Yaxchilan
Other Names for the Site
Location and Access
The Usumacinta River, in its middle reaches, runs in a bed that is cut deeply into hilly terrain and follows a fairly straight northwesterly course toward the Gulf of Mexico. In two places, however, the river has been forced into detours having the form of great loops, both of them, as it happens, destined to have important ceremonial centers built upon their banks. On the right bank of one lies Piedras Negras, while on the other, about 50 km upstream and halfway around the more perfectly formed of the two loops, lies Yaxchilan. The smoothly curving course of this loop traces the form of a capital omega, its neck no more than 500 m across, its diameter about 3.5 km.
In this region the river flows, for the most part, between sandy terraces of varying width, but on the order of 100 m wide, at the back of which rise up escarpments or irregular masses of karst- formation hills. It is along a stretch of such a terrace, about 1 km in length, and on the ledges and prominences overlooking it, that Yaxchilan was built.
Until recently, access to Yaxchilan had not been easy. The river, it is true, does provide a year-round means of communication, but only in the upstream direction. Passage in a dugout canoe through the rapids of Anaite, about 20 km downstream, and through other rapids at about the same distance farther on, between El Cayo and Piedras Negras, is at best unnerving; at other times, when the level of the river is not propitious, the journey cannot be recommended at all. Rapids below the Piedras Negras make the journey onward to Tenosique impossible at all times.
Upstream, it is a two-day journey (except by speedboat) to Sayaxche, and an expert boatman who knows all the shadows and rocky snags must be employed.
Until recently the only overland route in regular use, since mahogany-cutting along the river began more than a century ago, had been through Guatemalan territory on the other side of the river, passing through Macabilero, Piedras Negras, and Tres Champas, crossing the border there and proceeding to Tenosique. It is a four- day walk.
Since 1974, however, motor vehicles have been reaching the riverbank opposite Yaxchilan over a track that starts at Paso Subin, a settlement on the road between Flores and Sayaxche. The track was seldom passable, but now, at the time of writing, it is being improved.
Yaxchilan may also be reached by light plane. The landing strip is on the terrace west of Structure 81.
Principal Investigations at the Site
The existence of the ruins now called Yaxchilan seems to have been known, at least by vague report, among Mexican settlers in the lower Usumacinta drainage since the early nineteenth century. What may be the first published expression of those rumors was made in 1833 by Juan Galindo in his report on the Pasion and Usumacinta rivers. “Within an extensive cave on the left bank,” he wrote, “are some extraordinary and extensive ruins; and somewhat lower down the stream there is a remarkable monumental stone, with characters” (Galindo 1833, p. 60). As this section of Galindo’s report seems not to have been based on his own observations, one may perhaps speculate that the word curva, in notes written by an informant, was misread by him as cueva. The “remarkable monumental stone” could well have been at El Cayo.
The first visitor to Yaxchilan coming with an educated eye was undoubtedly Edwin Rockstroh, an instructor at the Colegio Nacional, Guatemala City. At some time after his visit in 1881 he evidently wrote an account of the site (Maudslay 1889- 1902, vol. 5, p. 40). As is mentioned in the text on Lintel 24 (page 3:54), Rockstroh attempted to carry that lintel away. He also, according to Maudslay’s friend Joyce, “give [the site] the name Menché after the eponymous ancestor, Bol Menché, of the local Maya inhabitants. Maudslay naturally adopted the name” (Joyce 1923, p. 42n).
After hearing about the ruins from Rockstroh, Alfred Maudslay made a detour from his route to Tikal to see them. During his week’s stay there, by extraordinary coincidence, he was joined by Désiré Charnay, who had come from the opposite direction. Before the end of that year, 1882, Maudslay had read a paper in which his discoveries were briefly described (Maudslay 1883), the ruins being there referred to simply as “Usumacinta”; perhaps at the time of their meeting Rockstroh had not yet decided on the name Menché, or Menché Tinamit.
The various apellations by which Charnay chose to dignify at once the ruins and his patron were: La Ville Lorillard, Villa Lorillard, and in the English version of his book, Lorillard Town and Lorillard City (Charnay 1885).
An important consequence of Maudslay’s meeting with Charnay was that he learned from the latter the technique of making paper molds. In 1886 Maudslay sent his assistant Gorgonio López back to Yaxchilan to make molds by this process and to remove certain lintels, under a permit granted by the Government of Guatemala, within the borders of which the ruins were considered at that time to lie. These pieces were sent to London, and are now in the British Museum.
There is one exception: the front edge of one lintel was sent by mistake to Berlin. Maudslay published a photograph of a cast of this piece (Maudslay 1889- 1902, vol. 2, pl. 98). Its provenience has never been known. In a letter to C.P. Bowditch from Merida, October 3, 1903, (Peabody Museum Archives), Maler attributed this lintel, which he designated as Lintel 47, to the central doorway of Structure 9, but it is clear that the stone shaft he saw was really Stela 27. I, however, found a lintel with its front edge cut off lying between Structures 74 and 11. The dimensions of the sawn face correspond with those of the plaster cast (the original was destroyed during World War II). The exact position of the lintel was not recorded, but I remember it as lying close to the northeast corner of Structure 74. However, it is probable that it came from Structure 11; a note on a manuscript version of Maudslay’s site plan (British Museum, Dept. of Ethnography) refers to House C (Structure 11) as a “much ruined house, 2 lintels in position with hieroglyphs.” At the time of writing, there is no means of determining which doorway in the building it came from, so that its placing in the site plan given here is arbitrary. Its designation as Lintel 56 is due to Morley.
The most extensive report on Yaxchilan is that of Teobert Maler. Following a brief visit in 1895, Maler returned to the ruins in 1897, spending the months of July and August digging out fallen stelae and lintels and photographing them. On this visit he discovered Structures 39- 41. Maler’s work was completed during the months of January to March 1900, while he was working under the auspices of the Peabody Museum. In addition to photographs, Maler took a number of paper molds during that visit, the casts from which are in the Peabody Museum; unfortunately they do not show fine detail. Maler’s report, with its superb photographs, was published three years later (Maler 1903).
Unwilling to adopt the name used by Maudlay for the ruins, Maler devised another: Yaxchilan Xlabpak (letter to Bowditch, May 11, 1897, Peabody Museum Archives), the “Xlabpak” being later, and rather mercifully, dropped. Maler admittedly had grounds for rejecting the linguistically hybrid combination of Menché with Tinamit (Maudslay, it may be noted, never wrote “Menché Tinamit” in his text; his only use of it was on his site plan), but “Yaxchilan” is no less objectionable, and should never have been adopted.
Morley paid two brief visits to Yaxchilan in 1914, and a third lasting a month in April- May 1931, when several new inscriptions were recorded. During this third sojourn he was accompanied by Karl Ruppert and John Bolles, the latter being responsible for surveying the ruins to produce the plan published by Morley (1937- 38, vol. 5, pl. 201).
Linton Satterthwaite spent a week working at Yaxchilan in 1934, and two weeks in 1935, when he discovered Lintels 57, 58, and 59.
A more detailed account of investigations at Yaxchilan by those already mentioned, and by others, is given by Morley (ibid., vol. 2, pp. 342- 344). Doubt, however, may be cast on his view that “the first European known to have visited the site would seem to have been the Maestro de Campo Jacobo de Alçayaga,” in 1696. Morley writes that Alçayaga and his party left Dolores and set off down the Lacantun River in fifteen large canoes, traveling “downstream to the confluence of the Lacantun and the Usumacinta, and then probably down the latter for some 550 km (140 leagues) in a vain search for Lake Peten Itza. While exploring the banks of the Usumacinta, they discovered Yaxchilan”; Villagutierre’s account of the soldiers’ coming upon ancient ruins near the river is then quoted. The chief difficulty with this is that Villagutierre expressly states that from the mouth of the Lacantun the flotilla went upstream (Villagutierre 1701, p. 362).
For three decades after the work of Morley and Satterthwaite, nothing worthy of note occurred at Yaxchilan, other than the steady erosion of sculptures that now lay exposed for the first time to rain and moss. Photographs show, for example, that in 1931 the design on one side of the large lowermost fragment of Stela 7 was still in excellent condition, although the design on the other side was almost obliterated; by 1970 both sides were almost equally eroded.
An aspect that more than counterbalanced the neglect of conservation during this period was the nearly total absence of looting. This was due to the wise decision of the Mexican authorities to install a guardian, Ulíses de la Cruz, some of whose sons and grandsons have followed in his footsteps. While I cannot claim to have inventoried the sculpture yet, I know of only one significant (and lamentable) loss: the upper step from the central doorway of Structure 44.
In 1966, a number of stelae and lintels were transported by boat to Agua Azul, and thence by air to Mexico City, for installation in the new Museo Nacional de Antropología. Among the pieces removed was Stela 11, which was found, upon delivery at Agua Azul, to be too large and too heavy for the aircraft. It was later brought back to Yaxchilan by Gertrude Duby de Blom, and is lying at present under a protective roof to the east of Structure 5.
In 1973, a program of restoration at Yaxchilan was initiated by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, with Roberto García Mol appointed field director the following year. At the time of writing, Structures 6, 19, and 33 have been consolidated; excavation in front of Structure 33 has revealed a step composed of thirteen carved blocks, designated HS2 in the present work; the well- preserved lower portion of the incised stalactite noticed by Maler in front of the same structure was also found, and is designated as Stela 31; and the carved altar on the north side of Stela 3, shown by Maler on his plan and in his figure 46c, but apparently not seen by Morley, has come to light. It is here designated as Altar 22.
One sculpture ascribed to this site must be rejected the so- called Yaxchilan Lintel 60 (Barthel 1966). This lintel can instead be confidently attributed to a small site named La Pasadita, situated to the north of Yaxchilan, in Guatemalan territory.
My work of recording the sculpture of Yaxchilan has been carried out during numerous short visits, from 1970 onward.
Notes on the Ruins
For a general description of the ruins, the reader is referred to the rather detailed account of Bolles (Morley 1937- 38, vol. 2, pp. 351- 360).
The site plan provided in this volume has been copied from that published by Morley (1937- 38, vol. 5, pl. 201), which is based on the survey by Bolles. Small changes have been made, several of them in accordance with data incorporated by Morley in his great work subsequent to the drafting of the plan.
Morley’s separate symbols for sculptured and unsculptured altars have been retained, even though the latter is identical with the symbol for chultun given in volume 1, appendix B, of the Corpus (there are in fact no chultuns at Yaxchilan). The manner of representing buildings, and lintels in them, is likewise not in accord with those given in the same place.
The plain altars have not been given numbers, but the one plain stela has been designated as Stela 32.
On top of the famous masonry “pier” constructed on the rocky edge of the river’s central channel there lies a slab which may well have been an altar. It is not, however, marked as such on the plan.
It is hoped that before very long a new survey will be undertaken, so that a more detailed plan can be issued with a later section of this work.
Register of Inscriptions at Yaxchilan
Lintels 1-10, 12-22, 24-59
Hieroglyphic Stairways 1-3
Stelae 1-31
Altars 1-22
Ball-court Sculptures 1-5
Miscellaneous 1, 2
Notes
1. Although in this work stelae are generally treated before lintels, practical considerations here require their relegation to third place.
2. Lintels 11 and 23, provided for by Maler, appear never to have existed.
3. Hieroglyphic Stairways 1 to 3 are those of Structures 5, 33, and 44, respectively.
4. Miscellaneous 1 is the statue in Structure 33; Miscellaneous 2 is the inscription on the façade of Structure 41.
5. Ballcourt Sculptures 1 to 5 are marked on the plan with the designations given them by Morley, viz., a to e.
6. Lintel 19 is at present precariously poised over a doorway nearly filled with debris, and thus is impossible to photograph. Inspection shows Morley’s drawing (1937- 38, vol. 2, fig. 60) of the one remaining glyph to be essentially accurate. When a photograph becomes available, a description of the lintel will be issued in a later section of this work.
References Cited
BARTHEL, THOMAS S.
1966 “Yaxchilan Lintel 60: eine neuerwerbung im Berliner Museum für Völkerkunde,” Baessler-Archiv, n.s. vol. 14, pp. 125-138. Berlin.
CHARNAY, DESIRE
1885 Les anciennes villes du Nouveau Monde: voyages d’explorations au Mexique et dans l’Amérique Centrale. Paris.
GALINDO, JUAN
1833 “Description of the River Usumacinta, in Guatemala,” Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. 3, pp. 59-64. London.
JOYCE, THOMAS A.
1923 Guide to the Maudslay Collection. British Museum. London.
MALER, TEOBERT
1903 Researches in the Central Portion of the Usumacinta Valley. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, vol. 2, no. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts.
MAUDSLAY, ALFRED P.
1883 “Explorations in Guatemala and Examination of the Newly- discovered Indian Ruins of Quiriguá, Tikal, and the Usumacinta,” paper read at the Royal Geographical Society, London, December, 1882, and printed in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. 4, April 1883.
1889-1902 Biologia Centrali- Americana: Archaeology. 5 vols. London.
MORLEY, SYLVANUS G.
1937-38 The Inscriptions of Peten. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 437, 5 vols. Washington, D. C.
VILLAGUTIERRE SOTO-MAYOR, JUAN SE
1701 Historia de la conquista de la provincia de el Itza. Madrid.
Site Volume Reference
SITE
|
VOL/Part
|
Monument
|
Side
|
Page
|
Pub.year
|
Notes
|
Peabody Number
|
YAXCHALIN
|
3.1
|
Map
|
|
5
|
1977
|
|
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Map of Ruins
|
|
6
|
1977
|
|
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 1
|
|
13
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.1
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 2
|
underside
|
15
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.2
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 3
|
underside
|
17
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.3
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 4
|
underside
|
19
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.4
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 5
|
underside
|
21
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.5
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 6
|
underside
|
23
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.6
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 7
|
underside
|
25
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.7
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 8
|
underside
|
27
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.8
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 9
|
underside
|
29
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.9
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 10
|
underside
|
31
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.10
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 12
|
underside
|
33
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.11
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 13
|
underside
|
35
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.12
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 14
|
underside
|
37
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.13
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 15
|
underside
|
39
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.14
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 16
|
underside
|
41
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.15
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 17
|
underside
|
43
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.16
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 18
|
underside
|
45
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.17
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 20
|
underside frag
|
47
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.18
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 21
|
underside
|
49
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.19
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 22
|
underside
|
51
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.20
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 24
|
underside and front
|
53
|
1977
|
3 copies, 21.1;.2;.3
|
2004.15.6.5.21
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 25
|
front edge
|
55
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.22
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 25
|
front edge
|
56
|
1977
|
2 drawings are missing
|
2004.15.6.5.23
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 26
|
underside
|
57
|
1977
|
drawing missing
|
2004.15.6.5.26
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 26
|
front edge
|
58
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.28
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 27
|
front edge
|
59
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.29
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.1
|
Lintel 28
|
front edge
|
61
|
1977
|
|
2004.15.6.5.30
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 29
|
underside
|
67
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.1
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 30
|
|
69
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.2
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 31
|
|
71
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.3
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 32
|
|
73
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.4
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 33
|
|
75
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.5
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 34
|
|
77
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.6
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 35
|
|
79
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.7
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 37
|
|
83
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.8
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 38
|
front edge
|
85
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.9
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 39
|
front edge
|
87
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.10
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 40
|
front edge
|
89
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.11
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 41
|
|
91
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.12
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 42
|
|
93
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.13
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 43
|
underside
|
95
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.14
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 44
|
|
97
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.15
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 45
|
underside
|
99
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.16
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 45
|
details
|
100
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.17
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 46
|
underside
|
101
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.18
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 46
|
details
|
101
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.19
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 47
|
underside
|
103
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.20
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 48
|
underside
|
105
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.21
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 49
|
|
107
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.22
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 49
|
|
107
|
1979
|
smaller scale
|
2004.15.6.6.23
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 50
|
|
109
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.24
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 51
|
|
111
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.25
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 52
|
|
113
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.26
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 53
|
|
115
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.27
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 54
|
|
117
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.28
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 55
|
|
119
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.29
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 56
|
front edge
|
121
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.30
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 57
|
underside
|
123
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.31
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.2
|
Lintel 58
|
|
125
|
1979
|
|
2004.15.6.6.32
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.3
|
Lintel 59
|
|
131
|
1982
|
|
2004.15.6.7.1
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.3
|
Lintel 19
|
|
133
|
1982
|
|
2004.15.6.7.2
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.3
|
Lintel 23
|
front
|
135
|
1982
|
|
2004.15.6.7.3
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.3
|
Lintel 23
|
underside
|
136
|
1982
|
|
2004.15.6.7.4
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.3
|
Lintel 26
|
correction to 3:57
|
139
|
1982
|
no drawing
|
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.3
|
Lintel 34
|
additional framents
|
140
|
1982
|
no drawing
|
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.3
|
Map
|
|
141
|
|
|
2004.15.6.7.7
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.3
|
HS 1
|
step I
|
143
|
1982
|
oversize
|
2004.15.6.7.8
|
YAXCHILAN
|
3.3
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Book Author Reference
SITE (by Vol) | VOL/Part | Author(s) |
YAXCHILAN | 3.1 | Ian Graham and Eric von Euw, Vol 3.1, 1977 |
YAXCHILAN | 3.2 | Ian Graham, Vol. 3.2, 1979 |
YAXCHILAN | 3.3 | Ian Graham, Vol. 3.3, 1982 |
Inscriptions at Yaxchilan
Lintel 1
Location
In situ over the left (southeast) doorway of Structure 33, set with the top of the sculpture toward the northwest.
