[Aztlan] The new tomb at Copan

[michael ruggeri]

Listeros,

Archaeology Magazine has posted its full story on the ongoing  
excavations on the tomb of Oropendola at Copan under pyramid temple  
16. 2 miles of tunnels have now been built beneath the Copan  
acropolis. The temple of Oropendola is three stories high beneath the  
acropolis. The temple was built of stone blocks covered by thin  
painted plaster. The Wiz monster image found within stands 17 feet  
high. Jaguar images cover the temple. Oropendola was built as the  
temple of the sun at night, a mountain of the jaguar and a passage to  
the underworld. The king who was buried here has no name spelled out  
yet in the structure. The king was buried between 450-550 CE.

Ricardo Agurcia, the chief archaeologist, believes the tomb belongs to  
Copan's 2nd king, the son of Yax K'uk Mo'. The capstones that covered  
the tomb are early so the Maya did not yet know how to make a flat  
roof so the walls are not very good. As a result, the tomb collapsed  
and crushed the bones below so the bones cannot be used to determine  
age or even if the bones belong to a male. But the collapse did  
preserve the king's clothing. He was laid out on a wooden platform and  
covered with cinnabar after the king's flesh and tendons had rotted  
away. Spiny oyster shells and scallop shells lay in piles next to the  
king, one with a jade bead that may indicate the king's soul. He had a  
necklace of 20  jade beads and 40 shell beads with a large chunk of  
jade in his mouth with the glyph for "Eye of the Sun" carved on it. A  
2nd necklace with jade is carved into a monkey head with the glyph for  
Lord (Ahau) carved on it.

Trade with the coast had increased by this time as indicated by the  
shell piles. Trade that grew here as the residents of Copan traded out  
jade and shells to the rest of Mesoamerica. Pyrite mirrors and  
obsidian beads found here show that trade with Teotihuacan was  
important. There are two other temples nearby that will be excavated  
over the next 10 years where tombs may be found.

Archaeology Magazine has the full story here with nice pictures;
http://www.archaeology.org/0909/maya_copan/

Mike Ruggeri

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