Machaquila Ruler Stela 7

Stela 7 at Machaquilá, in the Petén forests of Guatemala, portrays a ninth-century Maya king in full regalia — a feathered headdress, a deity-mask pectoral, and a serpent-footed K'awiil scepter, the emblem of his dynasty — carved in weathered limestone. Its Long Count date corresponds to 2 January AD 831, and the figure is thought to be Juun Tsak Took' (the reading of the name is still debated among epigraphers), one of the last known holy lords, or k'uhul ajaw, of the city. Machaquilá was a late survivor: as most neighboring Petén centers fell silent, it kept raising dated monuments for roughly another forty years, and this stela belongs to that final flourish, shortly before the Terminal Classic collapse ended divine kingship across the southern lowlands. The city's last dated stela was raised in AD 840.