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Reports by FLAAR Mesoamerica
on Flora & Fauna of Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo
Peten, Guatemala, Central America
Temple-Palace of Maya Ruins of Santa Rosa Xtampak has Chenes, Rio Bec, and Puuc regional architectural styles all together
Posted October 2026
by Nicholas Hellmuth
Santa Rosa Xtampak, Campeche, Mexico, has monumental Maya architecture that has been studied by many archaeologists. Of all the Classic Maya buildings at this site the most remarkable is the main palace—it’s like an entire acropolis of both temple and palaces all pegged together into a single multi-story building. The reason Hellmuth and FLAAR initiated a project here is because when I first visited the site the buildings were being damaged when giant trees were blown over in rain storms. The “multi-ton” tree trunks fell on the top of vaulted rooms and simultaneously the tree roots pulled up the rocks and threw all the masonry down. So I suggested that the first step should be to document all the remaining vaulted rooms, facades, and the remarkable interior stairways, and to encourage that this palace be rescued and conserved. All the credits to INAH are in the resulting books by Hellmuth and by Hasso Hohmann.
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First Season Photography and Analysis of Standing Architecture at Santa Rosa Xtampak, Campeche, Mexico | An Introduction to Chenes, Puuc and Rio Bec Palaces: The Example of Three Palaces at Santa Rosa Xtampak, Campeche, Mexico | Wood that has lasted one Thousand Years: Lintels and Vault Beams in Maya Temples and Palaces, the Example of the Main Palace, Santa Rosa Xtampak |
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Advances in knowledge of the monumental architecture of Santa Rosa Xtampak | Notes on Room-#5-Suite, SE Quadrangle, Santa Rosa Xtampak |
The 231 page: Advances in knowledge of the monumental architecture of Santa Rosa Xtampak: Based on photography and mapping of June-July 1989 has lots of photos at full-page size and is a thorough architectural discussion of regional styles—Puuc, Chenes and Rio Bec—and how these styles are intermingled on the palace façade here at Santa Rosa Xtampak. Architectural historian George Andrews has also published on Chenes and Puuc aspects of Santa Rosa Xtampak (three volumes published by Labyrinthos, a Maya archaeology publishing company initiated by Frank Comparato who was office manager of FLAAR for many years and project manager of the FLAAR mapping project at Yaxha, Peten, Guatemala). Paul Gendrop and Pollock have also published on monumental Maya architecture of regional styles of Campeche and surrounding areas (especially Yucatan).
The several decades of Hellmuth’s photography of Maya regional styles of Chenes, Rio Bec, and Puuc temples, palaces and acropolises were donated to Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University in 2024 so that these photos can be available to students for their theses and PhD dissertations, and to professors for their classroom lectures plus their presentations at conferences and symposiums.
Chenes: Monster Mask temple entrance façade where the doorway into the temple is the mouth of the giant monster whose face occupies the entire façade from the ground up. There is also at least one at Tikal and several at Copan.
Rio Bec: tall twin towers on the front of temples or palaces; the twin towers were “pseudo-temples” on the front of other buildings.
Puuc: lots of façade styles especially towers of mosaic masks of long-snouted deity on the front and corners of temples and palaces. Puuc is best known for Uxmal, Sayil, Labna and dozens of other Maya sites across Yucatan.
There is also an excellent PhD dissertation by Erwin Heine on the palace of Santa Rosa Xtampak. Andreas Reiter of Graz, Austria also worked at SRX. During the 1980’s Hellmuth lived in Graz, Austria for eight years including several years doing research for his 1986 PhD dissertation at Karl-Franzens Universitaet Graz (Monster und Menschen, and in English, Surface of the Underwaterworld). Hasso Hohmann and Annegrete Vogrin kindly provided space for Hellmuth and the FLAAR library of over 12,000 research books. Hohmann also provided additional space for Karl Herbert Mayer—so four Maya scholars all lived in the same multi-storied house in Graz, Austria for many years.
