The narrative starts with Tzolkin date 11 Ajaw and a distance of 3.13.12 days (E1-F1). Counting backwards from the long count of the front side, we get to 8.16.17.9.0 (May 2, 374), almost four years before the royal funeral.
The second date on the back side is at G5-G6: 12 Muluc, G1, 12 Kankin and the moon phase 15D which is the glyph for the Full Moon. This matches exactly with 8.18.17.14.9 (January 21, 414), jumping almost forty years to the future.
Interestingly, the third date (E7-F7) follows right after the second date, apparently leaving no narrative for the second date at all. The third date has the distance of 2.3.11 days and Tzolkin date 10 Ajaw, which equal to Katun ending of 8.19.0.0.0 (March 22, 416).
Following the first date, there seems to be a narrative of seven glyphs (E2-E5). It starts with joy yajawte, "ascended as Lord of the Tree" (E2-F2). At E3-F3 we have the name of Spearthrowing Owl spelled out as ja-?-ma KU, followed by a name of some location or attribute Ho'Noom? Witz (E4) and the Kalomte title (F4). The last glyph at E5 reads chan utz’akbuji[l] ajaw, "the fourth counted lord".
Ascension as Lord of the Tree effortlessly compares with similar sounding ascension to the Root Tree House by king Nun Yax Ahiin, as written in Stela 31 (E5-F5). Presumably both ways of writing it had the same factual meaning. Nun Yax Ahiin is also referred to as a Lord of the Tree in Stela 31 (P2). It seems to have been a sort of fundamental title which was a prerequisite for further top positions.
Unlike in Stela 31, Marcador's Tree ascension event seems much longer. The first impression is that the person ascending here is Spearthrowing Owl who already was a Kalomte of Ho'Noom Witz and adopted a new title of Lord of the Tree. While the front side concentrated on Siyaj K'ak', it looks odd that the back side seems to move the focus to someone else.
Before fixing the translation, we need to have a look at the second date. Like we noticed before, it seems to be without any narrative, even though a total of three glyphs are spent to mark the date.
Remembering how the writer had switched the word order of two consecutive expressions at C3-D4, we may find a proper solution here by suspecting something similar. The narrative for the second date might not be missing after all. Instead, it is just written before the date to avoid repeating two similar sentences one after another. Since the second event appears to have been another ascension, this also enabled the writer to use the same ascension glyph at E2 for both of them.
Assuming we are correct here, the structure is as follows: "On date1, ascended as title1, as title2 on date2."
Since we can clearly identify the first ascension as Lord of the Tree, the rest of the narrative (E3-F4) should belong to the second ascension. This would make the second title then as Spearthrowing Owl Ho'Noom Witz Kalomte which was adopted in 414. The phrase for the new title is finalized as "fourth counted lord" which could mean the person in question was the fourth holder of the title. Somewhat better fitting, we could translate it as "fourth counted lordship", meaning that it was the fourth noble title granted to our protagonist. All in all, Spearthrowing Owl was not an individual in this sentence, but a part of a new royal title.
Why was the early ascension of 374 mentioned? Checking the dates we can see that the second ascension seems to be related to a double anniversary. Firstly, it took place two Katuns and 99 days after the first one. Counting from the front side's funeral, it also took place 50 Tzolkin years and 157 days later.
We get back to the real meaning of this new title "Spearthrowing Owl Ho'Noom Witz Kalomte" after sorting out the next event in the narrative, starting at glyph E7.
At the bottom right corner of an otherwise date related glyph E7, the phrase to start the next event reads k’a[h]laj tun, "the stone is bound". Since the date was a Katun ending, this is a suitable beginning for a period ending celebration. The rest of the text from E8 onwards looks confusing at first, before we realize that there are actually two events taking place separately, both held on the same day and written here so that the lesser event is inserted in the middle of the more important one.
The lesser event is at E8-H1 and tells about the erecting of the Marcador monument itself. The more important event is the Katun ending, which starts at E7d and continues at G2.
At E8, the glyph reads i-tz’a[h]paj "then is planted" followed by u-UNKNOWN Spearthrowing Owl, "the [UNKNOWN] of Spearthrowing Owl" or "the [UNKNOWN]-Spearthrowing Owl". The unknown glyph is a Teotihuacan symbol for Tlaloc, a Mexican rain god closely associated with Quetzalcoatl. Both the Tlaloc and Spearthrowing Owl symbols are depicted on the sides of the round sun element at the top of the monument. In lack of a better name, the writer just used these images to refer to the Teotihuacan originated monument in the text.
