“A discovery like this is like winning the lottery.” Archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli of Tulane University discovered in 2022 an ancient Mayan tomb dating back 1,700 years at the Chochkitam site in Guatemala, near the borders of what are now Mexico and Belize.
The tomb contains extraordinary funerary offerings. Rare mollusk shells, texts carved on human femurs but, above all, a mask made with a mosaic of jade stones stands out that has a curious resemblance to the mask that gave magical powers to Jim Carrey in the famous film The Mask (1994). .
One of the bone representations shows the profile of a man believed to be a hitherto unknown king holding a green mask like the one found in the tomb. Researchers believe that the hieroglyphs on the artifact identify the king's father and grandfather, linking the ruler to the Mayan states of Tikal and Teotihuacan.
Francisco Estrada-Belli and his team have been working at the burial site for two years to preserve, scan, photograph and interpret the finds. "It opens a window to a dark era about which we have very few texts," the archaeologist says in a statement.
The peak of the Classic Maya period spans between 250 and 900 AD, and few remains remain from that era due largely to the looting of archaeological sites. In the case in question, for example, the specialists found the grave just two meters from where the looters had stopped digging.
They were lucky that the only damage to the tomb, apart from natural deterioration, was the collapse of the stone roof. "That was the first thing that surprised me," said Estrada-Belli, a research assistant professor at Tulane University's School of Liberal Arts. "We were very lucky," he adds.
Experts first discovered the tunnels dug by looters using lidar technology, which shoots laser beams from an aircraft through dense jungle foliage to map what lies beneath the ground. "It's like taking x-rays," says Estrada-Belli.
“This method revolutionizes our field of study. “Now we will be able to see where we are going instead of just wandering through the jungle hoping to find something,” he notes. The tomb contained more than 16 shells of spondylus, a rare spiny oyster that in ancient times was used by royalty as jewelry and currency, as well as in religious and sacrificial offerings.
The relics, estimated to date back to 350 AD, provide a connection to Tikal and the site of Teotihuacán in central Mexico, which influenced Mayan rulers of the time. They also reveal important information, specialists say, about religious devotion and royal succession.
The discovery comes 100 years after Fran Blom, one of the first directors of Tulane's famed Middle American Research Institute (MARI), first explored the site. The Chochkitam ruins were first investigated in 1924, but no formal excavation (only looting) had been carried out until Estrada-Belli's team began work in 2019.
"All of indigenous America has a deep and complex history," said Marcello A. Canuto, director of MARI and a specialist in Mayan archaeology. "For this reason, Tulane recognized from the beginning that he was important and worthy of serious and focused academic interest," he adds.
The next stage of work at the site will be to conduct DNA testing on the engraved bones and perhaps uncover new key contents buried within the abandoned pyramid at the same location.