The reason I was focused on the “temple-palace” of Santa Rosa Xtampak is because starting in the late 1960’s (after Chiapas and Peten style architecture) I had then visited lots of Maya sites with monumental Puuc architecture. I became enthralled with Maya architecture when I visited Palenque at age 16 in 1961, arriving there in the back of a pickup truck that provided transportation from the train station several kilometers away. I used a Leica camera to take photos of both the temples and palace acropolis of Palenque plus the surrounding rain forest. I used all these photos for my high school thesis, which won 1st prize in my class since not many students go to Palenque by themselves in 1961. That got me accepted for Harvard. A following year I got to experience more Maya architecture at Bonampak when the INAH team that I met in a restaurant in Tabasco accepted my request to be a student intern to help them carry equipment from the Lacandon area landing field to hike many many kilometers to Bonampak. After helping them set up camp, I continued my original plan to visit Uxmal, Sayil, Labna, etc. where I learned about Puuc regional style Maya architecture. In the 1970’s-1980’s I led tours to explore Rio Bec and Chenes sites. When I first arrived at Santa Rosa Xtampak I was pleasantly surprised by the “multi-cultural” aspect: Rio Bec “towers”, Chenes Monster Mask façade, and Puuc style elsewhere—all on the same building.
It is helpful when scholarly publications are available to download as PDFs with no commercial price.
Yaxha Stela 11: The Largest Tlaloc Warrior King Image in the Maya Areas
Posted August 11, 2026
by Nicholas Hellmuth
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Explore the iconography and significance of Yaxha Stela 11, one of the most remarkable representations of a Tlaloc-associated warrior figure in the Maya area. This presentation examines the monument’s imagery, its relationship with Teotihuacan influence, and the distinctive elements that identify the figure as a powerful warrior king. Presented by Nicholas Hellmuth for the 39th Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala (SIAG), this research combines detailed photographic documentation and iconographic analysis to provide a closer look at one of Yaxha’s most intriguing monuments. Discover the symbolism, visual details, and cultural connections behind Yaxha Stela 11. |
Epigraphy and Iconography of Hix: Jaguar Eyes, Uinal Glyphs and Bufo Toads in Maya Art
Posted August 11, 2026
by Nicholas Hellmuth
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This lecture explores the Hix glyph and its relationship with jaguar imagery, Uinal face variants and Bufo toads in Classic Maya art and hieroglyphic writing. |
Maya Iconography of Hummingbirds, Mythical Hummingbird Monsters and Armadillos on vases, bowls plates, stelae and lintels
Posted August 4, 2026
by Nicholas Hellmuth
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You can attend this lecture via ZOOM from anywhere in the world (see the final two pages of this download) |
Lots of Fish in Classic Maya Art; Lots of Feline Pelage Spots
Posted July 31, 2026
by Nicholas Hellmuth
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70 pages on Catfish Red Style (probably Tepeu 1 but I am open to an early Tepeu 2 date). Many of these Catfish Red Style scenes have the 3-black-spots which is the jaguar-pelage version of the 3-Circles Motif which is a jaguar Hix glyph without the eyelid. Since my lecture on the Hix jaguar and 3-Circles parotoid gland of the Bufo Toad is 201 pages, there was not space to include this in the 45 available minutes, so I make it available as a separate download. Year 2026, Museo Popol Vuh annual IX Seminario Internacional de Epigrafía Maya en Guatemala at the Universidad Francisco Marroquin, organized by epigrapher Camilo Luin. |
Two new FLAAR Reports on Yaxha, PNYNN, RBM, Peten, Guatemala plus views of a rarely published Maya bedrock sculpture at another Maya site
Posted July 27, 2026
by Nicholas Hellmuth
We have posted a mention of a “rarely before discussed” Classic Maya causeway that we found at Yaxha that leaves the north part of Yaxha and heads far away. In 1970’s the FLAAR team found this causeway but now that LiDAR is available via PACUNAM to other projects, we hope to inspire them to show the entire sacbe and to what site north/northeast of Yaxha that this unnamed calzada heads to. I would suggest calling it “Inter-site Yaxha-(name of the end) Sacbe”.
