RESEARCH COMMITTEE 
OF THE 
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 
Lyman J. Briggs, Chairman 
Director, National Bureau of Standards 
Alexander Wetmore, Vice-Chairman 
Assistant Secretary, Smithsonian Institution 
Gilbert Grosvenor 
President, National Geographic Society 
Sylvanus G. Morley 
Archeologist, Carnegie Institution 
John Oliver La Gorce 
Vice-President, National 
Geographic Society 
George W. Hutchison 
Secretary, National Geographic Society 
Rear Admiral L. O. Colbert 
Director, U. S. Coast and 
Geodetic Survey 
Walter T. Swingle 
U. S. Department of Agriculture 
C. Hart Merriam 
Member, National Academy of Sciences 
Carl S. Scofield 
Principal Agriculturist 
Western Irrigation Division 
Department of Agriculture 
Philip Sidney Smith 
Chief Alaskan Geologist, 
U. S. Geological Survey 
Floyd K Richtmyer 
Dean, Graduate School 
Cornell University 
Charles F. Kettering 
President, General Motors 
Research Corporation 
Homer L. Shantz 
Division of Wildlife Management, 
U. S. Forest Service 
Copyright, 1940, by National Geographic Society, Washington, D. C. International 
copyright secured. All rights reserved. Quedan reservados todos los derechos. 
AN INITIAL SERIES FROM TRES ZAPOTES, 
VERA CRUZ, MEXICO 
By M. W. Stirling 
Chief, Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution 
STELA “C”, 
F ROM the latter part of December 
1938, until the 15th of April, 1939 
the National Geographic Society - 
Smithsonian Institution Expedition con¬ 
ducted archeological explorations at Tres 
Zapotes in the canton of the Tuxtlas, Vera 
Cruz. 1 
During the course of this work, a num¬ 
ber of large stone carvings were located 
including five stelae or portions of stelae. 
The archeological zone of Tres Zapotes 
includes approximately 50 earth mounds 
stretching along the right bank of the 
Arroyo Hueyapan for a distance of two 
miles. Some of the mounds are on the 
bottom land adjacent to the arroyo and 
the remainder on the somewhat eroded 
terrace which overlooks this flat. The 
mounds separate themselves into four 
groups, each of which has a more or less 
rectangular plaza as a central feature. The 
easternmost of these clusters has been 
designated Group C. The principal mound 
of this group, C 1, is the second largest 
of the entire series. It is situated on the 
highest point of the terrace and gives a 
commanding view over the entire zone. 
Directly in front of the south base of 
this mound was a small milpa, at the edge 
of which a few inches of a worked stone 
projected above the surface of the ground. 
Excavation revealed that this stone had 
been set up as a stela behind a roughly cir¬ 
cular flat stone altar (figure 1). Since this 
was the third stela encountered, it was 
designated Stela “C”. It consisted of a 
transverse fragment apparently intention¬ 
ally broken from the middle of a good-sized 
monument which had been carved by an 
earlier people than those who re-used it. 
In its upright position behind the altar 
the fragment was at right angles to the 
position occupied by the original monu¬ 
ment from which it had been broken. On 
the side facing the altar was a face in the 
1 M. W. Stirling, “Discovering the New World’s 
Oldest Dated Work of Man,” National Geo¬ 
graphic Magazine, August, 1939, Vol. LXXVI, 
No. 2. 
TRES ZAPOTES 
, form of a “tiger mask” panel carved in low 
, relief (figure 3). Across the middle of the 
back was the greater portion of an Initial 
Series (figures 2, 4 and 5). 
The stone had been broken off through 
the lower part of the terminal glyph and 
just above the katun coefficient, so that the 
baktun coefficient and the introducing glyph 
are missing. The numerals are arranged 
in a vertical column with the bars and dots 
placed horizontally. They are spartanlike 
in their simplicity with no decorative ele¬ 
ments or “fillers” such as characterize most 
of the Initial Series inscriptions of the 
Maya area. The numerical coefficients are 
not accompanied by designating glyphs, 
their values being determined by position. 
At the upper righthand margin of the col¬ 
umn is an elongated rectangular cartouche 
with a badly defaced incised design which 
may have represented a human figure in 
profile. The righthand margin of the 
cartouche is not defaced and is decorated 
with a comblike appendage. 
At the base of the number column is a 
well-preserved glyph at the left of which, 
placed vertically, is the numeral 6. The 
column from top to bottom reads 16-6-16- 
18. 
The bars and dots are clearly and sharply 
carved in low relief. The bars were formed 
by abrading their outlines to the desired 
depth and then grinding away the back¬ 
ground immediately surrounding them to 
the depth of the grooves. The depressed 
area thus formed was then gradually tap¬ 
ered off to the level of the original surface 
of the stone, creating the impression at first 
glance that the numerals stand in relief 
above the whole background. The dots 
were treated in the same manner excepting 
that they were outlined by a hollow drill, 
probably of bamboo, and the edges of the 
cores forming the dots subsequently rounded 
off. 
When the stela was first unearthed the 
grooves outlining the bars and dots were 
made conspicuous by a yellowish incrusta¬ 
tion which faded after several weeks' ex- 
