Maya Mural Reveals Ancient 'Photobomb'

by Laura Geggel, Staff Writer

An ancient Maya mural found in the Guatemalan rainforest may depict a group portrait of advisers to the
Maya royalty, a new study finds. Most Maya murals depict life within the royal sphere, but the newfound
mural, uncovered in the Guatemalan rainforest in 2010, shows a vibrant scene of intellectuals consulting with
the royal governor, who is dressed as the Maya wind god.

Behind him, an attendant, almost hidden behind the king's massive headdress, adds a unique photobomb to
the mural, said Bill Saturno, the study's lead researcher and an assistant professor of archaeology at Boston
University. "It's really our first good look at what scholars in the eighth-century Maya lowlands are doing,"
Saturno said. The murals also provide information about a man buried beneath them. During an excavation,
the archaeologists found the skeleton of a man dressed like the sages in the mural. It's possible the man once
lived in the room, which later became his final resting place, Saturno said.

Archaeologists discovered the approximately 1,250-year-old mural in the ancient city of Xultun, located in
the northeastern part of present-day Guatemala. During an archaeological study of Xultun, an undergraduate
student inspecting an old looters' trail noticed traces of paint on an ancient wall covered by dirt. "My
assumption was that there would be very little to see," Saturno said. "Not because the Maya didn't paint
murals — they did — but they don't preserve well in a tropical environment."

However, the elements had been kind to the building and its treasures. The excavation uncovered a
rectangular room covered with murals and a Maya calendar, the oldest known Maya dating system on
record.

Mysterious obsidians

The mural is one of only two known murals in the eastern Maya lowlands that have lasted throughout the
ages, the researchers said. The Xultun paintings, illustrated in vibrant red, blue, green and black pigments,
cover three of the room's four walls. The fourth wall, damaged by looters, contains the door. Saturno and his
colleagues excavated past the point where the looters tunneled, and came face-to-face with "the
polychrome face of a king seated with his blue-feathered headdress," Saturno said. A man kneeling before
the king, labeled itz'in taaj, or "junior obsidian," faces the king in profile.

Behind the junior obsidian, on the west wall, are three men dressed in black and sitting cross-legged. One of
the men is labeled ch'ok, or "youth," and another is called sakun taaj, or "senior obsidian." It's unclear what
"obsidian" means, the researchers said. "Are they religious? Are they scholars? Is there a line between those
things?" Saturno said. "They seem to be making books and painting tables on the walls."

All three men wear the same headdress with a medallion and feathery plume, a white loincloth and a
medallion on their chests. "You see these three guys dressed identically and lining up on one wall," Saturno
said. "That's strange. They're clearly being represented as a unit." The fact that they're all wearing the same
uniform suggests the obsidians shared similar duties, Saturno said. Moreover, the people who filled the
obsidian order probably lived in the room for a period of time, as there are dozens of texts painted on the
walls.

Water and tree roots largely damaged the east wall, but the archaeologists still managed to find the painted
remains of three individuals.
All the king's men

The mural may depict a consultation between the king and the obsidian, the researchers said. The king is
dressed as a version of the wind god, holding a staff with wind symbols on it. "Maya kings often dress up as
deities in performance," Saturno said. "Essentially re-enacting events from the mythic past." The timing of
the performance was important, and the obsidian may have been advising the king about its correct date, he
said. To remember meetings such as these, obsidians or artists may have painted the mural, he said.

"The mural establishes a direct relationship between a particular order, or guild, of Xultun artists and scribal-
priests and their lord, and it celebrates its members’ achievement in consulting and producing work for their
sovereign's reign," the researchers wrote in the study. The king sports blue, green and orange accessories,
whereas the obsidians are painted in reddish and black colors. The pigments from the king's portrait "are not
common to that part of the region where it's from," Saturno said. "These are materials that are being traded
in."

