Word: bonampak
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...tools in the shape of animals; terra-cotta fertility idols whose swollen thighs and exaggerated pubic regions are pocket guarantees of good crops. Perhaps the highest point of pre-conquest art-and the most exciting part of the Los Angeles show-was the painted room of the temple at Bonampak, a pyramid whose corbel vaults-arches made by stepping stones inward-display 8th century Mayan frescoes strangely linked in style with the flat, frontal reliefs of the ancient Egyptians. Their bold, sophisticated expressionism is so compatible with modern art that they suggest the eternal life of forms...
Each new discovery seems to ignite a new chain reaction of revised conclusions about the Mayans. Archaeologists have found in Bonampak and Palenque, Chiapas State, Mexico, evidence that they were not the peace-loving esthetes (v. the later, barbaric Aztecs) that they had been labeled earlier, for their murals show them as cruel, bloody soldiers. But the Mayans deserve their original reputation as a people of high culture. Their sculpture and architecture glow with color, intricate detail, lively movement and full-dimensional symbolism (see color pages...
...Bonampak was so big that Healey returned to civilization to get some help. Last winter United Fruit, in cooperation with the Carnegie Institution and the Mexican Government, sent a full-dress expedition to explore...
Though not the most striking of Mayan "Old Empire" ruins, Bonampak is remarkably well preserved. Three stelae (record stones) have fallen on their faces, protecting their elaborate carvings from weather damage. Three intact inner rooms contain the most perfect specimens of Mayan fresco painting. In full color, Mayan kings, priests and warriors parade across the walls carrying umbrellas, waving fans, blowing horns and beating drums...
When the foreigners left Bonampak, the gentle Lacandones set fire to the huts the intruders had lived in. They hoped that a burnt offering would appease their gods...