The Mayan Astronaut
This painting is taken from the lid of Mayan King K'inich Janaab' of Palenque in Mexico, who ruled from 615 to 683 AD. Now this tomb cover is made of stone and hand carved by Mayan craftsman. When it was first discovered in, 1952, it was photographed and studied by archeologists all over the world. A magnificent piece of history. The overall consensus was/is that the carvings on this tomb lid was a rendition of the Mayan Tree of Life and that he, the deceased King, was depicted climbing this tree to eternity. This theory is supported by other similar, though not identical, pieces of Mayan Art which proports to reflect the Tree of Life, etcetera. To best view this Tree of Life you must take my painting and stand it up so that the long side is upright, vertical. If you do this it clearly resembles a tree and what appears to be a man climbing it. So I understand how the experts could come to this conclusion.
This theory stood for many decade until in the 1960s, an author from Switzerland named, Eric Von Daniken, looked at the photos, and then turned the picture sideways, horizontal, and concluded that he was not climbing a tree, but is instead operating a machine! If you look at it from this angle, as Mr. Von Daniken clearly points out it does looks as though his hands are operating controls, his feet are on pedals, that there is a breathing apparatus over his nose, and he appears to be sitting in a chair made from metal material complete with bolts holding it together. He also pointed out that behind the chair is a motor with exhaust flames coming out the backside. Mr. Von Daniken hypothesized that this tree of life is in actuality a spacecraft of some sort. This along with his book, Chariots of the Gods, created what is now commonly called the, Ancient Astronaut Theory.
Now experts of course violently disagree, believing of course that there aren't nor have there ever been people from other planets here on earth. Mr. Von Daniken and a multitude of others argue that there is all kinds of evidence to say that there was and are visitors to earth from other solar systems. I will leave this up to you to decide. As for my painting, I painted it to be hung horizontally and I used artistic license and illustrated a few things to make it support Mr. Von Daniken' theory.
I hope that this painting and story encourage you to do your own comparison to the original carving.
FYI: this painting is big. It is 6' long and 4' high and took months to create. I will also tell you that even though I have been offered tens of thousands of dollars for it, it remains framed and hangs in my son's home. My granddaughter, Maya Henry as well as her mother, my daughter, Azteca, was named after the indigenous people of Mexico.
Peace be with you. mark
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