Stone carving (Stela A) at Maya site of Quirigua, Guatemala Africa 2

Stone carving (Stela A) at Maya site of Quirigua, Guatemala Africa 2View of a large stone carving at the ancient Maya site of Quirigua located near the banks of the Motagua river in the department of Izabal, Guatemala. The photograph shows the south face of a carved stone stela known by archaeologists as Stela A, as it was first described by Alfred Maudslay in his seminal publication of the Quirigua site in his multi volume Archaeology (1889 1902). More recent scholarship dates the stela (also known as Monument 1) to

In the far distance beyond sand dunes rise along the horizon below a hazy sky

View of buildings at the fortress town of Shahra

also made of palm fronds

walk behind the palm

He holds a camel stick in one hand and a falcon in the other

gathered around a dead wild boar

In the central foreground a small boat

Full length standing portrait of an Arab man wearing a daggers in a straight sheath over his thobe (shirt) in the city of Abha

Some of the buildings are topped with adobe and parallel lines of raqf (slate) tiles

as are the town boundaries and the cultivated fields on the right of the image

In the distance beyond large rock cliffs frame the harbour

in the Al Ain / Buraimi oasis