At G1-H1 the text gives credit to the nobleman who arranged the monument to be erected, ukabjiy UNKNOWN ajaw, "under the auspices of [UNKNOWN] Lord". The unknown glyph marking his name or origin looks suspiciously similar to the Marcador monument itself. It is not inconceivable to think that this person was not of Mayan origin.
At G2 the Katun ending text continues with utz’akbuji[l], "the counted one" which is a commonly used reference to the Katun ending. Together with E7d it makes a complete sentence "The stone is bound for the counted one". It is then followed by another way of writing ukabjiy at H2, starting the credit sequence for the one who oversaw the Katun ending.
The nominal phrase starts at G3 with a common attribute which is widely used in early Tikal texts to indicate senior royal positions. It probably reads u mam, "the grandfather" emphasizing the seniority of the person. For better readability, we could translate it as "his highness". It is followed by a peculiar expression ch'a-CH’AMAK or ch'amak, "the Fox", which is never later repeated for any royal, but appears here as a sort of appraisal.
At G5-H5 we have yajawte' Siyaj K'ak', "The Lord of the Tree Siyaj K'ak'", clearly stated here as the person who oversaw the Katun ending in 416.
Now, let us put together all that we have got as the back side text before continuing to the final stretch:
"[On the day] 11 Ajaw, 3.13.12 days [before], ascended as Lord of the Tree, [then] as Ho'Noom Witz Kalomte Spearthrowing Owl, [his] fourth counted lordship, [on the day] 12 Muluc, 12 Kankin and G1, at full moon. 2.3.11 days [later] the [MARCADOR] of Spearthrowing Owl is planted under the auspices of Lord [UNKNOWN]; and the stone is bound for the counted one [= Katun ending] under the auspices of His Highness, the Fox, the Lord of the Tree Siyaj K'ak'."
Planting of the Marcador monument, coinciding with the Katun ending, seems to have been done to honor the new title adopted two years earlier, both the title and the monument having the name of Spearthrowing Owl prominently present. Spearthrowing Owl, at least according to the text, had also played a special supernatural part in the funeral of Chak Tok Ich'aak.
Now the question is, who was the person having the two ascensions in 374 and 414?
Both of the acquired titles "Lord of the Tree" and "Kalomte" are used in the text by Siyaj K'ak'. He is also the main protagonist, overseeing first the royal funeral and then the contemporary Katun ending years later. Thus, it was Siyaj K'ak' who ascended as the Lord of the Tree in 374 and it was him who adopted a Spearthrowing Owl related title in 414. The text is clearly written in his honour.
We still have ten glyphs to go (G5-H9). The text looks impenetrable, having several Teotihuacan related images mixed with Mayan glyphs. No new date is set, so the text probably continues to refer to the time of the Katun ending.
We can start opening it up from the glyph at G8. It undeniably appears to be the rare, distinctly female royal title, the so-called "GI title" which is known to have belonged to only four individuals during the recorded Mayan history. The title is repeated in Stela 31 at A24-B24 where it appears in front of king Siyaj Chan K’awiil's mother. The three other known holders were a Tikal queen Tzutz Nik(?) in the late 5th century, "Lady of Tikal" in the early 6th century and Palenque's Lady Sak K’uk’ in the 7th century. Regarding the rarity of the title and the fact that it certainly was used for the king's mother in a later monument, it can be well assumed that it was used for her also in an earlier monument during his reign.
Figure 3.1. The rare female "GI title". a) Tikal Stela 31 at A24-B24. b) Tikal Marcador at G8.
Curiously, at H8 we have nothing resembling the name of king's mother as written in Stela 31 (A25-B25). Instead, we have a hand holding a spearthrower and something that looks like an altar, subfixed by ni (TUN-ni?). Making the case even more curious, the hand holding the spearthrower is the same as the one used for Spearthrowing Owl's glyph.
In front of the title at H7 there is a crowded glyph containing a hand holding an ajaw component, al, "to give". In front of a female name it usually refers to her being a mother of someone mentioned earlier in the text. Here the al glyph clearly has b'ah, "the first", below it, probably making the left side of the composite glyph read as b'a[ah][y]al, "the first son of (mother)".
The remaining elements of the H7 glyph appear to read IX-b'ah-ka or ix b'akab, "Lady first of the world", i.e. the "First Wife". We indeed seem to have here a high ranking royal female who was someone's mother.
