[Aztlan] The mural discoveries at Calakmul

[michael ruggeri]

Listeros,

Archaeologist Carrasco Vargas and his team have been digging into 68 buried structures at Calakmul. They found a buried pyramid and dug a tunnel to inspect the interior and have found an area that had been remodeled many times over 600 years. And, in the process, have found many murals painted between 620-700 CE. 30 murals have been documented so far. They show the everyday life of the Maya and shed light on virtually unknown aspects of Maya society. There is a man with a big broad brimmed hat making maize gruel and another with an ornate headdress drinks from a bowl of the gruel. A female tamale vendor offers tamales to a man already eating some. There is a salt seller and a tobacco seller and a pottery seller. The paintings are described in a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Was this a series of paintings in a Maya marketplace? These murals have opened up a new archaeological frontier in the area of Maya food and goods and feasting.

MSNBC Cosmic Log has the report here with some good photos and drawings of the murals;
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/11/09/2123180.aspx

Mike Ruggeri

Mike Ruggeri's Maya Archaeology News and Links
http://tinyurl.com/atpsd9