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Location: Stela E was discovered by Stirling during the 1938-39 field season at the western base of Structure 45 which is located "about midway between Groups 2 and 3, [where] a high narrow promontory abuts on the arroyo. On the flat area at the top of this promontory is [Structure 45]" (Stirling 1943:16). Stela E presently lies on one of its broader faces for use as a step to a well in the yard of a private home, on the road to Lirios, on the outskirts of Tres Zapotes.
Associations: None recorded.
Condition: Broken, Portions of an ornamental basal band were all that remained of the carving at the time of its discovery. These remnants have since been removed.
Photographs: Present report, Plate 7; Stirling 1943: Plate 7c.
Drawings: None.
References: Stirling 1943; de la Fuente 1973.
Carved Areas: Class 3?, FRL?.
Material: This monument was not tested by Williams. However, there is nothing about it to suggest that its material is any different than that of Monument 1.
Dimensions: Height 122 cm, Width 60 cm, Depth 25 cm.
Description: Tres Zapotes Stela E is the broken butt of a well finished stela with a rectangular cross section and fragments of two plane relief carving just below the break on the short sides. The carving visible in Stirling's photo is a hand-like element.
Remarks: The flat relief fragments on Stela E are identical in treatment to hand-like elements which commonly depend from the corners of mouths of early Maya grotesques. No features unique to Olmec style appear on the extant portion of Stela E.
