Human Flower Project
Ahau—Mayan Flower
Archaeologists have uncovered a masterpiece of Mayan art in Guatemala, proof this civilization was “in full flower more than 2000 years ago.”
Detail from mural found at San Bartolo, Guatemala
Photo: National Geographic Society
An exciting story today describes “the oldest intact mural ever found in Meso-America,” a painting 30 ft. long discovered below a pyramid in the Petin jungle of Northern Guatemala. The mural depicts “the son of the Corn God establishing land, water and air, and paradise in the east where the sun rises,” and in adjacent panels, the Corn God’s coronation, death and resurrection. Prof. William Saturno and his team have dated the San Bartolo painting from 150 B.C.
“The Mayans dominated southern Mexico and parts of Central America for some 1,500 years, ...until the Spanish conquered them 500 years ago.” The new find shows that the structures of Mayan society and culture were in place at least 500 years earlier than had been previously believed.
The descendants of the Maya still live in Southern Mexico and Guatemala, and recent political movements in this region have drawn both spirit and substance from the ancient empire, as today indigenos lay claim to the land and a quite literally illustrious heritage.
Ahau glyph (Flower)
Image: Mayan majix
The Maya were brilliant mathematicians. Their linguistic code was cracked only in fairly recent years, revealing a society based on kingship and a manifold system for measuring time. In tandem with a 365-day calendar, the Mayan tzolkin of 260 days “guided the daily rituals and cultural achievement of the people” and according to at least one source is “still in use today in some parts of Mexico and Guatemala.”
One of the 20 days cycling through the tzolkin was known as Ahau or Flower. One commentator explains, “The meanings of the day-sign Ahau are many: Lord, Sun, Flower, Marksman or Blowgunner” —as in English “flower” communicates not just “blossom,” but fertility, femininity, fulfillment, success....
Ahua: both “flower” and “Lord”
Ahau receives a floral bouquet
and wears a floral hat,
with hummingbird accent
(detail from a Mayan vase)
Photo: Justin Kerr
We don’t pretend to understand the cultural complexity of the ancient Maya, though we see evidence in many sources of contemporary fascination with Mayan belief, as well as Mayan mathematics, and of course the art.
One such enthusiast writes, “Mayan time conception is more sophisticated than the one presently in vogue among the ‘western’ cultures. It involves an approach or attitude of mutual involvement, overlapping inclusion, and adaptable pro-active problem solving, rather than ‘taking a stand,’ ‘sticking to our guns,’ or ‘peace through strength.’ The Maya enjoy a world-view free from the entrapments of dualistic thinking.”
We find such claims incompatible with a society based on kingship—for what could be more stringently dualistic than the conception of king/non-king? Yet discovery of the Petin mural proves about Mayan culture once again, “more will be revealed.”