Mayan Mural
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Scientist Finds Oldest Maya Mural in Guatemala
By Sue Pleming
Reuters
WASHINGTON (March 14) - An American archaeologist said on Thursday he had
discovered the oldest intact mural from the Maya Pre-Classic period, a
mythological scene dating from about 100 A.D. that provides fresh insight into
the ancient and once flourishing civilization.
The wall painting, which appears to depict the myth of the Maya Corn God, was
found in Guatemala last year inside a pyramid at the ruins of San Bartolo, a
Maya ceremonial site in an uninhabited rain forest area in northeastern
Guatemala.
Archeologist William Saturno, a lecturer at the University of New Hampshire and
research associate at Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archeology and
Ethnology, said the 4-foot long mural comprised possibly only 10 percent of a
massive wall painting in a room whose dimensions were still unclear.
Stylistic comparisons with Pre-Classic Maya art confirmed the mural was the
earliest intact wall painting known from the Maya region, he said. The
Pre-Classic period dates from around 2000 B.C. to 250 A.D.
''This painting is among the most important finds in Maya archeology in the
last few decades,'' said Saturno, whose mural research was funded by the
National Geographic Society.
''It opens a window into the mythological and courtly life of the ancient Maya
during the Pre-Classic period,'' he added.
Maya murals, he said, were extremely rare and the last mural comparable to his
discovery was found in 1946 in Bonampak in Chiapas, Mexico, which dated to
about 790 A.D.
Saturno was searching for two inscribed stelae, or stone monuments, at San
Bartolo when he stumbled across the mural, which was likely painted with animal
hair brushes using red, yellow and black pigments from crushed rock.
STUMBLED ACROSS IT BY ACCIDENT
Told it would take about half a day to reach the site, the trip actually took
about three days and Saturno said his team arrived there thirsty, hungry and
exhausted only to find that the two stone monuments did not exist.
While his team went in search of water, Saturno sought shade in a trench that
had been looted in the unexcavated pyramid and absent-mindedly turned on his
flashlight.
''Then I saw the mural, I couldn't believe it. It changed my mood quite rapidly
from being fairly upset that I had walked all this way and had no food and no
water to being very happy,'' Saturno told Reuters in a telephone interview from
Harvard.
Of the painting that can be seen, Saturno said there was a central male figure
who seemed to be the Maya Corn God, wearing a loin cloth and a dramatic
pendant. Behind him were two bare-breasted females.
Saturno said it appeared to depict a well-documented mythological narrative
seen about 600 to 700 years later in which the Corn God is following his
resurrection and being reclothed by the maidens.
''What's fascinating about this mural is that it is so brilliantly painted and
so incredibly well preserved,'' he added.
He attributes the painting's survival to a protective covering of mud applied
to it by the Maya before the room -- a sacred space -- was ''ceremonially
killed'' by being filled with rubble. Fragments of sierra red ceramics found in
the rubble date to the Pre-Classic period.
Saturno and his team plan first to conserve the part of the wall they have
discovered and next year excavate the entire mural. They have already been
granted permission by the Guatemalan government to do so.
He estimates it will take about five years to complete the project.
The Maya lived in the eastern third of Mesoamerica, mainly on the Yucatan
Peninsula, and built and then abandoned massive pyramids and temples across
Central America.
The Mayan civilization is divided into three time periods covering 3,000 years.
The first is the Pre-Classic period generally said to span from 2000 B.C. to
250 A.D. The second is the Classic period, which spanned from 250 A.D. to 900
A.D. The third is the Post-Classic period, which spanned from 900 A.D. to 1500
A.D.
Reuters 15:24 03-13-02
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figure
who seemed to be the Maya Corn God, wearing a loin cloth and a dramatic
pendant. Behind him were two bare-breasted females. >>
One of them eerily resembled Pamela Hensley. The caption underneath was
translated as "Mona, you're a brick"