Heather Hurst

To Set before the King: Residential Mural Painting at Xultun, Guatemala

Abstract Maya murals depicting scenes of courtly life are well known from sites such as Bonampak; far less common are scenes depicting life outside the royal sphere. Recent excavations at Xultun in Guatemala have revealed well-preserved murals in a domestic context that offer a fresh perpective on life in the Maya court, that of the priests, scribes and artists who attended the royal governor. Here, the authors decode the images to reveal the lives and activities of those who planned, performed and recorded official events in Classic-period Xultun. One of only two well-preserved examples of eastern Maya lowland wall painting from the Late Classic period, this rare display of master craftsmanship outside of the royal court sheds new light on the lives of those who produced it.

Strategies for 14 C Dating the Oxtotitlán Cave Paintings, Guerrero, Mexico

ABSTRACT Oxtotitlán Cave paintings have been considered among the earliest in Mesoamerica on stylistic grounds, but confirmation of this hypothesis through absolute dating has not been attempted until now. We describe the application of advanced radiocarbon strategies developed for situations such as caves with high carbon backgrounds. Using a low-temperature plasma oxidation system, we dated both the ancient paint and the biogenic rock coatings that cover the paint layers at Oxtotitlán. Our research has significantly expanded the time frame for the production of polychrome rock paintings encompassing the Early Formative and Late Formative/Early Classic periods, statistically spanning a long era from before ca. 1500 cal B.C. to cal A.D. 600. Los murales de la Cueva de Oxtotitlán, de acuerdo con criterios estilísticos, han sido considerados entre los más tempranos de Mesoamérica. Sin embargo, hasta la fecha esta hipótesis no había sido corroborada mediante fechamiento absoluto. En este trabajo se describe la aplicación de técnicas de radiocarbono avanzadas, las cuales han sido desarrolladas para lugares como cuevas con un elevado fondo de carbón. Fechamos tanto la pintura antigua como los recubrimientos biogénicos que cubren las capas de pintura utilizando un sistema de oxidación de plasma a temperatura baja. Nuestras investigaciones han ampliado de manera significativa el intervalo temporal de la pintura mural policroma en Mesoamérica, abarcando los periodos del Formativo Temprano al Formativo Tardío/Clásico Temprano, desde antes de aproximadamente 1500 cal a.C. hasta 600 cal d.C.