Last updated on November 29th, 2022 at 04:40 am
Two new murals found at archaeological sites near the Guatemala border have been described as magnificent pieces of art that speak to the history of the Maya according to experts at the unveiling of these new discoveries.
The two murals paintings, the first of the ancient Mayan culture in Guatemala, were discovered in an archaeological complex in the northern Petén, bordering Mexico and Belize according to an official announcement.
U.S.archaeologist William Saturn said in press conference that one of the murals atSan Bartolo, of which he is its director was found in the regional archaeological project.
“We found some impressive murals that speak to the long and complicated story of the Maya.” “It is a work of art without comparison,” he said.
According to Saturn, the mural discovered at San Bartolo, whose complex covers 2 square kilometers and where they continue investigations, is dated in the year 100 B.C.
The mural shows human and animal sacrifice and your was painted with utmost delicacy.
The archaeologist explained that the archaeological complex of San Bartolo is about 15 meters below the surface of the Earth.
He explained that the mural was discovered in a tunnel where his team has been working for five years in order to preserve the site of the ancient Mayan culture.
Saturn added the other wall was discovered in the complex of Xultún, which has an extension of at least 20 square kilometers.
This mural, also adorned with paintings, he said, was found in a trench by a student, and in which an image of a King with adorned with green feathers in a ceremony ed trying to be transformed into a Mayan God.
On the site there is also a lunar calendar and a wall that was used by the Maya for their mathematical and astronomical.
The archaeologist said that to fully excabate and restore the archaeological complex which was dedicated to the Kings and Mayan ancestors, and which dates from the years 300 to 400 A.D. will take at least 20 years due to its large extension.
According to an article in Science Magazine, “The ruins of San Bartolo, Guatemala, contain a sample of Maya hieroglyphic writing dating to the Late Preclassic period (400 B.C. to 200 A.D.). The writing appears on preserved painted walls and plaster fragments buried within the pyramidal structure known as “Las Pinturas,” which was constructed in discrete phases over several centuries. Samples of carbonized wood that are closely associated with the writing have calibrated radiocarbon dates of 200 to 300 B.C. This early Maya writing implies that a developed Maya writing system was in use centuries earlier than previously thought, approximating a time when we see the earliest scripts elsewhere in Mesoamerica.”