TAPE: EF02/0215 IN_TIME: 23:46:37 DURATION: 2:27 SOURCES: National Geographic RESTRICTIONS: DATELINE: San Bartolo - Recent SHOTLIST: 1. Various of research team walking through jungle to San Bartolo, a Maya ceremonial site in a remote region of northern Guatemala 2. Exterior of pyramid at San Bartolo 3. Trench leading to entrance of the pyramid, while team take measurements 4. Dr David Stuart taking measurements inside the room where mural was discovered 5. Various of research team working inside the room where mural was discovered 6. Maya mural 7. Close up of mural showing a kneeling woman with outstretched arms 8. Close up of mural showing a standing man's head 9. Looter's map found at the site STORYLINE: Disappointed at not finding the stone monuments he sought, a tired researcher sat down in the jungle shade and accidentally discovered the oldest known intact wall painting of Maya mythology. Archaeologist William Saturno discovered the four foot (1.2 meters) long mural, dating from about A.D. 100, during research at San Bartolo, a Maya ceremonial site in Guatemala. "This painting is among the most important finds in Maya archaeology in the last few decades. It opens a window into the mythological and courtly life of the ancient Maya during the pre-Classic period," said Saturno, a University of New Hampshire lecturer and research associate at Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. The discovery, made last year, is reported in the April issue of National Geographic magazine. Saturno had been looking for some carved stone monuments in the area and was exhausted after an unexpectedly long three-day trek through the jungle. Seeking shade, he sat down in a trench dug by looters seeking goods in the old Maya site. He aimed his flashlight into a looter's tunnel. "I started laughing. There was this Mayan mural, a very rare thing. The looters had cleared off a section and left it. I felt like the luckiest man on the planet," he said in a statement. The mural is in an 80 foot (24.38 meters) high pyramid in northern Guatemala. The site is now under guard to protect it from more looting. Research on the mural is funded by the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. The mural was confirmed as Maya by comparing it with other work by that civilization. The Maya pre-Classic period dates from around 2000 B.C. to A.D. 250. No other early mural of comparable size or condition has been found, researchers said. The only previously known paintings from this period are from Tikal, one of the largest Maya ceremonial and political centers discovered in Guatemala. National Geographic said the Tikal paintings are not nearly as extensive or as well-preserved as the newly discovered mural. Despite years of looting at the site over the last decade, the ruins at San Bartolo were previously unknown to archaeologists. The site is being studied by a team led by Saturno, David Stuart of Harvard University's Peabody Museum and Hector Escobedo from Guatemala's Universidad del Valle. A five-year project to excavate the site and conserve the art gets under way this year. The visible portion of the mural shows a scene with at least nine portraits. All the people stand or kneel above a border of geometric designs. The scene is dominated by a standing male figure who strides toward the viewer's left, looking back over his shoulder at two kneeling female figures behind him. Behind the women is evidence of at least three other standing figures.

Guatemala - Tikal - w/s high angle Mayan temple in Guatemalan jungle - ruins - Maya - pyramids

Guatemala's Tikal ruins--the lost world of the Mayan civilization. Technicolor.

Annual Maya Day Ceremony at Tikal National Park in Guatemala. Shots of shamans placing offerings and candles in fire pit in central plaza.

AP-APTN-1830: LatAm Mayans Friday, 21 December 2012 STORY:LatAm Mayans- New era celebrations in Guatemala and Mexico LENGTH: 02:29 FIRST RUN: 1430 RESTRICTIONS: AP Clients Only TYPE: Spa/Eng/Nats SOURCE: AP TELEVISION STORY NUMBER: 872247 DATELINE: Various - 21 Dec 2012 LENGTH: 02:29 ++VIDEO QUALITY AS INCOMING++ ++CLIENTS PLEASE NOTE CORRECTED SOURCING - ALL PICTURES ARE AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY++ SHOTLIST Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico - 21 December 2012 1. Wide silhouetted shot of Kukulcan pyramid at sunrise 2. Wide people wearing prehispanic dress holding ceremony at base of pyramid 3. Mid people holding hands in air to "absorb energy" from site 4. Wide same 5. Close young man with arms raised 6. Close man reciting during ceremony, UPSOUND: (Spanish) "We are celebrating the beginning of the new era, the beginning of the transformation of the world." 7. Mid of people with hands raised in front of Kukulkan pyramid 8. Mid woman weathering feathered headdress 9. Wide new era ceremony 10. Mid of ceremony Tikal, Peten, Guatemala - 21 December 2012 ++NIGHT SHOTS++ 11. Wide "period of reflection" ceremony early morning local time around fire 12. Close fire 13. Mid "reflection" ceremony 14. Wide people milling around temple base 15. Various people sleeping on ground near temple base 16. Wide Tikal temple 17. Wide people performing ceremony ahead of first light 18. Mid Mayan man smoking cigar 19. Mid man holding candles 20. Wide Tikal temple just before dawn ++DAY SHOTS++ 21. Wide man in traditional Mayan dress making sand decoration 22. SOUNDBITE (English) Sharon Woods, tourist visiting from London: "I don't think we have any expectations other than the message seems to be that we need to unite. We've been controlled for too long by many governments around the world, and I think it's time for the people to have a voice." 23. Mid President of Costa Rica Laura Chinchilla taking a cell phone photo of Mayan ceremony STORYLINE Tourists and new age spiritualists gathered at Mayan archaeological sites in Mexico and Guatemala on Friday to celebrate the end of a major cycle in the 5,125-year Mayan Long Count calendar known as the 13th Baktun. The date of 21 December has been characterised in popular culture as the "Mayan Apocalypse," although as dawn arrived in Mesomerica, there was no sign of the world's end. Indigenous people, tourists and spiritualists began arriving at the Chichen Itza site in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula as the sun rose to perform a prehispanic ceremony. "We are celebrating the beginning of the new era, the beginning of the transformation of the world," called out one reveller as celebrants raised their arms to the sky to "absorb energy" from the sacred site. Authorities expect some 40-thousand people to visit the site in the coming days. In Guatemala, celebrants performed rituals throughout the night at the Mayan temple in Tikal, an ancient city in what was one of the most powerful kingdoms of the Maya. Some chose to sleep on the ground beneath the famous Tikal temple which lies at the centre of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Clients are reminded: (i) to check the terms of their licence agreements for use of content outside news programming and that further advice and assistance can be obtained from the AP Archive on: Tel +44 (0) 20 7482 7482 Email: infoaparchive.com (ii) they should check with the applicable collecting society in their Territory regarding the clearance of any sound recording or performance included within the AP Television News service (iii) they have editorial responsibility for the use of all and any content included within the AP Television News service and for libel, privacy, compliance and third party rights applicable to their Territory. APTN AP-WF-12-21-12 1847GMT

Annual Maya Day Ceremony at Tikal National Park in Guatemala; shots of men playing xylophone. Shots of shamans healing people near fire pit in central plaza, of them using various objects and fluids, incidental shots of Temple 1. Shots of Maya men and women praying. MWSs of event and pyramids in central plaza.

In Guatemala, a tour guide talks about the Mayan pyramid to a group of school children. Technicolor.

Annual Maya Day Ceremony at Tikal National Park in Guatemala. Shots of shamans placing offerings in fire pit in central plaza, of one lighting fire, of shamans reciting incantations. Shots of Mayans kneeling and bowing to Temple 1. CUs of fire producing much smoke. Shots of shamans throwing alcohol into fire. Incidental shots of Temple 1 and 2.