Archaeologists from the University of Southern California (USC) have reportedly discovered a burial tomb at the remains of a Maya city in Guatemala that they believe could contain remains of a former member of the Mesoamerican civilization’s royalty.
As the researchers announced late last week, they had uncovered the burial chamber in the Five Temples section of El Zotz—an isolated site located deep within the Maya Biosphere Reserve of Guatemala said to have been inhabited by the indigenous peoples some 1,500 years ago.
Tom Garrison, and assistant professor USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and his colleagues reportedly found the tomb days before the end of the excavation season, and they had to work quickly to try and unearth and investigate the tomb before time ran out.
El Zotz, a roughly two square kilometer site in the heart of the jungle, features a massive palace and a large temple on a hill overlooking groups of smaller temples and other dwellings resting in the valley below. During the Maya era, it was called “Pa’chan”, which means “fortified sky”.
Search for a second tomb leads to surprising results
Six years ago, Garrison and his team discovered the intact tomb of a Maya king buried under one of the Temples, a 40-foot-tall pyramid that was the highest point in the city. The tomb was found at the very end of a trail dug by looters, and was hailed as one of 2010’s top discoveries.
Using their knowledge of other Maya temples from the era, the USC team theorized that another tomb may have also been built in front of the original chamber, but exhaustive search of the area believed to be the most likely place came up empty. Ultimately, however, they found the location of the second chamber when a low platform that was being cleaned simply gave way.
They found a small area that had been overtaken by tree roots and looted—not by humans, but by rats—who used those roots to enter the burial chamber. The rodents managed to destroy all of the organic material in the tomb, but Garrison’s team did find four polychrome bowls, including one that bore the name of a king, Bakab K’inich (“The sun god who is first in the land”).
Despite the tight deadline, the USC team managed to document the burial chamber and preserve its contents, completing their work just before the end of the field season. Garrison, who plans to return to the site next field season, said, “You never know… what you’re going to find in any given year. That’s the mystery, and part of the appeal, of archaeology.”
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Feature Image: USC Photo/Robert Perkins
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