Pictures: Odd Maya Tomb Yields Jeweled Teeth, More

King's Quarters

Photograph courtesy Arturo Godoy

The 6-foot-tall (190-centimeter-tall), 12-foot-long (370-centimeter-long), 4-foot-wide (120-centimeter-wide) tomb has been sealed off from the outside world for more than 1,600 years—resulting in the remarkable preservation of human bones, painted stucco, and and rare textiles.

"When we were able to open the wall of the tomb, there was first of all the chill of the morgue—it had this almost refrigerated quality to it," Houston said. "And then I was astonished at the smell, a faint smell of decay."

(Related: "Ancient Maya Royal Tomb Discovered in Guatemala.")

Published July 21, 2010

Little Lord

Photograph courtesy Arturo Godoy

A young lord or god grimaces from atop a tamale-bowl lid found in the new Maya royal tomb found at El Zotz, Guatemala.

The preservation of artifacts such as this, dig leader Stephen Houston added, provides researchers "a glimpse at essentially lost art forms."

The preservation was achieved, in part, due to alternating layers of flat stones and mud that covered the tomb, which dates to between A.D. 350 and 400. The stones and mud served as the foundation for a pyramid-shaped temple built over the tomb.

(Read about Maya rituals of sacrifice and worship.)

Published July 21, 2010

Maya Code to Crack

Photograph courtesy Arturo Godoy

What the hieroglyphs on this tamale-bowl lid from the new tomb say or signify is unknown, according to Houston, though they appear to represent compass directions.

As a side note, he added, "Note that they are likely painted by a left-handed person. The angle of the glyph-like elements suggests this."

(Take a Maya quiz.)

Published July 21, 2010

Maya Millipede

Photograph courtesy Arturo Godoy

A centuries-old, etched millipede skitters across a bowl found in the new Maya tomb.

Expert analysis of the tomb's artifacts will come in the months and years ahead. "In these types of complex deposits, one has to reach out to people that have skill sets that we certainly don't have," Houston said.

Published July 21, 2010

Maya Grillz

Photograph courtesy Andrew Scherer

These bejeweled teeth likely sparkled in the mouth of the sole adult found in the new Maya tomb, thought to be a king—and an elderly one, based on his arthritic joints. (See "Ancient Gem-Studded Teeth Show Skill of Early Dentists.")

According to the partially deciphered hieroglyphics, his name was perhaps Red Turtle or Great Turtle. "Turtles," Houston said, "are of cosmic importance to the Maya, as they represent world models."

Houston suspects the leader founded a dynasty at El Zotz, a city to the west of the great Maya power center of Tikal. El Zotz was likely established "to keep a check on Tikal's territorial ambitions," Houston said. (See an interactive map of the Maya Empire.)

Published July 21, 2010

Mythical Monkey

Photograph courtesy Arturo Godoy

A mythical monkey graces another ceramic tamale-bowl lid from the Maya royal tomb found in Guatemala.

Other finds in the tomb include globs of organic material that may be feathers, wood, and honey.

"Since they appear in a royal tomb, they may provide direct insights in the political economy of the divine kings that likely involved tribute and gifts," Markus Eberl, an anthropologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, said via email.

Published July 21, 2010

Into the Tomb

Photograph courtesy Arturo Godoy

Project co-director Edwin Román from the University of Texas and Brown University graduate student Sarah Newman collaborate to draw a profile of a wall in the shaft leading down to the tomb's burial vault.

David Stuart, a professor of Mesoamerican art at the University of Texas, said the find's surprising–and surprisingly well preserved—artifacts have the potential to "take us in some new directions in terms of the science of Maya archaeology."

For the story of the Maya Empire, read the National Geographic magazine article "The Maya: Glory and Ruin." >>

Published July 21, 2010