The striking jade death mask of an ancient Mayan ruler is featured in a replica of a tomb in Mexico City.
When this amazing jade mask of death was discovered in 1952 during the excavation of the Temple of the Inscriptions in the ruined Mayan city of Palenque (modern Mexico), it lay in the darkened chamber of the tomb for over a thousand years, covering the skull of the deceased. Graffiti on the walls indicates that the skull belonged to none other than the Mayan ruler K'inich Janaab Pakal, known today as Pakal the Great.
For most of his long reign of 68 years in the 7th century, the Mayan ruler Pakal (meaning "shield of the sun") was the most powerful man in all of America. But despite the high status he had at the end of his life, he began his reign as an unlikely and underestimated claimant to the throne.
Pakal ascended the throne when he was only 12 years old in a city devastated by war with the Mayan rival, the city of Kaan. The war with the kingdom of Kaan twice led to the catastrophic sieges of Palenque, the massacre of its citizens and the assassination of its former ruler. The young ruler inherited the kingdom in a state of anarchy, deeply disfigured by the war and its recent humiliating military defeat. Most of its stately buildings were practically in ruins, and most of its population was destroyed and killed by arrows, spears and obsidian maces of the ferocious warriors of Kaan. Once, numerous crops of corn were burned to the ground, and the threat of hunger loomed.
Given such unfavorable circumstances and serious responsibilities at such a young age, it is amazing how the boy king was able to cope with all the troubles of his people. His mother, Sak Kuk, served as his regent for three years, while the young king matured and took over the Mayan leadership. And although he faced critics from the very beginning, young Pakal proved himself to be a worthy ruler.
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The fame of this ambitious young ruler and his city rising from the ashes began to spread throughout the Maya world, and once again the rulers of Kaan decided to destroy Pakal, sending a huge army to crush Palenque. But when the spies received information about the enemy's plans and reported them to the king, Pakal gathered an army and attacked the outposts of the kingdom of Kaan. The battle was fierce, but the Palenque army was victorious and returned home with several captured enemy rulers. Pakal ordered that these captives should be sacrificed to the God of snakes, lightning and corn as a public display of his power and a warning to his enemies.
This military victory gave the rising kingdom some respite from the fighting. His reign was far from cloudless and not devoid of further wars, but the city was never again subjected to direct attack or siege during Pakal's life. The ruler lived to the old age of 80 at the time and ruled for 68 years, becoming one of the longest-serving rulers in human history.
More than a thousand years later, this striking funerary mask was found inside the sarcophagus of Pakal the Great while excavating a tunnel under the pyramid of the Temple of the Inscriptions in Palenque. It is currently on display in the splendidly recreated Tomb of Pacal at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.