{{Short description|Mesoamerican stela}}
{{Infobox Artifact
| name = La Mojarra Stela 1
| image = File:Harvestermountainlord.jpg
| image_caption = Left side image of La Mojarra Stela 1, showing a person identified as "Harvester Mountain Lord"
| material = [[Limestone]]
| created = 2nd century
| discovered = 1986 in the [[Acula River]] near [[La Mojarra]], [[Veracruz]], [[Mexico]]
| location = [[Xalapa Museum of Anthropology]]
}}
'''La Mojarra Stela 1''' is a [[Mesoamerica]]n carved monument ([[stela]]) dating from 156 CE<ref>According to the Long-Count date carved on it</ref> (2nd century CE). It was discovered in 1986, pulled from the Acula River near [[La Mojarra]], [[Veracruz]], [[Mexico]], not far from the [[Tres Zapotes]] archaeological site.  The {{convert|4+1/2|ft|m|adj=mid|-wide}} by {{convert|6+1/2|ft|m|adj=mid|-high}}, four-[[ton]] [[limestone]] slab contains about 535 [[glyph (archaeology)|glyphs]] of the [[Isthmian script]].  One of Mesoamerica's earliest known written records, this [[Epi-Olmec culture]] monument not only recorded this ruler's achievements, but placed them within a cosmological framework of calendars and astronomical events.<ref>See, for example, Guernesy, p. 13-14.</ref>

The right side of the stone features a full-length portrait of a man in an elaborate headdress and costume, although the bottom half of the carving is very badly weathered.  Above the figure, 12 short columns of glyphs have been etched into the stone, matched by eight longer columns to the figure's right.  Among these glyphs are two [[Mesoamerican Long Count calendar]] dates which correspond to May 143 [[Common Era|CE]] and July 156 CE. The monument is an early example of the type of stela which later became common commemorating rulers of [[Maya civilization|Maya]] sites in the [[Mesoamerican chronology|Classic era]].

==Description and interpretation==
The figure engraved onto Stela 1 is complex and not easily interpreted.  Pool describes the figure as follows:<ref>Pool, p. 261.</ref>

{{cquote|His elaborate headdress forms the head of a hook-billed bird supernatural.  A "[[Jester God]]" head with [[buccal mask]] sprouts from the bird-deity's nose, and a stylized shark with serrated fin is attached to the top of the headdress, its bifurcated tail hanging down behind.  Four smaller sharks swim up the main shark's rope-like [[notochord]].  Smaller bird deity masks appear below the main one and on the pectoral ornament that lies on the ruler's breast over his feather cape.  Glyphs symbolizing his exalted office adorn his arms and legs.}}

Prof. Philip Arnold has tentatively identified the stylized sharks as the [[Olmec_religion#Fish_or_Shark_Monster_(God_VIII)|Olmec Fish/Shark Monster]], a symbol of rulership.<ref>Arnold, p. 22.</ref>  

According to [[Mary Ellen Miller]], the figure wears the headdress of the [[Principal Bird Deity]].<ref>Miller, p. 44.</ref>  Bird deities were often featured on stelae of this period, and can be seen on [[Izapa]] Stela 4 as well on monuments at [[Kaminaljuyu]], [[Takalik Abaj]], and [[Zaculeu]].<ref>Koontz et al., p. 91.</ref>  

The [[Tuxtla Statuette]], a small {{convert|6|in|mm|adj=mid|-high [[greenstone (archaeology)|greenstone]] sculpture}}, also portrays a human dressed as a bird.  It comes from the same culture and period as Stela 1, and both feature [[Isthmian script]] glyphs.  These two artifacts were found roughly {{convert|70|km|mi|abbr=on}} apart and their Long Count dates are separated by only six years.  They may even refer to the same person.<ref>Pool, p. 262.</ref>

==Discovery and decipherment==
For some years after discovery, the monument was in storage in the [[Museo de Antropología]] in [[Xalapa]]. In November 1995, as the monument was being prepared for display, a previously neglected series of glyphs was noticed on one side in eroded but still partially recognizable condition. 

