By deciphering hieroglyphic inscriptions on centuries-old rocks, researchers have recognized the title of a beforehand unknown Maya queen. Generally known as Ix Ch’ak Ch’een, she dominated Cobá, or the “metropolis of uneven water,” in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula within the sixth century, in line with a translated assertion from Mexico’s Nationwide Institute of Anthropology and Historical past (INAH).
Cobá was a main city heart within the Maya world and was occupied from round 350 B.C. to the 14th century. It had a core of elite homes constructed round 4 lakes, together with 1000’s of residential constructions, quite a few white stone roads and a number of other pyramids.
In 2024, archaeologists with INAH found an intensive hieroglyphic textual content carved right into a stone staircase at Cobá, which they named the Basis Rock, in line with The Yucatan Occasions. Erosion had badly broken the Basis Rock, making it troublesome to translate the 123 hieroglyph panels. However further discoveries, together with 23 stelae — freestanding inscribed stone pillars — have offered clues to assist specialists interpret the texts.
Historic Mayan textual content specialists David Stuart of the College of Texas at Austin and Octavio Esparza Olguín of the Nationwide Autonomous College of Mexico just lately matched one panel from the Cobá Basis Rock with two stelae from the positioning and realized they referred to the identical individual: Ix Ch’ak Ch’een.
Though the Basis Rock mentions the coronation of Ix Ch’ak Ch’een, the particular dates for her reign are unclear. Nevertheless, the Maya queen’s title is talked about in affiliation with constructing initiatives that included a ball court docket, the development of which is famous to have occurred across the date 9.7.0.0.0 within the Maya calendar, or Dec. 8, 573.
Ix Ch’ak Ch’een could have been a very highly effective queen, because the researchers have linked her to Testigo Cielo, a ruler of the politically and militarily influential Kaan kingdom that was a part of the Maya civilization and identified for its snake kings.
Feminine rulers among the many Maya have been uncommon — with solely a couple dozen identified in comparison with lots of of kings — however throughout the Late Traditional interval (550 to 830), distinguished ladies such because the “Pink Queen” got here to energy. The Pink Queen dominated the Maya metropolis of Palenque within the mid-seventh century.
In keeping with Esparza, analysis on the Basis Rock has already offered important data on dynastic rulers and historic occasions that occurred at Cobá, however their investigation is ongoing.
