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.
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
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.
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

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