EL ASINTAL, GUATEMALA—France24 reports that a stela discovered in September of 2018 at the Tak’alik Ab’aj Archaeological Park in western Guatemala has provided new insights into the development of early Mayan writing. Researchers are still in the process of translating and interpreting the glyphs on the stone, which is believed to have been erected sometime in the late Maya Preclassic period (ca. 300 B.C.- A.D. 250) and depicts a ruler adorned with regalia, as well as references to deities associated with maize and cacao. But according to Tak’alik Ab’aj technical director Christa Schieber, the site was a laboratory for experiments in early Mayan writing. The stela, she said, provides context for a vertical sequence of glyphs that will help scholars learn more about how the system developed. Tak’alik Ab’aj is thought to have been founded by the Olmecs around 1500 B.C. and was gradually absorbed into the growing Maya world some 800 years later. To read more about Maya archaeology in Guatemala, go to "The City at the Beginning of the World."