We are also posting this week more photos of the remarkable Yaxha bedrock outcrop that the local Peten assistants found in 1970 and we published in 1993—but now we have found more photos. And Paul Graf has more modern photos soon to be available, so we wanted to make all our photos available.
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Even more remarkable is a bedrock outcrop sculpture that Hellmuth photographed in the 1970’s-1990’s that we have not yet found published elsewhere. But since this bedrock outcrop has such well-preserved Classic Maya portraits surely other archaeologists have published it. We would welcome a PDF of such publication(s) so we can create a bibliography. We estimate this was in Campeche or nearby Maya areas. |
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Six Chapters of Regional Styles of Classic Maya Pseudo-Hieroglyphs
Posted February 20, 2026
by Nicholas Hellmuth
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Although the presentation will be in Spanish, all six chapters will also be available as downloads in English after the lecture date. This presentation has hundreds of rollouts of Maya vases, several of which are high-resolution digital rollouts by Nicholas Hellmuth that have never been published before. So download the Preview now, and then return to this site to download all six chapters during the first week of March. Although the lecture topic is Maya hieroglyphic writing, all the hieroglyphs are on vases, bowls and plates that show lots of mythical symbols, scenes of the Maya people—so, LOTS more than just hieroglyphs. Pseudo-Glyphs deserve a new PhD dissertation by a student who would like to make breakthroughs in epigraphy—since 90% of research on glyphs on vases, bowls and plates have understandably focused on the PSS (Primary Standard Sequence dedicatory formula). But there are hundreds and hundreds of Late Classic bowls, vases and plates (plus Terminal Classic, Tepeu 3, mold-impressed and carved bowls also with Pseudo-Glyphs). |
Obsidian was available to the Classic Maya in Black, Gray, and Mahogany Colors
Posted Octuber 27, 2025
by Nicholas Hellmuth
The Classic Maya of Guatemala did not have metal for tools or weapons, so the ancient Maya mined and worked obsidian to make tools, weapons, and jewelry. Obsidian carved in the shape of the moon and planets and constellations were placed under stelae in Peten and surrounding areas. Chert (also called flint) eccentrics were also used in stelae caches.
The Classic Maya also imported green obsidian via Teotihuacan trade routes, but that obsidian from Pachuca area of Mexico is very rare at Maya sites of Guatemala.
Obsidian is “volcanic glass” and thus found in many volcanic areas of Guatemala. The obsidian source closest to Guatemala City and easily accessible by highway CA 9 is El Chayal.
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This FLAAR Report is from our 2023 visit in March to study the different colors of obsidian easily visible where the highway cuts through one of the hills of El Chayal. |
Drawings of Late Classic Maya Plates and Rollout Drawings of Maya Vases
Posted August 29, 2025
by Nicholas Hellmuth
In 1976 about fifty rollout line drawings of Maya vases and several drawings of Maya plates were issued as a printed portfolio. I estimate that only between 50 and 100 were printed. These are in libraries at major universities around the world.
But in today’s digital world, you don’t have to waste time going to a library to search for a book—you can download the book, article, thesis or dissertation on-line.
So our goal at FLAAR is to make available all the 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s publications in PDF format and available at no cost—plus you do not have to register—just download.
The original portfolio had about 56 drawings at double-page width—so the drawings could be at a healthy horizontal rollout format. Since the original edition was loose individual sheets in a portfolio envelope, most libraries lost several pages over decades. We also are missing Figures 6, 7, 15, 39, 45, 46, 47 and 49. We would greatly appreciate it if your university or museum library has these pages in the original portfolio so you can kindly send us a nice scan of as many of the missing pages that you can find. We would like to issue a year 2025 update with more documentation for each scene—but need to have all the missing images.
