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Archaeologists discover tomb of first king of Caracol

Archaeologists from @UHouston have uncovered the tomb of Te K’ab Chaak — Caracol’s first ruler and dynastic founder. It’s the first identifiable ruler’s burial found at the site in 40+ years of excavations. #Maya #Archaeology #Belize

Their investigations at Caracol’s Northeast Acropolis show that Te K’ab Chaak’s tomb was the first of three major burials dating to about 350 AD, a time of early contact with the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan, some 1200 kilometers distant. “The connections between the two regions were undertaken by the highest levels of society, suggesting that initial kings at various Maya cities — such as Te K’ab Chaak at Caracol — were engaged in formal diplomatic relationships with Teotihuacan,” said Arlen Chase From the 1980s -2000, they and their team mapped numerous causeways (or roads) and thousands of agricultural terraces spread out across Caracol as well as hundreds of reservoirs in non-elite areas, proving that water, sacred to the Maya, was not controlled by the elite, as previously thought.

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