Tulum Stela 1 is the name of a
Mayan
Mayan most commonly refers to:
* Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Mayan languages, language family spoken ...
engraved monolith that was found at the ancient Mesoamerican site of
Tulum
Tulum (, yua, Tulu'um) is the site of a pre-Columbian Mayan walled city which served as a major port for Coba, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The ruins are situated on cliffs along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribb ...
in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. Known for its important inscription, the stela was purchased by the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
in 1924.
Description
The large stone
stela
A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...
portrays in low relief a standing Maya lord in full
regalia
Regalia is a Latin plurale tantum word that has different definitions. In one rare definition, it refers to the exclusive privileges of a sovereign. The word originally referred to the elaborate formal dress and dress accessories of a sovereign ...
, with a long inscription in
Mayan hieroglyphs
Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs, is historically the native writing system of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica and is the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered. The earliest inscriptions found which ...
framing the image. The headdress is that of
K'awiil, the skirt that of the
Tonsured Maize God
Like other Mesoamerican peoples, the traditional Maya civilization, Maya recognize in their staple crop, maize, a vital force with which they strongly identify. This is clearly shown by their mythological traditions. According to the 16th-century P ...
. The pillar was badly damaged when discovered and is missing parts of the base. The condition of the extant carving has also faded through water
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...
. The long
inscription
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
includes a date that corresponds to 564 AD, based on the
Mayan system of recording time.
Provenance
Stela 1 was found by
John Lloyd Stephens
John Lloyd Stephens (November 28, 1805October 13, 1852) was an American explorer, writer, and diplomat. Stephens was a pivotal figure in the rediscovery of Maya civilization throughout Middle America and in the planning of the Panama railroad.
...
and
Frederick Catherwood
Frederick Catherwood (27 February 1799 – 27 September 1854) was an English artist, architect and explorer, best remembered for his meticulously detailed drawings of the ruins of the Maya civilization. He explored Mesoamerica in the mid 19th ...
during their exploration of the
Yucatán
Yucatán (, also , , ; yua, Yúukatan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán,; yua, link=no, Xóot' Noj Lu'umil Yúukatan. is one of the 31 states which comprise the political divisions of Mexico, federal entities of Mexico. I ...
peninsular in the early nineteenth century. It was discovered near the 'Temple of the Initial Series' which lies to the south of the main castle at Tulum. This temple was named after Stela 1 as its Mayan inscription has the earliest recorded date in
Tulum
Tulum (, yua, Tulu'um) is the site of a pre-Columbian Mayan walled city which served as a major port for Coba, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The ruins are situated on cliffs along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribb ...
. Archaeologists estimate that most of Tulum is
Post-Classic
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE –  ...
and that the city was largely built after 900 AD. As this stela predates this phase, it has been conjectured that it was moved from a neighbouring Maya city, perhaps
Coba
Coba ( es, Cobá) is an ancient Maya city on the Yucatán Peninsula, located in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The site is the nexus of the largest network of stone causeways of the ancient Maya world, and it contains many engraved and sculp ...
. The stela was subsequently owned by the British archaeologist
Thomas Gann
Thomas William Francis Gann (13 May 1867 – 24 February 1938) was a medical doctor by profession, but is best remembered for his work as an amateur archaeologist exploring ruins of the Maya civilization.
Personal history
Thomas Gann was bo ...
, who sold it to the British Museum in 1924.
See also
*
Copán Bench Panel
The Copán Bench Panel or ''Copan Bench Panel'' is the name of a sculpted platform that was originally located in Temple 11 at the Maya site of Copán in Honduras. Discovered by the English archaeologist Alfred Maudslay in the late nineteenth cen ...
*
Yaxchilan Lintel 24
Lintel 24 is the designation given by modern archaeologists to an ancient Maya limestone sculpture from Yaxchilan, in modern Chiapas, Mexico. The lintel dates to about 723–726 AD, placing it within the Maya Late Classic period. Its mid-relie ...
References
{{reflist
Bibliography
*C. McEwan, Ancient Mexico in the British (London, The British Museum Press, 1994)
*M. Coe, Breaking the Maya code (London, Thames & Hudson, 1992)
*L. Schele and M.E. Miller, The blood of kings (London, Thames & Hudson, 1986)
* M. Coe and J. Kerr, The art of the Maya scribe (London, Thames & Hudson, 1997)
Maya art
Mesoamerican artifacts
Tulum (municipality)
Artefacts from Africa, Oceania and the Americas in the British Museum
Ethnographic objects in the British Museum
category:Sculptures of the British Museum
6th-century inscriptions
Mexico–United Kingdom relations