14 · Late Preclassic · Mural narrative

The walls of San Bartolo

Paint the origin of order in a sealed room

The murals of San Bartolo combine figures, gods, and writing several centuries before the peak of Classic Maya.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Documentation of marks on a Maya mural during conservation work; contextual image. — CONTEXTUAL DOCUMENTARY IMAGE · Conservation of Late Preclassic Murals at San Bartolo and the Temple of the Hieroglyphic Staircase at Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo National Park, Ancient Maya Sites in the Eastern Petén · CC0
Contextual image · Contextual correspondence
Contextual documentary image; does not exactly represent the described piece.
Exchanges Photos · Conservation of Late Preclassic Murals at San Bartolo and the Temple of the Hieroglyphic Staircase at Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo National Park, Ancient Maya Sites in the Eastern Petén · Inventory: Conservation of Late Preclassic Murals at San Bartolo and the Temple of the Hieroglyphic Staircase at Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo National Park, Ancient Maya Sites in the Eastern Petén (5859967815) · CC0
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History and context

The murals of San Bartolo deployed human figures, deities, plants, and signs on finely prepared stucco walls. Their fluid line and polychromy show a mature tradition towards the 1st century BCE, not an experimental beginning of Maya art.

A scene seems to relate authority, maize, and creation episodes, but the reading depends on comparisons with texts and images much later. The mural reveals continuity of themes; it does not deliver a unique and translatable version of a 'sacred book'.

The Sub-1A chamber was buried by later constructions, a circumstance that protected fragments of painted stucco. Line, polychromy, and signs reveal towards 100 BCE a fully developed narrative tradition.

Maize, creation, and authority are consistent iconographic associations, but colonial texts are separated by many centuries. The exhibition must show parallels without subtitling the mural as a literal page of the Popol Vuh.

Evidence and interpretation

Documented fact: the paintings of Structure Sub-1A at San Bartolo are dated to around the 1st century BCE and combine figurative narrative and early signs. Interpretation and caution: links with creation and coronation myths are solid iconographic analyses but debatable; they must not be equated word for word with the colonial Popol Vuh.

Catalogue facts

Narrative date: c. 100 BCE
Location: San Bartolo, Petén, Guatemala
Material: Lime stucco · mineral and organic pigments
Context: Narrative painting, authority and Preclassic cosmology
Curatorial reading: The documented fact and its interpretation appear separately in the evidence block.
Date: c. 100 BCE
Location: San Bartolo, Petén, Guatemala
Support: Lime stucco · mineral and organic pigments
Documentary coverage: 4 museum, heritage, primary corpus or research sources for this stop.

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

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c. 100 BCE

The walls of San Bartolo

Maya worlds

Approximate dating according to the record.

Current record

Pigments14 dated objects

13 / 14In the centre: The walls of San Bartolo

Also connected, without a comparable date (9)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

BhimbetkaPrehistory · Mesolithic–historical and medieval period
Blue that does not yieldMaya worlds · Documented use from the Classic, c. 300–1500 CE
Eland CavePrehistory · Regional tradition of ≈4,000 years · up to historical period
Game Pass ShelterSan histories · Regional rock art chronology · panel not dated in isolation
KakaduPrehistory · Regional corpus ≈20,000 BP–contemporary era
Leang KarampuangPrehistory · Minimum 51,200 years · dating published in 2024
Quinkan CountryPrehistory · Regional art up to ≈27,000 BP · modern continuity
Sierra de San FranciscoPrehistory · Broad tradition with direct dates ≈5290–295 BP
Tassili n’AjjerPrehistory · Corpus ≈6000 BCE–first centuries CE

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Wall painting

Banquet under leopards · Around 480–470 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The walls of San Bartolo · c. 100 BCE · Maya worlds — You are viewing

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Akrotiri · c. 1700–1500 BCE · Greek worlds

