Scientists find tomb of a Maya king and his ancient treasures. But who was he?

National Geographic

21 hours ago

Found in the ancient city of Caracol, the tomb contained a rare jade mask, ceramics, and jewelry often linked to the Maya ruling class. Caana, which means "sky palace" in Mayan, is the largest structure at Caracol, Belize, rises over 140 feet above the jungle. Researchers recently found a tomb under the canopy in an acropolis to the immediate right of Caana. Photograph Courtesy Caracol Archaeological Project/University of Houston
Deep in the dense jungles of Belize, archaeologists excavating the ancient Maya city of Caracol have unearthed what they believe to be the 1,700-year-old tomb of a ruler. If confirmed, the discovery would mark the site's earliest known royal burial, and possibly the resting place of its founding king, Te K'ab Chaak.
'This is an extremely important discovery,' says Francisco Estrada-Belli, an archaeologist at Tulane University and a National Geographic Explorer, who was not involved in the research. 'It is extremely rare to find the burial of a known Maya king, let alone of a dynasty founder.'
The researchers say the tomb, along with other finds at the site, may offer evidence that ties between the Maya and the distant metropolis of Teotihuacan began earlier than previously thought. But without inscriptions naming the tomb's occupant or DNA analysis confirming his identity, some experts caution that the claims remain speculative.
The discovery, announced Thursday by the University of Houston, was made by Diane and Arlen Chase, two married archaeologists who have spent nearly four decades uncovering secrets from Caracol. Archaeologist Diane Chase and her colleagues think the tomb at Caracol belonged to an elite member of Maya society based on the grave artifacts, including a red mineral called cinnabar (background), pottery vessels (foreground), and a rare jade mask (found to the left). Photograph Courtesy Caracol Archaeological Project/University of Houston
(Everything we thought we knew about the ancient Maya is being upended.) Jade death masks and bones
Arlen Chase and the team found this latest tomb earlier this year while digging at the site's northeast acropolis, or palace complex. While reopening an excavation trench from 1993, he stumbled upon a large, undisturbed chamber with walls coated in a red mineral called cinnabar. Finding tombs at Caracol is not unique, says Arlen Chase. They've dug up over 850 burials and about 175 tombs at the site. But this newest find stuck out from all the rest. The designs on these four jade beads found in the tomb depict the faces of live and dead spider monkeys. Photograph Courtesy Caracol Archaeological Project/University of Houston Three sets of jade ear flares or ornaments were also discovered in the tomb at Caracol. Finding multiple sets of ear flares is rare in Maya archaeology. Photograph Courtesy Caracol Archaeological Project/University of Houston
'What's unusual is the contents of this chamber,' he says. That, along with the large size of the tomb—about 6.5 feet in height and 13 feet in length—'tells us that it was somebody important,' he says. Lithuania's timeless city
Inside, Chase came across the skeletal remains of a man and a treasure trove of Maya artifacts, including: a jade and shell mosaic death mask that had been smashed to more than a hundred pieces; three sets of jade ear ornaments; four jade beads with the faces of spider monkeys; decorative pottery, some adorned with animal motifs and another painted with a ruler holding a spear; and a skull upside down in a pottery vessel, as if it had rolled away from its body.
The individual's jaw also showed signs that it had resorbed the teeth, indicating that it likely belonged to an elderly person. The researchers think the deceased man was likely laid out or seated on a pallet that eventually decayed, causing his skeleton to collapse. This ceramic bowl is modeled in the form of an owl. The style matches other vessels from the Early Classic period of Maya history, and based on this, the researchers estimate that the tomb is from A.D. 350. Photograph Courtesy Caracol Archaeological Project/University of Houston
'Everything about it says ruler,' says Diane Chase. The realization, she says, gave her goosebumps. 'It was clear that, Whoa! This really is probably a ruler–it's probably Te K'ab Chaak.'
Hieroglyphic texts found elsewhere at Caracol refer to Te K'ab Chaak as the founder of the dynasty that ruled the city for more than 460 years and say that his reign began around A.D. 331. The tomb itself contains no writings identifying who was buried there, so the researchers rely on timing to make this claim.
