The lady of the gruels

The lady of the gruels

This small but fascinating fragment of mural painting shows us a scene that was probably quite daily in the ancient mayan markets. The image portrays a food stall, where two ladies are serving atol to a person who seems to have a lot of hunger.

The two ladies who appear on the scene have huge pots, where you can easily kept and transported their atol. The inscription on the left side identifies them as “the people of the atoll.”

The gruels were an essential nutrient and popular in the whole of Mesoamerica, and even today, it is enjoyed in a variety of forms, from Mexico to Honduras. Although we don’t know the recipe exact atolls in the EIGHTH century, we do know that they had as base the corn, and there are variations that include cocoa, fruits, and peppers.

This scene is so evocative it is only a fragment of the famous Murals of Chiik Nahb,” a set of murals found in the heart of the archaeological site of Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico. Unlike most of the murals maya, which tend to focus on scenes palatial and of the nobility, the murals of Chiik Nahb give us a glimpse into the lives of sellers and artisans in the markets.

It is believed that the structure where these murals could have been part of a market or a building exclusive to commercial activities, which explains why the protagonists of these works are the sellers. The murals are preserved in such good condition because they were protected by another structure, which, unfortunately, does not have the same luck, and its murals were lost in time.

Images taken from the document “the wall paintings of the Structure Sub1-4 of Chiik Nahb, in Calakmul, Mexico,” the authors Ramón Carrasco Vargas and Maria Cordeiro Baqueiro. Available on-line. The photographs are of Rogelio Valencia Rivera and drawing in the last picture is of Simon Martin.