"Fish-Fin" is a designation or

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

given by

Mayanist A Mayanist ( es, mayista) is a scholar specialising in research and study of the Mesoamerican pre-Columbian Maya civilisation. This discipline should not be confused with Mayanism, a collection of New Age beliefs about the ancient Maya. Maya ...

epigraphers (inscription scholars) to a personage whose undeciphered name-

glyph A glyph () is any kind of purposeful mark. In typography, a glyph is "the specific shape, design, or representation of a character". It is a particular graphical representation, in a particular typeface, of an element of written language. A g ...

appears in the epigraphic record in association with the Emblem glyph of

Bonampak Bonampak (known anciently as ''Ak'e'' or, in its immediate area as ''Usiij Witz'', 'Vulture Hill') is an ancient Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Chiapas. The site is approximately south of the larger site of the people Yaxchilan ...

, a

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

Maya civilization The Maya civilization () of the Mesoamerican people is known by its ancient temples and glyphs. Its Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. It is also noted for its art, ar ...

site in present-day

Chiapas Chiapas (; Tzotzil and Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 124 municipalities ...

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

. This individual, identified as a ruler of the Bonampak

polity A polity is an identifiable political entity – a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize resources. A polity can be any other group of p ...

or government, is mentioned in the Maya inscriptions at

Yaxchilan Yaxchilan () is an ancient Maya city located on the bank of the Usumacinta River in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. In the Late Classic Period Yaxchilan was one of the most powerful Maya states along the course of the Usumacinta River, with Pie ...

, another Maya site located some 30 km to the north of Bonampak.

Occurrence

On the inscription from a

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case o ...

in the building known as Yaxchilan Structure 12, Fish-Fin is named in association with " Knot-eye Jaguar", the ninth king in Yaxchilan's dynastic succession who reigned from about 508–518 CE. There is some dispute as to whether the context of this association places Fish-Fin as either a received visitor, or as a captive of the Yaxchilan ruler. Fish-Fin may also be named in two looted and unprovenanced inscription panels, the Houston Panel and the Po Panel, which are suspected to have originated from Bonampak. The Houston Panel carries a Long Count date of 9.3.0.14.13 (equating to November 19, 495), and the other panel bears the long count date 9.4.8.14.9 (June 22, 523).Schele (1991, p.79)

Notes

References

* * Maya people {{mesoamerica-stub