Painting

Before the San · ≈25.500–23.500 BCE · San histories
Before the name San · ≈25.500–23.500 BCE · San histories
Altamira · Assemblage ≈36,000–13,000 BP · bison ≈18,400–15,300 cal BP · Prehistory
Lascaux · ≈23,500–21,000 cal BP · debated contextual estimate · Prehistory
Before Sumer · mid-6th–5th millennium BCE · Sumer
Cueva de las Manos · Sequence ≈9300–1300 BP · Prehistory
Vasiliki · ca. 2500–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Before the Greeks · c. 2400–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Before Vedic India · c. 1900–1300 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Grey bowl from Hastinapura · c. 1100–800 BCE in the classical sequence of Hastinapura · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Orpheus among the Thracians · circa 440 BCE; attributed to the London Painter E 497. · Thracians
The Attic krater that took on a new life in Cástulo · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
The Karwa textile · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Leipzig Fish Plate · Last third 4th–early 3rd century BCE · Greek worlds
Dove of the Amarejo · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Vas dels Guerrers · 3rd–early 2nd century BCE · Iberians
Warriors' Vase · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Iberians
Kalathos of Alcorisa · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Iberians
The walls of San Bartolo · c. 100 BCE · Maya worlds — You are viewing
Ceramics that continued · Last third of the 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Iberians

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Human imagery

Lion-man · ≈40,000 years · Aurignacian · Prehistory
Hohle Fels · ≈40,000 years · Aurignacian · Prehistory
Willendorf · ≈29,500 years · Prehistory
Brno II Articulated Figure · ≈28,000 years cal BP · by funerary association · Prehistory
Dolní Věstonice I · ≈29,000–27,000 years · Prehistory
Lespugue · ≈28,000 years · Prehistory
Kostenki I · ≈23,000–21,000 years · Prehistory
Shigir Idol · C. 10,000 BCE · approximation; debated dating · Prehistory
Nahal Hemar mask · Eighth millennium BCE · context dating, not direct dating of the stone · Prehistory
El Miradero spatula-idols · ≈4000–3800 cal BCE · Prehistory
Warka Mask · End of the 4th millennium BCE · Sumer
Cueva de las Manos · Sequence ≈9300–1300 BP · Prehistory
Uruk Vase · ca. 3300–3000 BCE · Sumer
Worshiper of Tell Asmar · Towards 2900–2600 BCE · Sumer
Standard of Ur · ca. 2600–2400 BCE · Sumer
Statue of Ebih-Il · Towards 2400 BCE · Sumer
Akkadian sovereign head · Akkadian period · 23rd century BCE · Sumer
Bassetki Statue · Akkadian period · 23rd century BCE · Sumer
Before Pre-Inca Cultures · Kotosh-Mito Tradition, c. 2200–1500 BCE; the enclosure is usually situated around 1800 BCE. · Pre-Inca cultures
Queen of the Night · 19th–18th centuries BCE · Sumer
Bull-leaping · c. 1600–1450 BCE · Greek worlds
Wooden faces · c. 1600–1000 BCE, in several phases · Maya worlds
Head 2 · c. 1200–900 BCE · Maya worlds
Ivory in Nimrud · 9th–8th centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Las Limas · c. 1000–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Astarte from El Carambolo · 8th century BCE · Phoenicians
Astarte from El Carambolo · 8th century BCE · Iberians
Lamassu of Khorsabad · Reign of Sargon II · 721–705 BCE · Sumer
The Lanzón · c. 900–500 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Offering 4 · c. 800–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Kushite king · c. 721–664 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Phoenicians
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Iberians
Heads on the wall · c. 800–300 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Shabti of Psamtek · 570–526 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Two voices in an urn · 530–520 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The god on the roof · Towards 510–500 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Glazed brick guards · 522–486 BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Twenty-three delegations · 6th–5th centuries BCE, mainly under Darius and Xerxes · Achaemenid Persia
Banquet under leopards · Around 480–470 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The statue was the urn · First half of the 4th century BCE · Iberians
A battle on a comb · Early 4th century BCE · Scythians and Saka
The Kul-Oba vase · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
The Solokha gold comb · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
Faces of the Steppe · Second half of the 4th century BCE · Scythians and Saka
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Punic head pendant · Mid 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Iberians
The Raimondi Stele · c. 400–200 BCE according to MNAAHP · Pre-Inca cultures
Chão de Lamas pectoral · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · concealed in the early 1st century BCE · Iberians
Vas dels Guerrers · 3rd–early 2nd century BCE · Iberians
Warriors' Vase · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Iberians
The dismantled cauldron · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Celtic worlds
The walls of San Bartolo · c. 100 BCE · Maya worlds — You are viewing
Gladiators Cup of Chavagnes · 25–75 CE · Etruscans and Rome
Thracian Gladiator from Cádiz · 67–100 CE · Etruscans and Rome
Torreáguila fountain spout · 101–125 CE · Etruscans and Rome
Articulated doll from Tarragona · Late 3rd–4th century CE · Etruscans and Rome
Seven heads · c. 500–700 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds
Seated figure · 13th century, date attributed by the museum · Mande Worlds
Kongo crucifix · 16th–17th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds
Kuba ndop · ca. 1760 · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Before Persia · Central core c. seventeenth century BCE; Neo-Elamite additions between the ninth and sixth centuries BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Bhimbetka · Mesolithic–historical and medieval period · Prehistory
Eland Cave · Regional tradition of ≈4,000 years · up to historical period · Prehistory
Four offerers · Iberian period · individual dating according to catalogue · Iberians
Game Pass Shelter · Regional rock art chronology · panel not dated in isolation · San histories
Lararium of Vilauba · Roman period · Etruscans and Rome
Leang Karampuang · Minimum 51,200 years · dating published in 2024 · Prehistory
Quinkan Country · Regional art up to ≈27,000 BP · modern continuity · Prehistory
Sierra de San Francisco · Broad tradition with direct dates ≈5290–295 BP · Prehistory
Tassili n’Ajjer · Corpus ≈6000 BCE–first centuries CE · Prehistory
The Thracian Horseman · Roman era · diffusion especially in the 2nd–3rd centuries CE · Thracians