The team dated the newly discovered tomb to between roughly A.D. 330 and 350, based on two key observations: The type of pottery inside was typical of the Early Classic period, which spans from about A.D. 280 to 380, and radiocarbon dating of a nearby cremation burial they previously excavated in Caracol in 2010. That cremation, also dated to around A.D. 330 to 350, was placed above the tomb in the site's stratigraphy, suggesting the newly found tomb came around the same time or slightly earlier. Taken together, the team argues, these clues point to a ruler's burial that aligns closely with the period when Te K'ab Chaak sat on the throne. Another ceramic lid found in the tomb includes a possible portrait of the elite individual holding a spear and receiving offerings. Photograph Courtesy Caracol Archaeological Project/University of Houston
The pair both say they are '99.9 percent' confident that the tomb belonged to Te K'ab Chaak. 'Are we going to still keep looking to double check? Absolutely,' says Diane Chase.
Stephen Houston, an archaeologist from Brown University not involved in the work says the tomb was an intriguing find and agreed that it belonged to royalty. But he added that he needed more convincing to conclude that it contained Te K'ab Chaak. 'Perhaps, at some point, a glyphic text will appear and confirm the identity of the deceased,' he says. Maya-Teotihuacan connections
Diane and Arlen Chase also argue that their finds at Caracol sheds light on the power dynamics between the Maya and Teotihuacan, an ancient civilization located near present-day Mexico City that is neither Maya nor Aztec (or Mexica).
'The discovery also shines light on the sorts of relationships the Teotihuacanos and Mayas had in the early fourth century, which seem based on trade, pilgrimages to Teotihuacan, and diplomacy,' says David Carballo, an archaeologist from Boston University who was not involved in the research. The journey between the two Mesoamerican cities would have required walking some 750 miles on foot.
(This 1,700-year-old sacrificial monkey has a surprising backstory.)
In A.D. 378, individuals from Teotihuacan staged a coup or military incursion in the Maya city called Tikal, known as the 'entrada.' This is when some archaeologists argue that Teotihuacan influence began to appear in Maya culture.
Diane and Arlen Chase say their findings make the case that the Maya and Teotihuacan interacted at least 28 years earlier, around A.D. 350. One of their strongest pieces of evidence to this connection, they say, is the cremation burial from between A.D. 330 and 350.
Cremation burials were common among the Teotihuacan elites, while the Maya buried their dead. So, the researchers argue that the cremation at Caracol suggests that the people were already being influenced in some way by Teotihuacan decades before the entrada. They also found green obsidian blades at the cremation site, which the researchers say most likely came from north of Teotihuacan.
But not everyone agrees that the researchers have made a strong enough case to support their argument about earlier Mesoamerican connections . The lid handle on this piece of pottery is modeled after the head of a macaw, typically a sign of status in Maya culture. Photograph Courtesy Caracol Archaeological Project/University of Houston Chase and her colleagues argue that this vessel features hummingbird iconography. A similar motif appears in imagery from another tomb in the same area—burials that span within 30 to 50 years of each other, researchers estimate. Photograph Courtesy Caracol Archaeological Project/University of Houston
'I'm not sure what particular thing at this particular site or excavation actually links it to Teotihuacan,' says Anabel Ford, an archaeologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. 'Lots of this is not really falsifiable, just their feelings of the associations.' Sharing the science
The archaeologists have not yet published their findings from the 2025 field season in a peer-reviewed journal, but they plan to present them in August at the Santa Fe Institute's Maya Working Group conference in New Mexico. The researchers shared a draft of their results with National Geographic that describes the 2025 tomb discovery, as well as burials found in 2009 and 2010 that they say support their arguments about Maya-Teotihuacan interactions.
'Normally we would publish first and then a news release,' says Diane Chase, 'but the find was really so spectacular that we felt like we had to let it out somehow, because people were asking to see pictures and photographs.'
She added that their next steps include attempting to extract ancient DNA from the bones as well as conduct isotope testing on the remains. These tests could provide insights into the individual's diet and whether he lived most of his life in Caracol or moved around a lot, she says. Such clues, she says, would be key to confirming whether the man buried in the tomb is indeed Te K'ab Chaak.