La Mojarra Stela 1

The figure engraved onto Stela 1 is complex and not easily interpreted. Pool describes the figure as follows: Prof. Philip Arnold has tentatively identified the stylized sharks as the Olmec Fish/Shark Monster, a symbol of rulership. According to Mary Ellen Miller, the figure wears the headdress of the Principal Bird Deity. 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. The Tuxtla Statuette, a small , 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 apart and their Long Count dates are separated by only six years. They may even refer to the same person. ==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) and Harvester Mountain Lord's own bloodletting. 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. 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 ==Notes==