Most ancient tomb of Mesoamerica found in Mexico
A 2,700-year-old multiple burial was found in Mexico, what constitutes the oldest-known precedent of the use of pyramids as funerary enclosures in Mesoamerica, according to members of the research team.
The find took place in the Archaeological Zone of Chiapa de Corzo, in the southern state of Chiapas. According to archaeologists Bruce Bachand, Emiliano Gallaga and Lynneth Lowe, given the characteristics of the ceramics, it was preliminarily determined that the tomb dates from the Middle Preclassic period, between 700 and 500 BC, what places it as the most ancient of the Mesoamerican region.
This fact will be confirmed through Carbon-14, strontium and DNA exams that will be performed to the bones and objects and the tests will also contribute to set the transience development of Prehispanic cultures as the Olmec and the Mayan.
Among the remains, it was found a high-ranking man, taking into account the finest clothes he was wearing, a one-year-old kid and a young adult, who were probably placed there as companions after being sacrificed.
The archaeologists found another tomb next to the main chamber, where the bones of a woman lie with a trousseau made of jade and pearls and bird and monkey-shaped earrings, among other jewellery.
