A 1,400-year-old funeral chamber was found by chance in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, authorities said.
The chamber, regarded as an elite burial place and dating between A.D. 600 and A.D. 900, was found by locals in the village of Chilacachapa, Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History said late Wednesday.
Locals intended to bring down a dry stone wall that risked collapse when they came upon the tomb. Under the stones, they found sand and then a stone slab, and they alerted INAH officials. Archaeologists then reviewed the site and consolidated the finding.
“After looking through what was inside layer by layer, we came to the conclusion that the skeleton or skeletons of individuals that were put inside the tomb, perhaps that of a ruler, were taken out six centuries ago, before the Spaniards arrived,” an INAH statement said.
Archaeologists noted that the chamber was built by the Chontal ethnic group. It ends in a vault.
Archaeologist Edgar Pineda noted that it was probably linked to a building on the surface, most likely at the center of a former city.
Source: The Star [September 08, 2011]
 |
| The tomb was looted decades before the Spanish arrived [Credit: INAH] |
Locals intended to bring down a dry stone wall that risked collapse when they came upon the tomb. Under the stones, they found sand and then a stone slab, and they alerted INAH officials. Archaeologists then reviewed the site and consolidated the finding.
“After looking through what was inside layer by layer, we came to the conclusion that the skeleton or skeletons of individuals that were put inside the tomb, perhaps that of a ruler, were taken out six centuries ago, before the Spaniards arrived,” an INAH statement said.
Archaeologists noted that the chamber was built by the Chontal ethnic group. It ends in a vault.
Archaeologist Edgar Pineda noted that it was probably linked to a building on the surface, most likely at the center of a former city.
Source: The Star [September 08, 2011]