Travel Reference
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tained only several centuries later.San Bartolo, deep in the jungle near Río Azul,
has yielded the earliest known Mayan mural and the oldest known Mayan buri-
al tomb. The murals are impressive not only for their early date (A.D. 100-200),
but also for their quality. The best-known Mayan murals, at the site of Bonam-
pak (Mexico), date to the late 8th century A.D. San Bartolo's location, while no
longer secret, is known only to a few in the archaeological community. Visitors
are not welcome, but there are plans to make a replica of the murals available to
tourists in the future. The Mayan site ofSan Bartolo encompasses more than 100
structures, among them temple pyramids (at least two of which are more than 25
meters high), a palace, and ball court, and is still being excavated.
The mural was discovered in 2001 by Harvard University's William Saturno
when,insearchofshadefromthemiddaysun,heduckedintoatrenchhackedby
looters under an unexcavated pyramid. After two years of planning the painstak-
ing excavation, the mural depicting creation mythology was reclaimed from the
soil beneath the temple structure. It is similar to one found in the
Dresden Co-
dex,
one of three Mayan topics to survive the wide-scale destruction of ancient
Mayan texts by Spanish priests in the 16th century (the other two are the Madrid
Codex and the Paris Codex).
Among the themes depicted are the establishment of order to the world, the
latter portrayed as upheld by trees with roots leading to the underworld and
branches holding up the sky. Stationed at each tree are four deities providing a
blood sacrifice and an offering.
In another section, the mural shows the maize god setting up the tree at the
center of the world and crowning himself king. This section of the panel traces
the maize god's birth, death, and resurrection.In the final scene, a historic coron-
ationofanactualMayankingisdepictedwithhisnameandtitlewritteninhiero-
glyphics.
Project iconographer Karl Taube believes the writing style differs from that
evidenced in later periods of Mayan history, but it is nonetheless sophisticated.
Healsopointstotheappearanceofsimilarscenesinthe
Dresden Codex.
Saturno
speculates the king depicted in the mural likely claimed the right to rule from the
gods themselves and not merely from lineage, as did kings in later times.
The second major discovery is the tomb of an early Mayan king dating to 150
B.C.foundin2005byGuatemalanarchaeologistMónicaPellecerAlecioabouta
mile away from the mural, also under a small temple pyramid. The find provides
further evidence of early monarchic rule.
Afull-lengthfeatureontheseamazingdiscoveriescanbefoundintheJanuary
2006 edition of
National
Geographic
magazine and online at
