We present new line drawings of the hieroglyphic inscriptions on Stela 4 (a.d. 796) at the ancient Maya royal capital of Ixkun, Guatemala. Lichen growth makes these texts almost illegible in person, but a photogrammetric model, rendered monochrome in Agisoft Metashape and imaged in Blender 3D, permits almost all the glyphs to be read or reconstructed. According to our interpretation, the main inscription records the journey of a prince of Ixkun to be fostered at Tikal, coordinated between the ruler of Ixkun and Yax Nuun Ahiin II, the king of Tikal. We think this arrangement cemented a new alliance between Tikal and Ixkun, in exchange for which the Ixkun king received a newly elevated royal and ritual status. Another text indicates that a prisoner from the neighboring Ho’kab’ kingdom, represented six years earlier on Stela 1, had survived in captivity for at least that long.