Condition
Intact and very well preserved, although at times obscured by white lichen. Traces of color noted by Maler are no longer apparent.
Material
Fine yellowish limestone.
Shape
Carved surface is flat; edges are not quite parallel.
Dimensions
MW
HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.94 m
0.82 m 0.83 m 0.40 m 0.7 cm |
Carved Areas
Underside only.
Photograph
Graham, 1974.
Drawing
Graham, based on field drawing corrected by artificial light.
Inscriptions
Dates
9.16.1.0.0 11 Ajaw 8 Sek (29 Apr, 752)
Description
The lintel depicts Bird Jaguar IV in dance alongside one of his wives or consorts, Lady Great Skull. The king manipulates a K'awiil scepter, while Lady Great Skull supports a large bundle of jades (marked with the label i-ka-tzi ihkaatz "jades"). The text suggests that this event took place in front of a large crowd.
Because the full regal name of Shield Jaguar IV appears at the close of the inscription (K2), it seems reasonable to regard this monument as having been commissioned during his reign rather than his father's.
Transcription, Transliteration and Translation
First passage (A1-I2):
11- AJAW 5-?- TI'-HUUN-na 8- ka-se-wa U-BAAH-hi ti-CH'AM-a-AK'-ta ti- ?-? TE'-ku-yu-XUKUB?- ? CHAN-na-AK'IN?-na mi?-xi-NAL ya- ?- BAHLAM a- 20- BAAK U-cha-CHAN AJ-u-ku U-cha-CHAN ?-? 3- WINIKHAAB ?-?- TE'-la 3- WINIKHAAB ya-AJAW-TE' K'UH- ?- AJAW-wa K'UH-[PA']CHAN-AJAW-wa OCH-K'IN-ni KAL-TE'
Buluch-ajaw ho'-? ti'huun waxak-kaseew. U-baah ti-ch'am-ak'Vt ti-? te' kuy xukub?-? chan ak'in? mixnal? ?-bahlam aj-winik-baak, u-chan aj-uk, u-chan ?, uhx-winikhaab ?, uhx winikhaab yajawte', k'uhul ?-ajaw, k'uhul pa'chan ajaw, ochik'in kaloomte'.
"On 11 Ajaw (G9) 8 Sek, it is his image in the act of the receiving dance, of the ? dance, the tree, owl, horn and ? sky god (of?) Mixnal, Bird Jaguar IV, he of 20 captives, the master of Aj Uk, the master of Jeweled Skull, three katun ?, three katun lineage lord, holy king of ?, holy king of broken sky, the west kaloomte'."
Second passage (E1-K3):
U-BAAH-hi ti-CHAN-na-li IX- 1-? NAAH-ka-KAAN IX- 20- ki TI'-HUUN- ?- WINIK-ki CHAK-IX-CHAM-mi ya- ? -na ITZAMNAAJ?-BAHLAM ?-?- ji-AJAW
Ubaah ti-chan-il ix juun-?-naah-kaan, ix-ti'huun-?-winik, ix chak chami. Y-a...n Itzamnaaj Bahlam ?-ajaw.
"It is her image in the act of public performance, Lady First ?-House Snake, Prophetess ?-person, Lady Great Skull. She is the mother of Shield Jaguar IV, the ?-Lord."
Lintel 2
Location
In situ over the central doorway of Structure 33, set with the top of the sculpture toward the northwest.
Condition
Intact and very well preserved, although at times obscured by lichen. Traces of color noted by Maler are no longer apparent.
Material
Fine yellowish limestone.
Shape
Carved surface is flat; edges are nearly parallel.
Dimensions
Carved Areas
Underside only.
Photograph
Graham, of plaster cast made by him.
Drawing
Graham, based on plaster cast.
Inscriptions
Dates
9.16.6.0.0 4 Ajaw 3 Sotz' (3 Apr, 757)
Description
The lintel depicts Bird Jaguar IV in dance alongside his young son, the future Shield Jaguar IV. The king manipulates two flowered bird staffs, while Shield Jaguar IV also carries one of these staffs. The text suggests that this dance commemorated Bird Jaguar IV's fifth year of rule.
Transcription, Transliteration, and Translation
First passage (A1-E1, K1-N1, O1-O4 and P1-Q1):
4- AJAW 3- TE-SUUTZ' TZUTZ?-ja U- 5 -HAAB-ta ti-AJAW-le a-AK'-ta-ja ti- ? [ku]-pi ya- ?- BAHLAM AJ- 20 -BAAK U-cha-CHAN AJ-u-ku 3 -WINIKHAAB-AJAW-wa K'UH- ?- AJAW K'UH-[PA']CHAN-na-AJAW ba-ka-ba
Chan-ajaw uhx-te'-suutz', tzuhtzaj u-ho'-haab-tal ti-ajaw-lel. Ak'taj ti-? ?-bahlam, aj-winik-baak, u-chan aj-uk, uhx-winikhaab-ajaw, k'uhul-?-ajaw, k'uhul-pa'chan-ajaw, baahkab.
"On 4 Ajaw 3 Suutz' his fifth year in lordship finishes. He dances with the ?, Bird Jaguar IV, he of 20 captives, master of Aj Uk, the 3 katun lord, the holy lord of ?, the holy lord of pa'chan, the baahkab".
Second passage (F1-H1, I1-I2, J1-J3):
U-BAAH-hi ti-a-AK'-ta ti- ?[ ku ]- pi MUY-CHAN-na YOPAAT-ti che-le-TE' CHAN-na-K'INICH K'UH- ?- AJAW-wa
U-baah ti-ak'Vt ti-? muy chan yopaat chelte' chan k'inich, k'uhul ?-ajaw.
"It is his image in dance with the ?, Muy Chan Yopaat Chelte' Chan K'inich (i.e., Shield Jaguar IV), holy lord of ?"
Lintel 3
Location
In situ over the right-hand (northwest) doorway of Structure 33, set with the top of the sculpture toward the northwest.
Condition
Intact and very well preserved. Of the traces of color noted by Maler only a small amount of red remains.
Material
Fine yellowish limestone.
Shape
Carved surface is flat; edges are nearly parallel.
Dimensions
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.96 m 0.85 m 0.80 m 0.38 m 0.5 cm |
Carved Areas
Underside only.
Photograph
Graham, 1974.
Drawing
Graham, based on plaster cast.
Inscriptions
Dates
9.16.5.0.0 8 Ajaw 8 Sotz' (8 Apr, 756)
Description
The lintel depicts Bird Jaguar IV in dance alongside one of his sajals, K'in Mo' Ajaw. Both the king and his sajal manipulate K'awiil scepters in commemoration of the first hotun of the seventeenth katun.
Transcription, Transliteration, and Translation
First passage (A1-D3, G1-H2 and I1-J3):
8- AJAW IK-K'IN-NAL-TI'-HUUN-na 8- TE'-SUUTZ' NAAH-HO'-TUUN U-BAAH-hi ti-CH'AM-AK'-ta ti-CH'AHOOM?-ma ti- ?- yu mi?-xi-NAL ya- ?- BAHLAM AJ- 20- BAAK U-cha-CHAN AJ-u-ku U-cha-CHAN u- ? 3- WINIKHAAB a-ja-wa 3- WINIKHAAB ch'a-jo-ma K'UH- ?- AJAW K'UH-[PA']CHAN-na-AJAW
Waxak-ajaw ik'inal-ti'huun waxak-te'-suutz'. Naah-ho'tuun. U-baah ti-ch'am-ak'Vt ti-ch'ahoom? ti-?, mixnal? ?-bahlam, aj-winik-baak, u-chan aj-uk, u-chan ?, uhx-winikhaab-ajaw, uhx-winikhaab-ch'ahoom, k'uhul-?-ajaw, k'uhul-pa'chan-ajaw.
"It is 8 Ajaw (G9) 8 Sotz'. It is the first ho'tuun. It is his image in the receiving dance, in the ch'ahoom dance?, in the ?-dance?, (at) Mixnal?, Bird Jaguar IV, he of 20 captives, master of Aj Uk, master of Jeweled Skull, three katun lord, three katun ch'ahoom, holy lord of ?, holy lord of pa'chan."
Second passage (F1-F4):
AJ-tza[a] K'IN-ni-MO-AJAW 3- WINIKHAAB sa-ja-la
aj-tza' (or aj-atz) k'inmo'ajaw uhx-winikhaab-sajal
"It is Aj Tza' (or Aj Atz), K'in Mo' Ajaw, the 3 katun sajal".
Lintel 4
Photo of Yaxchilan, Lintel 4, underside, 2004.15.5.5.4
Location
This lintel, which is made up of two slabs, was found by Maler in debris on the north side of Structure 34. The number of doorways once existing in this structure is uncertain, but Maler mentions another two-part lintel found close to it, the carving of which was nearly obliterated.
Condition
The left (inner) half was in mediocre condition when found; since then it has undergone further severe erosion. The other half is described by Maler as having sculpture "so thoroughly demolished that it could not be photographed."
Material
Limestone.
Shape
The outer beam of the lintel is reported to have a rectangular cross section, whereas the other has a beveled inner edge, presumably so as to lie flush with vaulting that sprang from the level of the lintel's underside.
Dimensions
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.97 m 1.11 m 0.87 m 0.32 m 2.0 cm |
Note
The figure for MW given here refers to the lower surface; the greater breadth of the upper surface was not measured.
Carved Areas
Underside only, apparently.
Photograph
Reproduced from Maler's original negative of 1900.
Drawing
Graham, based on photographs by Maler, Morley, and Graham.
Inscriptions
Dates
No surviving date.
Description
Although heavily eroded, this lintel may once have depicted a scene like that of Lintel 26. What survives of the text and iconography indicates that this is a depiction of Shield Jaguar III, who carries the same shield and knife and wears the same jaguar helmet as on the other lintel. Maler mentioned that the other half of the lintel (not illustrated) contained significant but heavily eroded sculpture. Quite probably this would have depicted Shield Jaguar's principal wife (Lady K'abal Xook) or a subordinate sajal.
Transcription, Transliteration, and Translation
The text is too eroded for a reliable transcription, though the introductory phrase "it is his image in the act of" ( u-baah ti-? ) is visible at A1-B1, as well as Shield Jaguar III's name and typical titles at C4-D8 (Itzamnaaj? Bahlam, ho'-winikhaab ajaw, u-chan aj-? k'uhul-?-ajaw, k'uhul-pa'chan-ajaw ).
Lintel 5
Location
Found by Maler in debris in front of the left (east) doorway of the north-facing front of Structure 1.
Condition
Broken in two when found. The larger piece was evidently in good condition, whereas the smaller showed some erosion. Since then, the larger piece has deteriorated somewhat.
Material
Limestone.
Shape
The sculptured surface is flat; the sides are parallel and well finished.
Dimensions
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.84 m 0.90 m 0.73 m 0.40 m 0.3 cm |
Carved Areas
Underside only.
Photograph
Reproduced from Maler's original negative of 1900.
Drawing
Graham, based on field drawing corrected by artificial light.
Inscriptions
Dates
9.16.1.2.0 12 Ajaw 8 Yaxk'in (8 June, 752)
Description
The lintel depicts Bird Jaguar IV in dance alongside one of his wives or consorts, Lady Six Sky of the Ik' Polity. The king manipulates two flower-bearing staves with birds at their tips, whereas the woman holds a bundle marked with the probable glyph for "jade" ( i-ka-*tzi ihkaatz ).
Transcription, Transliteration, and Translation
First passage (B1-C3 and A1-A5):
12- AJAW 8- YAX-K'IN-ni a-AK'-ta-ja ti- ?[ ku ]- pi TE'-ku-yu XUKUB?-OHL?-la CHAN-AK'IN? mi?-xi?-NAL?-la? ya- ?- BAHLAM a- 20- BAAK K'UH-[*PA']*CHAN-*na-AJAW
Lajchan-ajaw waxak-yaxk'in, ak'taj ti-? te'-kuy-xukub?-ohl? chan ak'in? mixnal? ?-bahlam, aj-winik-baak k'uhul-pa'chan?-ajaw
"On 12 Ajaw 8 Yaxk'in he dances with the ?, the tree, owl, horn and sky god, mixnal(?), Bird Jaguar IV, he of twenty captives, holy lord of pa'chan(?)".
Second passage (D1-D4):
IXIK 6- CHAN- ? AJAW-wa IX-IK'-AJAW
Ixik wak-chan-?-ajaw, ix-ik'-ajaw
"Lady Six Sky Lord, Noblewoman of Ik'."
Lintel 6
LOCATION Found by Maler in debris in front of the central doorway of the north-facing front of Structure 1.
CONDITION Unbroken. In good condition when found, except for erosion in the area occupied by glyph column A, where the stone was naturally soft, or had become softened. Since discovery, the sculpture has lost some fine detail; erosion of glyph column A and part of the headdress has been severe.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone, flawed by holes.
SHAPE Sculptured surface is flat; the sides are parallel.
DIMENSIONS
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.88 m 0.89 m 0.79 m 0.31 m 0.3 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Reproduced from Maler's original negative of 1900.
DRAWING Graham, based on field drawing corrected by artificial light and on a plaster cast made by Maler.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
9.16.1.8.6 8 Kimi 14 Mak (12 Oct, 752)
DESCRIPTION
The lintel depicts Bird Jaguar IV in dance alongside his chief sajal, K'an Tok Wayib. Both men wield jaguar paw scepters, but the king also supports a tall staff with a miniature idol of K'awiil perched atop it. In his right hand, the sajal holds a rectangular object, probably a wooden box filled with auto-sacrificial equipment.
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
First passage (A1-A7):
8- CHAM? 14-ma-*MAK *AK'-*ta-ja *ti- ? AJ- *20- *BAAK 3- WINIKHAAB-AJAW ya- ?- BAHLAM
Waxak-ajaw chanlajuun-mak, ak'taj ti-?, aj-winik-baak, uhx-winikhaab-ajaw, ?-bahlam
"On 8 Ajaw 14 Mak, he dances with the ?, he of 20 captives, the 3 katun lord, Bird Jaguar IV."
Second passage (B1-B7):
U-BAAH-ji ti-AK'-ta ti-CHAK-AT-ta U-cha-CHAN ko-TE'-AJAW K'AN-*TOK-*ko-wa-*WAY[*bi] ba-sa-ja-la
U-baah ti-ak'Vt ti-chakat, u-chan kokte'-ajaw, k'antokwayib baah-sajal
"It is his image in the act of dancing with the chakat, the captor of Kokte' Ajaw, K'an Tok Wayib, the head (or chief) sajal."
