Spearthrower Owl

Various logographs or glyphs depicting an owl and a spear-thrower are documented in Teotihuacan and in the Maya cities of Tikal, Uaxactun, Yaxchilan, and Toniná.

Stuart noted that the Marcador monument at the Petén Basin center of Tikal records Spearthrower Owlʼs ascension to the throne of an unspecified polity on a date equivalent to 4 May 374 CE.

Monuments at El Perú, Tikal and/or Uaxactun describe the arrival of a personage Siyaj Kʼakʼ somehow under the auspices of Spearthrower Owl in the month of January 378.

Stela 31 was erected during the reign of Yax Nuun Ahiinʼs son Sihyaj Chan Kʼawil and describes the death of that rulerʼs grandfather, Spearthrower Owl, in 439 CE (Maya date 9.0.3.9.18).

"[6] The connection of Spearthrower Owl to Teotihuacan as well as the precise nature of Teotihuacanʼs influence on the Maya has been a hotly debated topic since the hieroglyphic texts first became fully readable in the 1990s.

Name glyph for Atlatl Cauac / Jatz'om Kuy / "Spearthrower Owl." Redrawn from carved stone. [ 3 ]
Tikal Stela 31, describing the ascension of Sihyaj Chan Kʼawiil II to the Tikal throne, and Spearthrower Owlʼs death 50 years later.