Despite the focus thus far on visible texts and images and how they could have guided movement, some carved texts and images are on top of monuments where people on the ground could not have seen them once the monuments were erected. For example, on the top of Itzam K’an Ahk I’s Stela 32 is a text naming 6 Ajaw, the stela’s dedication day. Although it might have been visible to someone at the top of the Structure R-5 pyramid, this glyph probably was not meant to be seen by people, but its presence was still important. Other examples are K’inich Yo’nal Ahk Il’s Stela 2, with a text and an image of an ancestor on a throne carved on the top, and his Stela 7, with a text that curves from the top of the stela down its right side (fig. 2.27).
Although the visibility of texts and images has been emphasized in this chapter, it is abundantly clear that texts and images had other purposes outside of their availability for comprehension. Houston, Escobedo, and Webster (2008) have suggested that the “audience” for texts on the tops of stelae was divine, and that they were carved for deities or deified ancestors in the celestial realm. Alternatively, the act of carving itself may have been the critical practice, or the presence of the texts and images may have been what truly mattered. Regardless, these examples further remind us that stelae did much more than simply convey information, for as Stuart (1996) first proposed, the ceremonies of their dedication were of utmost import, as was their presence as the embodiment of divine rulers.
The physical qualities and context of sculptures were also of enormous significance. This is clear for objects with texts and images that people could actively see and experience, in which the layouts guided people to move around the monument, particularly in cases where there is integration of what the text conveyed and how it was deployed, as described for Altar 1. It also becomes clear for texts and images that were hidden from human sight but still significant in their existence and materiality. Moreover, strong indications exist that Maya sculptures were considered active objects with agency that could function outside of human experience or perception, one notable example being the sarcophagus of Pakal at Palenque, which—buried inside a temple and thus invisible to humans—materialized and activated Pakal’s rebirth (see O’Neil 2009).
World History