The painting also shows an attendant behind the king, possibly to hold up his headdress, Saturno said. "It's
like a photobomb," he joked. "He's almost like, 'Do you see me here?" In contrast, the orange and red colors
are made from local pigments, which likely helped differentiate between royal and non-royal subjects in the
mural, the researchers said. The study is "a brilliant gem of scholarship," said David Freidel, a professor of
anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, who was not involved with the study. "This room
celebrates a special group of members of the royal court of Xultun that are called obsidian, [or] taaj," Freidel
said. "The obsidian people appear to be present at other sites, but we don't know much about them."

It's remarkable that the intricate mural wasn't painted at the royal residence, said Takeshi Inomata, a
professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona, who wasn't involved in the study. "This comes from
the residence of a courtier, a court official," Inomata said. "This tells us about how those political
organizations of Maya society were run, and then we can really get to the people who are really doing all of
those things." The study was published in the February issue of the journal Antiquity. The coauthors are
Heather Hurst at Skidmore College in New York, Franco Rossi at Boston University and David Stuart at the
University of Texas at Austin.

Maya mural depicts royal advisors

Most Maya murals feature the royal family, but a rare find in northeastern Guatemala shows a mysterious
group of men, called obsidians, advising the king. The mural, painted on the walls of a rectangular room
found in the Maya city of Xultun, was likely the obsidians' residence, also includes paintings of tables and
calendar systems.
Royal consultation

A man with the title "junior obsidian" kneels before the king. The king wears an enormous blue headdress
and holds what is likely an incense bag, called a censer, in his hand. The staff has the symbol for wind, and
the text around him affirms that the ruler is impersonating a wind god. Both figures are roughly half of life
size, the researchers said. (Image credit: Illustration by Heather Hurst, copyright 2014).

Three sages

The three obsidians sit cross-legged and watch as the junior obsidian kneels before the king. The first man
(left) does not have a title, but the second man (middle) is called a "youth." The third man (right) is called
"senior obsidian." The titles suggest the obsidian had a ranking system, the researchers said. (Image credit:
Illustration by Heather Hurst, copyright 2014).
A room with a view

This illustration shows a view of the northern and western walls in the Xultun mural chamber. The skeleton
of a man who is dressed like the obsidian painted onto the western wall was found buried in the room.
(Image credit: Illustration by Heather Hurst, copyright 2014).

Chamber blueprints

Looters damaged much of the south wall when they broke into the chamber, and tree roots and water
damaged parts of the east wall. Two individuals can be seen standing above the king on the north wall.
(Image credit: Illustration by Heather Hurst, copyright 2014).
Living color

The junior obsidian is shown here kneeling before the king. This mural was painted at the heyday of Maya
society, called the Classic period. This period lasted from about A.D. 200 to A.D. 900, and the mural was likely
painted in the 760s. However, evidence of the Maya civilization stretches back to 1200 B.C., and Maya
people are still alive today in Guatemala and Mexico, the researchers said. (Image credit: Photograph by H.
Hurst, 2012, courtesy of the San Bartolo-Xultun Regional Archaeological Project).
Western wall detail

A detail of a left-facing head, located just above the headdress on the senior obsidian is seen here. The room
has many illustrations that are drawn over each other, suggesting that several orders of the obsidian
probably lived in this room until it was converted into a burial chamber. After that, it was filled with earth
and built on top of during ancient Maya times. After studying the room, the researchers also filled it with dirt
to help preserve the mural from the elements, the archaeologists said. (Image credit: Photograph by H.
Hurst, 2012, courtesy of the San Bartolo-Xultun Regional Archaeological Project).
Maya blue paint recipe deciphered

A Maya king, seated and wearing an elaborate head dress of blue feathers, adorns the north wall of the
ruined house discovered at the Maya site of Xultún. An attendant, at right, leans out from behind the king’s
head dress. The painting by artist Heather Hurst recreates the design and colors of the original Maya artwork
at the site. Credit: Heather Hurst, copyright National Geographic Society.