Monuments of Yaxchilan

Yaxchilan's stone carvings have contributed greatly to the understanding of the Maya culture during the Classic period (700 - 900 AD). Iconography and Epigraphy at this site have played a major role in deciphering the hieroglyphics that tell the story of Yaxchilan dynasty. Pictured below are some of the remaining carvings in bass-relief revealing the Maya mind set of the times. Steve is photographing a large stela(No 11)which in an aborted attempt to ship it to the Mexico City Museum was left laying on the river bank for many years. Later, a couple of enterprising people arranged for it to be barged back to Yaxchilan, where it was hauled ashore and left laying flat.

Yaxchilan is noted for the proliferation of carved lintels, numbering fifty eight in total. Since the lintels are structural elements placed at the top of door ways the carvings have been preserved as long as the structure remained in tact.

The site as we see it today reflects 8th century building efforts of a father and son dynasty who ruled consecutively from 681 to 768. All though the site itself dates to the 4th century Bird Jaguar IV (the son) was responsible for the majority of reconstruction and carving of stela and lintels that are presently seen on the site. Bird Jaguar IV, possibly the sixteenth ruler, went to a great deal of effort in his monuments to establish his credentials for being the Ahow even rewriting the history of his predecessors to make them appear more illustrious. Yaxchilan had a history of militarism and Bird Jaguar IV always was noted as "The Captor of 20".

Center top is an altar located in the plaza near the labyrinth entrance showing human figures holding up sections of glyphs that appear to be dates. Top left is a carved lintel that is treated by itself in the last picture of this Blog entry. Center row is a block of glyphs showing a stairway with a ball rolling down the steps. Lower left corner is of that ball depicting a bound human figure. The figure is upside down his head thrown back, clothing flying in the middle, lower legs bent at the knees indicating rolling action. Two pictures in the center of the collage are of one stela, a lord standing on a block of glyphs providing pertinent details about the lord above. Center bottom is of a ruler in the stance of a ball player. A double row of glyphs across the top and down the side describes the two dwarfs. The snakes on their heads and Venus signs under their arms indicate that they are gods. Stela lower right is probably Bird Jaguar IV commemorating his accession to the throne AD April 29,752. This date coincides with the Summer Solstice and the first appearance of Venus as the evening star.



Stela upper left is badly damaged and eroded and we have not been able to identify it but as noted above it may be Bird Jaguar IV. The glyphs pictured lower left are from the side of the stela laying on the ground in the previous collage (Stela 11). Down the side are random carvings from the hieroglyphic stair way, two are pictorials of the ball game and most likely captives being rolled down the stairs. This Ball Game is probably not a sporting event and likely relates to their creation myth as told in the Maya book "Popol Vuh".



Below is a picture we took of the lintel in the left most doorway of Temple 33. The scene is of two people facing each other (probably Bird Jaguar IV on the left) witnessing the conjuring of an ancestor by the burning of paper soaked in the blood of the person on the left. The paper is in a shallow bowl held by that person and the smoke curling up forms a monsters mouth from which emerges an ancestors head. (Clicking on the picture to enlarge will help you see what is being described above).