The Mayastadt Caracol in today’s Belize was one of the centers of the lowland maya for centuries. Now archaeologists have discovered the grave of the Mayakönig Te K’ab Chaak. Almost 1700 years ago, he was the first king of this Mayast city and the founder of her royal dynasty. Further graves with unusual grave goods also reveal that Caracol had close relationships with the Reich of Teotihuacan in the north.
The Mayastadt Caracol was founded more than 3000 years ago, but only grew into a metropolis with national political and economic importance in the classic period of Mayakulture. In the period between 560 and 900, more than 100,000 people could have lived in the city, originally Uxwitza – “Place of Dreier Mountains”. At that time it comprised tens of thousands of houses and several large ceremonial complexes with pyramids, temples and palaces on around 90 square kilometers.
Tomb of Te K’ab Chaak discovered
It is known from archaeological finds and inscriptions that Caracol has become one of the Maya city kingdoms from 331. Te K’ab Chaak climbed the throne in 331 and became the founder of a royal dynasty for more than 460 years. The grave of this first king of Caracol has now discovered archaeologists around Arlen and Diane Chase from the University of Houston. When excavations in the northeastern center of the Mayast city, they found what they were looking for at the base of a royal shrine. They discovered the bones of a man who had been buried with magnificent graves.
Dated bones and inscriptions on the grave duties revealed that it was about the remains of the Mayakönig Te K’ab Chaak, who died around 350. His bones and teeth reveal that the founder of the dynasty must have been around 1.70 meters tall, only died at an old age and was completely toothless at that time. The grave of Te K’ab Chaak is the first clearly identified royal grave, which was found in Caracol in 40 years of excavations, the archaeologists explain. In addition to the bones of the king, they found numerous grave goods, including jade jewelry and an artistic mask of deaths made of jade platforms, as well as bone flutes, mussel shells from the Pacific and decorated ceramic vessels. A spear -bearing Mayherhahrer is depicted on one of these vessels, another container shows the Mayagott EK Chuah, surrounded by sacrifices.
Two vessels with lids, the handle of which are decorated with reliefs from nose bear heads are also interesting. These small bears – called Tz’uutz ‘in Mayas language – apparently played a special role for the Caracol royal dynasty, as the archaeologists explain. Because the following rulers often used this term as part of their name on Te K’ab Chaak. Captured prisoners are shown on four other ceramic shells – this is also a motif in the context of Mayan.
Graves and grave goods related to Teotihuacan
In their excavations in the northeastern ceremonial center of Caracol, the Chases and their team discovered three other graves of high -ranking Mayas from the same time as the royal grave. But these deaths were initially burned and then buried with grave goods under the central plaza of this district. This type of fire burial was rather unusual for the Maya of the time, as the archaeologists explain. The grave goods of the three deaths provided the possible reason for this strange funeral practice. Because they included 15 blades made of green obsidian, two large knives, six tips of an Atlatl blocking slingshot and various vessels, which were also not typical of Maya.
Instead, the design and decorations of these grave goods indicate that they come from Mexico – from the Reich of Teotihuacan, which is around 1,200 kilometers away. This suggests that Caracol’s Maya must have had contacts with this culture around the year 350 – surprisingly early. “Since the 1960s, archaeologists have been wondering whether and when people of Teotihuacan introduced a new political order in the Mayagebiet,” explains Diane Chase. “Because stone steles, hieroglyphic data, illustrations and archaeological data indicate that there were particularly narrow Pan-Meso-American compounds from 378. This transition is therefore also referred to as ‘entrada’.”
Contact both cultures started earlier than expected
However, the Maya doors now discovered in Caracol suggest a much earlier start of such relationships. “Maya and Teotihuacan already knew their mutual ritual practices, as the fire burials in Caracol demonstrate,” says Arlen Chase. The grave goods and funeral method showed that Mayaherrscher had close contacts with the then powerful empire in the north very early on. “The contacts between the two regions took place on the highest level of society,” explains Chase. “Even the first kings of different Mayast cities – like Te K’ab Chaak in Caracol – apparently maintained formal diplomatic relationships with Teotihuacan.” One of the three deaths of Caracol could have belonged to these diplomats. Because of his additions, the archaeologists suspect that it was a member of the royal family – perhaps a close relative of Te K’ab Chaak.
The archaeologists are still in the process of examining the Gray Chamber of the Mayakönig. The evaluations of the finds have only started. Next, they want to extract DNA from the bones of the dead and examine the bones using isotope analysis. This could provide further information about the identity, origin and way of life of the dead.
Source: University of Houston
