Classic Maya Astronomical Murals at Xultún
Classic Maya Astronomical Murals at Xultún
Murals discovered at the Classic Period site of Xultún in Guatemala are the earliest representations yet discovered of the astronomical tables used by the Maya to track the movements of Venus and the moon. Such tables are best known from the Dresden Codex, a rare surviving book written in the 11th or 12th century by the ancient Maya. The Xultún calendars were first drawn in the late 8th century AD, at least 400 years earlier than the Dresden codex.
Xultún is a Classic Period Maya capital, located in the Petén region of Guatemala, which flourished between 600 and 800 AD. The site covers an area of some 16 square kilometers (or about 4 acres), and it is located in the Maya Lowlands, in an area dotted with seasonally flooded swamplands. Prior to the identification of astronomical murals at the site, Xultún was best known for its numerous stele, several of which contain an emblem glyph, which scholars have identified as a representation of the settlement itself.
Xultun's murals were reported in Science magazine in May 2012, and will be featured in an upcoming issue of National Geographic. The research was supported by the National Geographic Society, which owns the copyright on all of the photos used here.
Saturno WA, Stuart D, Aveni AF, and Rossi F. 2012. Ancient Maya astronomical tables from Xultún, Guatemala.Science 336:714 - 717.
As usual, a bibliography has been collected for this project.
Mural of the Scribes at Xultún
The first mural identified at Xultún came after the discovery of an amazing set of preserved murals at the associated preclassic site of San Bartolo. The latest murals were discovered in 2010, when Maxwell Chamberlain identified a heavily eroded painting on structure 10K-2 at Xultún, which had been exposed by looting. This small rectangular structure has a corbelled masonry vault roof. A large number of murals on this room's walls were exposed by additional investigations and reported in Science on May 11, 2012.
These murals include the earliest Maya hieroglyphs which appear to refer to the movement of the moon, and possibly Venus or Mars.
The mural illustrated above is dominated by two and perhaps three figures, three men who are painted in black and red vegetable dye and are wearing identical costumes. These men have been interpreted by the excavators as scribes, who may have lived in the house and maintained the hieroglyphic record. The record they were maintaining consists of a string of columns with bar and dot numbers spanning approximately 48 centimeters (19 inches) in length. This string includes only three different numbers, and it resembles calendrical and astronomical tables known previously only from the Dresden Codex, a manuscript composed in the 11th or 12th century.
The astronomical tables drawn on the east wall of structure 10K-2 at Xultún are a large number of variously-sized hieroglyphs, rendered in vegetable dyes of red and black color, with thin coats of plaster over what appear to be corrections in later editions.
While only fragments of the bar and dot numbers are completely legible, they appear to represent the recording of the movement of the moon and the planet Venus.
Atop at least five of the columns are individual moon glyphs combined with facial profiles, which appear to be deities. These are similar to glyphs used elsewhere (and later) in Maya date records, and the numbers below them, say scholars, represent records of elapsed days since the last eclipse using periods established in the Long Count calendar: a lunar year of 177-178 days.
A second array of numbers found in the eastern portion of the north wall is unique in the Maya hieroglyphic cadre, but it appears most similar to the Venus Table illustrated on page 24 of the Dresden Codex (11th-12th century AD). The mathematics of the Xultún numbers in this table strongly suggest that it was used to track the movements of Venus or perhaps Mars.
The earliest Long Count entry date painted in the mural is 755 AD, and scholars believe that marks the initial date the tables were drawn. It is clear, however, that the scribes revised the tables over many generations of observation.
This photo essay is a part of the About.com guide to Maya Civilization, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Chase AF. 1983. Troubled Times: The Archaeology and Iconography of the Terminal Classic Southern Lowland Maya. In: Fields VM, editor. Fifth Palenque Round Table, 1983. Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico: Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute. p 103-114.
Garrison TG, and Dunning NP.
2009. Settlement, Environment, and Politics in the San Bartolo-Xultún Territory, El Peten, Guatemala. Latin American Antiquity 20(4):525-552.
Garrison TG, and Stuart D. 2004. Un análisis preliminar de las inscripciones que se relacionan con Xultún, Petén, Guatemala. In: Laporte JP, Arroyo B, Escobedo HL, and Mejía H, editors. XVII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2003: Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología. p 829-842.
Houston SD. 1986. Problematic Emblem Glyphs: Examples from Altar de Sacrificios, El Chorro, Río Azul, and Xultún: Center for Maya Research Washington, DC.
Park C, and Chung H. 2011. Identification of Postclassic Maya Constellations from the Venus Pages of the Dresden Codex. Estudios de Cultura Maya 35:33-62.
Saturno WA, Stuart D, Aveni AF, and Rossi F. 2012. Ancient Maya astronomical tables from Xultún, Guatemala. Science 336:714 - 717.