Lintel 7
LOCATION Found by Maler in debris in front of the right (west) doorway of the north-facing front of Structure 1.
CONDITION Unbroken. Moderately eroded when found. A diagonal flaw in the lower central region showed greater erosion; it seems to have existed from the beginning as a depression, since the upper left-hand corner of the glyph panel F-C is carved at a lower level. This and a second, parallel, stratum of soft stone between this panel and the neighboring foot may have dictated the placing and shape of this panel. These two strata have been severely eroded since the lintel was excavated.
MATERIAL Limestone.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat; the sides are parallel.
DIMENSIONS
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.89 m 0.90 m 0.75 m 0.37 m 0.8 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Reproduced from Maler's original negative of 1900.
DRAWING Graham, based on photographs, and checked against the original.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
9.16.1.8.8 10 Lamat 16 Mak (14 Oct, 752)
DESCRIPTION
The lintel depicts Bird Jaguar IV in dance alongside one of his wives or consorts, probably Lady Mut Bahlam of Hix Witz. The king manipulates a K'awiil scepter, while the woman supports a large bundle (probably of jades, given the hieroglyphic tags on a number of similar lintels).
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
First passage (B1-E1 and A1-A2):
10- *LAMAT 16- ma-MAK a-AK'-ta-ja ti- ? mi?-xi-NAL ya- ?- BAHLAM U-*cha-*CHAN AJ-*u-*ku a- 20- BAAK *K'UH- ?- AJAW
Lajuun-ajaw waklajuun-mak, ak'taj ti-? mixnal(?) ?-bahlam, u-chan aj-uk, aj-winik-baak, k'uhul-?-ajaw.
"On 10 Lamat 16 Mak, he dances with the ? (at?) Mixnal?, Bird Jaguar IV, the master of Aj Uk, he of twenty captives, holy lord of ?"
Second passage (F1-F2):
The woman's caption is almost completely destroyed, though the initial IX (at F1) and the probable BAHLAM (at G1) suggest her identification as Lady Mut Bahlam of Hix Witz (see Lintel 17).
Lintel 8
LOCATION Found by Maler in debris at the east end of Structure 1.
CONDITION The sculptured area is unbroken. At discovery, some areas of the very low relief showed some loss by weathering. Subsequent erosion has been slight.
MATERIAL Hard limestone, showing some flaws.
SHAPE The carved surface is flat; the sides are parallel.
DIMENSIONS
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.99 m 0.78 m 0.87 m 0.30 m 0.3 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Reproduced from Maler's original negative of 1900.
DRAWING Graham, based on photographs and on a plaster cast made by Maler.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
9.16.4.1.1 7 Imix 14 Sek (5 May, 755)
DESCRIPTION
This lintel depicts Bird Jaguar IV and his chief sajal taking captives in warfare. To the right, the king holds a spear and flexible shield in his left hand, and grasps the wrist of his captive (Jeweled Skull) with his right. To the left, K'an Tok Wayib grasps his captive (Kok Te' Ajaw) both by the hair and his heavy rope bindings.
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
First passage (A1-A4 and E1-E3):
*7- IMIX 14- ka-se chu-ka-ja u- ? U-ba-ki ya- ?- BAHLAM K'UH-[PA']CHAN-AJAW
Huk-imix chanlajuun-kaseew, chuhkaj ?. U-baak ?-bahlam, k'uhul-pa'chan-ajaw.
"On 7 Imix 14 Sek, Jeweled Skull is captured. He is the prisoner of Bird Jaguar IV, holy lord of Pa'chan."
Second passage (B1-D3):
U-cha-CHAN ko-TE'-AJAW K'AN-*na-TOK-ko wa-WAY[bi] sa-ja-la
U-chan kokte'-ajaw k'antokwayib sajal.
"He is the master of Kokte' Ajaw. He is K'antokwayib the sajal"
Caption 1 (F1):
ko-TE'-AJAW
kokte'-ajaw
"He is Kokte' Ajaw"
Caption 2 (G1):
The signs making up the name of 'Jeweled Skull' are still undeciphered. The occasional presence of an initial u- complement (e.g., on Lintel 3:H2 and Lintel 8:A4) suggest that the name begins with that sound, but nothing more can be determined at present.
Lintel 9
LOCATION Found by Maler in debris in front of the single doorway of Structure 2. Removed in 1964 to the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.
CONDITION Unbroken, and in almost pristine condition when found. Subsequent weathering obliterated much fine detail.
MATERIAL Fine yellowish limestone.
SHAPE The carved surface is flat; the sides are not quite parallel.
DIMENSIONS
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.77 m 0.98 m 0.66 m 0.36 m 1.1 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1974.
DRAWING Graham, based on drawing of original and on Maler's photograph and plaster cast.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
9.16.17.6.12 1 Eb 0 Mol (16 June, 768)
DESCRIPTION
This lintel depicts Bird Jaguar IV and his brother-in-law, Chak Chami. They dance while manipulating large flexible staffs (nicknamed "flapstaffs", but glyphically referred to as jasawchan ) . As Tate has shown, such events are probably associated with the summer solstice.
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
First passage (A1-A4 and B1-B8):
1- EB? TI'-HAAB YAX-K'IN-ni AK'-ta-ja ti-ja-sa-wa CHAN-*na 3- WINIKHAAB-AJAW ya- ?- BAHLAM U-cha-CHAN AJ-u-ku a- 20 -*BAAK K'UH- ?- AJAW K'UH-[PA']CHAN-AJAW
Juun-eb? ti'-haab-yaxk'in, ak'taj ti-jasaw-chan uhx-winikhaab-ajaw ?-bahlam, u-chan aj-uk, aj-winik-baak, k'uhul-?-ajaw, k'uhul-pa'chan-ajaw.
"On 1 Eb and the end of Yaxk'in, he dances with the jasawchan, the three katun ajaw, Bird Jaguar IV, master of Aj Uk, he of twenty captives, holy ?-lord, holy pa'chan lord".
Second passage (C1-C4):
CHAK-CHAM?-mi *yi-*cha-ni a-ja-AJAW AJ- 7?- BAAK
Chak-chami?. Y-ichaan ajaw, aj-huk-baak.
"He is Chak Chami. He is the maternal uncle of the lord, he of six captives."
Lintel 10
LOCATION Found by Maler half-buried in a low mound, Structure 3.
CONDITION Intact, but for a portion broken off and not yet located, resulting in the loss of two-thirds of one glyph-block. The lintel was well preserved at discovery; since then it has lost some fine details due to erosion. MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE Carved surface is flat; one edge is trimmed at a noticeable angle.
DIMENSIONS
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.85 m 0.78 m 0.73 m 0.24 m 0.4 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1973.
DRAWING Graham, based on field drawing corrected by artificial light and on Maler's plaster cast.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
9.18.17. 12. 6 7 Kimi 14 Sip (12 March, 808)
+ 1. 4
9.18.17.13.10 5 Ok 18 Sotz' (5 April, 808)
+ 4
9.18.17.13.14 9 Hix 2 Sek (9 April, 808)
DESCRIPTION
This all-glyphic lintel is rendered in a distinctively cramped style, and was thought by Morley to be among the earliest monuments of the site. Nevertheless, the initial date (with its clear 'G3' notation) is persuasively late, and the text clearly names the final king of Yaxchilan, and provides his parentage (naming the penultimate king and his consort). As such, this may well be the latest monument at the site.
The text contains references to the bellicose reign of K'inich Tatbu Jol III, including a "star war" and a number of capture events, but also to the dedication of Temple 3, seemingly the waybil or "dormitory" of a number of patron gods. As David Stuart has shown, this text is most noteworthy for its record of the capture of Ruler 7 of Piedras Negras in April of 808.
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
First passage (A1-B3):
7- CHAM? [JUL]JAN?-na-TI'-HUUN-na 14- CHAK-*AT ya-YAL-ja U- 2- WAL? BAAH-hi KAL?-ma-TE' U-cha-CHAN a-AHK-MO' K'UH- ?- AJAW-wa
Huk kimi, hul-hanaab?-ti'huun, chanlajuun chakat. Yahlaj u-cha'-wal? baah kaloomte'?, u-chan ahkul mo', k'uhul-?-ajaw.
"It is 7 Kimi (G3) 14 Sip. The second ? of the head kaloomte'(?), of the master of Ahkul Mo', of the holy ?-lord, is thrown down."
Second passage (A4-A7):
CH'AY?-yi K'UH-TE'-la YAX-HUL-wi-tzi U?-*KAB?-ji TUUN-ni su-wu?-lu AHK-la K'IN-a-tu-TOK'-PAKAL U-cha-CHAN-TAJ-MO'-o AJ- 16- BAAK-K'UH-[PA']CHAN]-AJAW
Ch'ay-i? k'uhte'el yaxhulwitz. Ukabij? tuun suwul? ahkal, k'ina t-u-took' t-u-pakal, u-chan tajmo', aj-waklajuun-baak, k'uhul-pa'chan-ajaw.
"K'uhte'el Yaxjhulwitz is destroyed. He governed it, Stone Suwul? Turtle,the sun, with his flints, with his shields, the captor of Tajmo', he of sixteen captives, the holy lord of pa'chan."
Third passage (B7-C7):
chu-ka-ja AJ-YAX-MO'-SUUTZ' ?- KAL?-TE'? tu-YAL- 2- WAL?-la BAAH-hi-si-ji-AJ *K'IN[chi]-ni-ta-bu-JOL AJ-K'AN-na-ba-na-ka U-cha-CHAN AHK-[ku]lu MO'-o-AJ-CHAK-JU'?-TE' AJ-k'a[ba]-la-XOOK?-ki U-BAAH-hi-U- 1- TAHN-na 5-?-?- IXIK-K'UH IXIK-K'UH IXIK-ki IX-CH'AJB-AJAW U-BAAH-ji-U-[CHIT]CH'AJB U-cha-CHAN-TAJ-MO'-o
Chuhkaj ajyaxmo'suutz' ?-kaloomte'?. T-u-yal cha'-wal? baah-sijaj k'inich tatbu jol, aj k'an-banak, u-chan ahkul mo', aj chak-ju'te', aj k'abal-xook?. U-baah u-juun-tahn ho'-? ixik k'uh, ixik k'uh, ixik, ix-ch'ajb-ajaw. U-baah u-chit u-ch'ajb u-chan taj mo'.
"Aj Yax Mo' Suutz' the ?-kaloomte' is captured. It is in the second ? of the head gifter?. of K'inich Tatbu Jol III, yellow-?, the master of Ahkul Mo', Aj Chak Ju'te, Aj K'abal Xook. He is the child of Lady Ch'ajb Ajaw. He is the child of the master of Taj Mo'."
Fourth passage (D7-F4):
U- 4-20- *[la]ta-I-u-ti 5- OOK *IK'-K'IN-*ni-NAL 18- SUUTZ'-OCH-chi-K'AHK' tu-WAY[*bi]-li-AJ-K'AHK' *O'-*CHAHK-ki ?- la [PA']CHAN- ?- ji?- ?-?- ji? SAK-BAAK-NAAH-CHAPAHT-TAJ-*wa-WAY-*bi 6- KAB- ?- YAX-a?-AJAW-wa ya-AJAW-wa-TOK'-AJAW-wa U-KAB-ji-ya-U-cha-CHAN a-[ku]lu-MO'-K'UH-[PA']CHAN-AJAW
U-chan-winik-lat, i-uht-i ho'-ook ik'inal waxaklajuun suutz'. Och-i-k'ahk' t-u-way-b-il aj-k'ahk'-o'-chahk, ? pa'chan-?, ?, sakbaaknaahchapaht, tajwayib, wak-kab-?, yaxajaw, y-ajaw tok'ajaw. U-kab-j-iiy u-chan ahkul ajaw k'uhul-pa'chan-ajaw.
"Four and twenty days pass, and then occurs 5 Ok (G9) 18 Sotz'. Fire enters into the dormitory (i.e., "shrine") of Aj K'ahk' O' Chahk, of ?-Pa'chan-?, of ?, of Sak Baak Naah Chapaht, of Taj Wayib, of Wak-Kab-? the Yaxa'-ajaw, vassal of the flint lord. He governed it, the master of Ahkul Mo', the holy pa'chan lord."
Fifth and final passage (E5-F8):
U- 4- la-ta I-u-ti- 9- HIX- 2- ka[*se]-wa ya-YAL-U-BAAK?- ?- mi-ch'a-HOM-ma K'INICH-ta-bu-JOL-AJ-K'AN-ba-na-ka chu[ja]-*ka- ?-?-? -k'e-se cho-ko ba-TE'-e ?- le-e ?- AJ- ?-? 6- [ke]te-U-BAAK-tzi-li-ma-CH'AJB[AK'AB] K'INICH- ?- AHK-U-ba-ki U-cha-CHAN a-ku[lu]-MO'-o-K'UH-[PA']*CHAN-AJAW
U-chan-lat, i-uht-i baluun-hix cha'-kaseew. Y-al u-baak? ?-ch'ahoom k'inich tatbu jol, aj k'an-banak. Chuhkaj? ?-K'es, chok b'aah?-te'el-e?, aj-?, wak-tek?, u-baak-tzil? ma'-ch'ajb ma'-ahk'ab, k'inich-?-ahk, u-baak u-chan ahkul mo', k'uhul-pa'chan-ajaw.
"Four days pass, and then occurs 9 Hix (G9) 2 Sek. The captive of the ?-ch'ahoom, of K'inich Tatbu Jol III, of aj k'an-banak falls. He is captured, ?-K'es; thrown he, the baahte', he of ?, six-?, the honorable captive, the powerless one, Ruler 7, the captive of the master of Ahkul Mo', of the holy lord of pa'chan."
Lintel 12
LOCATION Found by Maler buried in debris in front of the fallen left (southeast) doorway of Structure 20. Removed in 1964 to the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.
CONDITION Unbroken. A moderate degree of erosion has most seriously affected the hieroglyphic panels, which were carved in very low relief.
MATERIAL Limestone of uneven quality.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is fairly flat, but shows some flaws, the most noticeable of them being a hollow in the upper right-hand corner; this flaw is clearly visible in the stereophoto. The sides are trimmed in symmetrical convergence toward the top.
DIMENSIONS
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.98 m 0.79 m 0.87 m 0.33 m 0.8 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1974.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on Morley's photograph.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
The date is too eroded to be read securely, though 1/2/3- AJAW seems probable for the tzolkin position, 1/2/3 for the month coefficient, and probably either Muwan or Xul for the month name.
DESCRIPTION
Based on carving style and its association with others in Structure 20, this heavily eroded lintel seems to depict the arraignment of four captives before Bird Jaguar IV and one of his lieutenants. This is also supported by the fragmentary chuhkaj "capture" glyph appearing at B2.
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
Other than the fragmentary date (B1-C1, discussed above) and the "capture" glyph (B2), this text is far too eroded to be read.
Lintel 13
LOCATION When found by Maudslay this lintel had already fallen to the ground from the central doorway of Structure 20.
CONDITION Unbroken, and moderately eroded at the time of discovery. Since then further slight erosion may have occurred, to judge by Morley's photograph taken in 1931.
MATERIAL Limestone of good quality.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat; the edges are irregular and unsymmetrical.
DIMENSIONS
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.99 m 0.75 m 0.88 m 0.33 m 1.1 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1974.
DRAWING Von Euw, based on plaster casts made by Maudslay and Graham.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
9.16.0.14.5 1 Chikchan 13 Pop (13 February, 752)
DESCRIPTION
This lintel depicts Bird Jaguar IV and his wife or consort Lady Chak Chami wielding hafted bloodletters and other bloodletting paraphernalia. A large serpent disgorges the probable form of their child, the future Shield Jaguar IV (the figure's headdress touches a reference to Shield Jaguar IV's birth in the main text, at A3). The scene is probably a metaphorical one, though many key textual passages remain eroded and obscure.
