Texas husband-wife team finds 'priceless' royal tomb filled with 1,700-year-old treasures
Arlen Chase and Diane Chase, both professors at the University of Houston, uncovered the 4th-century tomb at the Caracol archaeological site in Belize. The university shared the discovery on July 10. (See the video at the top of this article.)
Caracol was a major Mayan city established in the 300s A.D. The tomb belonged to Te' K'ab Chaak, the earliest ruler of the city and the founder of its royal dynasty – and it's the first confirmed royal tomb found at the site.
"Now in ruins, this metropolis was a major political player in Maya history, dominating the southern part of the Yucatan Peninsula from 560 through 680 AD before its abandonment by 900 AD," the University of Houston said in its press release.
Teʼ Kʼab Chaak's tomb was filled with treasures, including 11 pottery vessels and carved bone tubes. Excavators also found a mosaic death mask made of jadeite, along with jewelry made from the same type of gemstone.
The Chases are the foremost scholars on Caracol, and this latest excavation is just one of many they've conducted.
Their son, Adrian, is also an archaeologist and discovered Caracol's decentralized water system.
"The true value of the materials is in what they can tell us about the ancient culture."
Judging from the ruler's remains, the Chases also found that Te' K'ab Chaak was 5'7 in height and died at an advanced age. He also had no remaining teeth.
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Arlen Chase called the recently unearthed artifacts "priceless."
"Professional archaeologists will not put a dollar value on the items they dig up … That being said, the true value of the materials is in what they can tell us about the ancient culture," the expert described.
"In this case, most of the individual artifacts are unique, but together they not only tell a story about the individual who once owned them but also enable us to provide a date for the burial."
Arlen Chase said the artifacts date to 350 A.D. and "include a full range of vessel types for this time period," including two from the Highlands of Guatemala and shells from the Pacific Ocean.
Both these types of treasures, he noted, were the "result of long-distance trade."
Arlen Chase also confirmed that archaeologists identified the burial "based on the size of his chamber, the presence of jadeite mosaic death mask and earflares, and everything being covered in cinnabar."
Diane Chase told Fox News Digital that the ceramic vessels in particular really showed off Teʼ Kʼab Chaak's status and wealth.
"The two Pacific spondylus shells near his head, the jadeite earflares, the carved jadeite tubular beads, and the mosaic jadeite death mask also show his ability to obtain long-distance prestige items," she noted.
A car trip between Teotihuacan and Caracol today would take over 23 hours. Ancient people would have had to walk at least 153 days to complete the journey, making the burial offerings particularly special.
Above all, Diane Chase noted that finding a ruler's burial is "extremely unusual, and important."
She said, "This is the first one we have discovered within the ancient city of Caracol."
She added, "Even more important, he is the first ruler of the Caracol dynasty with some 30 other rulers following him (according to the hieroglyphic[s]) before the city was abandoned."
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Science and local sleuthing identify a 250-year-old shipwreck on a Scottish island
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Associated Press
12 hours ago
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Yahoo
21 hours ago
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Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: Archaeologists scouting a new motorway route in the Czech Republic stumbled upon a second century B.C. Celtic settlement. In one of the largest archaeological hauls ever from Bohemia, crews located hundreds of gold and silver coins and precious amber. The production of luxury ceramics at the site cements it as a key part of the famed Amber Road trade route. A Celtic settlement from the second century B.C. discovered in modern-day Czech Republic has yielded an impressive haul of opulence, from hundreds of gold and silver coins to precious amber and luxury ceramics (and even a production facility that was likely churning them out over 2,000 years ago). The find came as archaeologists conducted surveys ahead of construction of the D35 motorway, turning a routine construction requirement into what the team from the Museum of East Bohemia in Hradec Kralove dubbed 'one of the largest collections of artifacts ever found in Bohemia,' according to a translated statement. The precious coins and materials weren't simply strewn about. Crews discovered plenty of ancient buildings making up an entire settlement from the La Tene period, likely a Celtic community. 'The entire site is unparalleled in its scale and character in Bohemia,' the statement reads. 'The settlement was a supra-regional trade and production center connected to long-distance trade routes, as evidenced by the finds of amber, gold and silver coins, and evidence of the production of luxury ceramics.' The team found gold and silver Celtic coins, coin dies, fragments of ceramic vessels, dwelling foundations, production facilities, and at least one religious sanctuary. With 22,000 bags loaded with artifacts from the area, it is one of the largest ever collections discovered in Bohemia comprising both everyday objects and an 'extraordinarily rich collection of jewelry.' Tomas Mangel, a professor at the University of Hradec Kralove and the excavation co-leader, told Live Science there could be several hundred coin pieces and that the jewelry features 'pieces of bronze and iron brooches, fragments of armlets, metallic components of belts, glass beads, and armlets.' One thing the team hasn't yet found were any inscriptions to pinpoint which Celtic group settled the area, although Boii were known to live in the region. 'Bohemia is traditionally really connected with [the] Boii,' Mangel told Live Science. 'But the research [done recently] shows that we can only say that [the] Boii were settled somewhere in Central Europe.' The archaeologists said they were surprised by the unusually high density of finds in the topsoil. 'The information potential of the original surface of the settlement in the topsoil and subsoil horizons is completely beyond the standard,' they wrote. To their additional, and fortuitous, surprise, the site hadn't been looted. The lack of fortification at the 62-acre Iron Age site, which is located near Hradec Kralove in modern-day north-central Czech Republic, shows the settlement from the La Tene period was likely a key trading route and was active in the second century B.C. before the emergence of larger fortified settlements with central functions. The volume of fine pottery, coin production, and amber only furthers the belief Celtic settlement played a pivotal role along the Amber Road trade route, a connection of settlements from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea that enabled trade across all of Europe. With such a rich history, the museum plans a display in late 2025 to celebrate all things gold, silver, and amber. You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life? Solve the daily Crossword
