page_title: Maya belt plaques
section_title: Examples
hierarchical_section_title: Maya belt plaques / Examples
caption_attribution_description: Cast of Stela A, Maya site of Copan, made Alfred Maudslay, Department of the Americas, British Museum
context_page_description: Maya belt plaques were decorative and functional pendants worn by ancient Maya ajawob to validate their rulership through referencing major deities and important ancestors. They can be seen as significant elements of the costumes of rulers on stelae and in other representations found in ancient Maya art. These plaques, which hung from belts, were used during rituals to memorialize important events and dates.
context_section_description: The most famous example is the Leiden Plaque (sometimes referred to as the Leiden Plate), discovered in 1864 in Bahia de Graciosa in northern Guatemala and named for its location in the collection of the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, Netherlands. Dated from the Early Classic period and is believed to have come originally from the central lowlands Petén Basin of Guatemala, more specifically, the Maya site of Tikal. It is an important artifact to ancient Maya archaeology because it has one of the earliest known Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions.
  Maya belt plaques can also be seen in the costumes of Maya ajawob (rulers) on the stelae of sites such as Copan in Honduras.
caption: Stela A, Copán. Note the three jade plaques hanging from the center of the ruler's belt assemblage.
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