Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History announced that a limestone monument known as Foundation Rock from the ancient Maya city of Cobá revealed the identity of a sixth-century ruler, Queen Ix Ch’ak Ch’een. The 111-square-foot staircase block, found at the edge of a waterhole in the Nohoch Mul group near the site’s tallest pyramid, carried 123 hieroglyphic panels detailing dates, events, deities, and rulers.
Epigraphers David Stuart of the University of Texas at Austin and Octavio Esparza Olguín of the National Autonomous University of Mexico matched one of the panels with inscriptions on Stelae 26 and 30 at Cobá, confirming that all three texts referred to the same woman. “We suspect that her installation was part of a political revival or reset at the kingdom, as Cobá became increasingly involved in the complex geopolitics of the Maya region,” said Stuart, according to Smithsonian Magazine. In a follow-up email cited by the outlet, he added, “She was already in power in 569, probably for a short time.”
One inscription recorded the Long Count date 9.6.15.6.9, equivalent to May 12, 569 CE, placing Ix Ch’ak Ch’een at the center of her own coronation and linking her to the creation of a political office known as kaloomte’ at Kehwitznal, the “place of the deer mountain.” Another passage marked the Long Count date 9.7.0.0.0, or December 8, 573 CE, commemorating the completion of Cobá’s Group D ballcourt; the queen’s name appeared alongside the construction record, underscoring the project’s ceremonial weight.
Religious references permeated the text. The glyphs associated Ix Ch’ak Ch’een with the deity K’awiil, a tie that conferred the authority of a kaloomte’, and invoked Cobá’s protective god Bolon Tz’akab Ajaw, blending political power with spiritual sanction. Researchers also noted a tentative link between the queen and Testigo Cielo of the Kaanul (Serpent) dynasty, though no other Cobá monuments confirmed that relationship.
Cobá, called “the City of the Thundering Waters” for its four lakes, spread across roughly 80 square kilometers and housed about 50,000 people at its height. Occupation began around 350 BCE and lasted into the 14th century, its elite precincts interconnected by white stone roads known as sacbeob.
Ix Ch’ak Ch’een now joins a short roster of documented Maya queens, a list that includes fewer than thirty women compared with hundreds of known kings. “Our investigations are still ongoing,” said Esparza Olguín, according to Live Science, noting that further study of Foundation Rock’s panels and 23 additional monuments could yield new insights.
The preparation of this article relied on a news-analysis system.