Latest News: New Discovery of 2000 Year Old Jaguar Sculpture in Chiapas – photo by Centro INAH Chiapas
Discovered recently in the pre Hispanic site of Izapa, a new find of a 2000 year old jaguar sculpture has been preserved and unearthed.
According to the Art Daily, a monolithic sculpture representing a jaguar lying down, weighing about a ton was discovered recently in the pre Hispanic site of Izapa, in the Soconusco region of Chiapas. The sculpture was retrieved from a riverbed by the National Institute of Anthropology and History.
The archaeological zone of Izapa has been a great source of monolithic discoveries. In fact, this recent find is the 91st sculpture registered in the region. Moreover, Chiapas holds the most quantity of discovered monuments as the number is up to 284 found items that range from sculptures to steles.
The city of Izapa, which was approximately built 2,500 to 2,000 years ago, are predecessors to the Mayan culture. This fact is evidenced by the fact that many of the images on the artifacts discovered refer to myths that are found in the Popol Vuh, otherwise known as the scared book of the Mayans.
The discovery of this particular sculpture is significant according to the INAH, who state the sculpture gives evidence about the importance of the jaguar in the ritual beliefs of Mesoamerican cultures. According to the director of the INAH-Chiapas center, Emiliano Gallaga Murrieta states, “The Izapa sculptures were made with stones because there were no metals in that epoch, and in some cases the natives would use jade chisels. Given the characteristics of the monuments and the material that was used, we estimate it must be about two thousand years old.”
Directed by archaeologist Robert M Pinter Rosenwig, the monolith was found by the end of the 2011 rural season of the Regional Reconnaissance Project of Izapa.
Latest News: New Discovery of 2000 Year Old Jaguar Sculpture in Chiapas.