In 1993, and again in 1997, after discovery of the new column of glyphs, [[John Justeson]] and [[Terrence Kaufman]] put forward a proposed decipherment of the glyphs.  This decipherment names the figure depicted as "Harvester Mountain Lord", and describes his ascension to kingship, a solar eclipse, appearances of [[Venus]], warfare, and an attempted usurpation, human sacrifice (perhaps Harvester Mountain Lord's brother-in-law<ref>Justeson and Kaufman (2001), p. 2.66, which refers to a "dripping sacrifice".  See also Schuster.</ref>) and Harvester Mountain Lord's own [[Bloodletting rituals in Maya culture|bloodletting]].<ref>Kaufman (2000) and Justeson and Kaufman (2001).</ref>

This decipherment has been disputed by [[Michael D. Coe]] and [[Stephen D. Houston]], among others.  Resolution of this debate will likely need to await further archaeological discoveries.<gallery mode="packed" heights="300">
File:La Mojarra Estela 1 (Detalle).jpg|Detail of the central character of the sculpture
File:La Mojarra Estela 1 (Escritura superior).jpg|Detail of the inscriptions top view
File:La Mojarra Estela 1 (Escritura inferior).jpg|Detail of the inscriptions bottom view
</gallery>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==See also==
* [[:Image:La Mojarra Inscription and Long Count date.jpg|Detail showing one of the two Long Count dates.]]

==References==
*{{aut|Arnold, III, Philip J.}} (2005) "The Shark-Monster in Olmec Iconography", in ''Mesoamerican Voices'', 2005, v. 2.
* {{aut|Diehl, Richard}} (2001) "Mojarra, La (Veracruz, Mexico)", in Evans, Susan, ed., ''Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America'', Taylor & Francis, London.
*{{aut|Guernsey, Julia}} (2006) ''Ritual and Power in Stone: The Performance of Rulership in Mesoamerican Izapan Style Art'', University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas, {{ISBN|978-0-292-71323-9}}.
* {{cite journal |author=Justeson, John S.   |authorlink=John S. Justeson |author2=Terrence Kaufman  | date=July 1997 |title=A Newly Discovered Column in the Hieroglyphic Text on La Mojarra Stela 1: a Test of the Epi-Olmec Decipherment  |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/justeson.dtl |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=277 |issue=5323 |page=207 |accessdate=2006-10-25 |doi=10.1126/science.277.5323.207|author2-link=Terrence Kaufman |url-access=subscription }}
*{{aut|Justeson, John S., and Terrence Kaufman}} (2001) [http://www.albany.edu/anthro/maldp/EOTEXTS.pdf ''Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing and Texts''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525014933/http://www.albany.edu/anthro/maldp/EOTEXTS.pdf |date=2011-05-25 }}.
*{{aut|Kaufman, Terrence}} (2000) "[https://web.archive.org/web/20080505221953/http://www.pitt.edu/~pittanth/research/latin/kaufmann-research.html Early Mesoamerican Writing Systems]" on University of Pittsburgh Department of Anthropology website (accessed January 2008).
*{{aut|Koontz, Rex; Annabeth Headrick; Kathryn Reese-Taylor}} (2001) ''Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica'', Westview Press.
*{{cite book |author=Miller, Mary Ellen   |authorlink=Mary Miller (art historian) |year=2001 |title=The Art of Mesoamerica |edition=3rd|location=London |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] |isbn=0-500-20345-8}}
*{{aut|Pool, Christopher}} (2007) ''Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-521-78882-3}}.
*{{aut|Schuster, Angela M. H.}} (1997) "[https://web.archive.org/web/20071225222907/http://cat.he.net/~archaeol/online/news/la.mojarra.html Epi-Olmec Decipherment]" in ''Archaeology'', online (accessed January 2008).


[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 2nd century]]
[[Category:2nd-century inscriptions]]
[[Category:1986 archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:Epi-Olmec culture]]
[[Category:Inscriptions in undeciphered writing systems]]
[[Category:Mesoamerican inscriptions]]
[[Category:Mesoamerican stelae]]