NEW DISCOVERY

A mask at Aguateca - Paper presented at the Maya Symposium in Guatemala

They have discovered a new technique on how the Maya´s made their head-dresses. The call it a laminate technique. The Maya layered gauze cotten material with a slip of clay 5-7 times and then when they fire it as ceramic it becomes hard and waterproof like clay but it is extrememly light. The cotton layer burns and you can only tell it existed by the negative holes or pattern that is in the clay. The pieces of ceramic simply look too sculptured to be ordinary pot cherds. That explains the fancy Quetzales or deer and jaguar head-dresses that the Maya nobles are seen wearing in many ceramic vases. I was always wondering what they were made of: leather, wood, ceramic a combination of all?
A lighter ceramic almost like a strong paper mache, make perfect sense. The lady at the smithsonian who ¨discovered¨ this technique 5 years ago and who gave the talk seems to think that they will find many more examples now that they know what to look for?

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The collapse of the city states are strikingly evident with the excavations of these sites and the revealing of temple centers under a state of siege, as with the case of Dos Pilas, or the rapid abandonment of the site of Aguateca due to burning of the houses by a warring rival.

aguateca
Located at the peninsula de Petexbatún, aguateca faces the lagoon of the same name. This site is only 1 hour away from Sayaxché (by boat ). The scenic boat ride will take you deep into the jungle from the “Río La Pasión” to the small waterways of the “Arroyo de Petexbatún”. Twin city to Dos Pilas , aguateca was fortified on a plateau above lake Petexbatún, as rulers escalated warfare against neighboring city-states. Despite the walls and natural defenses, this fortress proved vulnerable and the settlement was overwhelmed sometime after 790, the date recorded in stele # 2 . The last dated stele. New excavations from the Petexbatún Regional Project have discovered abandonment from fire caused by warfare. In this hurried departure, many items used in everyday life of the ancient Maya people have be preserved underneath the rubble. Archaeologists are studying the life of the Maya as it was lead daily and not just during ritual ceremonies as if often depicted on the stelae and ceramics found at most sites. DURING the 2003 season archaeologist were continually excavating and restoring the main plaza at Aguateca.

Burning Wars: 3 Day Aguateca, Punta de Chimino, Ceibal

Star Wars: 4 Day Dos Pilas, Aguateca, Punta de Chimino, Ceibal

Ask for more descriptions of the myriad of other sites we visit on our journeys into the Maya Biosphere Reserve and the Ruta Maya:: Yaxhá, Uaxactún, El Mirador, Nakbé, Wakná, Tintal, Río Azul, Nakum, Naranjo, Cancuen, San Bartolo, Holmul, Sufricaya, La Joyanca etc...