Our 13-hour-long day trip out of Palenque was only half over when we approached the Mayan Classic era ruins of Bonampak, located on a tributary of the Usumacinta River. In a history similar to Yaxchilan's, artifacts recovered from Bonampak indicate it was a nondescript agricultural settlement in about 100 CE, that amassed wealth from 
river commerce and assorted wartime conquests as it developed into a city-state from about 450 CE through 791 CE. Bonampak royalty intermarried with Yaxchilan royalty to consolidate power, and the glyphs at both sites report that the in-laws fought side by side in one or more crucial battles. Archeologists have identified over 100 separate structures comprising Bonampak's ruins, many of them as yet unexcavated and still covered by rain forest.
Modern visitors enter Bonampak via a sacbe (pedestrian road); I imagine that 1200 years ago it 
was lined with entrepreneurs' shops and stalls much the way it was when we visited in 2015:
As at Yaxchilan, the excavated ruins of Bonampak feature a large main plaza and impressive monumental stone architecture. Portions of stucco still survive here and there on some structures, and as you can see in that first photo up there on the left certain stelae have been replaced in their upright positions and somewhat protected from the elements by small rooflike covers.
Heavy stone lintels above doorways were carved on all sides with impeccable images of royalty and warriors engaged in royal and warlike activities. Here on the left is an ornately detailed image of one of Bonampak's well-dressed rulers grabbing a captive by the hair just before he gets all stabby with him. The Mayan Blue background is especially soothing, no? This particular scene was carved into the underside of one massive door lintel.
The most prominent structure in Bonampak is the Acropolis, a large pyramid at one end of the main plaza, with successive platforms and temples that envelop an entire hillside. In this photo looking up towards the Acropolis from a distance, Temple 3 is the smallish, modest-looking building on the left of the Acropolis's lower platform. We peeked inside and saw fresh accumulations 
of burned copal incense against the east wall, suggesting that locals still regularly use this temple for rituals. On the right of the photo at about the same level on the lower platform is a larger building with a corrugated protective roof over it. This is Temple 1, whose three rooms are covered floor to vaulted ceiling with colorful, detailed murals that rival the Sistine Chapel's. Except Bonampak's murals are, shall we say, more graphic in the story they relate.
When archaeologists first examined Temple I's murals, some 1200 years of jungle climate had badly deteriorated the images. Archaeologists initially guessed that the fuzzy, piecemeal images they saw represented the birth of a new king; joyous wise men in white robes bearing gifts…you get the cultural-bias drift. As late as 2015 when we visited Bonampak, the interpretive signs outside Temple I as well as the on-site docents were still relating this story. Fortunately, modern infrared video imaging technology combined with more thorough translation of Mayan glyphs have debunked this narrative, as well as led to an excellently accurate restoration of the murals themselves.
Although you certainly can't tell that from the quality of my own 21st-Century photos.
The infrared examination of the murals revealed the incredible technical expertise of the artists who painted them. They used a full color spectrum of mineral and vegetable 
pigments over a plaster base. They first sketched in each image in a pale red color, then filled in the sketches with all the colors each image required, and lastly outlined each image in black. They wrote 108 hieroglyphic texts and painted 30 godlike images on the vaulted ceilings. Finally, they painted 270 human figures, each one with different clothing and unique faces; thus it is assumed that the artists had painted actual life portraits of 270 individuals. There are 1615 square feet of murals. That's a lot.
Long story short, my understanding of archaeologists' current interpretations after having 
examined the infrared images and translated the glyphs, is that the murals describe a specific event of tribute being paid to Bonampak by one of the cities it had conquered. The murals tell this story not just as reportage, but as a warning to other conquered cities. Imagine that you and your entourage have entered Bonampak to pay your yearly tribute of cacao beans and other valuables. You have come in from the sacbe that was lined with people full of smiles, playing music and dancing, accompanying you and your posse all the way into the main plaza and up the platform steps. Everyone is happy because your tribute has just made Bonampak's budget for the year, thereby avoiding more bloodshed. You're ushered into Temple I and told to place your tribute goods on its deep, low stone benches while you wait for the accountants and the royalty to meet-and-greet you. As you enter the temple rooms, you see along the side and back walls images similar to what you've witnessed live out front: musicians and dancers and dignitaries all dressed in their nicest clothes, parading all around you and your people bringing them bags of expensive goods. Once inside the temple you place your swag on the benches provided. Then you and your entourage sit down and turn to face the door to wait, and you see the murals on that last wall. They tell the story of what 
happens if you ever stop paying tribute: Bonampak's king and his warriors tear out your fingernails, make you bleed from lots of holes you didn't have before, force you to beg for your life, and then kill you and everyone you know irreversibly dead. I expect Bonampak's officials kept you waiting for a while, just so you could really think long and hard about their murals. Bonampak didn't need Western Union to send a message.
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