Vittoria Benzine (Artnet) reports on a recent discovery in Cobá, located in the Caribbean province of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Hieroglyphics decoded from Cobá’s Foundation Stone reveal information about a woman named Ix Ch’ak Ch’een, who held the position of kaloomte’, or “Supreme Warrior” queen. Benzine writes that “The next step is determining how she wielded power beyond her city.”
Women played key political roles in Maya civilization throughout the 6th and 7th centuries C.E. Archaeologists at the ruins of Cobá, 70 miles from Chichen Itza, have just named another one of those female rulers. The identity of Ix Ch’ak Ch’een, along with information about her accomplishments and alliances, are only the latest insights to arise from Cobá’s newfound, so-called Foundation Stone. [. . .]
Now, epigraphers David Stuart of the University of Texas at Austin and Octavio Esparza Olguín of the National Autonomous University of Mexico have started translating the stone—which is already yielding insight into Cobà’s past. Perhaps most importantly, they’ve substantiated the name Ix Ch’ak Ch’een, which appears in slightly different spellings on Panel 7 and stelae 26 and 30 throughout Cobá. Similar dates between iterations confirm they’re all referring to the same woman. The researchers have also learned that Cobá instituted the position of kaloomte’, or “Supreme Warrior” queen, on May 12, 569 C.E.
“[Ix Ch’ak Ch’een] was already in power in 569, probably for a short time,” Stuart elaborated over email. “We suspect that her installation was part of a political revival or reset at the kingdom, as Cobá became increasingly involved in the complex geopolitics of the Maya region. She was not the founder of the dynasty, but she definitely helped to establish Cobá as a regional power.”
In addition to illuminating the deities that Ix Ch’ak Ch’een was associated with, Stuart and Esparza Olguín have also linked Ix Ch’ak Ch’een to the creation of nearby sporting facilities—and linked her to Sky Witness, a powerful ruler from the Kaanul dynasty, “although we do not know the nature of this relationship by having no clear references to that dynasty in Cobá,” Esparza Olguín remarked in a release. [. . .]
For full article, see https://news.artnet.com/art-world/foundation-stone-maya-coba-woman-ruler-2704521
Vittoria Benzine (Artnet) reports on a recent discovery in Cobá, located in the Caribbean province of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Hieroglyphics decoded from Cobá’s Foundation Stone reveal information about a woman named Ix Ch’ak Ch’een, who held the position of kaloomte’, or “Supreme Warrior” queen. Benzine writes that “The next step is determining how she wielded
