How Stele 18 of Uxmal Has Transformed the Understanding of Maya Ritual Life
The recent presentation of a book published by INAH, authored by archaeologists Eduardo Huchim and Alexander Voss, has sent shockwaves through the scientific community.
The publication titled Lluvia y Tierra, La Estela 18 de Uxmal, details how Stele 18 was discovered in 2022 and provides a detailed account of its interpretation.
The discovery came after a team, led by Eduardo Huchim, uncovered a carved limestone monument in the Sunken Patio of the Palomar architectural group at Uxmal. Crucially, it was found exactly where the ancient Maya had originally erected it, which gave the discovery exceptional archaeological value.
The stele is made of limestone and is relatively small, measuring 132 centimeters high and 56 centimeters wide (4.3 by 1.8 feet).
Iconography of the North Face
The north face of Stele 18 presents an anthropomorphic female deity with large eyes, long straight hair, a grotesque mouth, and exposed breasts. She wears an elaborate headdress featuring the mask of an unidentified deity, above which rises a flowering water lily with a fish hanging from it.
A long, feathered arrangement adorns the back of the headdress. On her back, she carries the head of another deity, held by a cloth tied at her waist. The figure’s extended left hand grasps a quetzal, with its head turned. The elaborate regalia also includes bracelets made of three rows of hemispherical beads, and a long netted skirt that reaches her ankles. The skirt is secured with a belt featuring a shark-head ornament at the front.
Epigraphers identify this figure as the goddess Chak Chel. In the interpretation offered by Huchim and the epigrapher Alexander W. Voss, Chak Chel represents the figurative embodiment of the earth.
Her face is covered by a snout mask made of green stones, and her headdress includes the water lily crown associated with the rain god Chaak. This imagery signals that the earth has received the bounty of summer rains.
The green plumage of the quetzal in her hand stands for living vegetation that yields an abundant harvest. Four hieroglyphic blocks accompany the scene, but most are damaged. The two surviving blocks contain the head of the Jaguar of the Underworld, one of the protector deities of Palenque and Yaxchilan. The same facial marking links the glyph directly to the female deity portrayed in the relief.
Iconography of the South Face
The south face depicts a male deity wearing a wide-brimmed headdress adorned with feathers and an owl head. A netted cape covers his back, and he carries a staff in his left hand and a bundle in his right.
The deity also wears bracelets, a loincloth and bandages on his legs. In Huchim and Voss’s analysis, this deity appears as the carrier or walker of the underworld. The imagery on this face is commonly found in the Puuc and Chenes cultural regions of the southern Yucatan Peninsula.
The book, Lluvia y Tierra, La Estela 18 de Uxmal, is not currently for sale, but a couple of dozen were handed out during its presentation.Photo: Carlos Rosado van der Gracht / Yucatán Magazine
llustration depicting both the north and southern faces of Stele 18.Illustration: Alexander Voss
Archaeologists discovered Stele 18 buried inside a previously undocumented structure and had to extract it carefully.Photo: Adrián Ramos Garza/INAH
Epigraphic Reading and Ritual Context
During the book’s presentation, epigrapher Eduardo Puga Salazar highlighted the monument’s ritual purpose. Before this discovery, the stele of Uxmal recorded only the site’s rulers and the rituals they performed on specific dates. Stele 18, by contrast, depicts two supernatural beings from the Maya pantheon in active roles.
Rather than exalting the political or military achievements of a king, the monument centers on the practical cults of water and agriculture. According to Huchim and Voss, the stele was a significant element in agrarian rituals performed at Uxmal during the Late Classic and Terminal Classic periods, approximately 750 to 1100 CE.
The scenes on both faces show two gods to whom the Maya appealed for the necessities of life. The imagery communicates the need for sufficient water to guarantee abundant harvests, food, and drink for the population’s subsistence.
Puga Salazar’s reading of the hieroglyphic text has helped clarify that the stele was not a commemorative record of a ruler’s deeds but rather a petitionary monument directed toward the deities who controlled rain and agricultural fertility.
The discovery of a ceramic offering deposited 1.5 meters below the spot where Stele 18 was found reinforces this interpretation. The offering consisted of a tripod bowl and four vessels arranged to evoke the corners of the universe, suggesting that the stele was part of a larger ceremonial program focused on cosmic order and the harmonious continuation of the world.
Impact on the Understanding of Uxmal and the Maya
The impact of Stele 18 on the understanding of Uxmal and the broader Maya world derives from several factors. As mentioned earlier, the first is its provenance. Because the stele was found in situ, archaeologists can be certain that it was originally erected in the Sunken Patio of the Palomar complex and that its placement was deliberate.
The second factor is the stele’s iconographic departure from the established pattern. Before this find, scholars had understood Uxmal’s stele as instruments of royal propaganda, displaying the power and ritual obligations of the ruling elite.
Stele 18 demonstrates that the monumental sculpture of Uxmal also served as a medium for addressing the gods directly on behalf of the community, articulating concerns about rainfall, crop yields, and the continuity of life. This shift in emphasis has prompted a reassessment of the religious and social priorities of Uxmal’s inhabitants, as well as those of the Puuc region in general.
The third factor is the stele’s direct contribution to understanding agricultural rituals. The monument clarifies the practical religious priorities of the ancient Maya in the Puuc region, priorities centered on the essential conditions for survival: rain, fertile soil, and the successful growth of maize.
In doing so, Stele 18 has broadened the scholarly view of Uxmal from a city defined primarily by its political hierarchy to one in which the relationship between the human community and the supernatural forces of nature occupied a central and enduring place in public ritual life.
Replica of Stele 18 Coming to Mérida’s Remate
During the book presentation, the Mayor of Mérida, Cecilia Patrón Laviada, announced that a replica of Stele 18 of Uxmal will be installed at the Remate, at the entrance to Paseo de Montejo, to honor the role of Maya women in the region’s ancestral history.
“It’s a shared dream that Mérida has a space where Maya roots are recognized,” Patrón Laviada said, adding that she hopes the site helps pass that knowledge along so that pride in local identity keeps growing.
The date on which the replica of Stele 18 will be installed has not been announced.
Senior Editor Carlos Rosado van der Gracht, PhD, is a journalist, photographer, and expedition leader. Born in Mérida, Carlos holds degrees from universities in Mexico, Canada, and Norway. Most recently, he earned a doctorate in Heritage Studies in 2026.
