Researchers have identified what they believe is one of the oldest known representations of the mythical Maya hero Juun Ajaw at the ancient city of Calakmul in Mexico. Their findings, which were based on three years of research and analysis, were published in IdeAs, the online journal of the Institute of the Americas. The authors of the paper, archeologists Daniel Salazar Lama, Ana García Barrios, and Benjamin Esqueda Lazo De La Vega, focused on what is considered the earliest mural painting found at Calakmul, a massive Maya city whose ruins, deep in the Yucatan jungle, were discovered in 1931. Though the mural, which depicts a man in a headdress holding a spear, had been removed for conservation in 2004, the team relied on advanced imaging techniques to reconstruct both the work and its surrounding architecture. Related Articles In their report, the authors posit that the image, which until now had been thought to represent a warrior with a spear, is in fact a painting of Juun Ajaw, a central figure in Maya mythology best known …