Ancient Mayan panels uncovered in Guatemala
Ancient Mayan panels uncovered in Guatemala
CCTV.com
07-25-2015 05:16 BJT
- video -
We return now to the same era as those Koran fragments, this time with a look at the Mayan empire. Three well-preserved panels, found in modern-day Guatemala, present a fascinating insight into this ancient culture.
It wasn't all idle ceremony and affairs of state for Mayan kings, as these ancient panels reveal.
Three well-preserved panels, found in modern-day Guatemala, present a fascinating insight into
this ancient culture.
"Excavations have discovered two hieroglyphic panels, two stone panels about 40 cm (16 inches) in length and about 30 cm (12 inches) in height, that are carved with hieroglyphs, and on one of them there's the image of a king dancing. These panels are incredibly well preserved and, for being about 1,300 to 1,400 years old, we are extremely surprised and excited about the fact that they preserve such a wonderful amount of detail," said Marcelo Canuto, co-director, LA Corona Archaeological Project.
The ancient Mayan culture is shrouded in mystery, and all the more fascinating for it. But these three pieces, excavated at the La Corona and El Achiotal archaeological sites - give us a peek through Time's veil. We learn, for example, that, unlike most other monarchical systems, kingly power was not transferred by hereditary right.
"They're extremely important for us because they give us very detailed information about how a Maya ruler becomes king. It gives us a step-by-step process by which a king over a period of two years is not a royal member of a dynasty and then becomes king of the site. This is fascinating kind of information that is extremely detailed and often not explicated with as much detail in other texts. So, at La Corona we're getting some great, very fine-grain information that we don't normally see in text," Canuto said.
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Guatemala: Scientists Unearth 1400-Year-Old Mayan Artifacts
By Guneet Bhatia @Guneet_B on July 24 2015 11:29 AM EDT
Mayan ruins at Calakmul. The ancient city in Mexico's southern state of Campeche was once home to more than
50,000 inhabitants and lasted more than 12 centuries. [font size=1] Reuters/Bernardo Montoya [/font]
Archaeologists from the La Corona Archaeological Project have discovered three well-preserved ancient Mayan panels from northern Guatemala. According to the team, the Mayan panels date back around 1,400 years.
The BBC reports that the recovered panels show ancient hieroglyphics that represent the ancient culture and traditions that were practiced during the Mayan civilization. In addition, the panels also show the image of a Mayan king dancing, inscribed on a stone.
According to the archaeologists, the largest piece among the three artifacts is almost a meter high and depicts beautiful and well-preserved ancient stone carvings and Mayan scripts. The excavations have been transferred to the Guatemala city for further study and research.
"These panels are incredibly well preserved, and, for being about 1,300 to 1,400 years old, we are extremely surprised and excited about the fact that they preserve such [a] wonderful amount of detail," said Marcelo Canuto, the co-director of the archaeology project.
More:
http://www.ibtimes.com/guatemala-scientists-unearth-1400-year-old-mayan-artifacts-2023425
Researchers Discover Incredible Mayan Monument
All of a sudden, they were eye to eye with a stone king.
Jacqueline Howard
Associate Science Editor, The Huffington Post
Archeologists happened upon a previously undiscovered but well-preserved Mayan stone monument while exploring Guatemala on a recent trip, they announced earlier this month.
"We gasped and looked in, and there's the face of a king just staring straight out at us," Luke Auld-Thomas, a graduate student at Tulane University in New Orleans, told National Geographic.
Auld-Thomas and colleagues found the monument, called a stela, in nearly pristine condition at the El Achiotal archeological site in Western Petén.
"It had been very carefully placed by the ancient Maya so that it was looking out a doorway, like a museum piece in a display case," Auld-Thomas said.
. . .
More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/maya-monument-discovery_55b62db6e4b0074ba5a5006b?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
Newly Discovered Stone Tablet Reveals Mysterious Mayan King's Legacy
Henri Neuendorf, Tuesday, July 28, 2015
[center]
The stone tablets were found in a specially constructed and meticulosity maintained shrine.
Photo: Courtesy of Luke Auld-Thomas via National Geographic. [/center]
A team of American archaeologists have discovered a remarkable stone tablet in the Guatemalan jungle that documents the reign of a little-known ruler dating to the early part of the Mayan civilization.
The 1,600 year old relic was unearthed near the 5th century AD Mayan town of El Achiotal, 12 miles east of the royal Mayan place of La Corona.
The researchers found the stela, which is thought to date to between 22 AD and 418 AD, in a shrine believed to be specially constructed to house the stone. The experts think that, once fully deciphered, the writings could shed new light on the opaque early Mayan history.
[center]
The tablet depicts an ancient Mayan King.
Photo: Courtesy of Luke Auld-Thomas via National Geographic. [/center]
. . .
“What's really amazing is that the Maya built a shrine to preserve the stela—and remarkably, continued to leave offerings there for generations afterward," archaeology student Luke Ault-Thomas, who made the sensational discovery, added.
More:
https://news.artnet.com/in-brief/stone-tablet-reveals-mysterious-mayan-king-legacy-319912
