 The sculpture predates 300 BC, based on the style of the hieroglyphic text, and is thought to be an Early Maya monument that was intended to represent an Early Maya ruler (at the base) who carried the underworld (i.e. the bat) and his ancestors (the main figure above carrying a smaller figure on its back). The Maya sculptor used half-remembered Olmec stylistic elements upon the ancestor figure in a form of Maya-Olmec syncretism, producing a hybrid sculpture. As such it represents the transition from one cultural phase to the next, at a point where the earlier Olmec inhabitants had not yet been forgotten and were viewed as powerful ancestors.
