A Mayan ruler and his luxurious tomb: a unique discovery in Belize

As archaeologists worked in the shadow of towering Mayan ruins, boring into the ground, they discovered an even older chamber containing a body and its burial treasures: a rare death mask and jewelry made from Pacific shells, along with elaborate designs in pottery and bone. It was the tomb of a 1,700-year-old Mayan ruler—the first ever found at Caracol, the largest Mayan site in Belize. The Caracol ruins are located in the high jungle of the Cayo District in central Belize, approximately 80 kilometers from the Caribbean coast and about 70 kilometers from the Mayan city of Tikal in Guatemala.

The discovery is of great importance because it sheds light and clues about the Mesoamerican world, showing that cities competed with each other hundreds of miles apart. Arlen Chase , one of the archaeologists working at Caracol, was one of the first to find the tomb: "As soon as we saw the tomb, we knew there was something important ," reports The New York Times . He explained that the style of the ceramic vessels told him it was an exceptionally old tomb.

The red cinnabar (a type of mineral) around the tomb also showed that this was someone who had enjoyed very high status in life. But it was the mosaic mask, in pieces of jadeite at one side, that made them realize how unusual the tomb was. Finally, after taking stock of the discovery, they concluded that the ruler (buried not only with the mask, but also with three sets of jadeite earplugs , an extraordinary luxury for the Maya elite) had reached old age.

Additionally, ceramic vessels decorating the tomb depicted Ek Chuah (the Mayan god of merchants), a hummingbird, and a ruler holding a spear while supplicants make offerings. The vessels depicted a monkey, an owl, and the heads of coatis—mammals sometimes described as raccoons crossed with lemurs. Through hieroglyphics, archaeologists identified the ruler as Te K'ab Chak (Mayan: rain god), who ascended to the throne in 331 AD and ruled Caracol when it was developing into a larger city, but centuries before its peak as a regional power with an estimated population of 100,000. Like other Mayan cities, it was abandoned around 900 AD.

Through hieroglyphics, archaeologists identified the ruler as Te K'ab Chak (Mayan: god of rain)

The remains of Te K'ab Chak indicate that he was approximately 1.70 meters tall and had no teeth (hence the conclusion that he died at an advanced age). The royal dynasty he founded lasted more than 460 years, and Caracol was one of the largest and most important cities in the Mayan world, with an estimated population of more than 100,000 at its peak.

According to Chase, the Teotihuacán influences at the site indicated that Caracol's early rulers had deep contacts with that region and other parts of Mesoamerica at the time. "Both central Mexico and the Maya had clear knowledge of each other's ritual practices, even though Teotihuacán is located some 1,200 kilometers from Caracol ."

As archaeologists worked in the shadow of towering Mayan ruins, boring into the ground, they discovered an even older chamber containing a body and its burial treasures: a rare death mask and jewelry made from Pacific shells, along with elaborate designs in pottery and bone. It was the tomb of a 1,700-year-old Mayan ruler—the first ever found at Caracol, the largest Mayan site in Belize. The Caracol ruins are located in the high jungle of the Cayo District in central Belize, approximately 80 kilometers from the Caribbean coast and about 70 kilometers from the Mayan city of Tikal in Guatemala.