Murals discovered at the Classic Period site of Xultún in Guatemala are the earliest representations yet discovered of the astronomical tables used by the Maya to track the movements of Venus and the moon. Such tables are best known from the Dresden Codex, a rare surviving book written in the 11th or 12th century by the ancient Maya. The Xultún calendars were first drawn in the late 8th century AD, at least 400 years earlier than the Dresden codex.
Xultún is a Classic Period Maya capital, located in the Petén region of Guatemala, which flourished between 600 and 800 AD. The site covers an area of some 16 square kilometers (or about 4 acres), and it is located in the Maya Lowlands, in an area dotted with seasonally flooded swamplands. Prior to the identification of astronomical murals at the site, Xultún was best known for its numerous stele, several of which contain an emblem glyph, which scholars have identified as a representation of the settlement itself.
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Xultun's murals were reported in Science magazine in May 2012, and will be featured in an upcoming issue of National Geographic. The research was supported by the National Geographic Society, which owns the copyright on all of the photos used here.
Saturno WA, Stuart D, Aveni AF, and Rossi F. 2012. Ancient Maya astronomical tables from Xultún, Guatemala. Science 336:714 - 717.
As usual, a bibliography has been collected for this project.
