'atun. Similarly, on Stela 9 of
the inscription above a portrait of a royal
Calakmul,
. . .Here the
woman
begins u-bah 11 Ahaw 8 Ch'en.
date seems to replace the customary
royal name,
labeling the portrait as "the 'self of 11 Ahaw 18 Ch'en."
If this particular reading is correct,
it appears that
consorts of the king (also worthy of the ahaw title)
shared some of the fundamental
connections
with
Ending rituals. This is reiterated by an important
vase
that bears two day-cartouche
Maya
portraits, one
can
the
other
female (fig. 20). We
male,
presume that
they are Ahaw days, based on numerous parallel
examples. The captions both begin with u-bah and
include references to the Period Ending date 10 Ahaw 8
Yaxk'in (the k'atun ending 9.12.0.0.0).
The woman's
[NAME], or "her 'self
caption reads: U-bah ti 10 Ahaw
as 10 Ahaw."
From texts and symbolic portraits such as these, it is
Period
to escape the conclusion
that Maya royal
in a meaningful way, embodiments
of
figures were,
time, as were the funs that represented the kings and
of the royal "self." Such
queens as extensions
conceptual
equations were constantly expressed
a
through ritual stelae and altars and constituted
powerful political and religious statement of royal
difficult
authority.
Afterword
Figure 19. Ruler portrait as the Ahaw day sign. Stela 13.
Machaquila.
Drawing:
Ian Graham.
In this essay I have touched upon several different yet
ideas surrounding
stelae and their
intimately connected
ritual use. Following traditional
lines of thought, stelae
stones
may be regarded as a subclass of ceremonial
in calendrical
in the
employed
reckoning, specifically
count of 360-day "years" and larger time units
168
RES 29/30 SPRING/AUTUMN
1996
an
Figure 20. Female figure as Ahaw day sign, with text caption, from exterior of
vase.
David
Stuart.
Drawing:
unpublished cylindrical
of these periods. The rituals acts that
composed
surrounded such tuns included their binding or
in cloth {k'altun) under the auspices of
"enclosing"
a
similar
rite
that no doubt held a significance
royalty,
to the tying of the headband on the king's person. This
stone and the royal self is seen
between
connection
clearly in the identification of the stone ?mage
with the person {bah) of the king. Stelae, along with
served the related purposes of
"altars," concurrently
individual time periods and of embodying
manifesting
of the royal self. In this way, the king came to be
of
identified with the temporal mechanisms
explicitly
most
the
cosmos.
in this essay
Admittedly, many of the ideas expressed
to
for they
need
be further pondered and evaluated,
a
at
times
wide array of topics,
touch upon
only
the overall sense of these
superficially. Nevertheless,
in
interpretations may give us pause when considered
over
half
the
last
light of the history of Maya studies
the
century. Current scholarship
rightly celebrates
in
the 1960s
historical paradigm that quickly emerged
of Proskouriakoff and
when the seminal contributions
Berlin overturned previous notions that Maya
inscriptions treated the passage of time and little else.
the ancient meaning of stelae as described
Considering
at times), one wonders
here (no doubt oversimplistically
some
if
essential
truths of such earlier scholarship were
too easily dismissed or overlooked with the acceptance
of the historicity of Maya
inscriptions. As we have seen,
the Maya did place time and its renewal at the center of
it at some length in texts
their ritual life and discussed
tuns. Perhaps itwould
inscribed upon the ceremonial
in
be more correct to consider that the ideas expressed
this essay help to reconcile the earlier "timekeeping"
more modern one
paradigm of Maya studies with the
the records of kings and their ritual
that emphasizes
life. Once we understand that the ancient ahaws
time in an important way, perhaps there is
embodied
the
between
little reason to distinguish
substantially
two points of view.
Stuart: Kings of stone
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