THE FINDINGS

Buried for twelve centuries, this beautiful panel was found on a platform that served as a throne in Temple XIX of Palenque, Chiapas. It narrates the story of a ruler and his right to be king. Three Maya dignitaries are portrayed, wearing headdresses used exclusively by the ruling class, honoring their new master. The platform, unearthed in March 1999, is considered by specialists to be the most important discovery made in the Mundo Maya during the last forty years.

Text by Francisco Cámara Riess / Photos by José A Granados / Illustrations by Jim Ballay

On the morning of March 16, 1999, a team of archaeologists was exploring a structure in the ancient Maya city of Palenque, Chiapas. Eight months had gone by since research had first begun on the building abandoned by its original inhabitants some 1,200 years earlier. The investigators' efforts had been rewarded; a molded stucco figure of a ruler—in excellent condition—was found attached to one of the pilasters. However, the best was yet to come.

    That morning, the archaeologists made a straight cut in the floor of the temple's upper level. Suddenly, a mound of earth caved in, and a platform with panels—each beautifully decorated with glyphs and figures—appeared before their incredulous eyes. Alfonso Morales Cleveland, head archaeologist of the Palenque site, couldn't believe his luck. Less than three weeks earlier he had discovered a burial chamber in a nearby structure; the odds of another new find at the site were beyond remote.

    "What an uproar this will cause!" he exclaimed, knowing that discoveries of this nature sometimes reveal facts that change history.

    The Group of the Cross Project covers six buildings. It is sponsored by the Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute (PARI), headquartered in San Francisco, California, and currently run by Dr. Merle Greene Robertson. Its structures include the Temple of the Cross, the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Foliated Cross, and Structures XIV, XIX and XX.

    From the beginning of the project, Morales had paid special attention to Temple XIX because it is surrounded by buildings that shelter important Maya texts. Logic told him that this strategically located building must surely conceal important information under its crumbling walls.

    Temple XIX was built between A.D. 721 and 736. It measures 39 meters long by seven meters wide and is situated atop a four-meter-tall base. The main façade faces north. It is a strange building that lacks the characteristic stucco-covered floor found in most of Palenque's structures. Instead, the base is made of stone slabs laid on a base of stucco that serves as a waterproofing layer. There is only one door, and the pilasters, which are generally located outside, were placed off-center within the temple, the majority on the east side, perhaps to avoid placing weight on some substructure.

    This lack of symmetry caught the archaeologist's attention. In most Maya constructions there is a very direct relationship between the size of an entrance and the pilasters. This is not the case with Temple XIX. Although in July of 1999 half the building still remained to be excavated, including the pilasters of the upper floor, everything indicated that the temple's greatest treasure—the platform which archaeologists call the throne or the altar—had been found.

TWELVE CENTURIES OF DARKNESS

The platform, dating from the 8th century, is a masonry box covered with slabs of limestone rock and a lid made of the same material. It was located seven meters east of the door, partially detached from the north wall, and measures 1.7 meters high by 2.8 meters long. The walls of the throne are made up of three panels—two of which are beautifully carved—rising 47 centimeters above the original level of the floor.

    When the throne was exposed, archaeologists discovered that the lid had been vandalized and the interior sacked, probably during pre-Hispanic times. Next to the altar were scattered fragments of pottery, obsidian knives, human bones and a piece of a stucco figure that had covered a nearby pilaster. Important findings, without a doubt, but nothing compared to the beauty and wealth of the panels attached to the base.

    These panels tell the story of a ruler, Ahkal Mo' Nab (Turtle Macaw), who is thought to have ordered the building of the temple. The south panel depicts seven nobles flanked by hieroglyphic writing. The ruler, as the central figure, sits on what appears to be a throne, looking west, apparently listening to the noble on his right. Here, the mythological date of 3309 B.C. was found; it is somewhat later than the oldest-known date of 3122 B.C.

    A west-facing panel contains glyph cartouches (the hieroglyphics were added to the wall after they were molded independently as cartouches) on the sides, and three seated nobles are depicted at its center. According to Harvard University epigraphist David Stuart, the three nobles represent the coronation ceremony of the ruler, who is aided by a priest serving as mediator between the ruler and a mythical past. The hieroglyphics mention that Ahkal Mo' Nab is related to K'an Hok' Chitam I, ancient ruler of Palenque, a kinship which grants him the right to rule. In his time, K'an Hok' Chitam I held a ceremony in which he offered incense to the Father Sun god. Four thousand years later, Ahkal Mo' Nab held the same ceremony in honor of the Son Sun god. Months later the ceremony was repeated in honor of the god K'awil, and finally, a third ritual honored the god of the Underworld. The glyphs also speak of a ceremony held in a "red house," owned by the ruler, in which he "grasps the rope," meaning that Ahkal Mo' Nab's ancestor grants him power through the mediator priest, using the rope as a conducting thread or magical umbilical cord.