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
First passage (A1-B1):
1- CHIKCHAN ? 13- *KAN-*JAL-wa SIH?-ya-ja che-le-TE' CHAN-na-K'INICH
Juun-chikchan? uhxlajuun-k'anjalaw? sihyaj chelte' chan k'inich
"On 1 Chikchan(?) 13 Pop, Chelte' Chan K'inich is born"
Second passage (C1-D5):
U-BAAH?[AAN?]-hi? tu- ?-? ?- IX-K'UH IXIK CHAK-CHAM?-mi IX-sa-ja-la 3- WINIKHAAB IX- ? AJ?- ?- na AJ- 13- BAAK? ?-? ?- se?- ?-?
U-baahil-aan tu-... ?-ixik-k'uh ix-chak-chami ix-sajal uhx-winikhaab-ix-? aj-? aj-uhxlajuun-baak? ? ?
"She is the likeness of the goddess ?, the holy lady, Lady Chak Chami, lady sajal, the three katun lady ?, she of ?, she of 13 captives?, ...
Third passage (E1-F5):
U-BAAH[*AAN]-hi 1-?- CHAN? ya- ?- BAHLAM a- 20- BAAK U-cha-CHAN *AJ-u-ku 3- WINIKHAAB?-AJAW? K'UH?- ?- AJAW ba-ka-ba
U-baahil-aan juun-?-chan? ?-bahlam, aj-winik-baak, u-chan aj-uk, uhx-winikhaab-ajaw? k'uhul-?-ajaw, baahkab.
"He is the likeness of the waterlily serpent, Bird Jaguar IV, he of twenty captives, master of Aj Uk, 3 katun lord, holy lord of pa'chan, baahkab."
Lintel 14
LOCATION In situ over the right-hand (northwest) doorway of Structure 20, set with the top of the sculpture oriented toward the southeast.
CONDITION In pristine state.
MATERIAL Fine yellowish limestone.
SHAPE The carved surface is flat; the edges are parallel. The border of the sculptured area is by no means rectangular, although the slanting upper and curved lower margins conform well to the masonry jambs upon which the lintel rests.
DIMENSIONS
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.91 m 0.78 m 0.80 m 0.32 m 1.9 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1974.
DRAWING Graham, based on plaster cast by von Euw.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
9.15.10.0.1 4 Imix 4 Mol (27 Jun, 741)
DESCRIPTION
This lintel depicts Lady Chak Chami and her brother, the sajal Chak Chami, wielding hafted bloodletters and other bloodletting paraphernalia. As on Lintel 13, a large serpent disgorges the probable form of her child, the future Shield Jaguar IV. Though he is not mentioned by name in this text, both of the principal figures relate themselves to him.
The main text refers to the conjuring of the serpent (named the Chanal Chak Bay Kaan, or "towering red thorn snake"), which is related directly to Lady Chak Chami through an unclear derivation of the root way "to dream".
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
First passage (D1-F4):
4- IMIX? 4- mo-lo TZAK-ja K'AWIIL KAB?-MUWAAN [CHAN]NAL-la CHAK-ba-ya-ka-KAAN. U-WAY-ja-la-ya (or WAY-la-ja-ya ) ?- IXIK-K'UH IXIK-CHAK-CHAM IX-sa-ja ya- ?- AJAW
Chan-imix chan-mol tzahkaj k'awiil, kab?-muwaan chanal-chak-bay-kaan. U-wayjalay (or u-waylajay) ?-ixik-k'uh, ixik-chak-chami, ix-sajal, y-...-ajaw.
"On 4 Imix 4 Mol, K'awiil Kab?-Muwaan Chanalchakbaykaan is conjured. He/it is the the wayjalay (or waylajay) of the holy woman, Lady Chak Chami, lady sajal, the mother of the king."
Second passage (A1-C1):
U-BAAH[AAN]-hi-li K'UH?-IX- ?- AJAW IX-YAX-ja-la
U-baahil-aan k'uhul-ix-?-ajaw ix-yax-j-al
"She is the likeness of the holy lady of ?, of Lady Yaxjal."
Third passage (G1-G5):
U-BAAH[AAN]-li YAX-CHIT- ? AJ-tu?-ba-ye-ta CHAK-CHAM-sa-ja-la *yi-CHAN-AJAW
U-baahil-aan yax-chit-? aj-? chak-chami sajal u-chan? ajaw.
"He is the likeness of the waterlily serpent, he of ?, Chak Chami, the sajal, the guardian? of the king."
Lintel 15
LOCATION From the left (southeast) doorway of the central chamber of Structure 21. Maudslay describes the three sculptured lintels of this building as "almost com-pletely buried" at the time of his first visit in 1882. The following year he sent his Guatemalan assistant to dig them out; they are now in the British Museum. It is not clear whether some or all of them had until then been in situ, as Maler believed.
CONDITION Sculptured area sawn from the body of the lintel. There is one clean break across the panel; otherwise the surface is in almost pristine state. Traces of red paint remain on background areas.
MATERIAL Fine yellowish limestone.
SHAPE The carved surface is flat; the sides are parallel. The upper and lower margins are inclined in contrary senses.
DIMENSIONS
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.83 m 0.67 m 0.80 m 0.08 m 1.0 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1975.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
9.16.3.16.19 4 *Kawak 12 Sip (24 March, 755), or
9.16.17.2.4 4 *K'an 12 Sip (20 March, 768)
DESCRIPTION
This lintel depicts Lady Wak Tuun of the Ik' polity, a wife or consort of Bird Jaguar IV. She holds bloodletting paraphernalia, and communes with a spirit called up from the otherworld. According to the text, this entity is an aspect of the waterlily serpent, itself the nagual of the lightning deity, K'awiil.
The date is uncertain due to erosion of the day name. Yet the earlier placement seems most likely given the dates and events of lintel 16 (see Tate 1992:198-199).
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
Main passage (A1-B2 and E1-G3):
4- *CHAJUK ? 12- CHAK-AT TZAK-ja YAX-CHIT? NAAH-KAAN U-WAY-ya K'AWIIL-la i-TZAK YAX-tz'a[ ? ]-wa ?- na ?- KAB?- ?- ji
Chan-chajuk? lajchan-chakat, tzahkaj yaxchitnaahkaan? U-way k'awiil. I-tzahk yax-tz'aC-aw ? ? ?
"On 4 Kawak 12 Sip, the Waterlily Serpent is conjured. He is the nagual of K'awiil. Then, she conjures? for the first time at ?"
Second passage (C1-C4):
U-BAAH-li ?- la-IXIK-K'UH IX- 6- TUUN-ni IX-IK'-AJAW IX ba-ka-ba
U-baah-il ?-ixik-k'uh ix-wak-tuun ix-ik'-ajaw ix-baahkab.
"It is the the image of the ? holy woman, Lady Six Stone, Lady of the Ik' polity, Lady Baahkab."
Lintel 16
LOCATION From the central doorway of Structure 21, from which it was removed to London in 1883 at Maudslay's instance (see comments supra on Lintel 15). It is now in the British Museum.
CONDITION Sculptured area sawn from body of the lintel. Surface is in pristine state; there is no trace of paint.
MATERIAL Fine yellowish limestone.
SHAPE The carved surface is flat; the edges are parallel.
DIMENSIONS
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.75 m 0.70 m 0.60 m 0.006 m (swan) 0.7 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1975.
DRAWING Graham, based on drawing of the original.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
9.16.0.13.17 6 Kaban 5 Pop (5 February, 752)
DESCRIPTION
This lintel depicts Bird Jaguar IV, shield and spear in hand, receiving a bruised and battered captive taken in warfare. The text indicates that the captive was a prominent sublord ( sajal ) of Pay Lakam Chahk, the king of Santa Elena, a small site on the Río San Pedro Martir.
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
First passage (A1-B3, C1-E1 and F1-F5):
6- KAB 5- K'AN[JAL]-wa chu-ka-YAX-CHAB?-TOK' AJ-wa-k'a[bi]-U-sa[ja]-la pa-ya LAKAM-CHAHK wa-k'a-be?-AJAW ye-He?-TE' 3- WINIKHAAB-AJAW ya- ?- BAHLAM-ma AJ- 20- BAAK K'UH- [ PA' ] CHAN-na-AJAW
Wak-kab ho'-k'anjalaw, chuhkaj yaxchabtok' aj-wak'aab. U-sajal paylakamchahk wak'aab-ajaw. Y-eHte' uhx-winikhaab-ajaw ?-bahlam, aj-winik-baak, k'uhul-pa'chan-ajaw.
"On 6 Kaban 5 Pop, Yax Chab Tok' of wak'aab is captured. He is the sajal of Pay Lakam Chahk, the lord of Wak'aab. He is the property of the 3 k'atun lord, Bird Jaguar IV, he of 20 captives, holy lord of pa'chan."
Lintel 17
LOCATION From the right-hand (northwest) doorway of the central chamber of Structure 21, from which it was removed to the British Museum in 1883 at Maudslay's instance (see comments supra on Lintel 15).
CONDITION Sculptured area sawn from body of the lintel. The surface is somewhat weathered.
MATERIAL Fine yellowish limestone.
SHAPE The carved surface is slightly concave; the edges are parallel.
DIMENSIONS
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.74 m 0.64 m 0.60 m 0.05 m (swan) 1.0 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1975.
DRAWING Graham, based on drawing corrected by artificial light.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
No date recorded. Based on the possible birth verb (at A3), Tate (1992:198) suggests the same date as Lintel 13. Yet the required elements for Shield Jaguar IV's name phrase are not present, and it is unlikely to be a duplicate reference to his birth.
DESCRIPTION
This lintel depicts Bird Jaguar IV and Lady Mut Bahlam of Hiix Witz (El Pajaral, Guatemala), one of his wives or consorts. She draws blood from her tongue with a thorn-studded rope, as he incises his genitals with a sharpened bone. The text suggests a penitential rite in celebration of a birth, but the absence of a date and the eroded condition of the initial passages makes the reference vague at best.
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
First passage (A1-B5 and C1-C3):
U-BAAH[AAN?]-li? ti-*MAY-ji ti-?-chi u- ?-? SIH?-ya-ja TE' ?- le ?-? SAK?-ba- ?- ja ?-?-? 3- WINIKHAAB-AJAW ya- ?- BAHLAM a- 20- BAAK K'UH- ?- AJAW K'UH- [ PA' ] CHAN-AJAW
U-baah-il-aan? ti-mayij? ti-?, u-? sihyaj? te'el?-? sak?-ba...j ? uhx-winikhaab-ajaw ?-bahlam aj-winik-baak, k'uhul-?-ajaw, k'uhul-pa'chan-ajaw.
"He is the likeness of ? sihyaj te'el sak-ba...j ? in the act of sacrifice, in the act of ?, the 3 k'atun lord, Bird Jaguar IV, he of 20 captives, holy lord of ?, holy lord of pa'chan."
Second passage (D1-K1):
U-BAAH[*AAN]-li 12- IX?-AJAW IX-MUT-tu BAHLAM IX-HIX wi-tzi-AJAW IX ba-ka-ba
U-baahil-aan lajchan-ix-ajaw ix-mut-bahlam, ix-hixwitz-ajaw, ix-baahkab.
"She is the likeness of the goddess Lajchan Ix Ajaw, Lady Mut Bahlam, Lady of Hixwitz, Lady Baahkab."
Lintel 18
LOCATION Found by Maler lying behind, perhaps near the south corner of, Structure 22, a building which faces northeast. Maler supposed that it had spanned a rear doorway, whereas Morley assigns it to a doorway in the southeast end of the building. The lintel was removed in 1964 to the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.
CONDITION Intact and well preserved; the stone is pitted, but practically no element of the inscription has been lost.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE A beautifully prepared shaft with parallel sides and rectangular cross sec-tions.
DIMENSIONS
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.65 m 0.65 m 0.49 m 0.22 m 0.1 cm (approx.) |
CARVED AREAS Underside only, with an incised inscription.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1974.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
While it does not contain a date, and was apparently reset in Structure 22 by the Late Classic king Bird Jaguar IV (Proskouriakoff 1964: 182), it can be palaeographically dated to the late 5th or early 6th-century.
DESCRIPTION
This lintel is all-glyphic, containing 20 glyph blocks. Unfortunately, there are clear signs that the lintel was once part of a much longer narrative including the fragmentary Lintel 19 and perhaps other lintels, now lost. This, coupled with the difficult early text, make the narrative substantially less clear than one would like. At present, all that can be said with confidence is that the first half of the lintel seems to provide a list of youthful lords who stand in some unclear relationship of subordination with a higher-ranking lord named towards the end of the text.
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
po?-o?-ta i-ni-cha? mu-xi? ch'o-ko mu-JOL? ch'o-ko ya- ?- ni ch'o-ko ?-? ba-TUUN AJ-YOP?-TE' AJ?-K'AN-JU'?-TE' o-to-yi-HIX CHAK-TOK?-MO'-ba-BAJ ya-na-tzi? IX-MO' CHAK-su-tz'i AJ-tz'i-ba bu-yu chu[ku?]-TE'
Po'ot? iniich? muux? ch'ok, mum? jol? ch'ok, ya...n ch'ok, ?-? b'aahtuun? aj-yopte' aj?-k'anju'te'?, otooy-hix chak-tok-mo'-baj. Y-anVtz? ix-mo' chak-suutz' aj-tz'ihb buy? kuchte'?
A translation is inadvisable at this time.
Lintel 19
LOCATION In situ over the doorway in the northwest end of Structure 22, where it was seen by Maler.
CONDITION Unbroken, but most of the surface that formerly bore an inscription has corroded and scaled away. The portion not thus destroyed retains a hard, almost polished finish with red paint adhering to it.
MATERIAL Very fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE The surface is flat; the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only, with an incised inscription.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1978. The lintel having been precariously balanced on a collapsing jamb, and the doorway choked with debris, there was formerly no possibility of photographing it. I am therefore much obliged to Arqueologo Roberto Garcia Moll for having the jamb consolidated and the doorway cleared out. This doorway proved to have been reduced to about half its original width by a later construction, so that it was still impossible to photograph the entire lower surface of the lintel. Fortunately, the bottom of the panel where glyphs still survive lies over the northeastern and unobstructed side of the doorway. The bottom of glyph A5 is obscured by the jamb.
DRAWING Graham, based on a tracing made with the use of electric light.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.65 m |
HSc | 0.67 m (approx.) |
WSc | 0.52 m (approx.) |
MTh | 0.21 m |
Rel | 0.1 cm (approx.) |
Lintel 20
LOCATION Excavated by Maler from debris in front of the second doorway from the southeast end of the front of Structure 22, according to Morley's interpretation. Satterthwaite's differing view is quoted by Morley (1937-38, vol. 2, p. 390).
CONDITION A fragment only from the "upper" end of the lintel has been found. The surface is badly eroded.
MATERIAL Limestone.
SHAPE No indication from small fragment.
DIMENSIONS
H W MTh Rel |
0.41 m 0.69 m 0.18 m 0.5 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Morley, 1931.
DRAWING Graham, based on photograph only. The piece has not been examined by him.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
This piece does not contain a date. Yet it was apparently reset in Structure 22 by Bird Jaguar IV (Proskouriakoff 1964: 182), and can be palaeographically dated to the late 5th or early 6th-century.
DESCRIPTION
This lintel was probably all-glyphic, containing approximately 29 glyph-blocks, of which fragments of 5 are all that remains. It evidently opened with a long count, as suggested by those portions of the ISIG, glyphs G and F and the lunar series which survive.
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
(A1-B2): ISIG, undeciphered
(C1-D2):* TI-HUUN-na 3-?-? ? ?
A translation is inadvisable at this time.
Lintel 21
LOCATION Excavated by Maler from debris in front of the central doorway of Structure 22.
