The Seating of the tun: Further Evidence concerning a Late Preclassic Lowland Maya Stela Cult

Abstract

Hieroglyphic and comparative linguistic evidence indicate that a Lowland Maya stela cult had been in existence, with monuments being erected predominantly or exclusively at the end of the 360-day year, in Late Preclassic times. These data corroborate Hammond's (1982) evidence for Late Preclassic stela erection. With his demonstration that the stela cult was associated with public architecture and a sacrificial burial at Cuello, the inference that contemporaneous stelae were erected primarily at year-endings establishes the complete Lowland Maya form of the stela cult well before the end of the Late Preclassic. It indicates that the cult was contemporaneous with Pacific coastal and adjacent highland stela cults, and developed at least partially in independence of the latter.

Beyond identifying elites: Feasting as a means to understand early Middle Formative society on the Pacific Coast of Mexico

“…At both sites, formal plazas were laid out and monumental mounds were built (see Lowe, 1977, p. 222;Joyce, 2004, p. 23). The presence of over 200 stela that used complex narrative scenes to legitimize rulership is attributed by Lowe et al (1982; also see Justeson and Mathews, 1983;Kappelman, 2004) to the Late Formative Guillén phase. However, the construction of stone monuments began earlier when a monument (Miscellaneous Monument 2) was carved depicting a crouching individual emerging from a niche was erected on the northeast side of Mound 30 (Lowe et al, 1982).…”

LiDAR analyses in the contiguous Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin, Guatemala: an introduction to new perspectives on regional early Maya socioeconomic and political organization

“…Raised fields, large reservoirs, and canals were constructed in the wetland system and were key elements in Preclassic agrarian and water management strategies. Large numbers of E-Groups, triadic pyramids, and other complexes at El Mirador, in addition to the presence of carved monuments depicting rulers (see Table 3; e.g., Hansen 2012a:155, 2016b:382, 386, 394–397, 409; Hansen and Guenter 2005; Hansen et al 2018a:160; Justeson and Mathews 1983), represent a high concentration of political power in the Maya Lowlands during Preclassic times. Combined architectural mass in a 1 km 2 sample of our Tier 1 site civic center was calculated in two ways: (1) computer generations of volume, using programs of ArcGIS Pro, Global Mapper, and QGIS; (2) geometrical mathematical calculations using total station contour measurements for platform volumes, and truncated and pointed pyramidal superstructures which amounted to a calculated minimum of 4,809,310 m 3 of construction fill for contemporaneous structures for the 1 km 2 of the West Group of El Mirador.…”

KAMINALJUYU STELA 10: Script classification and linguistic affiliation

“…lik AbajStela 2 (236-19 b.c. ;Justeson and Mathews 1983; Mora- Marín 2001:253). The attestation of the *ee Ͼ ii Ͼ i shift on Stela 10 suggests this shift had taken place by circa 200 b.c.…”