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The writings and illustrations of the ancient Maya civilization have told us primarily about the elite classes and religion, with rich depictions of headdress-wearing kings and mystical jaguars and bats.
Scenes of everyday life from the Central American people, on the other hand, are largely unknown - until now.
A University of Pennsylvania scholar is part of a team that is deciphering newly discovered murals in Mexico, with images of commoners handling maize, clay vessels, and salt.
Separately, scientists have extracted new information from Maya artifacts that have been in Penn's collection for decades - for example, analyzing ceramic pots for traces of ritual chocolate-based beverages.
The various findings are a reminder that when an object is unearthed, the science of archaeology has only just begun, says Elin C. Danien, curator of "Painted Metaphors," a Maya exhibit running through Jan. 31 at Penn's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Academics have spent more than a century studying this advanced civilization, which flourished for ages in what are now called Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, yet much remains unknown.
"I'm fond of saying that archaeology is a never-ending detective story," Danien says. "As soon as you get one answer, it raises 10 more questions."
(One thing that is known, by the way: The Mayans did not predict the end of the world in 2012, contrary to the suggestion in the new movie by that name.)
The new murals found in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, reported this month in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are said to be more than 1,300 years old. Alongside the scenes of everyday life are hieroglyphs that describe what's going on.
Some of the glyphs have never been seen before by modern eyes and thus are helping scholars to broaden their knowledge of the ancient language, says Simon Martin, an associate curator at the Penn museum.
These written symbols were previously unknown because they refer to common things, such as salt, not seen in the usual illustrations of royalty or gods, says Martin, one of the authors of the research in Proceedings.
"Salt doesn't turn up when they're talking about kings and queens," he says.
His Mexican coauthors discovered the murals in the ancient city of Calakmul, located on the Yucatan peninsula in the middle of a jungle. When Martin joined them at the site, he was able to read some of the new glyphs right away.
One of those was the spelling for salt, which consists of three glyphs. The first of these is a stylized image of a parrot head, which, for reasons unknown, represents the "ah" sound - the first syllable in the word for salt: atzaam.
Other glyphs still defy translation, though Martin says he knows how to sound them out. For example, one hieroglyph, read as luk'ban, is written next to a picture of a woman steadying a huge pot on someone's head.
Also unclear is the venue depicted in the colorful murals, says David Stuart, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin who was not involved with the research. A market, perhaps?
"It is literally a new vista onto Mayan life," Stuart says. "It's a whole other kind of world from what we're used to."
The museum exhibit back in Philadelphia, meanwhile, features Mayan artifacts from roughly the same time period. But they were unearthed more than 90 years ago, far to the south in the Guatemalan highlands.
Among the pieces are pottery painted in vivid reds and oranges with scenes of rulers and gods, as well as more prosaic items: musical instruments, cooking pots, and weaving implements.
Before they went on display, a number of the objects required painstaking care by senior conservator Lynn Grant and her staff at the museum. One pot was so fragile it crumbled every time it was handled, so Grant carefully took it apart, impregnated the fragments with acrylic resin, and glued them back together.
In addition, various artifacts were subjected to scientific analysis that was not possible when they were first excavated in the early 20th century.
Tests for chocolate residue were performed by W. Jeffrey Hurst, senior food scientist at, where else?, the Hershey Co. Two vessels did indeed contain traces of theobromine and caffeine, two substances that occur in the cacao seed.
Another study sought to determine whether various ceramic pots were made in the village where they were excavated, or perhaps in the far-away community of some unknown trading partner.
Scientists from the Smithsonian Institution took small samples from the clay and bombarded them with neutrons, causing them to emit gamma rays, which were then compared. Many artifacts had gamma-ray "fingerprints" consistent with clay from the immediate region. Others seemed to come from farther away, indicating the region was active in trade, Danien says.
In yet another bit of research, CT scans were taken of the teeth and mandibles from human skeletons found at the site. The analysis revealed that people lost many teeth early in life from periodontal disease and cavities, perhaps from eating a carbohydrate-rich, maize-based diet.
And though the Mayans are known for their advanced civilization, the people whose remains were found at this site didn't live long: about 27 years on average.
Danien is delighted with the continuing detective work made possible by new technologies, adding that the truth is far more valuable than any Hollywood invention.
"The reality of it," she says, "is so much more exciting than the fantasy of 2012."
Contact staff writer Tom Avril at 215-854-2430 or tavril@phillynews.com.
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