Stunning Mayan art found / new gallery in Cork (Tuesday 20 December, 2005)
compiled by Mary Garboden
Early Maya creation myth mural discovered
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| The 'new' Maya mural; image held here (where you can enlarge it) |
On 13 December, archeologists reported the discovery of the earliest Maya painting yet to be uncovered.
The site of this discovery, the ancient Maya city of San Bartolo, was found completely by chance in 2001 -- archeologist William Saturno stumbled across it when he sought relief from the hot Guatemalan sun in a trench looters had cut under an unexcavated pyramid. While Saturno and his colleagues started excavation as soon as they could, it was only the other day that the west wall of the site, the magnificent centerpiece of the room, was uncovered.
Great excitement surrounds this discovery and its historical implications: when the San Bartolo site was first uncovered, researchers believed it to be from the Classic Maya period which spans from A.D. 250 to 1000. Further tests have revealed that it is in fact from the Preclassic period, dating from about 2000 B.C. to A.D. 250. Stephen Houston, an expert on Maya writing and archaeology at Brown University said that the mural "contains information we had known about from later Maya sources, but we now realize these ideas were present long, long before and expressed in an amazingly sophisticated fashion."
Despite scholars' excitement regarding alterations in concepts of kingship in Maya history, what is really impressive about this discovery is the relatively advanced artistic ability demonstrated in the central mural. Unlike some other works of art from the Preclassic period which can appear primitive, this depiction of the maize god crowning himself king is a free composition and demonstrates a wider use of color than other sections uncovered at the site. This sophistication shows an amazingly early flowering of Maya civilization, a society already considered advanced beyond its time.
Capwell Art Gallery opens in Cork (16 December, 2005)
The house at No. 16 Frankfield Terrace, Summerhill South in our favourite cultural capital has recently been refurbished as an art gallery. With many of its original charms and features intact, the gallery will display a mixture of old and modern pieces from artists such as Rose Foley, Peter Meier, Simon Anthony Whelan, Teresa O'Gara, Noel Sheridan, Desmond Turner, Maeve Farrer, Peter Knuttel, Michael Downes, Eva O'Connell, Patrick Hickey, Angela Fewer, Denis Spillane, and many others.
Opening hours are Thursday to Sunday from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. each week.
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