TABASCO, MEXICO—Live Science reports that the remains of 13 men between the ages of 17 and 35 at the time of death have been uncovered near a Maya pyramid at the site of Moral-Reforma, which is located in southern Mexico. More than 70 buildings have been uncovered in the city. Researchers from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) dated the bones, including skulls, jaw fragments, and arm and leg bones, to between A.D. 600 and 900. The scientists’ examination also showed that two of the individuals had been beheaded, while the skulls of five of them had been intentionally elongated. Some of the bones had been covered in red pigment. It is not yet clear if the men were prisoners of war. To read about a Maya king's burial unearthed in Guatemala, go to "Tomb of the Vulture Lord."
Skulls Uncovered at Maya Site in Southern Mexico
News August 28, 2023
Recommended Articles
Digs & Discoveries July/August 2023
A Game to Remember
Features January/February 2023
Jungle Realm of the Snake Queens
How women ascended the ranks in the highstakes world of Maya politics
Digs & Discoveries July/August 2022
The Great Maize Migration
-
Features July/August 2023
An Elegant Enigma
The luxurious possessions of a seventeenth-century woman continue to intrigue researchers a decade after they were retrieved from a shipwreck
(Courtesy Museum Kaapskil) -
Features July/August 2023
Rise of the Persian Princes
In their grand capital Persepolis, Achaemenid rulers expressed their vision of a prosperous, multicultural empire
(Borna_Mir/ Adobe Stock) -
Letter from Patagonia July/August 2023
Surviving a Windswept Land
For 13,000 years, hunter-gatherers thrived in some of the world’s harshest environments
(Courtesy Raven Garvey) -
Artifacts July/August 2023
Norse Gold Bracteate
(Arnold Mikkelsen, National Museum of Denmark)