AI & Archaeology · c. 400–200 BC · Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico
Digital reconstruction reveals early calendar writing in Maya mural at Calakmul, Mexico
The charcoal drawing shows the hero twin Juun Ajaw hunting in water beside a ritual calendar day sign, in a building possibly built between 400 and 200 BC.
Official announcement
Calakmul, Mexico A digital reconstruction of a charcoal mural at the Maya city of Calakmul, in Mexico's Campeche state, has revealed an early example of calendrical writing. The mural shows Juun Ajaw, one of the mythical Maya hero twins, hunting a creature in water. Beside him is a day sign from the 260-day Maya ritual calendar.
Daniel Salazar Lama of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) described the find. Mexico News Daily reported it, and Archaeology Magazine summarised that report. No scientific paper is named in the coverage.
A date added after the main scene
The mural was drawn in charcoal inside a cave-like, arched vault. Salazar said the date appears to have been added to the main scene at a later time. The image and the writing may therefore come from two separate moments.
Salazar offered two interpretations of the scene. It may show an episode in the life of Juun Ajaw. Or it may show a renewal ritual. In either case, he said, the date may have been added to commemorate the event.
The coverage does not say which day the Calakmul sign records. In later Maya tradition, Juun Ajaw and his twin brother appear in the Popol Vuh, a sacred book of the K'iche' Maya, where he is called Hunahpu.
The building may be younger than thought
The mural also bears on the age of the building around it. Its construction had previously been dated to between 400 and 390 BC. The style of the drawing and the date it contains suggest the building could have been built between 400 and 200 BC.
That would allow the building to be up to about 190 years younger than the earlier estimate. The reports do not say how the original 400 to 390 BC date was obtained.
The coverage describes the work as a digital reconstruction made with high-tech tools. It does not name the software or imaging methods used.
Calakmul lies in the forests of southern Campeche, close to the border with Guatemala. In the Classic period, after about AD 250, it became one of the most powerful Maya capitals. A mural from between 400 and 200 BC would belong to the city's much earlier history.
Sources
- High-Tech Tools Reveal Early Maya Calendrical Writing (Archaeology Magazine)
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