10 
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY, TECHNICAL PAPERS 
o o 
FIGURE 9-THE PESTAC STELA 
(AFTER BLOM) 
(figure 9). The fact that the idea of the 
accompanying period glyph is here present 
might be sufficient reason to exclude the 
Pestac stela from the category under dis¬ 
cussion. Nevertheless it certainly resembles 
this group more in appearance than it does 
the orthodox Maya Initial Series. A feature 
it shares with Stela “C” is the fact that 
the terminal date is shown at the base of 
the numeral column with vertically placed 
numerical coefficients. It differs, however, 
in the fact that both day and month periods 
were apparently indicated and placed side 
by side. It should also be pointed out 
that Pestac lies in that margin of the recog¬ 
nized Maya area which is closest to the 
Tuxtla region. 1 
THE EL BAUL STELA 
Previous to the discovery of the Tres 
Zapotes stela, but one other Initial Series 
recording a Baktun 7 date had been found. 
This is on Stela 1 at El Baul, Guatemala 
(figure 10, c). In 1928, Lehmann presented 
to the Congress of Americanists in New 
York the theory that this represented a 
contemporary date. This was disputed by 
Waterman, 2 who maintained on stylistic 
grounds that the carved figure which ac¬ 
companies the Initial Series must have been 
made later than the period indicated. He 
does not disagree, however, with Lehmann’s 
reading of the date. This reading is also 
confirmed by Morley, 3 who is inclined to 
accept Waterman’s rejection of the date as 
contemporary. In objecting to Dr. Leh¬ 
mann’s conclusion, Waterman says: 4 
“The conclusions which Dr. Lehmann 
has jumped at seem at first glance to be 
quite reasonable. The monument with 
which we are dealing looks rather ancient, 
not to say aged. It was excavated out of 
the side of a pyramid which itself is low, 
overgrown with brush, and of an extremely 
archaic appearance. The stela itself, aside 
from the carvings on it, has a sort of an 
aura of antiquity about it. It is an exces¬ 
sively plain and thin slab of rock, with fig¬ 
ures executed in a primitive manner. 
Moreover, one would expect to find, some¬ 
where in the Guatemalan highlands, cer¬ 
tain crude and simple stone pillars which 
would represent the beginnings of stela 
sculpture. . . . The location of the monu¬ 
ment, its size, its relative crudeness, and 
its archaic air all fit very well together. 
“I do not believe, however, that the stela 
is particularly old.” 
After explaining that the stone is badly 
weathered, he expresses the opinion that 
the weathering is not significant as per¬ 
taining to the age of the stela, since the 
stone is rather soft and he believes that 
1 Blom, 1929. 
“Waterman, 1929. 
Morley, 1938. 
4 T. T. Waterman, Art and Archaeology, Vol 
XXVIII, 1929, p. 184. 
FIGURE 10 -(a) CARVING ON AN ALTAR OF AZTEC ORIGIN NEAR EL BAUL (AFTER WATERMAN); (b) THE LEYDEN PLATE (AFTER MORLEY); 
(C) THE EL BAUL STELA (AFTER MORLEY AS COPIED FROM PHOTOGRAPH FROM WATERMAN) 
