Just steps from the center of Tikal, a 2,400-year-old Maya city in the heart of modern-day Guatemala, a global team of researchers including scholars from Brown University have unearthed a buried altar that could unlock the secrets of a mysterious time of upheaval in the ancient world.

The altar, built around the late 300s A.D., is decorated with four painted panels of red, black and yellow depicting a person wearing a feathered headdress and flanked by shields or regalia. The face has almond-shaped eyes, a nose bar and a double earspool. It closely resembles other depictions of a deity dubbed the “Storm God” in central Mexico.

In a study released on Tuesday, April 8, in Antiquity, the Brown researchers, along with co-authors from across the United States and Guatemala, argue that the painted altar wasn’t the work of a Maya artist. Instead, they believe it was created by a highly skilled artisan trained at Teotihuacan — the formidable ancient power whose seat was located 630 miles west, outside modern-day Mexico City.

The study conducted by the UAB of more than 600 tools found in the northern area of the site indicate that the village had a complex composition and lasted many years, instead of merely being a site of temporary gatherings or a sanctuary

Trier developed into a major economic and political center in the Roman Empire’s northern provinces, which as a result saw extensive construction activity, including the widespread use of fired bricks. By analyzing stamps on preserved bricks, researchers from Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, Goethe University Frankfurt, and the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA) are investigating how the production and distribution of ancient building materials were organized in northern Gaul. The interdisciplinary project, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) with a grant of €340,000, will run for two years.