Mythical narratives

Sumerian Flood of Nippur · Towards 1650 BCE · Sumer
Motagua jade · c. 900–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Flood Tablet · 7th century BCE · Sumer
Orpheus among the Thracians · circa 440 BCE; attributed to the London Painter E 497. · Thracians
Derveni Papyrus · copy conserved towards 340–320 BCE; comments on a previous text. · Thracians
The walls of San Bartolo · c. 100 BCE · Maya worlds — You are viewing

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Zalmoxis · testimony of Herodotus, 5th century BCE; no biographical date of the divinity. · Thracians

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

A calendar before the great murals

Two stucco fragments from an earlier phase of San Bartolo join to conserve the sign '7 Deer'. Their sealed context and radiocarbon datings place them between 300 and 200 BCE, approximately one and a half centuries before the Sub-1A chamber. The number combines bar and dots over a deer head. The find belongs to the 260-day calendar, which pairs thirteen numbers with twenty day names. It adds an early testimony of calendrical notation, although it does not allow knowing whether here it designated a day, a year, or a personal name.

Research · An early Maya calendar record from San Bartolo, Guatemala · Science AdvancesAccess recorded: September 5, 2026.

Sources and references

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The walls of San Bartolo

History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Objects connected through time

The walls of San Bartolo

Engraved ochre from Blombos

Willendorf

Before the San

Before the name San

Altamira

Lascaux

Kostenki I

Cueva de las Manos

Queen of the Night

Ceramic stand 1010

Banquet under leopards

The Karwa textile

The walls of San Bartolo

Venus in the codex

A closer look

A calendar before the great murals

Sources and references

Did you enjoy this exhibit?