Stelae
Stelae are stones or wooden slabs, generally taller than wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living - inscribed, carved in relief, or painted onto the slab. Only sites with their stelae still in situ are included.
Connected Sites
| Site | Rationale | Link |
| Aksum | The Stelae have most of their mass out of the ground, but are stabilized by massive underground counter-weights. The stone was often engraved with a pattern or emblem denoting the king's or the noble's rank. | |
| Al-Faw | "Outside the urban and religious areas, there is a funerary ring. The burial materials and tomb stela provide valuable information on the origins of the residents of the ancient city, the language they used, the deities they worshipped, and their funerary rituals." (AB Ev) | |
| Biblical Tells | Tel Hazor features many stelae now on display at the site museum. | |
| Calakmul | Calakmul is especially noteworthy for the large number (120 to date) of stelae that have been found on the site. Several of those are still in situ, others at museums. | |
| Copán | ||
| Deer Stone Monuments | "Deer stones are gigantic steles, ranging in height up to four metres with engravings of stylised stag images" (AB ev) | |
| Echmiatsin and Zvartnots | Khachkars | |
| Funerary and memory sites of the First World War | For example, BR01 Ensemble of stelae and ancient French and German tombs of le Petit Donon | |
| Gedeo Cultural landscape | "Within the property are many clusters of megalithic steles mainly on high ridges, which, until the mid-1930s, were associated with rituals and annual sacrificial ceremonies." (AB ev) | |
| Gusuku of Ryukyu | Shuri Castle: On both sides of the stone steps leading to the Zuisemmon seven stelae featuring investiture envoys' handwritings (nom file) | |
| Gyeongju | Gyerim Woods Stele memorializing the founding myth of Silla. "This legend is inscribed on a memorial stele erected in 1803, the 3rd year of King Sunjo of Chosun dynasty." - Nomination File | |
| Haghpat and Sanahin | Khachkars | |
| Imperial Tombs | Every tombs of Ming and Qing Emperors have stelae with tomb owner's record of good things | |
| Jelling | Runestones | |
| Kaesong | commemorative steles | |
| Koguryo Kingdom | The stele of King Gwanggaeto of Goguryeo was erected in 414 by King Jangsu as a memorial to his deceased father. It is carved out of a single mass of granite, stands nearly 7 meters tall and has a girth of almost 4 meters. The inscription is written exclusively in Classical Chinese and has 1802 characters. | |
| Konso | monolithic stone stele reflecting the success of warriors (AB ev) | |
| Monastery of Geghard | Khachkars | |
| Mount Taishan | Dai Miao The site contains a number of well-preserved steles from the Huizong reign, some of which are mounted on bixi tortoises. There is a much later, Qianlong-era bixi-mounted stele as well. | |
| Mount Wutai | For a thousand years from the Northern Wei period (471-499) nine Emperors made 18 pilgrimages to pay tribute to the bodhisattvas, commemorated in stele and inscriptions (unesco website) | |
| My Son | Scholars have found approximately 32 steles at Mỹ S?n, dated between the 5th and the 12th century A.D | |
| Namhansanseong | "Lastly, the property includes a series of epigraphic steles, mainly commemorating the construction of the rampart, or related to human and social virtues, or linked to initiatives for the reconstruction or preservation of the property." AB Evaluation | |
| Oaxaca and Monte Alban | Monte Alban: stelae that show glyphic Zapotec writing; Danzantes | |
| Orkhon Valley | Stelae with runic inscriptions at Turkic memorials of Kh?sh?? Tsaidam | |
| Quanzhou | "Tun Hai" stele at Zhenwu Temple + "Seven inscribed steles from different dynastic eras" in the Islamic Tombs. One of those "records that renowned Ming-dynasty navigator Zheng He stopped here for an incense offering ritual during his fifth voyage to the Western Oceans." (Nomination file, p. 119, 176) | |
| Quirigua | The Archaeological Park and Ruins of Quirigua contain some outstanding 8th-century monuments and an impressive series of carved stelae and sculpted calendars that constitute an essential source for the study of Mayan civilization. (OUV) | |
| Rock Drawings in Valcamonica | Stelae at Naquane National Archaelogical Park | |
| Royal Joseon Tombs | All Joseon Dynasty Tombs contain this type of stelae. - Bigak, a building which has a stone monument where the names of the king and the queen are written at the front, while at the back was written the list of the king's accomplishments. | |
| Sansa, Buddhist Mountain Monasteries | "Daeheungsa Temple retains traces of the activities of many high priests who led Korean Buddhist in the 17th and 18th centuries. These monks were known as the 12 doctrinal masters and 12 instructors who were the most learned in meditative and doctrinal Buddhism. To honor their memory, Daeheungsa Temple maintains a stupa garden with 47 stupas and steles, including those of Great Master Seosan, which attest to the historicity of the temple." - Nomination File | |
| Seowon, Neo-Confucian Academies | "Commemorative steles informing on venerated scholars, the year of building establishment, repair works, and major events of at the seowon are erected inside and outside of the academy." - Nomination File | |
| Site of Xanadu | marble stele were found (AB ev) | |
| Temple, Mansion and Cemetery of Confucius | The Cemetery contains more than 100,000 tombs of the descendants of Confucius, bearing stelae, stone figures, celestial pillars, and other funerary furniture. There are over sixty structures (gates, sacrifice halls, and stele pavilions) for ceremonial and sacrificial use." - AB Document | |
| Tikal National Park | ||
| Tiwanaku | several | |
| Tiya | Has 36 standing stones or stelae, "32 of which are engraved with enigmatic symbols, notably swords," | |
| West Lake | stele of the tomb of Lin Bu, a hermit in the Song Dynasty | |
| Xanthos-Letoon | Xanthian Obelisk, an important archaeological find pertaining to the Lycian language. | |
| Xochicalco | Plaza of the Stele of the Two Glyphs |
Suggestions?
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- Be explained, with reference to a source