This article presents an in-depth analysis of an important mural painting discovered within Structure 10K2 of the Los Sabios Group at the Classic Maya site of Xultun, Guatemala. We first discuss the composition of the mural scene and its central protagonist, a Late Classic period (a.d. 550–900) ruler of Xultun named Yax We'nel Chan K'inich, suggesting that it presents a ritual performance associated with an ancient New Year ceremony. Several attendant figures in the mural are labeled as members of a specialist order or category called Taaj, “obsidian,” and are marked by an unusual shared appearance. This “obsidian order” exhibits internal hierarchical ranking and is attested at other Classic Maya centers. In addition to discussing the overall content of the Xultun mural scene, we conduct a focused inquiry into these various Taaj individuals by presenting associated archaeological evidence and considering related epigraphic data. Through this analysis of the Taaj, we shed light on a previously unknown aspect of Maya courtly life and organization that is relevant to models of sovereignty, governance, and ritual performance in the Classic Maya world.

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.

Excavations at La Sufricaya, a minor ritual group in the outskirts of the Lowland Maya city of Holmul, have documented two mural paintings inside an elite building of Early Classic date (A.D. 300–A.D. 600). One of the paintings is mythological in nature (Mural 9). The second bears an inscription with references to calendrical and historical events. It commemorates a notorious arrival date at Tikal on 11 Eb 15 Mak (January 16, A.D. 378) on its first anniversary. The architecture and artifacts associated with the murals combine Maya and Teotihuacan decorative motifs, and offer several parallels with Tikal assemblages. The iconography, epigraphy, and archaeological associations of these murals are discussed in relation to the function of the palace complex. This important new evidence contributes to an understanding of which role relations with Teotihuacan may have played in regional politics in the Maya Lowlands during the Early Classic period from the point of view of a smaller site. The interpretations presented here focus on the concept of political intervention of Tikal in the affairs of secondary and tertiary sites.

The relationships between phytoplankton pigments, optical properties and photosynthetic parameters for different phytoplankton functional types (derived by diagnostic pigment indices, DPI) were determined from data acquired in the Benguela ecosystem and the offshore region in October 2002. We observed robust inter-pigment relationships: total chlorophyll-a (TChla) was highly correlated with total pigment (TP) and accessory pigment (AP). However, the regression equations for stations dominated by flagellates differed from the equations for stations dominated by diatoms and dinoflagellates. The pigment ratio TChla/TP and the optical ratio a676/a440 were not constant but increased non-linearly with increasing TChla or TP; complimentarily the AP/TP and a490/a676 ratios decreased. There were significant non linear relationships between the photosynthetic parameters Fv/Fm or σPSII measured by Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometry and TChla or TP. Pigment ratios, optical ratios, Fv/Fm and σPSII were all inter-correlated with high significance. We determined the distinctive bio-optical properties associated with dominant phytoplankton functional types (derived by DPI) that conformed to the classical partitioning: flagellates (nano-plankton, comprising several taxa) had low biomass,low TChla/TP fraction and low Fv/Fm and high σPSII; diatoms and dinoflagellates (micro-plankton) had high biomass, pigment ratios, Fv/Fm and low σPSII.