San Bartolo (Maya site)
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- For the municipality in the Totonicapán department, see San Bartolo, Totonicapán.
San Bartolo is a site of the ancient Maya civilization. It is located in the El Petén department of Guatemala, to the North East of Tikal.
[edit] Site
The Maya site includes an 85 foot pyramid and royal tomb.
The pyramid was constructed from ca 300 BC (base rooms) and was completed ca 50 AD. A team led by William Saturno of Harvard University discovered a mural room in 2001 in the base of the pyramid. Excavation began in March 2003. These murals were carbon-dated as from 100 BC, which makes them one of the oldest Maya murals discovered. These provide evidence that the Maya had full-fledged monarchies centuries earlier than previously thought.
One mural on the west wall shows the birth of the Maya Cosmos, with successive images of gods, sacrifices and trees. The first four gods are shown piercing their penis, spilling sacrificial blood, then offering a sacrifice. The sacrifices are fish (representing the watery underworld), deer (land), turkey(sky?), and fragrant blossoms(food of the gods). The fifth god is the Maize god. Project iconographer Karl Taube of University of California, Riverside, indicates these same sacrifices appear in Mayan texts from the 13th century (for example the Dresden Codex), thus indicating a long continuity of religious symbolism. The next part of the mural depicts the coronation of a king, showing divine right to rule coming from the gods.
The tomb of an early Maya king was found 1.6 kilometres away to the West. It was uncovered beneath a small pyramid in 2005 by a team lead by archaeologist Monica Pellecer Alecio. This is from ca 150 BC, and is thus the oldest known Maya royal tomb.
[edit] References
- "Archaeologists in Guatemala unearth early Mayan mural" 14 December 2005
- Peabody Museum, Harvard The Early Maya murals at San Bartolo, Guatemala
- "Oldest known Maya mural, tomb tells story of ancient king" National Geographic News December 12, 2005
- The dawn of Maya gods and kings, National Geographic , January 2006
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