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FLAAR publications on monumental Maya architecture All three regional styles (Puuc, Chenes and Rio Bec) at one site: Santa Rosa Xtampak, Campeche, Mexico
Posted August 29, 2025
by Nicholas Hellmuth
Maya temples, palaces, acropolises and ballcourts were my research focus starting in 1961, when, at age 16, I went from my Spanish language school in Saltillo, Mexico (north of Monterrey) all the way to Palenque, Chiapas, in 3rd class buses. I stayed several days at Palenque, using a Leica camera that my father had loaned me. I took photos of the Classic Maya architecture but also the rain forest surrounding the ruins. I went back to Saltillo and then drove back to St Louis where I did my high school theses on Maya architecture. Since not many high school students write their thesis on Classic Maya architecture, my thesis won 1st prize in my class. This helped me get accepted to study architectural sciences at Harvard because I was not at the top of my class—universities also want people who do atypical projects. Then a year or so later I was kindly accepted by an INAH team what I met in Tabasco to help them carry their equipment and baggage the many kilometers to Bonampak, and I also offered to help them set up their camp. No airstrip at Bonampak in the early 1960’s, so your Cessna landed at a Lacandon village far away.
Then the Tikal Project asked me to help them as an architectural recorder and photographer at Tikal for an entire year of 1965, so again, my focus was on Maya architecture an entire year. During the 1960’s I also visited lots of Puuc ruins and in the 1970’s and 1980’s lots of Chenes and Rio Bec ruins. So when I learned that Santa Rosa Xtampak had a palace with a Chenes monster mask and also Rio Bec towers I coordinated with William Folan and the INAH team in Campeche to have a permit to accomplish photographic documentation of Santa Rosa Xtampak. While there in 1989 we noticed and documented Puuc architectural features in addition to the Chenes and Rio Bec aspects.
We have dedicated lots of time and effort to scan all our 1989 reports and wish to make them all available to INAH of Mexico and to archaeologists and students around the world.
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First Season Photography and Analysis of Standing Architecture at Santa Rosa Xtampak, Campeche, Mexico. Vol. I
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An Introduction to Chenes, Puuc and Rio Bec Palaces: the Example of Three Palaces at Santa Rosa Xtampak, Campeche. Mexico. Vol. II
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Wood that has Lasted one Thousand Years: Lintels and Vault Beams in Maya Temples and Palaces, the Example of the Main Palace, Santa Rosa Xtampak, Campeche. Vol. III
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Advances in Knowledge of the Monumental Architecture of Santa Rosa Xtampak
Based on Photography and Mapping of June-July 1989
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Notes on ROOM-#5-SUITE of the South-East Quadrangle
of the ruins at Santa Rosa Xtampak, Campeche, Mexico
by Jack Sulak, 1992
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Medium Format Hasselblad Photographs
of Santa Rosa Xtampak, Campeche, Mexico 1989, by FLAAR
Contact Sheet Series 449941, Roll 08
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We have been unable to find the helpful publication of Eldon Leiter, 1989, Inventory of the Lintels of the Main Palace at Santa Rosa Xtampak. If anyone in Campeche has a copy, a PDF would be appreciated.
Lots of capable 3D digital documentation of the main palace are by Erwin Heine, also from Graz. All his work cites his team; all their publications are in the bibliography of the remarkable 3D reconstruction of the main palace by architect and architectural historian Hasso Hohmann, also from Graz. FLAAR was headquartered in Graz before, during, and after Hellmuth’s 1986 PhD dissertation, but also simultaneously in 1989 as a guest visiting research professor at Rollins College, Florida. Hellmuth was also simultaneously a Guest Visiting Research Fellow at Yale University for multiple appointments, including 1989.
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- The Maya Temple-Palace of Santa Rosa Xtampak, Mexico. Documentation and Reconstruction of Form, Construction, and Function. Verlag der Technischen Universität Graz. Austria.
Super-helpful that this university put the entire book on-line as a nice download:
https://diglib.tugraz.at/download.php?id=5def5202c2bd7&location=browse
If you wish to donate your library on pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and related topics, FLAAR will be glad to receive your library and find a good home for it. Contact:
ReaderService@FLAAR.org
MAYA EPIGRAPHY
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