    The east panel is decorated by a single red line. Morales believes the panel was either left like this for future events to be written there, or simply kept "blank" because it wasn't visible to those visiting the ruler.

    Information deciphered by Stuart about Ahkal Mo' Nab's reign (AD 721 to 736) reveals that he governed with a strong hand, built many temples and was supported by the warlords who helped him to consolidate his reign and power. What happened between AD 736 and 763—during which period Up Kalam assumed the throne—is still a mystery. Morales hopes to find evidence soon that will reveal the events of those 27 missing years.

FIRST STROKE OF LUCK

Days before finding the throne, Morales had had his first stroke of luck in Palenque. On February 25, he and his team were working on Temple XX. The 14-meter-high structure had always baffled archaeologists because no one has determined to which period it belongs. Besides, it was poorly built and had crumbled, burying its decorative panels and stucco designs.

    Thanks to ground-penetrating sonar measurements taken three years earlier, Morales knew the temple presented certain peculiarities beneath its floor, just four meters below. This coincides with the patterns of burial sites in Palenque, where there are normally one central and two lateral tombs. However, when excavating the temple, Morales and his team discovered a 90-centimeter substructure.

    Due to weak support between the upper and lower structures, walls were built on four sides of the excavation to protect the archaeologists. Once the work area was made safe for exploration, a stone—that later turned out to be part of the roof of an arch—was removed from the north corner. Through this ten-centimeter opening Morales and his team were able to see the interior. His eyes shine with excitement when he remembers that moment: "We could see red paint on the walls. Pots and jade beads were scattered on the floor. To be certain, we introduced a digital camera through the opening and took a series of 180-degree shots. The photos revealed an arch-shaped vault, and when they were analyzed by computer, they proved the presence of jade beads on the floor, along with eleven containers. The shots also evinced the existence of a door leading to a burial chamber, located to the south, sealed by two stone slabs. At the same time, we realized that there were murals painted on the west and east walls of the chamber."

    No human remains were observed inside, as part of the fresco that covered the wall had crumbled, burying the chamber's contents, except for the pots and jade beads. Although no one knows who is buried in the tomb, the location of the structure leads Morales to believe that it was someone very important, possibly a contemporary of Pakal, Palenque's most famous ruler.

    The new challenge for Morales and his team is to identify the entrance to the chamber. Although doors face south, the first excavations in this direction hit solid rock where the temple is built into the side of a hill. Morales thinks that the outside door could be to the east or west with a passageway that turns toward the north. At the time this edition was closed, July 1999, the team was still talking with a tunnel specialist who would be in charge of finding the correct path for the archaeologists to follow. They will then study what is found near the door, because it was the Maya custom to make offerings and sacrifices next to burial sites.

EXTREME PRECAUTIONS

Once the chamber is open, the archaeologists will begin their restoration work, first raising walls, then looking for all the stucco fragments that have fallen and gluing them back. Finally, they will inventory the pots, jade and any human remains. All of this must be done from a floating platform so as not to touch the ground, and an antechamber must be created to maintain the temperature in the tomb, so that when the door is opened paintings and objects inside will not be endangered by atmospheric changes.

    While such precautions might seem exaggerated, the ferocity, bordering on rudeness, with which the archaeologists of Palenque guard their findings, is legendary. This is illustrated by something that happened to Nicolás Rivera, in charge of restoring the altar in Temple XIX. Days after the latest discovery was made, Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo visited the zone to have a first-hand look at the new findings. He crouched down in front of one of the panels, listening attentively to young Rivera's explanation while the rest of his retinue watched from farther back. Spontaneously, the President reached out to one of the figures on the panel, perhaps responding to a natural impulse to touch the beautiful piece.

    "Don't touch it!" yelled the young restorer, who, realizing his effrontery, added a belated "please". The President regarded him silently for a moment, and then smiled in acceptance and continued admiring the amazing legacy left by the Maya of Palenque.