Stele with standing male character

This stele is dated within the Late Classic (550-909 A.D.); decadent phase (810-909 A.D.) of the stylistic sequence of Tatiana A. Proskouriakoff (1950); she would give the dates 9.18.12.13.5. 7 chikchan 18 tzek, (May 1, 803 A.D.) or 10.1.5.8.5 7 chikchan 13 tzek, (April 18, 855 A.D.).Due to the style it could come from the area between Laxtunich and the site of El Caribe, between the middle basin and the upper basin of the Usumacinta River, between the region of Piedras Negras, Yaxchilán and of Itzán, area where the sites Altar de Sacrificios, El Caribe and La Amelia are found.

It shows a male figure, standing with his body in frontal position, face in profile, and feet open sideways, with the toes pointing out, following the canons of the Late Classic period. He holds in his right hand a flint-tipped spear tied to the mast by ropes and adorned with a buckler and ribbons, or perhaps feathers. The figure appears to have scarification on the face, around the nose and the eye. His head is covered with a cap or hat-like headdress, ending in a tuft of feathers at the top, two of which lean forward and the rest backwards; very similar to the one worn by the general depicted on the from Laxtunich.

Another site where this type of headdress is found is at the El Caribe site; stele 2 shows a figure with an attitude that is very similar to that of this stele of the Amparo Museum, and it also wears a headdress of similar characteristics in of the composition and shape, although in this figure the plumage on the adornment is more abundant and covers the entire cap. Another matching element on the stele at the Amparo Museum and the from Laxtunich is the manner in which the ears are depicted, which is unusual in the Late Classic period since they are usually shown covered with round earflaps. A similar design of the ears can be seen in the figures portrayed on the balustrades of Plaza E at the Palace of Palenque. The placement of the left hand is also similar. Even the pectoral is quite similar to those of the figures of Palenque.

Despite these similar characteristics, we are inclined to think that the origin of this stele would be located between the regions of El Caribe and Laxtunich. The attire of the figure depicted on this stele wears, around his neck, a beaded necklace that ends in a circular ornament from which three polished pendants hang, most likely made from jade as would seem to be indicated by the signs of luster that were engraved on their plates. A braided belt holds the short skirt, possibly made of cotton and trimmed with seashells, characteristic of the Late Classic period. The sandals are simple, covering the tarsi with heel-pads, and tied with ribbons, in a similar fashion to those reproduced in Stele 2 from El Caribe.

It records in writing that a city center of an unknown location was burned as the result of an armed attack. The last age of the inscription seems to have contained information about an event, also unknown, that one k’atuun had ed (19.71 years) after the burn down.

Technical epigraphic reading:

TRANSLITERATION: (A1) 7-CHAN? (A2) 18-ka-se-wa (A3) PUL-yi (A4) [TAN?-na]-CH’EN-na (A5) ## (B1) u-ti-ya (B2) 1-WINIKHAB’-ya (B3) ##

TRANSCRIPTION: huk chan(?) waxaklaju’n kase’w pul[uu]y tahn(?) ch’e’n … u[h]tiiy ju’n winikhaab’[ii]y …

MPRPHEMIC SEGMENTATION: huk chan(?) waxak-laju’n kase’w pul-uuy-ø tahn(?) ch’e’n … uht-iiy-ø ju’n winik-haab’-iiy …

MORPHOLOGIC SIDE NOTES: seven chan eight-ten kase’w burn-MPAS-3ABSs in the center of cave … occur-CLIT-ERGs one twenty-year-CLIT …

TRASLATION: ‘[en] 7 chikchan 18 tzek the center of the city … was burned; one k’atuun has already ed…’

Epigraphic reading: huk chan(?) waxaklaju’n kase’w pul[uu]y tahn(?) ch’e’n … u[h]tiiy ju’n winikhaab’[ii]y …

‘[en] 7 chikchan 18 tzek the center of the city… was burned; one k’atuun has already ed…’'