An Inscribed Monument from the Ocosingo Valley

Abstract

Among the monument types typical of Toniná and the Ocosingo Valley (figure 1) in the western periphery of the Classic Period Maya area are rectangular cut stone slabs with circular holes carved through the center. Franz Blom and Oliver La Farge ( 1927: 275) who made survey visits to the Ocosingo Valley published these stone monuments as "bases for stelae." This nomenclature is somewhat misleading because the stelalike monuments at Tonina are actually statuary carved in full and 3/4 round. Inscriptions on these statues are carved on the backs of the statues, on the loin clothes draped down the front of the statues, and sometimes on arms and legs as tatoos.