on stelae like this, proskouriakoff noted two prominent dates. the first was always followed by this glyph. the second, between one and three decades later, was followed by this glyph. the pattern of the dates together with the scene depicted led to a startling hypothesis. perhaps these stelae depicted not gods, but kings, maya kings on their ascent to power. might the glyphs have recorded their births and ascent to the throne ? proskouriakoff carefully charted these dates. then she theorized that as each new ruler was seated the previous ruler had died. from the birth of one ruler to the ascent of the next, the span of dates never exceeded a human lifetime. clearly, this is not a portrait of a god, but of a young king on a throne. from below he is watched by a woman -- perhaps his wife or mother. for the first time the glyphs were revealing maya history. stuart: somebody came up and said "you hear that tatiana is working on a dynasty, "a king list from piedras negras ?" and everybody went, "oh, come on, this just can't be true." and i remember t