Stela 29 bears a Long Count ( 8 @.@ 12 @.@ 14 @.@ 8 @.@ 15 ) date equivalent to AD 292 , the earliest surviving Long Count date from the Maya lowlands . The stela is also the earliest monument to bear the Tikal emblem glyph . It bears a sculpture of the king facing to the right , holding the head of an underworld jaguar god , one of the patron deities of the city . The stela was deliberately smashed during the 6th century or some time later , the upper portion was dragged away and dumped in a rubbish tip close to Temple III , to be uncovered by archaeologists in 1959 .