User:Bpyeatt/Maya Royal Tombs in Nakum, Guatelmala

Nakum, Guatemala
Nakum, a Maya site in Guatemala in the current region of Petén, is a site heavily destroyed and torn apart by looting. Looter’s tunnels intersect buildings and structures, destroying them, and priceless artifacts have been stolen. Despite the large amount the looting and destruction, two royal burials survived untouched.

Structure 15, Burial 1
Jarosław Źrałka and Wiesław Koszkul from Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland began excavations on the undisturbed tomb at Structure 15, Burial 1 in 2006. Structure 15 is located in the largest courtyard of the Acropolis at Patio 1. It is a 13m high mound that began as a small platform in the Protoclassic Period. After that it was built on, enlarged, and remodeled during the Early Classic Period. By the Late Preclassic Period Structure 15 was sealed, covered, and topped with a pyramid platform and a temple with two chambers. 1.75m under the western chamber in the temple is the top of a large burial chamber.

Skeleton inside the Tomb
Once Źrałka and Koszkul got into the tomb, they found a plethora of burial goods and bones. The bones that they found were destroyed almost entirely by rats. This was determined by the rodent bones found throughout the tomb. Due to the damage to the bones, the team was not able to determine the sex of the deceased, but the age was determined to be between 35-45 years old at the time of death. It was found that the body was originally covered in a red pigment due to traces of red pigment found in the tomb.

Burial Goods
Along with the bones found in the tomb were a lot of burial goods, a lot of which were made from jade. Jade was a sign of high status to the Maya culture. Among the jade burial goods were ear spools, beads and a pectoral. The pectoral was found on the upper part of the body along with close to 500 jade and shell beads. In addition to all of the jade goods were three vessels.

Pectoral
The pectoral was in the shape of a shell (106mm long and 49mm wide) and was adorned with a hieroglyphic inscription. On the upper edge of the pectoral were two holes suggesting the pectoral was worn as a necklace when the deceased was buried. The concave side of the pectoral was incised with the upper portion of an anthropomorphic figure adorned with an elaborate headdress. The convex side of the pectoral is garnished with a column of hieroglyphs made up of five incised glyphs. The glyphs being with a description of the jade pectoral itself represented by the glyph (yu)-Uh meaning “his/her jewel.” Next the glyphs give a royal title represented by Ajaw meaning “lord, ruler.”  Ajaw is attached to a glyph that is a possible early spelling of Yax-a, which is thought to be a possible reference to Yaxha. Yaxha is Nakum’s Triangulo Park neighbor located to the south about 11km. The glyphs round out with Ixiim Chan meaning “Maize-(God) Snake.” This is the personal name of a previously unknown king. The pectoral is read as, “[This is] the jewel of the Yaxha[?] lord Maize-God Snake.” The inscription on the pectoral brings up a lot of questions about where the pectoral came from and what kind of relationship Nakum may have had with Yaxha. A couple theories about how the pectoral came to be in the possession of royalty at Nakum have come about. One theory is that Nakum may have at one time been a part of the Yaxha Empire. Another theory is that Nakum acquired the pectoral from Yaxha after a possible conflict between the two.

Vessels
There were three vessels found in the tomb. Vessel 1 and vessel 3 were large monochrome bowls. Vessel 1 was of the Azucar Impressed and vessel 3 was of the Chaquiste Impressed. Vessel 2 was a lateral-flange tripod plate with semi-cylindrical supports. Vessel 2 held the skeleton of a bird and some small pieces of charcoal. What is particularly interesting about vessel 2 is what was painted in its center. The center of vessel 2 contained a panted representation of a dancing Maize God, considered to be one of the most important deities to the ancient Maya. Vessel 2 was done in the “Tikal Dancer” style. What makes vessel 2 even more interesting is that there are only a few complete vessels of the same style that have been excavated.

Offerings to the Deceased
While the western chamber of Structure 15 was used for the royal burial, the eastern chamber was used to hold offerings to the royalty. There were two offerings found in the eastern chamber. The first offering was 27 limestone bars grouped together inside a small cavity in the floor of the chamber. The significance of the limestone bars is not known but people have thought that they may have been used in weaving or fishing. The second offering was a small jade bead held between two large ceramic plates. Along with the two offerings were an assortment of nine flint knives and projectile points scattered around the eastern chamber.

Female Ruler
Another recent tomb to be discovered in Nakum, Guatemala was that of a possible female ruler. This new burial was discovered in 2011. Before archaeologist found the female tomb, they discovered a tomb containing a 1,300 year old skeleton with, as of now, an undetermined sex. Along with the skeleton in the tomb were a jade pectoral and a decorated vessel in “Tikal Dancer” style. A hole was discovered in the bottom of the tomb which led to another tomb containing an even older skeleton. The skeleton in the lower tomb was determined to be female and dating to about the 2nd or 3rd Century AD. Along with the skeleton, archaeologists found 2 vessels on the female’s head and other precious items. While there is not a whole lot to go on from the tomb, it is thought that the female may have been a ruler. Due to the quality and location of the burials, it is thought that they may be chambers for a royal lineage that may have lasted half a millennium.