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In the path of the Maize God: a royal tomb at Nakum, Petén, Guatemala

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Jarosław Źrałka ,
Wiesław Koszkul ,
Simon Martin  and
Bernard Hermes
Jarosław Źrałka
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Gołębia 11 Street, 31–007 Kraków, Poland (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])
Wiesław Koszkul
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Gołębia 11 Street, 31–007 Kraków, Poland (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])
Simon Martin
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA (Email: [email protected])
Bernard Hermes
Affiliation:
The Nakum Archaeological Project, 17 Avenida ‘C’, Zona 15, Colonia El Maestro, 01015, Guatemala City, Guatemala (Email: [email protected])
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Extract

The authors describe the excavation and interpretation of an intact seventh-century high status burial at the Maya site of Nakum. The dead person wore an incised pectoral with an eventful biography, having started out as an Olmec heirloom 1000 years before. No less impressive was the series of votive rituals found to have been enacted at the tomb for another 100 years or more. The beautiful objects, their architectural setting and the long story they recount, offer a heart-breaking indictment of the multiple losses due to looting.

Keywords

NakumYaxhaMayaOlmecsroyal tombofferingsTikal Dancer platepectoraljadespindle whorls
Type
Debate
Information
Antiquity , Volume 85 , Issue 329 , September 2011 , pp. 890 - 908
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2011

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