San Bartolo (Peten)

Wall painting from San Bartolo - Blood sacrifice of a ruler

Sketch of the overbuilt temple

San Bartolo is the name of an exposed until after the turn of the century archaeological place in Petén -Tiefland Guatemala . The complex consisting of several temple pyramids and plazas is considered to be one of the earliest Maya sites in Mesoamerica .

Location and description

The site of San Bartolo , which covers around one and a half square kilometers and is attributed to the pre-classical period of the Maya culture (approx. 400 BC to approx. 250 AD), is located a few kilometers northeast of Tikal , which was in the jungle of the Peten dominant Mayan city. While the architecture of the site, which was largely destroyed by the forces of nature, offers no special features, a building that was later built over was uncovered inside the main pyramid, the west and north walls of which are decorated with a cycle of partially well-preserved but difficult to interpret paintings.

Paintings

The paintings were made according to the C14 method to the time around 100 BC. BC and therefore belong to the pre-classical period, from which only a few finds are known. Some researchers associate them with the stories about the 'Divine Twins' Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué from the Popol Vuh , others see more connections to the texts of Chilam Balam by Chumayel and still others bring folk legends into play as sources of inspiration.

The depictions on the west wall show four high-ranking people ( kings or priests) with blood spurting from their penises onto the earth - a clear sacrificial ceremony . A fifth person emerges from a fruit-bearing tree (possibly also a stylized corn plant ). Further scenes are associated with popular legends about the corn god (toddler in the arms of a man, dancing in front of other gods in a cave and ascent to heaven (possibly death)).

The scenery on the north wall shows a long boat with several figures of gods and rulers and a depiction of a coronation ceremony.

Characters

Also of great importance are several short, vertically arranged rows of glyphs , which - if they can be regarded as characters - are among the earliest of their kind in all of Mesoamerica.

See also

• Bonampak
• List of Mayan ruins

literature

• William A. Saturno, David Stuart and Karl Taube: The Identification of the West Wall Figures at Pinturas Sub-1, San Bartolo, Petén

Web links

Commons : San Bartolo (Petén)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• San Bartolo, sketch of the temple and colored drawings of the paintings - photos, drawings + information (Spanish)
• San Bartolo, colored drawings of the paintings on the west wall - photos
• San Bartolo, colored outlines of the paintings on the west wall - photo video
• San Bartolo, paintings of the north wall - photos
• San Bartolo project website - links to several articles