CONDITION When discovered, this lintel was cleanly broken across the middle; otherwise it was very well preserved, and remains so.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE Carved surface is flat; the sides are parallel.
DIMENSIONS
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.66 m 0.99 m 0.59 m 0.20 m 0.4 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Morley, 1931.
DRAWING von Euw, based on a field drawing corrected by artificial light.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
9. 0.19. 2. 4 2 K'an 2 Yax (15 October, 454)
+ 15. 1.16. 5
9.16. 1. 1. 9 7 Muluk 17 Sek (8 May, 752)
DESCRIPTION
This all-glyphic lintel is rendered in the hallmark style of the early reign of Bird Jaguar IV, and was clearly commissioned by him in conjunction with his resetting of a number of late fifth- or early sixth-century lintels in Structure 22. It records an early dedication of Structure 22 by Ruler 7 in 454, and its later refurbishing under Bird Jaguar IV almost three hundred years later.
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
First passage (A1-D2):
?-?- HAAB 9- PIK mi-WINIKHAAB 19- HAAB 2- WINIK-ki 4- K'IN-ni 2- WAAJ ? HUL ?- TI'-HUUN 5- [bi]xi-ya- ? 7- [bi]xi-ya-HUL-li-ya 3- K'AL-ja-JOL ? ?- CHAM ?-20-9 2- YAX-SIHOOM ?- ma-EL-NAAH 4- SUUTZ'-NAAL-yo-OTOOT-ti K'AHK'-U-TI'?-si-CHAN-na ja - ?-JOL 7- TZ'AK-bu-li ya-AJAW-TE'-chi- ? YOPAAT[BAHLAM]-ti K'UH- ?- AJAW K'UH- [ PA' ] CHAN-AJAW
?-haab baluun-pik mih-winikhaab baluunlajuun-haab cha'-winik chan-k'in. Cha'-waaj hulti'huun ho'-bixiiy ?, huk-bixiiy huliiy uhx-k'ahlaj-jol? ?-chami k'al-baluun cha'-yaxsihoom. Elnaah chansuutz'nal y-otoot k'ahk' ti'is chan ?, ?-jol, huk-tz'ak-bu-il y-ajawte' chi-? yopaat-bahlam, k'uhul-?-ajaw, k'uhul-[pa']chan-ajaw.
"It is the ? of the year, 9 baktuns, 0 katuns, 19 tuns, 2 winals and 4 k'ins. It is 2 K'an (G8), 5th day of ?, 7th day of the moon's arrival, the 3rd skull moon, ?-death, a 29-day moon, and 2 Yax. Four Bat Place is dedicated, it is the house of K'ahk'-Ti'is-Chan-?, Ruler 7, the seventh set-in-order lord of the lineage of the chi-? of Yopaat-Bahlam, the holy lord of ?, the holy lord of pa'chan."
Second passage (C3-D8):
5-16- WINIK-ji-ya 1- HAAB-ya 15- WINIKHAAB-ya i-u-ti 7- MULUK ? 17- ka-se-wa CHUM[mu]-[la]ja- 4- SUUTZ'-NAL TE'-ku-yu-XUKUUB?- ? CHAN-na- ? ya- ?- BAHLAM 3- WINIKHAAB-AJAW a- 20- BAAK
Ho', waklajuun-winik-j-iiy, juun-haab-iiy, ho'lajuun-winikhaab-iiy, i-uht-i huk-muluk huklajuun-kaseew. Chumlaj chansuutz'nal te'-kuy-xukuub-? chan-? ?-bahlam uhx-winikhaab-ajaw aj-winik-baak.
"5 days, 16 winals, 1 tun and 15 katuns later it happened, 7 Muluk 17 Sek. He sat in the Four Bat Place, the tree, owl, horn and ? sky god, Bird Jaguar IV, 3 katun lord, he of 20 captives."
Lintel 22
LOCATION Found by Maler in rubble in front of Structure 22. According to Morley, who cites some excavations by Ruppert, the front of this building had five doorways, the three central ones being spanned by carved lintels. Lintel 22 is assigned to the doorway immediately to the right, i.e., northwest, of the central opening.
CONDITION Broken at the top of the sculptured area, with slight loss of glyphic detail. When first discovered, the state of preservation varied from excellent near the top to very poor at bottom right. Further weathering has caused the loss of the red paint noted by Maler and of some fine detail.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE Carved area is flat; the edges are slightly bowed, but essentially parallel.
DIMENSIONS
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.68 m 0.98 m 0.58 m 0.19 m 1.8 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1971.
DRAWING von Euw, based on a field drawing corrected by artificial light.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
This lintel does not contain a date. Nevertheless, like lintels 18 and 21, it was apparently reset in Structure 22 by Bird Jaguar IV (Proskouriakoff 1964: 182), and can be palaeographically dated to the late 5th or early 6th-century.
DESCRIPTION
As Tate (1992:202) notes, the glyphic style and monumental form of this lintel suggest that it was the pair of Lintel 20. Also like that lintel, it is all-glyphic. The text appears to begin at the outset of a parentage expression, suggesting that it continues from an earlier lintel. Unfortunately, the loss of the initial part of the text and the substantial erosion, coupled with a dearth of texts of comparable age, make a full understanding difficult to achieve.
Nevertheless, one of the K'inich Tatbu Jol names is conspicuous at B5-A6. While Martin and Grube (2000:120-1) have taken this as evidence for an attribution to the tenth king, K'inich Tatbu Jol II (Ruler 10), the name seems to be embedded in a parentage phrase, suggesting that the monument may have been commissioned by his son instead. Another difficulty stems from the repetition of this nominal phrase at Yaxchilan. In fact, given our lack of knowledge of the wives of any of the Yaxchilan kings of this time period, it seems equally possible that this lintel was commissioned by the seventh ruler, "Moon Skull" (quite possibly although not certainly the son of the eighth ruler, K'inich Tatbu Jol I).
One piece of support for this idea comes from the text of Lintel 21 which, as we have seen, refers back to the dedication of an earlier version of Structure 22 during the late fifth-century reign of "Moon Skull". It would stand to reason that this reference acknowledges the origination of the early lintels (18, 19, 20 and 22) with "Moon Skull", who would then be the son of the eighth ruler (K'inich Tatbu Jol I) and his wife or consort, Lady G1.
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
Complete text (A1-D8):
?- la-si U-MIJIIN?-na i-ti pa-ti yi-pi ya-je-la ya-AL-la- ? [ CHAN ?] YOPAAT 7- CHAPAHT-TZIKIN?-K'INICH? K'INICH *ta 2 -* bu-JOL ? U?- ? K'UH-*o-OHL? ?- la-IXIK ? ? IXIK se?- ?- na ?-? 3? ?-? KAB? K'UH?- ? MIJIIN?-na TE'-*ku-*yu XUKUB?- ? [* CHAN ]? mi?-*xi-*NAL ? *PA'-*CHAN-ma *AJAW
? u-mijiin? it-i pat-i yipyajeel y-al-? chan?-yopaat, huk-chapaht-tzikin-k'inich k'inich tatbu jol, u?-? k'uh-ohl? ?-ixik ? ? ixik-? ? uhx-? ? kabal k'uh? mijiin? te'-kuy-xukuub-? chan?-? mixnal? ? pa'chan-ajaw
A translation is inadvisable at this time.
Lintel 23
LOCATION Found during excavation by Roberto Garcia Moll in 1979. The lintel lay among debris in front of the doorway in the western end of Structure 23 that leads into the front chamber. It has since been placed once more over the now reconstructed doorway.
CONDlTlON Broken into two pieces. The front edge and rather more than half of the underside are in nearly pristine condition, except for some pitting and unusual erosion cavities that surround the glyph-blocks, the latter perhaps owing their origin to rows of drill holes that may have outlined the raised blocks, as have been noted on a few other sculptures, notably Dos Pilas Stela 8.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE A well-formed lintel with parallel sides.
CARVED AREAS Underside and front edge.
PHOTOGRAPHS Graham, 1979.
DRAWINGS Graham, based on field drawings corrected by artificial light.
REMARKS I have followed Garcia Moll's suggestion that, as number 23 in Majer's numbering of the lintels came to be unassigned, that number should be assigned to this lintel. Since other lintels from the same structure are numbered 24 to 26, this is perfectly appropriate.
DIMENSIONS
Underside: | MW | 0.85 m | |
HSc | 0.86 m | ||
WSc | 0.67 m | ||
MTh | 0.24 m | ||
Rel | 0.9 | cm | |
Front: | HSc | 0.16 m | |
WSc | 0.86 m |
Lintel 24
LOCATION From the left (southeast) doorway of Structure 23. Notations by Maudslay on a manuscript and hand-colored draft of his published plan of the ruins, preserved in the Department of Ethnography, British Museum, dispose of Morley's doubts about the relative positions of Lintels 24 and 25. This lintel was brought to England by Maudslay in 1882, and reposes in the British Museum.
CONDITION The lintel has been trimmed down on all four sides of the carved area on the underside. The surface of this is in pristine state, with blue paint showing on the background in several places. The inscription on the front is destroyed. Maudslay's entry in his journal (British Museum, Dept. of Ethnography) for March 19, 1882, makes it clear that he was not to blame for this: "In afternoon found the fallen carved lintel on which Rockstroh had broken his axes — set men to work to shave it down."
MATERIAL Fine yellowish limestone.
SHAPE The carved surface is somewhat convex.
DIMENSIONS
MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
unknown 1.04 m 0.74 m unknown 4.5 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside and front.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1976.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing of the original, corrected by artificial light.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
9.13.17.15.12 5 Eb 15 Mak (24 October, 709)
DESCRIPTION
The lintel depicts Shield Jaguar III holding a large, flaming torch over his wife or consort, Lady K'abal Xook, who draws a thorn-studded rope through her tongue. The text explains both of these events as penitential sacrifice.
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
First passage (A1-F3):
ti- 5- EB 15- ma-MAK-U-BAAH-hi ti-CH'AJB-li ti-K'AHK'-la-ju-lu U-CH'AJB- 4- WINIKHAAB-AJAW ?- BAHLAM-U-cha-CHAN-nu a- ?- ki K'UH- [ PA' ] CHAN-AJAW-wa
Ti ho'-eb ho'lajuun-mak, u-baah ti-ch'ajb-il ti-k'ahk'al-jul. U ch'ajb chan-winikhaab-ajaw ?-bahlam, u-chan aj-?, k'uhul-pa'chan-ajaw.
"On 5 Eb 15 Mak it is his image in penance with the fiery spear. It is the penance of the four k'atun lord, Shield Jaguar III, captor of Aj-?, holy lord of pa'chan."
Second passage (G1-G4):
U-BAAH-ti-CH'AJB-li IX-AK'IN?-na-XOOK?-ki IX-k'a[ba]-la-XOOK?-ki IX-KAL-TE'
U-baah ti-ch'ajb-il ix-ak'in?-xook, ix-k'abal-xook, ix-kaloomte'
"It is her image in penance, Lady Ak'in? Xook, Lady K'abal Xook, Lady Kaloomte'."
Third passage (H1-H4):
T'AB?-yi yu-lu- ? MO'-CHAHK-ki? a- ?- la
T'abayi? y-uluC mo'chahk ?
"Is elevated? the carving? of Mo' Chahk."
Lintel 25
LOCATION From the central doorway of Structure 23. At Maudslay's instance the carved areas on the underside and the front edge were sawn off by his assistant in 1883 and sent to London. They are now in the British Museum
CONDITION The sculptured areas are intact and in pristine condition. No remains of paint are visible.
MATERIAL Fine yellowish limestone.
SHAPE The carved surfaces are convex cylindrically, the axes in both cases coinciding with the long dimension.
DIMENSIONS
Underside: MW HSc WSc MTh MTh Rel |
0.85 m 1.18 m 0.74 m 0.07 m (actual) 0.29 m (reconstructed) 3.2 cm |
Front: HSc WSc Rel |
0.18 m 1.22 m 1.8 cm |
CARVED AREAS Underside and front.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1976.
DRAWING Graham, based on drawings from the original, corrected by artificial light.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
9.12. 9. 8. 1 5 Imix 4 Mak (20 October, 681) underside (CR)
+ 2. 2. 7. 0 - DN (underside)
9.14.11.15.1 3 Imix 14 Ch'en (1 August, 723) front (CR)
DESCRIPTION
The lintel depicts Lady K'abal Xook, the wife or consort of Shield Jaguar III. She holds bloodletting apparatus in her left hand, and also supports a skull in her outstretched right hand,.as she gazes up at a spiritual being conjured out of the otherworld. The entity wears a militaristic costume directly associated with Teotihuacan, including a tláloc face mask and mosaic war helmet, and also carries a shield and a spear pointed at both ends.
The identification of this militaristic entity is debated. Martin and Grube (2000:125) have suggested that this represents Shield Jaguar III himself, as defender of his city. Yet the associated caption text suggests that this may represent Lady K'abal Xook herself, transformed into the guise of a Teotihuacan-related goddess. In any event, the date is the same as Shield Jaguar III's accession (known from other monuments), and probably takes its rationale from his elevation to the throne.
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
First passage (A1-F4):
5- IMIX- 4- ma-MAK U-TZAK-wa-U-K'AWIIL-wi-la-li U-to-k'a-PAKAL AJ-K'AHK'-o-CHAHK-ki U-K'UH-ju-lu-tza-ku 4- WINIKHAAB-AJAW ?- BAHLAM U-cha-CHAN-nu-AJ- ?- ki K'UH- ?- AJAW-ba-ka-ba
Ho'-imix chan-mak, u-tzak-aw u-k'awiilaal u-took' u-pakal aj-k'ahk'-o'-chahk. U-k'uh-jul-tzahk chan-winikhaab-ajaw ?-bahlam u-chan aj-? k'uhul-?-ajaw, baahkab.
"On 5 Imix 4 Mak he conjured the (lightning-)power of the flints and shields of the god Aj K'ahk' O' Chahk. It is the god-spear-conjuring of the four katun lord, Shield Jaguar III, the master of Aj-?, the holy lord of ?, the baahkab."
Second passage (G1-G2 and H1-H3):
U-BAAH[AAN]-li-IX-OHL-la wi- ?- TE'-NAAH ch'a-ho-ma IX-k'a-ba-la-XOOK-ki U-yo-OOK-TE'-le TAHN-HA'-[PA']CHAN-na
U-baahil-aan ix-ohl wite'naah? ch'ahoom, ix-k'abal xook. U-yookte'-el tahn-ha'-pa'chan
"She is the likeness of Lady Yohl, the ch'ahoom of Wite'naah, Lady K'abal Xook. She is the pillar before the waters at pa'chan."
Third passage (J1-W2):
U-TZ'AK-ka-AJ mi- 7- WINIK-ya 2- HAAB-ya 2- WINIKHAAB-ya TZAK-ji-ya K'AWIIL-la TAHN-na-HA'- [ PA' ] CHAN i-u-ti 3- IMIX 14- IK'-SIHOOM ? T'AB ? -yi yu- ?[ lu ]- li yo-OTOOT-ti ?- IXIK-K'UH IX-AK'IN ?- XOOK-ki IX-k'a[ba]-la-XOOK-ki IX-KAL-TE' yo-OHL-la TAHN-na-li TAHN-na-HA'- [ PA' ] CHAN U-KAB-CH'EN U-cha-CHAN-nu AJ- ?- ki ?- BAHLAM K'UH- [ PA' ] CHAN-AJAW-wa
u-tz'ak-aj mih-huk-winik-iiy cha'-haab-iiy cha'-winikhaab-iiy tzakjiiy k'awiil tahn-ha'-pa'chan i-uht-i uhx-imix chanlajuun-ik'sihoom. T'abayi? y-u...-il y-otoot ?-ixik-k'uh ix-ak'in?-xook ix-k'abal-xook, ix-kaloomte', y-ohl-tahn-il-tahn-ha'-pa'chan. U-kab u-ch'en u-chan aj-? ?-bahlam k'uhul-pa'chan-ajaw.
