CANSACBÉ, MEXICO—Science Times reports that archaeologists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) excavating at the ancient Maya site of Cansacbé in Yucatán have unearthed a ceramic dish that depicts a supernatural guardian spirit known as a wahyis. Dating to the Late Classic period (A.D. 600–900), the dish is decorated with a now-faded painted representation of what may be a jaguar or a man wearing a jaguar skin standing on a bench surrounded by what might be the shells of turtles. According to INAH officials, the dish was a funerary offering and was discovered in the grave of a man who was likely a member of the local Maya elite. To read in-depth about ancient Maya dress, go to “From Head to Toe in the Ancient Maya World.”
