Masked Man
January/February 2018
While tunneling beneath a ceremonial platform in the palace complex of the ancient Maya site of Waka’, a team of archaeologists led by David Freidel of Washington University in St. Louis uncovered the tomb of one of the city’s early rulers. The burial chamber contained a set of ceramic cups and a spouted vessel that may have been used to serve a powerful hallucinogenic drink. Pottery styles suggest that the grave dates to between A.D. 300 and 350. Archaeologists also found a small jade mask covered with cinnabar, a bright red pigment, with the skeleton. The mask may have been worn on a belt as an ornament that portrayed a royal ancestor. A rectangular symbol on the mask’s forehead seems to link the ruler to the Kaanul kingdom, a powerful nation that fought for centuries against the kingdom of Tikal, just 45 miles away from Waka’.
Advertisement
Canadian model airplane, ball games in Belize, Roman Tunisia, Arizona turquoise mines, and a Rwandan palace
A dog that heals
Advertisement
Advertisement