Murals discovered at the Classic Period site of Xultún in Guatemala are the earliest representations yet discovered of the astronomical tables used by the Maya to track the movements of Venus and the moon. Such tables are best known from the Dresden Codex, a rare surviving book written in the 11th or 12th century by the ancient Maya. The Xultún calendars were first drawn in the late 8th century AD, at least 400 years earlier than the Dresden codex.
Xultún is a Classic Period Maya capital, located in the Petén region of Guatemala, which flourished between 600 and 800 AD. The site covers an area of some 16 square kilometers (or about 4 acres), and it is located in the Maya Lowlands, in an area dotted with seasonally flooded swamplands. Prior to the identification of astronomical murals at the site, Xultún was best known for its numerous stele, several of which contain an emblem glyph, which scholars have identified as a representation of the settlement itself.
- Read more about Xultún
Xultun's murals were reported in Science magazine in May 2012, and will be featured in an upcoming issue of National Geographic. The research was supported by the National Geographic Society, which owns the copyright on all of the photos used here.
Saturno WA, Stuart D, Aveni AF, and Rossi F. 2012. Ancient Maya astronomical tables from Xultún, Guatemala.Science 336:714 - 717.
As usual, a bibliography has been collected for this project.
Mural of the Scribes at Xultún
The first mural identified at Xultún came after the discovery of an amazing set of preserved murals at the associated preclassic site of San Bartolo. The latest murals were discovered in 2010, when Maxwell Chamberlain identified a heavily eroded painting on structure 10K-2 at Xultún, which had been exposed by looting. This small rectangular structure has a corbelled masonry vault roof. A large number of murals on this room's walls were exposed by additional investigations and reported in Science on May 11, 2012.
These murals include the earliest Maya hieroglyphs which appear to refer to the movement of the moon, and possibly Venus or Mars.
The mural illustrated above is dominated by two and perhaps three figures, three men who are painted in black and red vegetable dye and are wearing identical costumes. These men have been interpreted by the excavators as scribes, who may have lived in the house and maintained the hieroglyphic record. The record they were maintaining consists of a string of columns with bar and dot numbers spanning approximately 48 centimeters (19 inches) in length. This string includes only three different numbers, and it resembles calendrical and astronomical tables known previously only from the Dresden Codex, a manuscript composed in the 11th or 12th century.
- Read more about Xultún
- See the bibliography for this project
The astronomical tables drawn on the east wall of structure 10K-2 at Xultún are a large number of variously-sized hieroglyphs, rendered in vegetable dyes of red and black color, with thin coats of plaster over what appear to be corrections in later editions.
While only fragments of the bar and dot numbers are completely legible, they appear to represent the recording of the movement of the moon and the planet Venus.
Atop at least five of the columns are individual moon glyphs combined with facial profiles, which appear to be deities. These are similar to glyphs used elsewhere (and later) in Maya date records, and the numbers below them, say scholars, represent records of elapsed days since the last eclipse using periods established in the Long Count calendar: a lunar year of 177-178 days.
A second array of numbers found in the eastern portion of the north wall is unique in the Maya hieroglyphic cadre, but it appears most similar to the Venus Table illustrated on page 24 of the Dresden Codex (11th-12th century AD). The mathematics of the Xultún numbers in this table strongly suggest that it was used to track the movements of Venus or perhaps Mars.
The earliest Long Count entry date painted in the mural is 755 AD, and scholars believe that marks the initial date the tables were drawn. It is clear, however, that the scribes revised the tables over many generations of observation.
- Read more about Xultún
- See the bibliography for this project
- Read more about Xultún
This photo essay is a part of the About.com guide to Maya Civilization, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Chase AF. 1983. Troubled Times: The Archaeology and Iconography of the Terminal Classic Southern Lowland Maya. In: Fields VM, editor. Fifth Palenque Round Table, 1983. Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico: Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute. p 103-114.
Garrison TG, and Dunning NP.
2009. Settlement, Environment, and Politics in the San Bartolo-Xultún Territory, El Peten, Guatemala. Latin American Antiquity 20(4):525-552.
Garrison TG, and Stuart D. 2004. Un análisis preliminar de las inscripciones que se relacionan con Xultún, Petén, Guatemala. In: Laporte JP, Arroyo B, Escobedo HL, and Mejía H, editors. XVII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2003: Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología. p 829-842.
Houston SD. 1986. Problematic Emblem Glyphs: Examples from Altar de Sacrificios, El Chorro, Río Azul, and Xultún: Center for Maya Research Washington, DC.
Park C, and Chung H. 2011. Identification of Postclassic Maya Constellations from the Venus Pages of the Dresden Codex. Estudios de Cultura Maya 35:33-62.
Saturno WA, Stuart D, Aveni AF, and Rossi F. 2012. Ancient Maya astronomical tables from Xultún, Guatemala. Science 336:714 - 717.
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