"It counts 0 days, 7 winals, 2 tuns and 2 katuns since k'awiil was conjured before the waters at pa'chan, and then it happened 3 Imix 14 Ch'en. Is elevated, the carving of the house of the holy woman, of Lady Ak'in? Xook, of Lady K'abal Xook, of the lady kaloomte', at the heart of, at the front of the waters of pa'chan. It is the land and well of the master of Aj-?, Shield Jaguar III, holy lord of pa'chan."
Lintel 26
LOCATION Excavated by Maler from debris in front of the right-hand (northwest) doorway of Structure 23. Removed in 1964 to the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.
CONDITION Broken in half when found. Underside: the upper half was in pristine condition, still showing traces of blue paint; the lower half was quite badly eroded. Since discovery, erosion of the upper half has been slight; that of the lower half has been more noticeable. Front edge: when found, several areas had split off from three of the seven glyph-blocks; otherwise, it was in good condition. Since then the surviving portion of the second glyph-block has been lost, and the rest has deteriorated. At some time before Morley photographed the lintel in 1931 an attempt had been made to saw off the "upper" end of the lintel.
MATERIAL Fine yellowish limestone.
SHAPE Carved surface is slightly convex; the sides are parallel.
DIMENSIONS
Underside: MW HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.85 m 1.07 m 0.77 m 0.27 m 4.3 cm |
Front edge: HSc WSc |
0.19 m 1.06 m |
CARVED AREAS Underside and front edge.
PHOTOGRAPH Underside and front: reproduced from Maler's original negatives of 1900. The two parts of his photograph of the front edge have been repositioned to correspond with the spacing established by the repair of the lintel.
DRAWING Graham, based on drawings of the original, corrected by artificial light, and on Maler's and Morley's photographs.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
9.14.12. 6.12 12 Eb 0 Pop (7 Feb, 724) underside (CR)
9.14.14.13.16 5 *Kib *14 Yaxk'in (21 June, 726) front (LC)
DESCRIPTION
The lintel depicts Shield Jaguar III and his wife or consort, Lady K'abal Xook. The king wears quilted cotton armor, and holds a long flint knife while the lady holds his jaguar war helmet and flexible shield out to him. The scene would thus seem to revolve around preparations for warfare, though the text provides no clear date referring to the scene. (That above the king refers to the carving date of the lintel itself, not the date of the depicted event.) Instead, there may be a reference to the king's accession, in which case it should date as the underside of Lintel 25.
The suggested date for the front text is Tate's (1992: 208) and must be regarded as tentative given the damaged condition of the long count passage.
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
First passage (S1-X1):
U-BAAH-ji ti-[jo]JOY?-ye-la ti-xi-ki-ba-le ?- na 7- CHAPAHT-TZIKIIN-K'INICH[AJAW]-wa 4- WINIKHAAB-AJAW-wa U-CHAN-nu-AJ- ? ?- BAHLAM K'UH- [ PA' ] CHAN-AJAW-wa
U-baah ti-joyeel ti-xikbal-el? ? huk-chapaht-tzikiin-k'inich-ajaw chan-winikhaab-ajaw, u-chan aj-?, ?-bahlam, k'uhul-pa'chan-ajaw.
"It is his image in accession? with the ? as the god Huk Chapaht Tzikiin K'inich Ajaw, the four katun lord, the master of Aj ?, Shield Jaguar III, holy lord of pa'chan."
Second passage (01-R1):
ti- 12- EB CHUM-K'AN[JAL]-wa T'AB?-yi yu-?[lu] K'AWIIL-CHAHK AJ-SAK-o?-ka
Ti lajchan-eb chum-k'anjalaw t'abayi y-u... k'awiil chahk, aj-sak-ook?
"On 12 Eb 0 Pop, it is elevated, the carving of K'awiil Chahk of Sak Ook."
Third passage, front text (A1-N2):
?- K'IN-HAAB *9- *PIK 14- *WINIKHAAB ?-* HAAB 12/13- WINIK ?- *K'IN ?-? NAAH-TI'-hu-na 6-? 8- HUL-li-ya U- 4- K'AL-ja- ? ma ?- U-[ch'o-ko]K'ABA' 20-10 13?- YAX-K'IN-ni OCH-K'AHK' ?-? U-K'ABA' yo-to-ti ba?-ILA?-ni ? 3- AK'IN ? ? ? ?- IXIK U-KAB-U-CH'EN ?-BAHLAM K'UH- [ PA' ] CHAN-AJAW
?-k'in-haab baluun-pik chanlajuun-winikhaab ?-haab ?-winik ?-k'in ? naah-ti'huun, wak-? waxak-huliiy u-chan-k'ahlaj? ma-u-ch'ok-k'aba' k'al-lajuun uhxlajuun?-yaxk'in. Och-i k'ahk' ? u-k'aba' y-otoot baah-iloon, ? uhx-ak'in? ? ? ?-ixik u-kab u-ch'en ?-bahlam k'uhul-pa'chan-ajaw.
"It is the k'in time of the year?, 9 baktuns, 14 katuns, ? tuns, ? winals and ? k'ins. It is ? (G6), 6th day of ?, 8th day of the moon's arrival, the 4th jaguar-god moon, there is no name for this 30-day moon. It is 13? Yaxk'in. Fire enters into ?, which is the name of the house of ... ?-Lady. It is the land and well of Shield Jaguar III, holy pa'chan lord.
Lintel 27
LOCATION Excavated by Maler from debris in front of the left-hand (southwest) doorway of Structure 24.
CONDITION Intact, and fairly well preserved.
MATERIAL Limestone.
SHAPE The shape of the lintel as a whole was not recorded.
DIMENSIONS
HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.20 m 1.07 m 0.35 m 0.50 cm |
CARVED AREAS Front edge only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1973.
DRAWING Graham, based on a field drawing corrected by artificial light.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
9.13.13. 2. 5 6 Chikchan 8 Yax
+ 1.17. 5 .9 - DN
9.15.10.17.14 6 Hix 12 Yaxk'in
9.15.10.17.14 6 Hix 12 Yaxk'in
+ 6.*16. 0 - DN
*9.15.17.15.14 3 Hix 17 Sip [not recorded here, see L.59]
DESCRIPTION
The three lintels of Structure 24 (27, 28 and 59) are carved on their sides only and, somewht unusually for the lintels of Yaxchilan, seem entirely concerned with mortuary themes. It has been suggested that this implies a mortuary or commemorative function for Structure 24 (Martin and Grube 2000:126). The chronology above was worked out by Proskouriakoff (1963:162), including both the realization that the text of L.27 continues onto L.59 and L28, and that the winal coefficient at H2a was erroneously carved as 17 (while 16 is required).
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
First passage (A1-D2):
6- CHIKCHAN ? 8- YAX-SIHOOM-ma K'A'-yi U -[?] SAK-IK'-li ?- la-IX-K'UH 6- WINIK-HAAB-IX-KAL-TE' IX-PAKAL-?-li IX-PET-ne-AJAW-IX-ba-ka-ba
Wak-chikchan Waxak-Yaxsihoom k'a'ay-i u-?-sak-ik'-aal ?...al ixk'uh wak-winikhaab ixkaloomte' ixpakal-? Ixpetenajaw ixbahkab
"On 6 Chikchan 8 Yax, the 6 katun kaloomte', Lady Pakal, Lady of Peten, Lady Bahkab, died."
Second passage (E1-G2):
9-5- WINIK-ji-ya -17- HAAB-ya 1- WINIK-HAAB-ya-i-u-ti 6- HIX 12- YAX-*K'IN K'A'-yi-u- [?] SAK-IK' 5- WINIK-HAAB-AJAW -?- BAHLAM U-CHAN-AJ -?- ki K'UH- [ PA '] CHAN-AJAW-ba-ka-ba
baluun-ho'-winikjiiy huklajuun-haabiiy juun-winikhaabiiy i-uht-i wak-hix buluch-yaxk'in k'a'ay-i u-?-sak-ik'aal ho'-winikhaab ajaw ?-bahlam u-chan aj-? k'uhul-pa'chan-ajaw bahkab.
"9 [days], 5 score [days], 17 years and 1 score years later, 6 Hix 12 Yaxk'in came to pass [when] the five katun lord, Shield Jaguar, captor of Aj-?, divine lord of pa'chan and bahkab, died."
Third passage (H2-):
0-*16- WINIK -* ji -* ya -6- HAAB-ya Š
mih-waklajuun-winikjiiy wak-haab-iiy Š
"16 score days and 6 years later Š [text continued on Lintel 59 ( q.v. )]
Lintel 28
LOCATION Found by Maler on the surface in front of the right-hand (northeast) doorway of Structure 24, the central doorway of which was spanned by Lintel 59.
CONDITION Intact, and fairly well preserved at one end.
MATERIAL Limestone.
SHAPE The shape of the lintel as a whole was not recorded.
DIMENSIONS
HSc WSc MTh Rel |
0.21 m 1.08 m 0.37 m 0.5 cm |
CARVED AREAS Front edge only.
PHOTOGRAPH Reproduced from Maler's original negative of 1900.
DRAWING Graham, based on a field drawing corrected by artificial light.
INSCRIPTIONS
DATES
9.15.19.15. 3 10 Ak'bal 16 Uo
+ 4. 9.14 - DN (V1b-U2a)
9.16. 4. 6.17 6 Caban 10 Yax
DESCRIPTION
The three lintels of Structure 24 (27, 28 and 59) are carved on their sides only and, somewht unusually for the lintels of Yaxchilan, are entirely concerned with mortuary themes. It has been suggested that this implies a mortuary or commemorative function for Structure 24 (Martin and Grube 2000:126). The chronology above was worked out by Proskouriakoff (1963:162), including the realization that the text of Lintel 28 continues from Lintels 59 and 28 ( q.v. ).
TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
First passage (Q1-R1):
Š *IX-k'a [ ba ] -la-XOOK ? -ki
Š ixk'abal xook
"Š Lady K'abal Xook" [text continued from Lintel 59 ( q.v. )]
Second passage (Q2-V1a):
9-*19-* WINIK -* ji -* ya- 1 -HAAB-ya i-u-ti- 10 -*AK'BAL 16 -IK'-AT-K'A'-yi U- [?] SAK-IK'-li IX -1-? NAAH-ka-KAAN-IX-*UH ? CHAN-na-HUT ? -IX-AJ K'UH-na
baluun-balunlajuun-winikjiiy juun-haabiiy i-uht-i lajuun-ak'bal waklajuun-ik'at k'a'ay-i u-?-sak-ik'aal ixjuun-?-naah-kaan ixuhchan-? ixajk'uhuun
"9 [days], 19 score [days] and 1 year later, 10 Ak'bal 16 Uo came to pass, when Lady One-?-House-Snake, Lady Uhchan-?, the priestess, died."
Third passage (V1b-X2)
14-9-* WINIK- * ji- * ya 4- HAAB-ya-i-u- * ti 6- KABAN ?-10- SAK-SIHOOM-ma * OCH-K'AHK' -[?] SAK -?- la ?- WITZ-NAL-tu-MUHK-li IX -?- XOOK ?-* ki IX-k'a [ba]- XOOK ? -ki
chanlajuun-baluun-winikjiiy chan-haab-iiy i-uht-i wak-kaban lajuun-saksihoom och-i k'ahk' ?-sak-? ?-witz-nal t-u-muhk-il ix-?-xook ixk'abalxook
"14 [days], 9 score [days] and 4 years later, 6 Kaban 10 Sak came to pass, when fire entered the ?-White ?-Mountain Place, into the tomb of Lady ?-Xook, Lady K'abal Xook."
Lintel 29
LOCATION Central doorway of Structure 10. The lintel remained in place until about 1950, as is shown by a photograph of the doorway, misleadingly captioned, in Dana and Ginger Lamb's Quest for the Lost City (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1951, p. 117). At a later date a large cedar tree growing out of Structure 10 fell and demolished much of it. In 1977 the lintel was located by Graham among debris. As set over the doorway, the lintel had its right-hand edge facing outward.
CONDlTION Unbroken and well preserved.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone, differing from that of Lintels 30 and 31 in not showing layers or strata of varying color.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat; the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1977.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.76 m | |
HSc | 0.86 m | |
WSe | 0.60 m | |
MTh | 0.41 m | |
Rei | 0.5 | cm |
Lintel 30
Drawing of Yaxchilan, Lintel 30, underside, 2004.15.6.6.2
LOCATION Found by Maudslay in situ over the second doorway from the southeast end of Structure 10. The lintel had fallen by the time of Maler's first visit.
CONDITION Unbroken and well preserved. A comparison of the lintel with Maudslay's plaster cast shows that a slight deterioration through erosion has occurred.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone, noticeably striated.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat; the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1976.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on study of Maudslay's plaster cast.
DIMEN5IONS
MW | 1.04m |
HSc | 0.82m |
WSc | 0.89m |
MTh | 0.28 m |
Rel | 0.5 cm |
Lintel 31
LOCATION At the time of Maudslay's and Maler's visits, the lintel was in situ over the doorway nearest the southeast end of Structure 10. It fell sometime in the first decade of the twentieth century.
CONDlTION Unbroken and fairly well preserved.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone, noticeably striated.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat; the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1976.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on study of Maler's photograph.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 1.08 m |
HSc | 0.81 m |
WSc | 0.95 m |
MTh | 0.36 m |
Rel | 0.3 cm |
Lintel 32
LOCATION Excavated by Maler from debris in front of the middle doorway of Structure 13. Removed in 1964 to the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.
CONDITION Unbroken and well preserved when found. Subsequent to its discovery considerable erosion took place.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat; the sides are paralleL
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
FHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1975.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on study of Maler's photograph and the photograph of a cast from a mold made by him.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.59 m |
HSc | 0.81 m |
WSc | 0.53 m |
MTh | 0.27 m |
ReI | 0.5 cm |
Lintel 33
LOCATION Found by Maler among debris in front of the northeastern doorway of Structure 13. Removed in 1964 to the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.
CONDITION Broken into two pieces when found, but otherwise fairly well preserved, and showing red paint in several places. Some loss of detail has since occurred.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat; the sides are somewhat convergent toward the bottom.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.71 m |
HSc | 0.81 m |
WSc | 0.61 m |
MTh | 0.32 m |
Rei | 0.9 cm |
Lintel 34
LOCATION Found by Maler broken and partly fallen from its setting over the southwesternmost doorway of Structure 12. The triangular upper fragment was still( in place in 1975. Two other fragments are in storage at Yaxchilan, and a third, the bottom fragment, may be there too. A redpainted limestone fragment in the Peabody Museum (Cat. No. C-3945), which is carved in relief with one almost complete glyph and part of another, can be ascribed without doubt to this lintel. In view of the regret expressed by Maler (1903, p. 133) over the loss of other fragments of this lintel it is evident that he sent this one to the Peabody Museum to ensure its preservation.
CONDITION Broken into five known pieces and others now lost. The upper part and the Peabody Museum fragment are in pristine condition and retain their red paint. Part of the middle fragment was already badly eroded when photographed by Morley in 1931.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat, and the sides seem to have been parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1975.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light.
NOTE The positioning of the Peabody Museum fragment at D2 in the drawing is conjectural and not supported by a mating of surfaces. In his field journal for April 17, 1931 (Peabody Museum Archives), Morley describes dearing debris down to floor level in this doorway and finding two small fragments, both fitting the north, or upper, end of the lintel. No photograph or drawing of these seems to exist, nor have the fragments come to light.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.65 m |
HSc | unknown |
WSc | 0.55 m (approx.) |
MTh | not measured |
Rei | 0.4 cm |
Lintel 35
LOCATION Found by Maudslay in 1882 among debris in front of the third doorway from the northeastern end of Structure 12. The carved surface was sawn off in the following year on Maudslay's orders and is now in the British Museum.
