123
THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE EMBLEM GLYPH OF YAXHA, EL PETEN
John S. Justeson
This note reports the identification of the emblem glyph of Yaxha, a Classic
Maya site in the eastern Peten. The variable element is T743: the "water group"
prefix, at the site and elsewhere, is normally T16. There are eight certain examples
of the glyph at Yaxha itself, listed in Table 1 and illustrated in the same order in
Figure 1, a-h. The emblem occurs at Yaxha on every stela having a glyphic text, while
no other glyph with emblem prefixes occurs on any.
Figure 1, i-t, illustrates occurrences of T743 with at least one emblem prefix
at other sites and in the same order as the listing in Table 2.
The creature which is represented by T743 has been identified by Spinden as
a macaw and by Thompson and most others as a turtle (Thompson 1950: 116; 1962:
325). In the inscriptions it is surely a bird of some sort. The only two certain full-
figure representations I have noted are illustrated in Figure 1, u-v. The first shows
a wing; the second has an anthropomorphised body, with feathers attached at its back.
A possible third full-figure example at Copan, not illustrated here, also portrays a bird
(Maudslay 1889-1902, I: Plate 96).
124
TABLE 1
Glyph Block
A2
C1
B12
D6
Dll
AlO
A7
G7
Configuration
16. 743a
16. 743a
16. (168:743)b
16. (168:743)
168(16.743)c
16. (168:743)
16. (168:743)
?. (168: 743)
Notes:
a. Absence of T168 is noted fairly often for other emblem glyphs in
Thompson's Catalog.
b. This follows Palenque emblem 793a, without affixes, at Bli.
c. This may be a scribal error; but see Figure 1, i.
Stela No.
1
2
6
7
13
31
Figure 1
a
b
C
c
d
e
f
g
h
-
-
-
125
TABLE 2
Glyph Block
ConfLguration
Figure 1 Drawn After
Palenque:     G3
House C,
base
Pomona:       C4
Tablet X
Yaxchilan:    E3
Lintel 10
Kuna-Lacanha: D4
Lintel 1
Tikal:        B4
Lintel 3
Naranjo:      Ell
Stela 23
F20
Stela 12
Alo
Bll
D8
Grolier exhibit:
Vase 47
168:(?. 743)
(101:528af). (168:743)
16:168:743:130
168:(743. 130 ?)
16.743
16. (168:743)
16. (168:743)
16. 743
16. 743
16.743
16. (168:743)
F'
i      Maudslay 1889-1902,
Vol. 4: Plate 22
j      Lizardi 1963: Plate 6
k      Maler 1903: Plate 54
1      Coe and Benson 1966:
Figure 9
m      Thompson 1950: Figure
52, 1
n      Maler 1908: Plate 37
o      Maler 1908: Plate 38
p      Maler 1908: Plate 31
q
r
s      Coe 1973: 103
Vase 52
F
168:743
t      Coe 1973: 112
Thompson (1962: 324) also lists occurrences without affix at Uxactun
(three times), Copan, Mountain Cow, and possibly Piedras Negras; Coe lists one on
Vase 47. Except for the Tzakol 3 Vase 52, all the above occurrences are Late
Classic. In contrast, at Yaxha itself, the occurrences are on both Early Classic and
Late Classic monuments.
Text
-- -.j A;- -  -- - - - -     - - ---4z7 --- -- - - --            - -4=7 -- -        - - -- - - -- - --- - -
126
Source of Full-Figure Glyph
Machaqulla:
Structure 4, Stone F
Tikal:
Burial 116, incised bone
TA BLE 3
Figure 1
u
V
Drawn After
Graham 1967: Figure
38, 39
Trik 1963: Figure 3a
S
-
a             b
e
i
n
I
t
s
k
0
c            d
U
1
p
WDU
v u u u
.S
(0
q
FIGURE 1: a-h, Yaxha; i, Palenque; L, Pomona; k, Yaxchilan; 1, Kuna-Lacanha;
m, Tikal; n-r, Naranjo; s-t; vases of uncertain source; u, Machaquila; v, Tikal.
Cf. Tables 1-3.
127
JF)
i
k
m
r
r
128
Acknowledgements: This report was based upon work done at Yaxha in the summers
of 1973 and 1974. Permission to undertake fieldwork was given by Lic. Luis Lujan
of the Instituto de Antropologia e Historia to the Foundation for Latin American
Anthropological Research. For their courtesy and co-operation during my work at
the site, thank are due to Nicholas Hellmuth, director of the Yaxha Project; Luis
Lujan; Raphael Morales; Rudi Larios; Miguel Orrego; and Hugo Ordonez. Without
the aid of a grant from the Latin American Studies Program of Stanford University
which partially supported that work, and of the Asociacion Tikal's support of the
guarding of St. 6 since 1971, this identification would have been much more tenuous.
Thanks are also due to those who read, and by their responses, improved this report
from its earlier versions: Steven Hampson, David Kelley, George Kubler, Tatiana
Proskouriakoff, J. Eric Thompson, and especially John Graham.
129
REFERENCES
Coe, M.D.
1973 The Maya Scribe and his World. The Grolier Club. New York.
Coe, M.D. and E.P. Benson
1966 Three Maya Relief Panels at Dumbarton Oaks. Studies in Pre-
Columbian Art and Archaeology, No. 2. Washington.
Graham, I.
1967 Archaeological Explorations in El Peten, Guatemala. Middle American
Research Institute, Publication 33. New Orleans.
Lizardi Ramos, C.
1963  Inscripciones de Pomona, Tabasco, Mexico. Estudios de Cultura
Maya 3: 187-202. Mexico.
Maler, T.
1903  Researches in the Central Portion of the Usumatsintla Valley.
Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, Volume 2,
Number 2. Cambridge.
1908  Explorations in the Department of Peten, Guatemala, and Adjacent
Region: Topoxte, Yaxha, Benque Viejo, Naranjo. Memoirs of the
Peabody Museum of Harvard University, Volume 4, Number 2.
Maudslay, A. P.
1889-1902 Archaeology. Biologia Centrali-Americana. London.
Thompson, J. E. S.
1950  Maya Hieroglyphic Writing: an Introduction. Carnegie Institution of
Washington, Publication 589, Washington.
1962  A Catalog of Maya Hierglyphs.  University of Oklahoma Press,
Norman.
Trik, A.S.
1963 The Splendid Tomb of Temple I at Tikal, Guatemala. Expedition 6:
2-18. Philadelphia.