Mayan Frieze Found In Northern Guatemala Depicts Image Of God
Archaeologists make once-in-a-lifetime find of Mayan frieze in northern Guatemala. Guatemalan archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli, a professor at Tulane University’s Anthropology Department, and his team discovered the frieze while they were exploring a Mayan pyramid that dates to A.D. 600.
“This is an extraordinary finding that occurs only once in the life of an archaeologist,” Estrada-Belli said.
The high-relief stucco sculpture, which measures 26 feet by 6 feet (8 meters by 2 meters), includes three main characters wearing rich ornaments of quetzal feathers and jade sitting on the heads of monsters.
The frieze, which was found in July, depicts the image of gods and godlike rulers and gives their names.
The dedicatory inscription “opens a window on a very important phase in the history of the classical period,” Estrada-Belli said.
The inscription is composed of some 30 glyphs in a band that runs at the base of the structure.
The text, which was difficult to read, was deciphered by Alex Tokovinine, an epigraphist at Harvard University and contributor to the research project at Holmul, the site where the frieze was found.