CONDITION Intact when found, but during or after the sawing, the top of the panel, carrying the first row of glyphs, broke off and then broke in half. The left-hand border of the panel has been sawn off too. The condition of the carved surface is pristine, with red paint remaining near the top and the bottom of the panel.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is very flat; the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOCRAPH Graham, 1974.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.63 m (trimmed) | |
HSe | 0.97 m | |
WSc | 0.57 m | |
MTh | unknown | |
ReI | 0.6 cm |
Lintel 36
LOCATION First mentioned by Maler, the lintel lies near the central doorway of the seven in the facade of Structure 12.
CONDITlON Unbroken, but severely eroded.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE The sculptured surface appears to have been flat, and the sides parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Morley, 1931.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.65 m |
HSc | 0.99 m |
WSc | 0.56 m |
MTh | 0.24 m |
Rei | 0.3 cm (approx.) |
Lintel 37
LOCATION Found by Maudslay in 1882, buried in debris in front of the second doorway from the northeastern end of Structure 12. The lintel was seen by Morley during his 1931 visit to Yaxchilan (field notes on inscriptions, vol. 12, pp. 159 and 166, Peabody Museum Archives), but it has not been located by the author.
CONDITION Intact when discovered, and in pristine condition, still showing rcd paint.
MATERIAL Presumably limestone, although there is no documentation on this point.
SHAPE The photograph dnd plaster cast suggest that the lintel was as carefully and accurately dressed as others in the same building.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Maudslay (of plaster cast).
DRAW1NG Graham, based on Maler's photograph and on Maudslay's plaster cast (British Museum).
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.70 m | |
HSc | 0.93 m | |
WSe | 0.57 m | |
MTh | unknown | |
Rel | 0.6 | cm |
Lintel 38
LOCATION Discovered by Maler in 1900 in situ, but buried in debris, in front of the southwestern doorway of Structure 16, where it still lies.
CONDITION Intact, with its sculptured surface fairly well preserved when discovered, although subsequently it has suffered some further erosion.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE A carefully dressed slab, except that its thickness is not quite uniform.
CARVED AREAS Front edge only.
PHOTOGRAPH Reproduced from Maler's original negative.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on Maler's photograph.
NOTE Morley notes that Maler transposed the photographs of Lintels 38 and 40 in his report (1903, pL LXV).
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.97 m |
HSc | 0.26 m |
WSc | 1.26 m |
MTh | 0.32 m |
Rei | 0.7 cm |
Lintel 39
LOCATION Discovered by Maler in 1900, buried in debris, having slipped from the jambs of the central doorway of Structure 16. It was removed in 1964 to the Museo National de Antropologia, Mexico City.
SHAPE The slab is well dressed, although its thickness is not uniform.
CONDITION Intact, with its sculptured surface very well preserved when discovered; some further erosion is now evident.
CARVED AREAS Front edge only.
PHOTOGRAPH Reproduced from Maler's original negative.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on Maler's photograph.
DIMENSIONS
MW | O.98m (underside) | |
HSe | 0.25 m | |
WSe | 1.22 m | |
MTh | 0.32 m | |
Rei | 0.8 | cm |
Lintel 40
LOCATION Discovered by Maler in 1897 in situ over the northeastern doorway of Structure 16.
CONDITION Intact and fairly well preserved except in certain areas.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone containing some flaws.
SHAPE The slab is accurately cut with parallel sides and a rectangular cross section.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on study of Maler's plaster cast.
NOTE Morley notes that Maler transposed the photographs of Lintels 38 and 40 in his report (1903, pI. LXV). The photograph used there to illustrate Lintel 40 actually shows the plaster cast.
CARVED AREAS Front edge only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1973.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.95 m |
HSc | 0.25 m |
WSc | 1.26 m |
MTh | 0.32 m |
Rei | 0.5 cm |
Lintel 41
LOCATION The upper half of the lintel was discovered by Maudslay in 1882 in front of the south doorway of Structure 42. Four years later the carved surface was sawn off by Gorgonio Lopez acting on Maudslay's instructions and removed to England. It is now in the British Museum. The incomplete lower portion seems to have been lying close by, partly exposed and with its carved surface uppermost. This piece was first examined and photographed by Morley in 1931.
CONDITION Broken into two large pieces and others not yet found. The upper portion is in pristine condition; at the time of discovery, the relief on the lower portion had been largely effaced, although an area on the right-hand side, presumably protected from weathering by debris, remained in good condition.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat; the sides are seemingly parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Composite: upper portion Graham, 1974; lower portion, Morley, 1931.
DRAWING Graham, based on drawings corrected by artificial light.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.93 m |
HSc | 1.15 m (approx.) |
WSc | 0.76 m |
MTh | 0.34 m |
Rei | 1.6 cm |
Lintel 42
LOCATION Discovered in situ over the middle doorway of Structure 42 by Maudslay in 1882.
CONDITION Intact, save for losses along the left-hand (outer) edge. The surface of the sculpture is in almost pristine condition, except for some losses by flaking, notably in the upper glyph panel. There has been no detectable deterioration since the piece was discovered and recorded by the making of a plaster cast (now in the British Museum).
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone of a yellowish color.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat, and the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only,
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1974. Because rubble half-filled the doorway, it was impossible to cover the whole sculptured area in a single photograph. A mosaic of four detail photographs is reproduced here.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light. The initial tracing was done from a photograph of Maudslay's cast, rather than from the author's mosaic photograph, in order to avoid distortion inherent in the latter.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.98 m |
HSc | 1.08 m |
WSc | 0.84 m |
MTh | 0.33 m |
Rei | 0.7 cm |
Lintel 43
LOCATION Discovered in the north doorway of Structure 42 by Maudslay in 1882. The upper part was lying in the doorway, while the lower purt was still in situ. Both pieces were removed in 1964 to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico City.
CONDITION Broken into two large pieces when discovered; other small fragments have yet to be found. The sculptured surface is very well preserved and has suffered negligible erosion since its discovery. Comparison of the lintel with Maudslay's cast and Maler's photograph, however, does disclose a few very small losses by breakage, notably portions of glyphs A1 and D7.
MATERIAL Very fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat, and the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PIIOTOGRAPHS Graham, 1974.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on Maudslay's plaster cast (now in the British Museum) and Maler's photograph.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.92 m | |
HSc | 1.09 m | |
WSc | 0.77 m | |
MTh | 0.30m | |
Rei | 1.8 | cm |
Lintel 44
LOCATION The lintel, which spans the southeast doorway of Structure 44, must have been seen by Maudslay, but Maler was the first to make mention of it. Two important fragments constituting about one quarter of the lintel were excavated by Karl Ruppert in 1931 from debris in the doorway.
CONDITION Broken into five main fragments, three of which remain in situ, and other smaller pieces never found. Much of the sculptured surface toward the outer (right-hand) edge has been damaged, perhaps by fire, as Maler plausibly suggested. Elsewhere details of the sculpture are well preserved.
MATERIAL Very fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE As far as can be determined the lintel was carefully hewn, although the sides are not parallel but converge toward the top.
CARVED AREAS
Underside only.
PHaTOGRAPH Graham, 1975.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light.
NOTE Morley designated the glyph columns on the lintels and hieroglyphic steps of Structure 44 as a single series, running from A to J". His scheme is presented graphically in The Inscriptions of Peten (Morley 1937-38, fig. 27). In the present work each lintel has its glyph columns lettered separately. The single column on this lintel. here called A, was given the letter L' by Morley.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.98 m |
HSc | 0.98 m |
WSc | 0.84 m (approx.) |
MTh | 0.30 m |
Rei | 2.0 cm |
Lintel 45
Drawing of Yaxchilan, Lintel 45, underside, 2004.15.6.6.16
Photo of Yaxchilan, Lintel 45, underside, 2004.15.5.6.19
Drawing of Yaxchilan, Lintel 45, detail, 2004.15.6.6.17
Photo of Yaxchilan, Lintel 45, detail, 2004.15.5.6.20
LOCATION In situ over the middle doorway of Structure 44, where it was discovered by Maudslay in 1882. A mold was taken at that time, a cast from which is in the British Museum.
CONDITION Cracked through, with losses along both edges above this crack. The sculptured surface has been destroyed by flaking in some areas; in others it remains in excellent condition. Traces of red paint remain.
MATERIAL Very fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat; the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPHS Graham, 1975.
DRAWINGS Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 1.07 m | |
HSe | 0.92 m | |
WSe | 0.92 m | |
MTh | 0.24 m | |
Rei | 2.1 | cm |
Lintel 46
Drawing of Yaxchilan, Lintel 46, detail, 2004.15.6.6.19
LOCATION In situ over the northwest doorway of Structure 44, where it was first seen by Maudslay in 1882.
CONDITION Cracked into five large pieces and one small one, all precariously in situ at the time of discovery. Other small fragments were never found. The large central piece fell sometime between Maler's third visit (1900) and Morley's of 1931. Much of the surface has been destroyed, perhaps by fire; elsewhere it remains in excellent condition, with red paint still in evidence.
MATERIAL Very fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat; the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPHS Graham, 1973 and 1974. The whole design is shown at the usual scale of 1:10 in a photograph of Maudslay 's plaster cast in the British Museum. The detail photographs are of the original.
DRAWINGS Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light, the cast having been studied as well as the original.
NOTE Morley designated the glyph columns on the lintels and hieroglyphic steps of Structure 44 as a single series, running from A to J ". His scheme is presented graphically in The Inscriptions of Peten (Morley 1937-38, fig. 27). As the column letters allocated by him for this lintel began with A", the lintel-by-lintel nomenclature employed in the present work for this structure involves simply the suppression of the double prime: thus A, B, C, etc., instead of A", B", C".
DIMENSIONS
MW | 1.04 m |
HSc | 0.96 m (approx.) |
WSc | unknown |
MTh | 0.26 m |
Rei | 1.7 cm |
Lintel 47
LOCATION Discovered in 1931 in front of the second doorway from the southwest end of Structure 12. In 1964 this lintel was removed to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico City.
CONDITION When found, this lintel was broken into two large and several smaller pieces. The sculptured surface had suffered only slight erosion. No further erosion occurred prior to its removal, but three small fragments carrying portions of glyphs A3, A5, and D2 have been lost. Red paint remains on the lower border.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is very flat, and the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPHS Graham, 1974.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on Morley's 1931 photograph.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.68 m |
HSc | 0.97 m |
WSc | 0.55 m |
MTh | 0.25 m |
Rei | 0.7 cm |
Lintel 48
LOCATION Discovered by Karl Ruppert in 1931 in debris in front of the third doorway from the southwestern end of Structure 12. Removed in 1964 to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico City.
CONDITION Two main pieces are known; part of the sculpture is missing. One small fragment, part of the ISIG, that is seen in Morley's photograph has since disappeared, and another, part of the baktun coefficient, is mentioned by Morley
(1937-38, vol 2, p. 369, note 68). The surface was in pristine state when found, with red paint in the grooves, as noted by Morley (field journal, April 17, 1931, Peabody Museum Archives). A very slight degree of erosion has since occurred.
MATERIAL Very fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat; the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPHS Graham, 1973.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on Morley's 1931 photograph.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.67 m |
HS, | 0.98 m |
WS, | 0.55 m |
MTh | 0.23 m |
ReI | 0.7 cm |
Lintel 49
LOCATION Discovered in 1931 in front of the last doorway toward the northeast in the line of seven doorways in the facade of Structure 12.
CONDITION When found, the lintel was broken into four large and several smaller pieces, many of which were not located, with the consequent loss of most of column A of the inscription. In 1972 Graham found three more small fragments bearing portions of glyphs A1, A5, and A6, but part of A2 had been broken off and could not be found. Traces of red paint remain.
MATER1AL Fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is very flat; the sides were probably parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1973.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on Morley's 1931 photograph.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.66 m |
HSc | 0.97 m |
WSc | 0.55 m |
MTh | 0.25 m |
Rel | 0.4 cm |
Lintel 50
LOCATION Found by Karl Ruppert in 1931 in debris in front of the southwestern doorway of Structure 13.
CONDITION Unbroken. The condition of the sculptured surface ranges from moderately good to poor.
MATERIAL Limestone flawed by holes.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is generally flat, although uneven. The sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Morley, 1931.
DRAWING Graham, based on it field drawing not corrected by artificial light and on Morley's photographs.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.68 m |
HSc | 0.59 m |
WSc | 0.58 m |
MTh | 0.23m |
Rel | 0.3 cm |
Lintel 51
LOCATION Found lying face down in front of the east doorway of Structure 55 by John Bolles in 1931.
CONDITION Unbroken. The condition of the sculptured surface was moderately good near the bottom of the design and very poor neer the top.
MATERIAL Limestone of poor quality, crisscrossed with fissures.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat; the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1978.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on Morley's 1931 photograph.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.91 m |
HSc | 0.82 m |
WSc | 0.76 m |
MTh | 0.30 m |
Rel | 1.0 cm |
Lintel 52
LOCATION Found lying face down in front of the middle doorway of Structure 55 by John Bolles in 1931.
CONDITION Unbroken as regards the sculptured area. The surface was well preserved when found, but subsequently it has suffered considerable erosion.
MATERIAL Limestone of fine grain, though not free of holes and fissures.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat; the sides are nearly parallel, the right-hand edge being smoothly dressed, the lefthand quite uneven. The width of the lintel is considerably greater at its upper than at its lower, sculptured, surface.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Morley, 1931.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on Morley's photograph.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.90 m |
HSc | 0.92 m |
WSc | 0.71 m |
MTh | 0.25 m |
Rel | 1.5 cm |
Lintel 53
LOCATION Found lying face down in front of the west doorway of Structure 55 by John Bolles in 1931. Removed in 1964 to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico City.
CONDITION Broken with a clean break into two pieces when found. The sculptured surface was very well preserved, although patches of harder material stained brown by iron content, that presumably once were flush with the surface, suggest by their protuberance some degree of general erosion. A further slight degradation of detail has occurred since the lintel was photographed in the year of its discovery.
MATERIAL Fine-gmined limestone.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is flat; the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1974.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on Morley's 1931 photograph.
NOTE It appears that the bundle held by the left-hand figure was originally incised with a design, probably a glyph, and that this was deliberately effaced in antiquity.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.88 m | |
HSc | 0.92 m | |
WSc | 0.75 m | |
MTh | 0.24 m | |
Rel | 1.4 | cm |
Lintel 54
LOCATION When found by John Bolles in 1931 the lintel lay in front of the central doorway of Structure 54. In 1964 it was removed to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico City.
CONDITION Broken in half when found, with a triangular fragment missing from the left-hand edge of the break and with small losses from glyphs B2 and H. Since then some general erosion has occurred, along with further small losses along the fracture.
MATERIAL Fine-grained limestone.
SHAPE The sculptured surfilce is flat; the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1974.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on Morley's 1931 photograph.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.77 m |
HSc | 0.97 m |
WSc | 0.67 m |
MTh | 0.31 m |
ReI | 1.5 cm |
Lintel 55
LOCATION The lintel was found in 1933 or 1934 partly in situ over the central doorway of Structure 88, by Ulises de la Cruz, the care taker of the site. It was removed in 1964 to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico City.
CONDITION Intact and only moderately affected by weathering. Much of the plaster employed to fill imperfections in the stone is still in place; about half of the apron of the left-hand figure is modeled in plaster.
MATERIAL Hard and fine-grained limestone, extensively flawed.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is nearly flat; the sides converge slightly toward the top. The right-hand edge is somewhat better trimmed than the other and therefore may have faced outward.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1975.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on Satterthwaite's 1934 photograph.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 1.00 m |
HSc | 0.60 m |
WSc | 0.80 m |
MTh | 0.20 m |
Rel | 0.9 cm |
Lintel 56
Drawing of Yaxchilan, Lintel 56, underside, 2004.15.6.6.30
Photo of Yaxchilan, Lintel 56, underside, 2004.15.5.6.36
LOCATION The lintel probably was discovered by Gorgonio Lopez in 1886, when he returned to Yaxchilan at Maudslay's behest. Almost certainly the lintel came from a doorway in Structure 11; the shaft believed to correspond to the sawn-off edge now lies on the northeast side of Structure 74, not far from its east corner (see Part 1 of this volume, pp. 3:8 and 3:9). The sculptured edge wns then sent by mistake to the Museum fur Volkerkunde in Berlin. Fortunately, the museum made a plaster cast (now in the British Museum) for Maudslay, as the original was destroyed by bombing during the Second World War.
