Stela 5

It is a mid size site dating from Late Preclassic 300 BC to Early Classic 450 AD, located 1.2 Km. west of Holmul, Thought to be the Holmul's Elite residential area. It is composed of various residential groups around a principal platform of eleven meters. La Sufricaya Stela 1 and the fragmentary Stela 2 have Early Classic characteristics. Stela 5 bears a date of 8.19.6.8.5, 8 Chicchan 3 Xul (AD 422). there are 3 Chultunes, 11 documented Stelas to date, and 120 Structures, the investigations are uncovering more data each  season.

Site map with Stelas location

Its most important building is structure I, with its mural paintings, dating from the early classic period, in room 1 named Mural 1 and 3, that are quite unique because they are in square boxes, and represent the ascending of a ruler attended by Tikal rulers, others think that might be Teotihuacán rulers. Due to the resemblance of this Codex to the post classic Mixtec and Aztec codex, but the ones in La Sufricaya and the colors are Typical of Early Classic Maya codex style as we know from other early sites such as Mirador.

The room 2 murals 4-7 is also C shaped, as the room 1, with an opening to the South, and Stucco painted in its southern wall 12 mt. long and 2 mt High, there are also murals documented there, the eastern half of the mural presented a much more complex iconography.

 The composition is centered on a seated individual, whose body is painted in yellow. His arms are tied by large bows to vertical posts of what appears to be a scaffold placed on a bench. He wears a simple loincloth and a belt with a serpent or turtle head at the right end. A white cape seems to be draped over his shoulders. In front of this figure is what appears to be a lip-to-lip pottery cache or a bundle. To the right is a kneeling figure, also painted in yellow, with hands stretched out towards the central figure. The hands seem to support an offering of sort (in black, possibly a headdress). Further to the right is a standing frontal figure wearing a red and black beaded pectoral with long black fringes draped on his chest. On the opposite side, to the left of the central figure is another kneeling figure, poorly preserved and possibly a mirror image of the first one, also bearing an offer to the main character. Further outward, to the left, is a standing figure in profile. The face of this personage is painted in red and black, and a shell disk or mirror is visible in the chest area, Much of the rest of the composition is eroded away or buried under calcium concretions rendering further identifications difficult. However, it is likely that the multispectral imaging and conservation treatment of the painted stucco  will help reveal further detail of this unique mural, at least 7 murals have been found, another feature is the Painted Stucco in some residential areas that are just being investigated.

                       

Room 1

Mural 7

Mural 2