1,400-year-old hieroglyphs reveal name of powerful Maya queen
By deciphering hieroglyphic inscriptions on centuries-old rocks, researchers have identified the name of a previously unknown creature. Maya queen. Known as Ix Ch’ak Ch’een, she ruled Cobá, or the “city of troubled waters,” in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula in the 6th century, according to a translated text. statement from the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (INAH).
Coba was a large urban center in the Mayan world and was occupied from around 350 BC until the 14th century. There was a core of elite houses built around four lakesas well as thousands of residential structures, numerous white stone roads and several pyramids.
In 2024, INAH archaeologists discovered a long hieroglyphic text carved into a stone staircase in Cobá, which they named the Foundation Rock, according to The Yucatan era. Erosion had severely damaged the foundation rock, making it difficult to translate the 123 hieroglyphic panels. But other discoveries, including 23 stelae – engraved stone pillars – have provided clues to help experts interpret the texts.
Experts in ancient Mayan texts David Stuart from the University of Texas at Austin and Octavio Esparza Olguin from the National Autonomous University of Mexico recently compared a panel from the Cobá Foundation Rock with two stelae from the site and realized that they referred to the same person: Ix Ch’ak Ch’een.
Although the Foundation Rock mentions the coronation of Ix Ch’ak Ch’een, the precise dates of his reign are unclear. However, the name of the Mayan queen is mentioned in association with construction projects including a ball fieldwhose construction would have taken place around the date 9.7.0.0.0 in the Mayan calendaror December 8, 573.
Ix Ch’ak Ch’een may have been a particularly powerful queen, as scholars have linked her to Testigo Cieloruler of the politically and militarily influential Kaan kingdom, which was part of the Mayan civilization and known for its serpent kings.
The female leaders among the Maya were rare — with only one a few dozen known in relation to hundreds of kings – but during the Late Classic period (550 to 830) prominent women such as “Red Queen” came to power. The Red Queen ruled the Mayan city of Palenque in the mid-7th century.
According to Esparza, research into the Rocher Foundation has already provided essential information about the dynastic rulers and historical events that occurred in Cobá, but their investigation is ongoing.
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