Encuentran en Guatemala una tumba de un rey maya muy bien conservada

Encuentran en Guatemala una tumba de un rey maya muy bien conservada – de elPeriódico.com, el 16 de julio del 2010

http://www.elperiodico.com/es/noticias/internacional/20100716/encuentran-guatemala-una-tumba-rey-maya-muy-bien-conservada/390251.shtml

Since I’m going to be doing my presentation on the Maya civilization, and because one of our classmates brought this up to me before, when I found this article I thought it was pretty interesting and decided to do my blog on it even though it's from a bit further back in the year.

The article entitled “Encuentran en Guatemala una tumba de un rey maya muy bien conservada” from elPeriódico discusses the finding of a Mayan king’s grave this past May that was very well conserved. In it were sculptures out of wood and coloured earthenware, ceramics and textiles, and children’s bones. The grave was found under the pyramid “El Diablo” in the city of El Zotz (the old Maya capital; fun fact: means 'bat' [murciélogo] in some Mayan dialects), in the forest region of Petén and near Tikal. Researchers date this grave as being constructed somewhere in between 300 and 600 A.D.

The excavation work was headed by Stephen Houston of Brown University in the U.S. The discovery of this grave has given a little more insight into the burial practices and rituals of the Mayan civilization. It was already known that during funerals for Mayan kings adolescents were often sacrificed, but in this grave, archaeologists discovered bones of young children. The person buried at this site was also dressed in traditional outfits worn by dancers. Archaeologists also found it surprising that this person was buried with such riches and commercial articles.

I simply thought the article was interesting, but decided maybe we could get the ball rolling on discussion by looking at some of the following:

• I’m curious to know what the presence of children’s bones actually means. I feel like we may be jumping to conclusions in assuming that young children were sacrificed as part of this funeral’s proceedings…what if it were just a child of the king who passed away young?
• And if I’m wrong with that line of thought (i.e. it has been “proven” [somehow] that rituals in fact took place), does anyone know anything about the significance of making sacrifices, especially sacrifices of children? Whether it is in the Mayan culture or other cultures…just out of curiosity. Who is considered important enough that sacrifices should be made for them?
• Do you think that the digging around done by archaeologists to find out more about Mayan civilization (and other classic civilizations) is justified? Sure, it gives us more information on the people who used to populate the earth, but, according to the article, many archaeological sites in the forest regions of the Petén, including El Zotz, are now exposed to “saqueadores, cazadores furtivos y taladores ilegales, además de narcotraficantes que llevan cocaína hacia Estados Unidos” [looters, poachers and illegal lumberjacks, as well as drug traffickers that carry cocaine to the United States]. What benefits are locals reaping from us nosing around…and are the benefits worth the costs?

These are just questions that rolled around in my head…we’ll see what comes out of it when we all discuss in class!