CONDITION Well preserved when found.
MATERIAL Limestone.
SHAPE The supposed carcass of this lintel has parallel edges.
CARVED AREAS Front edge only.
PHOTOGRAPH Maudslay (of plaster cast).
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing of the plaster cast corrected by artificial light.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.80 m (approx.) |
HSc | 0.27 m |
WSc | 1.57 m |
MTh | 0.38 m |
Rel | 0.9 cm |
Lintel 57
Drawing of Yaxchilan, Lintel 57, 2004.15.6.6.31
LOCATION Found by Linton Satterthwaite, Jr., in 1935 buried beneath debris in front of the east doorway of Struclure 54.
CONDITION Unbroken, its surface generally is well preserved. Some erosion has occurred since discovery.
MATERIAL Limestone flawed by large holes, several of which still contain stucco filling.
SHAPE The surface is fairly flat; the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPHS Graham, 1978.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificia1light and on Satterthwaite's 1935 photograph.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.75 m |
HSc | 0.91 m |
WSc | 0.63 m |
MTh | 0.28 m |
Rel | 1.4 cm |
Lintel 58
LOCATION Found by Linton Satterthwaite, Jr., in 1935 buried beneath debris where the west door of Structure 54 had been. Removed in 1964 to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico City.
CONDITION Unbroken; its sculptured surface is very well preserved except in a few areas. Since excavation, a slight loss of detail has occurred through erosion.
MATERIAL Limestone of good quality.
SHAPE The sculptured surface is fairly flat; the sides are parallel.
CARVED AREAS Underside only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1974.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on Satterthwaite's 1935 photograph.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.75 m |
HS | 0.96 m |
WS | 0.66 m |
MTh | 0.22 m |
Rel | 1.0 cm |
Lintel 59
Photo of Yaxchilan, Lintel 59, 2004.15.5.7.1
Location
Found by Linton Satterthwaite, Jr. in 1935 in front of the middle doorway of Structure 24.
CONDITION Unbroken, though flawed by a crack through the sculptured edge. Degree of erosion moderate.
MATERIAL Limestone.
SHAPE Parallel-sided.
CARVED AREAS One edge only.
PHOTOGRAPH Graham, 1975.
DRAWING Graham, based on a drawing corrected by artificial light and on Satterthwaite's 1935 photograph.
DIMENSIONS
MW | 0.52 m (underside) |
HSc | 0.10 m |
WSc | 0.65 m |
MTh | 0.20 m |
Rel | 0.7 cm |
Stairway 1
NOMENCLATURE The six steps of the stairway are numbered here from top to bottom in Roman numerals I to VI. The blocks within each step are numbered from the left or northern end:I-1, I-2, etc. However, since the inscription runs from block to block as a continuous text uninterrupted by framing borders, and since in many instances part of a particular glyph is carved on one block with the rest of it on the next, the glyphs cannot be assigned letter designations on a block-by-block basis; instead these designations must be applied in a single series for the whole of each step, notwithstanding the uncertainties of doing so in badly weathered passages.
The conventional labeling of glyph blocks, with letters applied horizontally and numerals vertically, would have involved the use of double and triple primes for this inscription, To avoid such clumsy designations, the glyphblocks on these steps, as well as those of H5.5, are numbered rather than lettered. In an example of evidently poor planning, the sculptors of this inscription were obliged to introduce a double row of glyphs toward its end. In order to preserve the proper reading order, numerals have been applied to pairs of columns in this section. In accordance with Morley's practice, the left and right columns of such pairs can be distinguished by the addition of the letters a and b to the glyph-block number and the upper and lower halves by the addition of u.h. and l.h. Reference to such a glyph may therefore take this form: YAX:HS.1,83b,l.h.
LOCATION The lower steps of the stairway were discovered by Maler, the upper steps remaining obscured by debris until cleared by members of the Carnegie Institution expedition of 1931. The stairway is part of Structure 5, a platform of some size constructed on the river bank, with its rear overlooking the seasonally submerged "masonry pier" and its front forming the central element of the northeastern side of the largest plaza at Yaxchilan. The Hieroglyphic Stairway provides access to the platform from this plaza.
CONDITION Most of the 111 blocks forming this stairway remain in position, or have been only slightly disturbed. One block (VI-2) has fallen forward and now lies beneath the roots of a tree. A few are broken into several pieces, and many have had one or two pieces broken from them. (Some of these we were able to restore to their original position for photography.) Unfortunately, the general condition of the sculptured risers is deplorable, much of the stone having become very soft.
MATERIAL Limestone. Three of the blocks (1-9, IV-7, and V-13) are set with their bedding planes vertical and perpendicular to the plane of the risers.
DIMENSIONS Step I is 13.55 m long; the lengths of the others lie between 13.75 and 13.90 m. The widths of the treads, ascending from Step VI to Step II, are 0.90, 1.00, 0.80, 0.65, and 0.65 m.
CARVED AREAS Risers only. Study of the large cartouches, especially that on Block I-17, raises the possibility that they may have been carved over the original text.
PHOTOGRAPHS The entire stairway was photographed by Graham step by step in 1970, and again with better lighting in 1980. Unfortunately, some of the latter series were ruined during development. The published photographs are taken from both series.
DRAWINGS Graham, based on field drawings corrected by artificial light.
Stairway 2
NOMENCLATURE The blocks constituting this step are numbered in Roman numerals I to XIII. Individual hieroglyphs may be referred to in this form: YAX:HS.2-VII, Al.
LOCATION The step was discovered by Roberto Garcia Moll in 1975 during his program of clearing and consolidating Structure 33. The step is the last in the long ascent to this temple, and it runs nearly the full width of the building. The thirteen carved blocks extend slightly beyond the two outer doorways of the temple, the step itself continuing in both directions with uncarved and less massive blocks. (See the sketch plan on this page. This has been drawn to include Stela 31, the incised stalactite, in order to remedy the incorrect position given it in the site plan, pp. 3:6,7.)
CONDITION As found, the three central blocks, VI to VIII, were in a nearly pristine state. In common with the others they have suffered some damage to their upper edges from falling masonry. The other blocks (of clearly different style and origin) were more weathered, some of them being almost obliterated. The only block from which a substantial portion is missing is Block IV.
MATERIAL Limestone, of various qualities. The three central blocks are of yellowish stone of uniform fine grain.
SHAPE Most of the blocks are well trimmed, with dressed treads, although they lack depth below the carved area such as is commonly found in the sculptured steps of the Maya.
CARVED AREAS Risers only.
PHOTOGRAPHS Graham, 1975.
DRAWINGS Graham, based on field drawings corrected by artificial light.
DIMENSIONS
Block | Ht | MW | HS, | WS, | Rel (cm) |
I | 0.40 | 0.77 | 0.27 | 0,60 | 1.0 |
II | 0.42 | 0.96 | 0.30 | 0.77 | 0.2 |
III | 0.42 | 0.86 | 0.32 | 0.72 | 0.5 |
IV | 0.35 | 0.80 | 0.26 | 02 | |
V | 0.32 | 0.87 | 0.26 | 0.69 | 0.2 |
VI | unknown | 0.81 | 0.35 | 0.70 | 3.5 |
VII | unknown | 1.65 | 0.38 | 1.53 | 4.0 |
VIII | unknown | 0.97 | 0.33 | 0.84 | 3.0 |
IX | 0.56 | 1.10 | 0.30 | 0.81 | 0.2 |
X | 0.36 | 0.88 | 0.25 | 0.69 | 0.2 |
XI | 0.38 | 0.75 | 0.27 | 0.3 | |
XII | 0.36 | 0.68 | 0.26 | 0.52 | 0.2 |
XIII | 0.36 | 0.85 | 0.28 | 0.65 | incised |
Stairway 3
NOMENCLATURE The hieroglyphic stairway is made up of pairs of inscribed steps giving access to each of the three doorways of Structure 44. The six blocks are numbered here in Roman numerals I to VI, passing from upper to lower step and from southeastern to northwestern doorway, i.e., from the doorway of Lintel 44 to that of Lintel 46. Individual hieroglyphs may be referred to in this form: YAX:HS.3-VI,Al. See the note below for concordance between Morley's designation of glyphblocks and that employed here.
LOCATION Block III was discovered in 1900 by Maler, although it was not recognized by him as a step. Its true nature became clear in 1931 when Karl Ruppert of the Carnegie Institution cleared the doorways and discovered the other five blocks of the stairway. All of them were in place, whereas Block III had at some time in the past been pulled out and left lying upside down near the edge of the terrace.
All three upper steps are considerably wider than the doorways in front of which they were set: Block I has a sculptured tread 1.53 m wide, whereas the doorway is only 1.06 m wide. At some time after the steps had been put in place, and perhaps in response to fears for the stability of the building, a reinforcing wall 30 cm thick was built along the front wall of the building, with openings corresponding exactly with the original doorways. This wall obscured nearly half the width of those parts of the sculptured area of each upper step that extended beyond the doorjambs on either side. I am much indebted to Roberto Garcia Moll for consenting in 1979 to have the relevant portions of the wall dismantled in order to reveal the hidden areas of sculpture. In passing, it may be mentioned that Morley was mistaken in stating that these areas were covered when the doorway was narrowed (Morley . 1937-38, vol. 2, pp. 448, 452). It is noteworthy that this wall remains intact on both sides of the central doorway; this means that Block III had already been removed from its presumed original setting when this wall was built.
The five steps found in situ by Ruppert remain where found, but not Block III; it has disappeared. Perhaps it was removed in 1964 when other pieces were being taken to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia and was lost during the journey upstream to Agua Azul, or at some other stage. Most unfortunately no photograph seems to exist of the riser, which Maler mentions as having been carved with eight double glyph-blocks.
CONDITION All six blocks were intact when found. The treads of the upper steps were in good condition; the risers still extant have suffered significant loss through erosion and fracture and are obscured in places by deposits of lime. Of the lower steps, Block IV is well preserved; the other two are badly weathered.
DIMENSIONS | Treads: | I | II | III | IV | V | V1 |
Ht | 1.65 | 1.46 | 1.98 | over 1.80 | 1.61 | 1.43 | |
MW | 0.72 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 0.70 | 0.71 | 0.78 | |
HSc | 1.53 | 1.29 | 1.20 | 1.52 | 1.34 | ||
WSc | 0.60 | 0.61 | 0.58 | 0.60 | 0.70 | ||
Rel | 1.0cm | 1.5 cm | 0.9 cm | 1.0 cm | 1.5 cm | ||
Risers: | |||||||
Ht | 0.30 | 0.30 | 0.32 | ||||
HSc | 0.22 | 0.18 | |||||
WSc | 1.49 | 1.47 |
MATERIAL Limestone.
SHAPE The upper steps were worked into impressive rectangularity; the lower, which were to be set into the plaster floor of the terrace, are less regular in outline.
CARVED AREAS Blocks I, III, V: tread and riser. Blocks II, IV, VI: tread only.
PHOTOGRAPHS Graham, 1976 and 1979, except for the photograph of Block III, which is Maler's (printed from a copy negative, the original being lost).
DRAWINGS Graham, based on field drawings corrected by artificial light, except for the drawing of Block III, which is based on Maler's and Morley's photographs.
NOTES Calculation indicates a uinal coefficient of 2 in the Distance Number at A5 on Block I but one dot and two fillers are shown. However, the relief of the crescent fillers is shallower than in the rest of the inscription, and the dot is scarcely perceptible. This suggests the possibility of an attempt having been made to correct the mistake, with the crescents perhaps being filled in with plaster.
Stairway 4
NOMENCLATURE The three inscribed blocks are numbered in Roman numerals I to III from southeast to northwest, that is, left to right. Individual hieroglyphs may be referred to in this form: YAX:HS.4-3,Bl.
LOCATION The steps were discovered in 1980 by Roberto Garcia Moll in the course of clearing and consolidating Structure 41. The three inscribed blocks are set into a step that runs the full width of the building, each step being set directly in front of one of the doorways.
CONDITION Block I: part of the carved surface carrying Column D of the inscription and a fragment carrying the central portion of the Introducing Glyph have split off, only the latter having come to light. Erosion varies from moderate to serious in different areas of the surface. Block II: broken into three or four pieces, only two of which have survived. Erosion of the surface has rendered the inscription illegible. Block III: intact and moderately well preserved.
MATERIAL Limestone of grayish color with, in the case of Block I, a pronounced laminar texture.
SHAPE Block III is well fashioned; the other two may have resembled it.
CARVED AREAS Tread only.
PHOTOGRAPHS Graham, 1980.
DRAWINGS Graham, based on field drawings corrected by artificial light.
DIMENSIONS
Block I | Block II | Block III | |
HI | 1.20 m | 0.89 m | 1.40 m |
MW | 0.50 m | 0.58 m | 0.72 m |
HSc | 1.01 m | 1.05 m | |
WSc | 0.38 m plus | 0.44 m | |
MTh | 0.08 m | 0.16 m | 0.18 m |
Rel | 0.4 cm | 0.9 cm |
Stairway 5
NOMENCLATURE The stone blocks constituting the step are numbered 1 through 45 without regard to the missing blocks that evidently preceded number 1 at the southeast end. However, in numbering the glyphblocks the lost section has been taken into consideration by starting the numeration at 36, a number reckoned large enough to include the glyph-blocks now missing. In view of this, strict adherence to the usage recommended in the Introduction (p. 1:11, note 2) requires that glyph-block designations in this step be prefixed by p, for provisional. The suggested form for referring to a particular glyph is thus YAX:HS.5, p152.
Two blocks both carved with hieroglyphs in two rows were found close to the step and so are likely to have bome some relation to it in their original setting; they have therefore been designated HS.5a and HS.5b.
LOCATION The step runs across the front, or northeast side, of Structure 20, 1.80 m from the facade and about 5 m from the edge of the terrace. The step also serves two flanking buildings not yet excavated at the time of writing, the one to the southeast being only a low mound. For some reason all of the blocks that formed the step in front of this flanking mound have decayed, some to the point of disappearance. Proof that they too were inscribed, however, is provided by the outline of a cartouche on one block. The two blocks, HS.5a and HS.5b, were found lying in debris, one above and one below the step, near the gap between Stones 22 and 25.
The existence of the step was unknown until the temple was cleared of debris by Roberto Garda Moll in 1980, prior to consolidation of the masonry.
CONDITION As mentioned above, the first part of the inscription, some 6 m long, is completely destroyed. The next part, that lying in front of Structure 20 proper, has suffered serious fracturing in places from the impact of stones falling from the high facade. There are also three gaps in this stretch. Beyond the temple no serious damage is seen, and the inscription remains in good condition, having been covered by slump from the northwest flanking mound (which may lie closer to the step than is shown in the sketch plan).
MATERIAL Limestone.
SHAPE Well-trimmed rectangular blocks. The depth of stone below the lower edge of the inscription runs up to 0.30 m. Block 18, set in front of the central doorway, is much wider (1.61 m) than the others.
CARVED AREAS Risers only.
PHOTOGRAPHS Graham, 1981.
DRAWINGS Graham, based on complete stereophotographic coverage.
DIMENS10NS
Blocks | HSc 0.18 m average | |||
1-45: | Rel | 0.9 | cm | |
Total length 29.20 m | ||||
HS.5a: | MW | 0.42 m | ||
WSc | 0.38 m | |||
Ht | 0.39 m | |||
HSc | 0.28 m | |||
Rel | 0.7 | cm | ||
HS.5b: | MW | 0.34 m | ||
WSc | 0.30 m | |||
Ht | 0.39 m | |||
HSc | 0.28 m |