UT Austin:
Since 2007 an archeological team, including UT's David Stuart, has been investigating this Classic Maya city. In 2012 the team excavated in front of a building that had been looted 40 years ago. This is what they found. © Proyecto La Corona
UT Austin:
The team includes David Stuart, second from left, here discussing the new inscriptions with (from left) colleagues Marcello Canuto of Tulane University and Tomás Barrientos and Jocelyn Ponce of Universidad del Valle de Guatemala.
UT Austin:
Stone block from step showing text in Maya hieroglyphs. The text commemorates the visit to La Corona by the great Maya king Yuknoom Yich’aak K’ahk’ in 696 AD. The mention of 2012 is in the lower right corner.
UT Austin:
Hieroglyphs from one block recording the date equivalent to December 21, 2012, or in the Maya system 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ahaw 3 Kankin.
UT Austin:
The highlighted areas (in red) in the drawing by David Stuart show the date equivalent to Dec. 21, 2012, or in the Maya system 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ahaw 3 Kankin. The actual glyph is shown on the left. © Proyecto La Corona
UT Austin:
Joanne Baron, graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, cleaning hieroglyphs on the carved step. © Proyecto La Corona
UT Austin:
Project team members Analy Montenegro (with camera) and Jocelyn Ponce inspect the newly cleaned step. © Proyecto La Corona
UT Austin:
Trees grow atop a mound over a house built by the ancient Maya. It contains a rendering of an ancient figure, possibly a town scribe. The house sits at the edge of the ancient site of Xultún in Guatemala. Photo by Tyrone Turner © 2012 National G
UT Austin:
“Younger Brother Obsidian,” as labeled on the north wall of the Maya city’s house by an unknown hand, was painted in the 9th century A.D. Archaeologist William Saturno of Boston University excavates the house in the ruins of the Maya city of Xultún.
UT Austin:
Archaeologist William Saturno of Boston University carefully uncovers art and writings left by the Maya some 1,200 years ago. The art and other symbols on the walls may have been records kept by a scribe, Saturno theorizes.
UT Austin:
Conservator Angelyn Bass cleans and stabilizes the surface of a wall of a Maya house that dates to the 9th century A.D. The figure of a man who may have been the town scribe appears on the wall to her left.
UT Austin:
Never-before-seen artwork — the first to be found on walls of a Maya house — adorn the dwelling in the ruined city of Xultún. The figure at left is one of three men on the house’s west wall who are painted in black and wear identical costumes.
UT Austin:
Four long numbers on the north wall of the ruined house relate to the Maya calendar and computations about the moon, sun and possibly Venus and Mars; the dates may stretch some 7,000 years into the future.
UT Austin:
A vibrant orange figure, kneeling in front of the king on the ruined house’s north wall, is labeled “Younger Brother Obsidian,” a curious title seldom seen in Maya text. The man is holding a writing instrument, which may indicate he was a scribe.
UT Austin:
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.