0 a vertical piece of stone with writing cut into it, often used in the past as a gravestone (= a stone that shows where a dead person is buried): --
It is difficult in those cases to claim that the absence of stelae during a particular period is indicative of anything meaningful.
On stelae, the ruler was shown holding military or ritual objects.
He believed that the glyphs, ornaments, idols, stelae, and altars were built up of numerical symbols and dedicated to number worship.
That said, the stele, a piece of black granite, about 4 high and 2 across, mounted on a 2 high square base, was unveiled.
As public monuments, the stelae follow the conventions of an artistic language that was invented in order to make public declarations.
Monuments include structures and large sculpture such as stelae that were carved with information about cosmologies and hierarchies of power.
Yaxchilan stelae often included ancestor cartouches above the ruler.
The reference would be to white stuccoed non-effigy censers used to burn incense near stelae and then left at their place of use.
