EXTRAORDINARY CARVING DISCOVERED INSIDE ANCIENT MAYA PYRAMID

[Judi Lynn]

NOVEMBER 1, 2020

An enormous stone design by the ancient Mayan civilization that has persisted for centuries locked within a pyramid in Guatemala shows a battle of superpowers in 6th Century Central America, archaeologists have said.

The massive frieze with inscriptions and the vividly coloured painting was found at the Holmul archaeological excavation at a dig in the northeast Peten region of the country. Archaeologists claim that the evidence indicates that the region’s rulers were embroiled in a political clash of the titans between the kings of Kaanul – the Snake Kingdom – and the kings of Tikal.

The frieze, which is eight metres wide and two metres tall and stands along the exterior of a multi-roomed rectangular building, was found in a 20-metre high pyramid built in the 8th Century, in a style typical of the Maya. Much of the building still remains encased under the rubble of the later 20m-high structure. The carving is painted in red, with details in blue, green and yellow.

Francisco Estrada-Belli, director of the Holmul Archaeological Project that made the discovery, said: ‘This is a unique find. It is a beautiful work of art and it tells us so much about the function and meaning of the building, which was what we were looking for.’

More:
https://archaeology-world.com/category/guatemala/

[Clearly fogged in]

1. Thank you

[soothsayer]

2. Wow

[blaze]

3. Hahaha!!! From the article:

"Two feathered serpents emerge from the mountain spirit below the main character and form an arch with their bodies. Under each of them is a seated figure of an aged god holding a sign that reads ‘the first tamale.’

Now, perhaps there is a different meaning here for "tamale" but it still made me laugh!

[wnylib]

5. LOL. Your post made me curious enough

Last edited Tue Nov 3, 2020, 12:33 AM - Edit history (1)

to look up tamale to see if there is a different meaning for it. I suspected that it was something sacred because of the depiction of gods, especially the feathered serpents. In Mesoamerican religions, the feathered serpent is a supreme deity, associated with the planet Venus, symbol of war. It was also a patron deity of agriculture and fertility, and of urban life for civilizations founded on agriculture. Therefore, it was also a deity of culture and learning. To the Mayans, he was Kukulkan or Gukumatz. To the Aztecs, he was Quetzalcoatl.

The names of the feathered serpent deity translate literally to "serpent of precious feathers." Figuratively it could be used to mean "wisest of men."

Corn was the foundation of Mesoamerican agriculture, so corn was a sacred food of the gods, and sacred to people, too.

So, back to tamale. I found no other meaning than the food we know. But I discovered that the history of the tamale suggests a connection to the feathered serpent deity as a sacred food associated with him and with sacred rituals and days, since it is made of a filling within a corn flour dough, and wrapped in corn husks for cooking.

My own interpretation of "the first tamale" is that it represents the origin of a sacred feast of the gods, sort of like a Mesoamerican equivalent of what the Lord's Supper and communion for Christians. But that's just a guess.

Serpents (but not feathered ones) have represented agriculture and fertility to other cultures that are totally unrelated to Mesoamerica. In ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean region, serpents represented fertility and regeneration of vegetation through its shedding of skin and crawling on the soil of the earth. Also as a phallic symbol.

In the Genesis story, the serpent symbolizes evil, a hint of the clash of cultures when the nomadic herders of the Bible encounter the agricultural civilization of the Phoenicians/Canaanites with their fertility rituals that were offensive to the patriarchal tribal people who wrote Genesis. This theme comes up again in Genesis when Cain and Abel, sons of Adam and Eve, clash with each other. Genesis says that Abel was a herder and his animal sacrifices were more pleasing to God than the vegetation sacrifices of his brother, Cain. So, in jealousy, Cain kills Abel. An allegory for why there was so much warfare between the herding people and the agricultural civilizations.

Interestingly, a similar clash occurred in the American West of the 19th century, between ranchers vs. farmers - but minus the serpent symbolism, although I suppose either side might have used the word "snake" as a derogatory epithet against the other.

[UpInArms]

4. Fascinating

Intriguingly his incisor and canine teeth had been drilled and filled with jade beads, while two miniature flower-shaped ear spools were also found. The archaeologists said the iconography on the vessels discovered in the tomb bore clear references to the nine lords of the underworld as well as to the aged sun god of the underworld.

There were two sets of nine painted bowls decorated with the water lily motif and nine red-painted plates and one spouted tripod plate decorated with the image of the god of the underworld emerging from a shell. Because of the unusually high number of vessels and the jade dental decorations, Mr Estrada-Belli believes the individual found may have been a member of the ruling class at Holmul.

No anesthesia... (faints)

Thank you for these marvelous stories of the world, Judi Lynn