Burial mask of Pakal the Great (615-683 CE)
For over 1,300 years, this jade mask lay atop the head l of K’inich Janaab’ Pakal, 7th century ruler of the Mayan Empire. He rested undisturbed under the mask, encased in a sarcophagus, until 1952, when excavation at the Temple of Inscriptions in the ancient city of Palenque revealed this amazingly preserved item. The tomb, hidden beneath the floor of the temple, had escaped the looters and deterioration so common for Mayan sites.
Archaeologist Alberto Ruz and his team, noticing perforations in one of the stone slabs on the floor, lifted the slab and descended down the staircase it revealed. After years of removing compacted debris, he discovered the tomb, with the great king covered in this jade mask, a stone Mayans associated with spiritual eternity. He was also coated in cinnabar, a toxic substance with a deep red color representing blood, life, and the afterlife.
