For two and a half thousand years, the tomb of the Lord of the Vulture lay in a remote mountainous area in southern Guatemala. Compared to the tall pyramids in other Mayan settlements, this tombstone was rather modest: only 5 meters high on a grassy platform of clay and cobblestones.
Two and a half meters from the summit, at the bottom of the damp chamber, which took two years to excavate, Guatemalan archaeologists Christa Schiber and Miguel Orrego found hundreds of apple-green and blue greedy beads. Nearby were skillfully crafted clay figures of women, including one with two faces, an old and a young. The other had tattoos on the back.
In 2011, archaeologists worked at one of the main pyramids, where they found a set of six elaborate ceramic figurines. All of them have been worked out in detail and are unlike each other. In the neck of one, an articulation was found that made it possible to turn the head; the face of the other was painted red, and the ears were made of jadeite, a mineral akin to jade; the third turned out to be made of special clay, which gave the figurine a darker shade; the fourth had a silhouette of a pregnant woman.
From the position of the figures it was clear that this was a funeral offering. Therefore, excavations at this site were continued. And it turned out that the figurines are only a small part of the most important find: a few centimeters from them were found the remains of the oldest Mayan ruler ever found, who died more than 2,500 years ago.
Nearby, in disarray, was littered with ceramic dishes, on which, most likely, food offerings lay. The most interesting artifact turned out to be a pendant with a symbol of high status adopted by the early Maya - a vulture head made of jade. Archaeologists have named the deceased - Lord Vulture (K'utz Chman in the language of the modern Maya).
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Although the bones have long decayed, the clusters of precious stones provide an indication of where wrist and anklets were located, as well as a jade-encrusted loincloth. “They are clearly not one of those things that were worn in everyday life, - said Ms Schieber. "Before us is the tsar's grave." Moreover, it is arguably the oldest Mayan royal tombs discovered to date.
Excavations at Takalik-Abakh ("Standing Stone" on the Quiche) began in 1976. At least 83 structures and more than 300 sculptures have survived, which allow us to judge the urban planning of the early Maya, the leisure of the elite and rituals. There is one of the largest ball courts in Mesoamerica - 22 by 5 meters.
The city was located on a mountain pass and had extensive trade links that stretched from the modern Mexican state of Veracruz to El Salvador and the Peten Basin.
According to Shiber and Orrego, the Vulture Lord's tomb is a bridge between the two styles. “He was a very wealthy ruler who still held on to the Olmec tradition,” says Ms. Schieber. "But what was put in his grave already indicates other stylistic trends."
Near the tomb, another group of artifacts was found (including a couple of samples of a charming jade mosaic, see them below), which is five centuries younger and no longer has anything to do with the Olmecs.
Perhaps the most impressive of these treasures is a magnificent necklace made from different sized pieces of blue jadeite. A pendant helped to determine the identity of the buried person: a jadeite cameo in the shape of a chisel or hatchet, on which a bird's head is carved.
A similar image of the vulture is the sign of the Mayan supreme ruler. According to experts, this is an early insignia, an external sign of the ruler's power - ahava.
Radiocarbon analysis gives the result between 770 and 510 BC. The information was confirmed by a stratigraphic study, which indicated that the burial was located in a layer belonging to the second phase of the Middle Preclassical period (700-400 BC). Thus, we witnessed the acquaintance of archaeologists with the oldest of the Mayan rulers found today, the ruler of an era that still retained elements of the Olmec culture.
Obviously, the burial belonged to an influential person - this is evidenced by the well-preserved exquisite decoration: two bracelets on the hands and two on the legs, a loincloth and a luxurious necklace - all of hundreds of small jadeite beads, holes in which were drilled with amazing precision. “The jewelry remained intact; all beads are laid as they were sewn - probably on fabric or leather.
Burials of that time are scattered throughout Mesoamerica. The importance of this particular find lies in the fact that for the first time in history we have discovered a person buried as a Mayan king.
