Was anybody from BYU involved in this archeological expedition? Check out the following from the Washington Post story today, particularly the following:
The 30 feet of west wall mural, the excavation of which began in 2004, shows the son of the Corn God establishing land, water and air, and paradise in the east where the sun rises. The next section shows the Corn God’s coronation, followed by death and resurrection. The last section shows the coronation of a Mayan king, claiming his crown in the company of the gods….three doors into the chamber were on the now-destroyed east wall, making the west wall the first and most arresting sight for new arrivals. “Our best guess is that this was a preparation room, where the king would rehearse the mythology for ceremonies” outdoors, Saturno said.
Is it possible that this is a temple room showing the creation, the story of Jesus Christ and how a Mayan can be crowned a King of Israel? I have not seen the mural, so I may be way off, but I find this description fascinating. What think ye, M* readers?
Highly unlikely. Mayan coronation events are among the most common of themes depicted in Mayan iconography/sculpture/murals etc. They often involve penile or lingual bloodletting by one of the king’s wives and an invocation of similarity between the king and some deity. I’m no expert on the Israelites about you, but it doesn’t sound much like anything I’ve ever read about in the Old Testament.
That should say, “I’m no expert on the Israelits, but it doesn’t sound much like anything I’ve ever read about in the Old Testament.”
Whoops.
“penile or lingual bloodletting by one of the king’s wives”
Exodus 4:25f
Hmmm… what a choice… king of all I survey… but I have to have a “penile bloodletting” first…. I’d have to think about that one for a while.
“Is it possible that this is a temple room showing the creation, the story of Jesus Christ and how a Mayan can be crowned a King of Israel?”
– No. More evidence of deep, rich cultures that show no exposure to semitic, old world travelers. Time to smell the coffee (or Postum).
One of the researchers, Richard D. Hansen of Idaho State University, attended BYU as an undergraduate and graduate student.
Randy, I am sure your comments were entirely intended to build up the faith of Latter-day Saints. Still, an explanation of this post is in order. My post is not intended as a BoM apologetic. Temples get very little mention in the BoM. I am more interested in the deep history that exists in all cultures. This deep history, imho, goes back to the creation story and the early Patriarchs and has to do with commonalities in all major cultures of temples and temple themes that may or may not exist today. Studying the Popol Vuh or ancient Indian myths for creation story commonalities, for example, is more interesting to me than searching for evidence of Israelites in abandoned Mayan buildings. So, in my mind, it is not significant whether or not the Mayan culture shows “exposure to semitic, old world travelers.” That’s a subject for another day and another post.
They showed the mural on the today show yesterday. Perhaps you will be able to find pictures available soon.
There is an image at National Geographic
I find this quote on the second page of the article quite interesting for thos saying there is no possible connection…
I belong to the Mayan chorti people, and we are tired of you racism… Our culture still alive and we don’t need the link with europeans, christians or aliens….Native americans develop there own culture till limits you never gonna know…stay away and dream about your heavens….bacause as TUPAC AMARU say….we don’t wanna be there.