Stela 31, Siyah Chan K'awiil II or Stormy Sky, Tikal, Guatemala

The largest building of the North Acropolis, Str.5D-33-1st, was built during the early years of the Late Classic era, but had been so badly preserved that it was disassembled by excavation to reveal the earlier structures buried beneath. The first of these, Str. 5D-33-3rd, was built over the tomb (Burial 48) of Tikal's greatest Early Classic ruler, Stormy Sky, probably as his mortuary shrine. Not long after, this building was replaced by another (Str.5D-33-2nd), possibly to commemorate an important anniversary of Stormy Sky's death. Finally, the great ruler of Late Classic Tikal, Ah Cacau (also know as Hasaw Chan K'awil and Ruler A), seems to have marked an anniversary of his illustrious ancestor's death by dedicating 5D-33-1st. But before this latest building was constructed, Stormy Sky's magnificent monument, Stela 31, which had probably stood in front of his mortuary temple, was carried up the stairway and reset within the rear room of 5D-33-2nd, almost directly over his tomb (which had been concealed long before, soon after his death). There, after rituals that left smashed incensarios strewn about the room and the broken base of the monument burned, the stela was carefully encased in rubble fill, and the partially dismantled building was buried beneath the new shrine. Here Stela 31 was found during the excavations of the Tikal Project, just as the Maya had left it.

The Maya. Michael D. Coe. New York: Thames and Hudson. 2005.