Pictures: New Maya Mural, Calendars Debunk 2012 Myth

Green Roof

Photograph by Tyrone Turner, National Geographic

Lighted by a photographer's lamps, a painting of the likely scribe glows within the newfound chamber, found after one of Saturno's undergraduate students had investigated a looters' tunnel. Three walls inside the overgrown building are covered in large murals and calculations, including a portrait of a seated king.

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Published May 10, 2012

Beyond 2012

Illustration by William Saturno and David Stuart, National Geographic

Four numbers, written in columns on the house's north wall, are Maya "Long Count" dates—one of which was nearly 7,000 years in the future. Saturno's research suggests that these dates likely recorded astronomical cycles, such as lunar eclipses or the movements of planets.

"The ancient Maya predicted the world would continue, that 7,000 years from now, things would be exactly like this," Saturno said in a statement—a view that contradicts theories of a Maya-predicted apocalypse in December 2012. (Related pictures: "2012 Doomsday Myths Debunked.")

Another wall of the house is covered with tiny marks that seem to show calculations for important calendar cycles, such as the 260-day Maya ceremonial calendar, the 365-day solar calendar, and the cycles of Mars and Venus.

Published May 10, 2012

The Lineup

Photograph by Tyrone Turner, National Geographic

Three figures sit in a composite photograph of the interior. The black portrait (left) is one of three nearly identical seated men (two are not shown). At center is what's thought to be the scribe, holding a paintbrush.  At right is a Maya king, bedecked in blue feathers.

"Such writings and artwork on walls don't preserve well in the Maya lowlands," Saturno said in a statement. "It's weird that the Xultún finds exist at all."

(Read about the rise and fall of the Maya in National Geographic magazine.)

Published May 10, 2012

Royal Plumage

Illustration by Heather Hurst, National Geographic

A new painting re-creates the faded portrait of a Maya king discovered in a special niche in the newfound room. A curtain, held to the wall with a bone rod, was originally used to hide and reveal the portrait, the researchers say.

(Video: "Mysterious Maya Calendar & Mural Uncovered.")

Published May 10, 2012

Three Wide Men

Illustration by Heather Hurst, National Geographic

Shown in a modern re-creation of the 1,200-year-old Maya mural, three men wear headdresses of a sort never before seen in Maya art, according to Saturno. "It's clearly a costume of some kind," he said in a statement.

(Read Saturno's account of the Maya-mural discovery in National Geographic magazine online.)

Published May 10, 2012

A Scribe Unto the Lord of Xultún

Illustration by Heather Hurst, National Geographic

Next to the king's portrait is this bright orange man, pictured in a modern re-creation of the newfound Maya mural.

The man's name, "Younger Brother Obsidian," is written in glyphs near his face. Saturno theorizes that this unusual title and the man's proximity to the painting of the king may indicate that the orange figure was a relative of the king—perhaps the scribe or artist who lived in the house.

Published May 10, 2012

Next: 2012 Pictures—Six Maya Apocalypse Myths Debunked

Illustration courtesy Nicolle Rager-Fuller, NSF

Published May 10, 2012