Thursday, September 22, 2011

New Queen's Tomb Found at Nakum

National Geographic is reporting a new royal tomb found at the site of Nakum, in the Petén district of northern Guatemala. The Nakum Archaeological Project is led by Jarosław Źrałka and Wiesław Koszkul of the Jagiellonian University of Kraków, Poland, and they have just published (along with Bernard Hermes and Simon Martin) a report on a previous royal tomb found in 2006 the same building, Structure 15 (Antiquity Vol. 85, No. 329). The first tomb dates to the Late Classic period, although the deceased was buried with an Early Classic jade plaque. This second tomb dates to the Early Classic period and most interestingly is that of a woman, making this one of only a handful of queenly burials discovered in the Maya area.