https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-uncover-1300-year-old-skeleton-maya-diplomat-180977259/ * * * Accessibility Navigation Primary Navigation Content Toggle Share Search SUBSCRIBE (Left) RENEW (Left) GIVE A GIFT (Left) March 2021 magazine cover Smithsonian Magazine Subscribe (Mobile) Facebook Instagram Pinterest Twitter Google+ Newsletter Search Search Search [ ] Search SmartNews History Science Innovation Arts & Culture Travel Researchers Reconstruct Dukes' Faces Featured: Researchers Reconstruct Dukes' Faces History Archaeology U.S. History World History Video Newsletter Thurgood Marshall's Start in Desegregating Schools Featured: Thurgood Marshall's Start in Desegregating Schools Science Age of Humans Future of Space Exploration Human Behavior Mind & Body Our Planet Space Wildlife Newsletter Earth Optimism Summit Jennifer Doudna and the Next Tech Revolution Featured: Jennifer Doudna and the Next Tech Revolution Ingenuity Ingenuity Awards The Innovative Spirit Education Energy Health & Medicine Technology Video Newsletter Coming Soon: The World's First 3-D Printed School Featured: Coming Soon: The World's First 3-D Printed School Arts & Culture Museum Day Art Books Design Food Music & Film Video Newsletter Curators Examine Insect Stuck in van Gogh Painting Featured: Curators Examine Insect Stuck in van Gogh Painting Travel Virtual Travel Travel With Us Newsletter Why Automakers Flock to This Swedish Town Featured: Why Automakers Flock to This Swedish Town At the Smithsonian Visit Exhibitions New Research Artifacts Curators' Corner Ask Smithsonian Podcasts Newsletter Voices Ida Holdgreve, Seamstress of the Wright Brothers Featured: Ida Holdgreve, Seamstress of the Wright Brothers Photos Our 18th Annual Photo Contest is now open! Submit now! Photo of the Day Instagram Video Ingenuity Awards Ask Smithsonian Smithsonian Channel Video Contest Podcasts Games Daily Sudoku Universal Crossword Daily Word Search Jumble Mah Jong Quest KenKen Backgammon Subscribe (Top Menu) March 2021 magazine cover Subscribe Save 84% off the newsstand price! * Subscribe (Dropdown) * Renew (Dropdown) * Give a Gift (Dropdown) Shop Smithsonian Magazine Subscribe SmartNews History Science Ingenuity Arts & Culture Travel At the Smithsonian Photos Video Games + At the Smithsonian Magazine Photos Videos Games Shop Search Facebook Twitter History Science Innovation Arts & Culture Travel Subscribe Shop Travel With Us SmartNews History Science Ingenuity Arts & Culture Travel At the Smithsonian Photos Video Games Magazine Newsletters SmartNews Keeping you current Archaeologists Uncover a 1,300-Year-Old Skeleton of a Maya Diplomat The remains revealed that the government official was wealthy as an adult, but he had a difficult childhood Maya elite teeth-edit.jpg Teeth with dental inlays from a nonroyal elite Mayan tomb. (Courtesy of Kenichiro Tsukamoto) By Isis Davis-Marks smithsonianmag.com March 17, 2021 In 2011, archaeologists Kenichiro Tsukamoto and Javier Lopez-Camacho discovered a "hieroglyph-adorned stairway" at the El Palmar complex, a Maya ruin near the borders of Belize and Guatemala. When researchers ascended the staircase, they found a ritual platform, which housed the 1,300-year-old remains of a former Maya diplomat named Ajpach' Waal. Now, experts have finally finished excavations at the ancient archaeological site. Related Content * Bones Tell the Tale of a Maya Settlement * Maya Holy Snake Queen's Tomb Unearthed in Guatemala As Ashley Cowie reports for Ancient Origins, skeletal fragments and on-site hieroglyphics show that the Maya ambassador suffered from a number of health problems, such as childhood illness and dental issues, and facilitated a pact between two rivaling dynasties, though his efforts ultimately failed. Tsukamoto, who is a professor of anthropology at University of California, Riverside, and Jessica I. Cerezo-Roman, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Oklahoma, published their findings in the journal Latin American Antiquity last month. "His life is not like we expected based on the hieroglyphics," says Tsukamoto in a statement. "Many people say that the elite enjoyed their lives, but the story is usually more complex." The remains reveal that Waal was between 35 and 50 years old when he died. Researchers used techniques including radiocarbon dating, stratigraphy and ceramic typology to determine that people buried him in around 726 A.D., the same year workers built the hieroglyphic staircase, notes Notimerica. Prior to his death, Waal suffered from a variety of medical ailments. His skull was mildly flattened, and he was malnourished as a child, as evidenced by the "slightly porous, spongy areas known as porotic hyperostosis, caused by childhood nutritional deficiencies or illnesses" on the sides of his head, per the statement. Scientists also found that infections, trauma, scurvy or rickets had triggered periostitis--chronic swelling and pain--to form in Waal's arm bones. When he was a teenager, a medical technician had installed jade and pyrite in the diplomat's upper front teeth. According to the