New Mayan Painting

Thanks to Lani who first send me this story. Here's the newly discovered Mayan painting from San Bartolo, click for bigger. Not only does it look absolutely amazing, it is also some 1900 years old, almost from the dawn of Mayan civilization. Unfortunately, I can't find any better pictures than this one, which is rather small and doesn't give a whole lot of detail. It seems to represent a Maya 'King' (Ahau), part of a whole story associating him with the Maize God, the four trees that support the Sky (Kah, as opposed to the Void or Heaven that is beyond that: Kahuleu) and legitimising his rule by the sacrifices he makes. I just noticed on this picture - although I wonder why no report draws you attention to it explicitly - you can see that the Ahau offer his own blood by an ancient method that still appeared many centuries later: from his penis. You can see the white long stick and the red gushes of blood. How potent and strong this Ahau is! Ahau meant something like 'Real Man', if I remember correctly. Mayan masculinity exposed...

National Geographic Society story
San Bartolo excavation site: a really nice web-site that has some good pictures and an easy-to-understand story of the excavation site.