An extremely valuable artwork bearing the Mayan culture.

[Carmen Elsa Irarragorri Wyland]

Picture of National Geographic Grantee Francisco Estrada-Belli posing beside an ancient Maya carving..

An extremely valuable artwork bearing the Mayan culture.

The Maya civilization is an ancient civilization that was built alongside the Andes civilization, built by the Maya, a tribe of Native Americans 2,000 years ago. This civilization has reached a high level not only in the field of state building, but also in the fields of architecture, mathematics, astronomy and computing. Recent archaeologists have made a valuable discovery at Guantemala. They unearthed and found ancient Mayan Mayan ruins. This relief is the façade of an ancient tower in Peten province, about 600km north of the capital of Guatemala.

 

This precious work was carved around 1400 years ago, around 590 AD. Previously, professional grave diggers had almost found it, even though they were very close to the relief but probably did not see any signal so they gave up. Archaeologists dig deeper into the tunnels available, using excavator and finally achieved results in July 2013. Guatemalan archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli, the head of the excavation team, said that this could be a lifelong work in his antiquities. Perhaps it is an unprecedented architectural artwork of the Mayan civilization. Civilization has existed for centuries in large areas, including five states in southern Mexico and today's Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

 

The ancient tower itself is also a lot of interesting things have not yet discovered. Discovering the relief from the façade is a promising result. Up to now, the ancient tower has only been discovered at an angle, part of the staircase and is being excavated.

 

The relief was found to be 8 meters long and 2 meters wide, in almost intact condition. It has a red shade of blue, yellow and green. According to the original description, the bas relief painted three men wearing bird hats and jade jewelry sitting cross-legged on top of the mountain.  

 

According to Dr. Alex Tokovinine of Harvard University, these are three important figures in the Mayan culture. What is shown on the relief shows that it may represent a rite or depiction of a dynasty. On the relief there is also an ancient passage with 30 strokes, in which a reigning monarch in a mighty south of Holmul has ordered the relief. The ancient inscriptions also show that Ajwosaj, a serpent Lord, had arrived at this site to restore political and religious order here after Holmul turned his back on Tikal. In addition to historical significance, researchers also expect cultural information to be conveyed on this work.

 

After being excavated, the present remains of the original remains. Due to the size of the large size, the move is not done to preserve intact most objects. However, after being excavated, changes in temperature and humidity cause threats such as moss, color damage to the surface. Archaeologists now have to fill the tunnel that leads to this relief, and they will continue their work in the next dry season.