La Mojarra Stela 1
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La Mojarra Stela 1 is an early Mesoamerican carved monument (stela) dating from the 2nd century CE. It was discovered in 1986, pulled from the Acula River near La Mojarra, Veracruz, Mexico, not far from the Tres Zapotes Olmec archaeological site. The 4½ foot wide by 6½ foot high, four-ton basalt slab contains about 535 glyphs of what has been named the Isthmian, or epi-Olmec, script. It is similar to the Tuxtla Statuette in both content and chronology.
A portrait of a man standing in an elaborate headdress and costume has been carved into the right side of the stone, the bottom half of the carving being very badly weathered. Above the figure 12 short columns of glyphs have been etched into the stone, matched by 8 longer columns to the figure's right. Among these glyphs are two Mesoamerican Long Count calendar dates which correspond to May 143 CE and July 156 CE. The monument is an early example of the type of stela which later became common commemorating rulers of Maya sites in the Classic era.
For some years the monument was in storage in the Museo de Antropología in Xalapa. In November of 1995, as the monument was being prepared for display, a previously neglected series of glyphs were noticed on one side in eroded but still partially recognizable condition.
In 1993, and again in 1997 after discovery of the new column of glyphs, John Justeson and Terrence Kaufman put forward a proposed decipherment of the glyphs, naming the figure depicted as "Harvester Mountain Lord", and describing his ascension to kingship. This decipherment has been disputed by Michael D. Coe and Stephen D. Houston, among others. Resolution of this debate will likely need to await further archaeological discoveries.
[edit] References
- Diehl, Richard (2001) "Mojarra, La (Veracruz, Mexico)", in Evans, Susan, ed., Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America, Taylor & Francis, London.
- Justeson, John S.; and Terrence Kaufman (July 1997). "A Newly Discovered Column in the Hieroglyphic Text on La Mojarra Stela 1: a Test of the Epi-Olmec Decipherment". Science 277 (5323): p.207. Retrieved on 2006-10-25.
