Historian discusses Mayan ‘disappearance’
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Set amid lush forest in southern Mexico, sits Palenque. While it is not the largest Mayan city, it has been described as one of the most stunning. Its architecture, sculptures and carvings are among the finest surviving pieces in the region where the Maya civilisation once thrived.
Palenque was technologically advanced in comparison to other settlements.
It had a sophisticated aqua-duct system that provided the inhabitants with abundant spring water.
In the seventh century AD, the city was ruled by the powerful king, Pacal the Great.
He had one of the longest reigns of any Mayan monarch, ascending the throne in 615 at the age of just 12, and ruled until his death aged 80.
During this time he oversaw the construction of some of Palenque’s most impressive sacred sites, like the massive central palace.
More importantly, he commissioned the building of the iconic Temple of the Inscriptions.
The temple was explored during the Smithsonian Channel’s documentary, ‘Sacred sites: Maya’.
In 1952, archaeologists made a discovery inside the temple that the documentary’s narrator described as giving, “a new insight into what the Maya believed about life and the afterlife”.
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Excavating the temple floor, they uncovered a passage to a chamber deep within the pyramid.
It contained a sarcophagus covered by a stone lid — inside, lay the remains of an elite Mayan wearing a Jade “death mask”.
Hieroglyphs on the sarcophagus soon confirmed that the owner of the remains was King Pacal, much to the surprise of the researchers.
It meant that the temple housed the tomb of the great king himself.
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And while it is a place of burial, the narrator noted: “It is also intended as a place of resurrection.”
The images on the sarcophagus lid illustrate a central Mayan belief that the Universe is made up of three levels: the Earth, the underworld and the heavens.
Having departed this world, in the engravings, Pacal emerges from the underworld and is reborn into eternal life in the heavens.
The narrator said: “This is the essence of Mayan religion.”
Later, in 2018, archaeologists made another astonishing discovery at the site.
They came across an ancient stucco mask unlike any other, thought to have been cast from Pacal’s face.
Unlike other artefacts found, however, it showed the king in old age, his wrinkles and other facial details clearly visible.
The 20-centimetre (7.8 inch) mask was found by a team with the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) during an investigation of the temple’s ancient drainage system.
The experts involved said it is the first of its kind to be discovered.
At the time, Diego Prieto, director of the institute, said: “Palenque continues to astonish us with everything it has to offer archaeological, anthropological, and historical research.”
Researchers found ceramic figures alongside the mask, as well as decorated bones and the remains of several animals.
The experts say these were likely offerings made for the completion of the building’s reconstruction.
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