Posted on 06/26/2011 7:21:15 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
A Mayan tomb closed to the world for 1,500 years has finally revealed some of its secrets as scientists snaked a tiny camera into a red-and-black painted burial chamber.
The room, decorated with paintings of nine figures, also contains pottery, jade pieces and shell, archaeologists from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) reported Thursday (June 23).
The tomb is located in Palenque, an expansive set of stone ruins in the Mexican state of Chiapas. According to the INAH, the tomb was discovered in 1999 under a building called Temple XX. But the stonework and location prevented exploration.
By threading a tiny video camera through a 6-inch by 6-inch (15 cm by 15 cm) hole above the tomb, researchers were able to glimpse for the first time the contents of the burial chamber. The room contains a sarcophagus and pottery dishes, which may have once held funerary offerings. The contents of the chamber suggest that the tomb is the resting place of a dignitary who ruled in Palenque sometime between A.D. 431 and A.D. 550.
Exploration of another Palenque tomb from the same time period suggests that the area was a royal necropolis, INAH archaeologists said. Later, Temple XX was built over the site, covering the vaulted chamber tomb with a step pyramid structure.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
btt
Ever since the writing system was cracked in the 1980s, the archaeology has taken off in Central America. There’s more funding from the local gov’ts and from US colleges and universities, ditto for Europeans. There were litanies of site destruction in the previous decades, but there is literally too much to dig now, thanks to the funding and of course remote sensing. The prevalence of large sites wasn’t understood, mainly because they didn’t all have those really tall structures to spot.
Yeah, they probably fired the maid or something. Another good reason for using arthroscopic and robotic techniques for exploring these sites is, the Mayans also used a contact poison (the name escapes me for the moment), such that some of the stuff that’s “painted” red will actually kill you in a short time after you, say, steady yourself by placing your hand against a wall. :’) Take that, Doctor Jones.
It’s cinnabar. Oh, and it’s not quite so deadly as that. A good handwashing will generally save ya. ;’) Unless you’ve got a cut on your hand, then it could be bad.
Looks creepy; bet it’s haunted!
:’)
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