San Bartolo (Maya site) facts for kids

San Bartolo is an ancient Maya archaeological site in northern Guatemala. It is located in the Petén region, northeast of the famous city of Tikal. San Bartolo is well-known for its amazing and colorful mural paintings, which are very old. These paintings show ideas from the even older Olmec culture. The site also has some of the earliest examples of Maya writing, which are still being studied by experts.

Exploring the Ancient Site of San Bartolo

The Maya site of San Bartolo has several important buildings. These include an 85-foot-tall pyramid called "Las Ventanas," which means "The Windows." There is also the Temple of "Las Pinturas," meaning "The Paintings," where the famous murals were found.

Archaeologists also discovered an early royal tomb in an area called the "Tigrillo Complex." About 500 meters (1,640 feet) to the east, in the "Jabalí" (Wild Boar) group, there is a special type of building called a triadic complex. This is similar to groups of buildings found in other Maya cities like Uaxactún and Tikal. The main pyramid was built over time, starting around 300 BC and finished around 50 AD. San Bartolo is often studied along with a nearby site called Xultún.

Discovering San Bartolo's Murals

Finding and Rebuilding the Ancient Art

In 2001, a team led by William Saturno from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology made an exciting discovery. They found a room at the base of a pyramid filled with ancient murals. Scientists used carbon dating to find out how old they were, and it showed they were from about 100 BC. This made them the oldest Maya murals ever found!

Work to uncover and protect these murals began in March 2003. The team carefully made the paintings stable so they wouldn't crumble. They used special cameras to take many pictures of the art. Even tiny pieces that had fallen off were carefully put back together and photographed. An artist named Heather Hurst then made detailed drawings to show what the murals looked like when they were new. A researcher named Karl Taube studied the pictures to understand the stories and meanings behind them. Besides the murals, the oldest known Maya royal tomb was also found at San Bartolo by archaeologist Monica Pellecer Alecio.

Stories in Stone: The Twin and Maize Myths

The murals on the north and west walls of the "Pinturas Sub-1" temple tell stories from ancient Maya creation myths. These stories are similar to those found in the Popol Vuh, a famous Maya book, and other old Maya traditions.

The north wall mural shows two main scenes. One scene is in front of a mountain cave. Several people are walking or kneeling on a large snake. The Maya maize god, who was very important for farming, is shown with a group of people, either giving or receiving a special plant called a calabash. The other scene shows four baby figures, still connected by their umbilical cords, around a split calabash. From this calabash, a fifth, fully dressed male figure appears. A large god watches over this scene.

The west wall mural has even more scenes. One part shows four pictures of trees with birds, kings who look like the Maya Hero Twins (named Hunahpu), and offerings. These offerings include fish, deer, turkey, and flowers. A fifth tree was added to this series. These five trees are like the special "directional trees" mentioned in other ancient Maya books. The birds on the trees represent a powerful bird god. The offerings are similar to those described in the Dresden Codex, another old Maya book. The first four kings are shown spilling their own blood as a sacrifice, then offering gifts. The fifth figure, linked to the central "tree of life," is the Maya maize god. This whole picture might show how the Maya believed the world was first set up.

Another part of the western mural shows three moments from the life of the maize god. It also shows a king being crowned, suggesting that Maya kings believed their power came directly from the gods. This discovery showed that the Maya had strong kingships much earlier than people thought. The three maize god scenes show:

• A maize baby held by a man kneeling in water.
• The maize god inside a turtle cave, dancing in front of two water gods.
• The maize god flying or falling from the sky into water. Some think this scene shows the maize god dying. Others believe it shows him bringing rain.

Other Ancient Stories in the Murals

For some parts of the murals, the Popol Vuh doesn't give clear answers. So, experts have looked at other ancient myths. For example, the three maize god scenes on the western mural might be connected to myths from the Gulf Coast region. These myths tell of a maize god who controls thunder and lightning, making farming possible.

The calabash scene on the northern mural might show a myth about young boys, who are rain gods, being born from a gourd tree. In this story, one of these boys, Nanahuatzin, opens the "Maize Mountain" and brings farming to people. This calabash, seen as a vine gourd, with the four babies around it, might also be a symbol for a special "place of origins" often mentioned in Maya stories, called Suywa or Tsuywa.

The Earliest Maya Writing Found

San Bartolo is also famous for having some of the earliest known examples of Maya writing. These inscriptions date back to the 3rd century BC. A very important stone block with writing was found from around 300 BC. Some experts believe this text celebrates an upcoming important date in the Maya calendar. This date might have been around 295 to 256 BCE. This is not only the earliest Maya writing found so far, but it might also be the earliest proof of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar system being used in Mesoamerica.

More recently, in 2022, researchers working on the San Bartolo-Xultun project found even more evidence of early calendar use. They found mural fragments at San Bartolo that show the earliest known date from the 260-day ritual calendar: "7 Deer." These fragments are from between 300 and 200 BCE.

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