statement, such adornments signified that Waal was a government official and that he had inherited his father's title and resources. However, Waal's flashy new incisors came at a cost: The procedure caused Waal to contract a gum disease and agonizing abscesses, which forced the ambassador to consume a strict diet of soft mashed foods. Scholars also evaluated nearby paintings and hieroglyphics to determine that Waal inherited his role as an ambassador from his father's side and that his mother also came from a noble family. These inscriptions indicated that the diplomat attempted to create an alliance between two influential royals--the king of Copan, who ruled over an area in Honduras about 311 miles away from El Palmar, and the king of Calakmul, who reigned over a region closer to El Palmar--but he was ultimately unsuccessful. The resulting political volatility impacted Waal's economic condition, and he most likely died in relative obscurity. "The ruler of a subordinate dynasty decapitated Copan's king ten years after his alliance with Calakmul, which was also defeated by a rival dynasty around the same time," Tsukamoto said. "We see the political and economic instability that followed both these events in the sparse burial and in one of the inlaid teeth." Hieroglyphic stairways, like the one found in El Palmar, often relay important information about Maya society to archaeologists. For example, one staircase in Copan contains one of the longest single texts in the world; the 30-foot-high stairwell contains around 2,000 glyphs chronicling the history of the surrounding area and the culture of its inhabitants. As National Geographic pointed out in a 2011 article, hieroglyphic stairways are usually located in the center of Maya funerary monuments, but the one at El Palmar was placed on the outskirts of the site. The unique position of the staircase indicated that the El Palmar monument was special. When scholars initially discovered the El Palmar structure, archaeologists had just found a few other hieroglyphic staircases at Maya archaeological sites. "While over 5,000 Maya archaeological sites have been reported, only about 20 hieroglyphic stairways have been uncovered until now," Tsukamoto told National Geographic. "Furthermore, few of them have survived from looting or natural transformations." Like this article? SIGN UP for our newsletter [ ] [SIGN UP] Privacy Policy, Terms of Use About Isis Davis-Marks Isis Davis-Marks Isis Davis-Marks is a freelance writer and artist based in New York City. Her work has also appeared in Artsy, the Columbia Journal, and elsewhere. Website: isisdavismarks.com Read more from this author | Follow @IsisDavisMarks Tags Archaeology Cool Finds Government Government Leaders Mayas New Research Recommended Videos Comment on this Story Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus Photo of the day Lofoten Islands, Norway. The Wave Photo of the Day>> Most Popular 1. 3-D Reconstructions Reveal the Faces of Two Medieval Dukes 2. Australia's Cats Kill Two Billion Animals Annually. Here's How the Government Is Responding to the Crisis 3. Dogs Infected With a Deadly Human Parasite Smell Better to Insect Vectors 4. The Wolf That Discovered California 5. Ruins of Medieval Palace Found Beneath English Retiree's Garden 6. For the First Time in 75 Years, a New Invasive Species of Mosquito Was Found in Florida 7. Archaeologists Uncover a 1,300-Year-Old Skeleton of a Maya Diplomat 8. 'Underwater Roombas' Scan Southern California Coast for DDT Barrels 9. How Ida Holdgreve's Stitches Helped the Wright Brothers Get Off the Ground 10. For the First Time, Paleontologists Unearth Fossil of Non-Avian Dinosaur Incubating a Nest of Eggs 11. Rare Ancient Tool Found in Australia May Have Been Made With Kangaroo Bone 12. Spot the Difference 13. Can You Spread Covid-19 After Getting Vaccinated? 14. What 'Bridgerton' Gets Wrong About Corsets 15. A Brief History of the Harmonica "Catalog Current Issue | March 2021 March 2021 magazine cover * Polar Bears Live on the Edge of the Climate Change Crisis * Inside Naples' World-Famous Pizza Culture * How Navajo Physicians Are Battling the Covid-19 Pandemic View Table of Contents Subscribe Save 84% off the newsstand price! First & Last Name Last Name [ ] First Name [ ] Address 1 [ ] Address 2 [ ] City / State City [ ] State [AL] Zip [ ] Email Address Enter your email address [ ] Continue or Give a Gift Newsletters Get the best of Smithsonian magazine by email. Keep up-to-date on: * History * Science & Innovation * Art * Travel * Special Offers Sign-Up Now Email Address Enter your email address [ ] Privacy Terms of Use Sign up Smithsonian Magazine SmartNews History Science Ingenuity Arts & Culture Travel At the Smithsonian Photos Video Games About Contact Advertising Sustainability Subscribe RSS Member Services Smithsonian Institution Air & Space Magazine Smithsonian Store Smithsonian Journeys Smithsonian Channel Smithsonian Books (c) 2021 Smithsonian Magazine. Privacy Statement Cookie Policy Terms of Use Advertising Notice California Do Not Sell My Info Smithsonian Institution dcsimg *