Table Of ContentPARENTAGE STATEMENTS AND PAIRED STELAE: SIGNS OF DYNASTIC
SUCCESSION FOR THE CLASSIC MAYA
by
Daniel Moroni Stewart
A thesis submitted to the faculty of
Brigham Young University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts
Department of Anthropology
Brigham Young University
April 2009
Copyright © 2009 Daniel Moroni Stewart
All Rights Reserved
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE COMMITTEE APPROVAL
of the thesis submitted by
Daniel Moroni Stewart
This thesis has been read by each member of the following graduate committee
and by majority vote has been found to be satisfactory.
__________________________ __________________________________
Date Donald W. Forsyth, Chair
__________________________ __________________________________
Date James R. Allison
__________________________ __________________________________
Date Allen J. Christenson
__________________________ __________________________________
Date John Edward Clark
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
As chair of the candidate’s graduate committee, I have read the thesis of Daniel
Moroni Stewart in its final form and have found that (1) its format, citations, and
bibliographical style are consistent and acceptable and fulfill university and
department style requirements; (2) its illustrative materials including figures,
tables, and charts are in place; and (3) the final manuscript is satisfactory to the
graduate committee and is ready for submission to the university library.
_________________________ _________________________________
Date Donald W. Forsyth
Chair, Graduate Committee
Accepted for the Department
__________________________________
Joel C. Janetski
Graduate Coordinator
Accepted for the College
___________________________________
Susan Rugh
Associate Dean, College of Family, Home,
and Social Sciences
ABSTRACT
PARENTAGE STATEMENTS AND PAIRED STELAE: SIGNS OF DYNASTIC
SUCCESSION FOR THE CLASSIC MAYA
Daniel Moroni Stewart
Department of Anthropology
Master of Arts
The purpose of this thesis is to describe and document parentage statements and
paired stela found on Maya monuments or portable objects. While the existence of
parentage statements, within the Maya text, has been known since the late 1970s, no
thesis or major research project has ever been published pertaining to this class of glyphs
within the Maya script. In 1977 Christopher Jones is credited with the discovery of
parentage statements in Maya hieroglyphic texts (Jones 1977). His discovery was
followed by a detailed analysis of parentage statements by Floyd Lounsbury, Peter
Mathews, and Linda Schele (1977). They introduced most of the known parentage
statements and detailed their use in the hieroglyphic texts. While their work, which
introduced parentage statements, in general, is cited regularly as the all-encompassing
source of information about parentage statements, it remains unpublished.
This thesis provides a source for all new and previous work done on parentage
statements and insight into possibly why parentage statements were used by the Classic
Maya. An analysis of 253 archaeological sites containing a total of 2473 glyphic
monuments was conducted as part of this thesis. Justin Kerr’s online vase and photo
collections were also checked for parentage statements on portable objects and ceramic
vessels. Parentage statements were found on 225 monuments and 70 portable objects
bringing the total to 295 different monuments with parentage statements.
Each parentage statement is identified and transcribed phonetically. The usage of
each parentage statement and its variants are then mapped through time. Also introduced
in this thesis is the death of a parent glyph commonly known as the Winged Capped
Ajaw Death Phrase. An analysis of its usage demonstrates that it refers to the death of a
parent. Paired stelae were analyzed as another possible form of parentage statements.
This thesis tests three hypotheses on why parentage statements were used. They included
ancestor worship, political legitimacy, and heir designation. The weaknesses and
strengths of each hypothesis are demonstrated through case studies. Lastly, the
appendices include source material for each site and monument researched as part of this
thesis.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to first acknowledge and thank my wife Rose Marie for supporting
me in all my schooling endeavors. I would like to thank her for putting up with my late
nights and piles of library books scattered throughout our small apartment. I would also
like to thank my son Jeremy for all of his helpful advice about the direction my thesis
was taking (I assume all of his gibberish was advice and not him asking me to come out
and play). Jeremy you made my breaks so much more enjoyable and you great for stress
relief. I would like to also thank my father for his hours of editing and proof reading of
my earlier thesis drafts.
I would also like to thank my committee members, Donald Forsyth, James
Allison, Allen Christenson, and John Clark for all of their help in preparing this thesis.
Special thanks go to Donald Forsyth and Allen Christenson for letting me take all of their
Maya classes and answering all of my many questions. I would also like to thank Danny
Law who taught the Maya hieroglyphics class at BYU and set the foundation for all of
my future research in Maya epigraphy. His cultivation of my interest was by far the
major contributor to the success of this thesis.
I would also like to thank the many professors and students from other institutions
who willingly gave me access to their knowledge and information about the many Maya
sites included in this thesis. A special thanks to Barbara Fash and the Harvard Corpus of
Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions for the research drawings and advice that she provided
me. The care and effort she spent in my behalf went far and beyond normal expectations.
Without her help many of the conclusions derived in this thesis would not be possible.
Lastly, a special thanks to Marc Zender, Zachary Nelson, and Janis Calleja for their
timely advice and clear explanations.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction and Format ..................................................................................... 1
Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1
Previous Work ................................................................................................................ 1
Proposal........................................................................................................................... 4
Rationale for Doing this Study ....................................................................................... 4
Sources of Monumental Art ............................................................................................ 7
Sources for Monument Photographs ............................................................................... 8
Sources for Ceramic and Portable Objects: .................................................................... 8
Chapter 2 Methods and Dating ......................................................................................... 10
Locating Maya Monuments: ......................................................................................... 10
Dating of Monuments: .................................................................................................. 12
Methods of Analysis: .................................................................................................... 13
Transcription and Translation of Hieroglyphic Texts: .................................................. 13
Rules for transcribing Maya texts: ............................................................................ 13
Rules for transliterating Maya texts: ......................................................................... 14
Other Rules for hieroglyphic texts: ........................................................................... 14
Physical Division of the Maya Area: ............................................................................ 14
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