To identify her son, we have only one nominal sequence between the name of Siyaj K'ak' and the lady of H7-G8. It starts with an undeciphered noble attribute at G5 (the same as in B7) and continues as follows: Mutul ch'en Ho'Noom Witz Waxaklaju'n Ub'aah Chan, "Eighteen-Image-Serpent of Tikal (community) Ho'Noom Witz" or "Ho'Noom Witz Eighteen-Image-Serpent of Tikal (community)". Is this then the name of the son of the said lady?
If we count on the unique nature of the title at G8 and remember this was a public monument made during king Siyaj Chan K’awiil's reign, just as the later Stela 31, then the identity of "Eighteen-Image-Serpent of Tikal Ho'Noom Witz" could be none other than the king himself. We can note how the Teotihuacan originated serpent was earlier used in the pseudonym of king Chak Tok Ich'aak. In a monument that itself was a Teotihuacan copy, the text seems to have given the current and the past king new Teotihuacan related names, possibly with specific religious undertones now lost.
Understanding this, we also have a reasonable explanation for the strange name of king's mother at H8: it was yet another Teotihuacan branded identity for a Tikal royal.
What was then Ho'Noom Witz, "Five Great Mountains", repeated twice in connection with high ranking royals? There are comparable titles used for both buildings, polities and individuals alike. To list the best known, Palenque king K'inich Janaab Pakal was said to be of "Five Pyramids"; Caracol rulers used title "Three Mountain Lord"; mythological "Five Flower Mountain" appears as a name for a royal memorial shrine in Piedras Negras; "Five Earth Lord" ho’ kab ajaw was a title of a legendary Pusilha Lord.
In the context of Marcador, we could easily see "Five Great Mountains" as an expression of special greatness and give it a rough English translation "magnificent", without a concrete relation to any specific place. Thus, Siyaj K'ak' was "the magnificent Kalomte Spearthrowing Owl" and his grandson "the magnificent Eighteen-Image-Serpent of Tikal". If "Five Great Mountains" was regarded as a place name, its relation to two individuals seemingly at the same time would prove difficult to reconcile.
At H9 we have one more glyph with Teotihuacan imaginary. In fact, it seems to be a composite of two glyphs squeezed into a space of one. Lower part has the fourth instance of spearthrowing hand, covering the hair of a front-facing man dressed in a Teotihuacan warrior attire.
Again, a glance at Stela 31 proves indispensable. On the side of the stela, there is a carving of king Nun Yax Ahiin holding a spearthrower in his right hand and a shield decorated with a Teotihuacan warrior in his left hand. We can also have a look at the badly eroded Stela 18 dated to the 396 Katun ending tended by Nun Yax Ahiin, clearly portraying the king with a Teotihuacan warrior head decorated shield. For a reason or another, combination of a spearthrower and the face of a Teotihuacan warrior seem to have been special symbols for Nun Yax Ahiin in the public art of Tikal during his lifetime and after it.
Figure 3.2. a) Image of Nun Yax Ahiin in Tikal Stela 31. The king is apparently made identifiable by the combination of a spearthrower and a Mexican warrior face. b) Unknown individual identified by a combination of a spearthrower and a Mexican warrior face in Tikal Marcador monument (H9).
Furthermore, the upper part of the glyph H9 seems to read ni-NICH-li? or nichil, "the son of (father)", confirming both the reasoning above and complementing the similar statement about his wife earlier.
Thus, we have here the name of the reigning king Siyaj Chan K’awiil together with his parental statement, just as in Stela 31 some 25 years later.
We still have one glyph to sort out at G9. It looks terribly complicated and carved in a far too small area for the content it has. It also seems to consist of two composite glyphs, one at the top and one at the bottom. Based on the -ja or -taj ending, the latter looks to be a verb. Other than that, not much else can yet be made of it.
We can now see the last section in whole, using "his excellency" as the placeholder for the undeciphered royal title at G5:
"His excellency, the magnificent Eighteen-Image-Serpent of Tikal, the first-born son of First Wife Lady [UNKNOWN NAME], [UNKNOWN] [UNKNOWN VERB], the son of (father) [UNKNOWN NAME]."
Most of this sentence is spent on defining the king's name and parents, but his relation to the Katun ending remains elusive. As clearly stated in the monument, the ceremony was conducted by Siyaj K'ak'. Did the young king join the Katun ending together with Siyaj K'ak' or did he do something else which is defined by the undeciphered glyph at G9? Nothing conclusive can be said. Noteworthy is that the location of the Katun ending is not written down in the stone. We know from Stela 4 in Uaxactun that Siyaj K'ak' conducted a Katun ending there 20 years earlier 396, and it is possible that the later Katun ending also took place there, not in Tikal.
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