The tomb is located nineteen feet under the top of the Mayan temple known as Temple XX. It is thought to have been sealed more than fifteen hundred years ago. The tomb was discovered in 1999. Because of the instability of the nearly sixty foot tall temple the tomb is located in it was believed until recently that the tomb was, and would remain, inaccessible to human exploration. On two previous occasions remote controlled cameras have been used to try and penetrate the tomb.
“Given the dates,” said Arnoldo Gonzalez, who is heading the investigation along with restorer Rogelio Rivero Chong. “We happen to be in face of the birth of the Palencan dynasty, in the year 400 after Christ. Even though we could be talking about the mortuary chambers of the founder of this dynasty, this doesn’t stop being mere speculation until we commence the archaeological exploration; this chamber could even be an antechamber since we don’t know if there is more below the ground.”
Temple XX in Palenque is the possible site of the burial tomb of K’uk Bahlam I
Photo credit:
National Institute of Anthropology and History
It is hoped that a sarcophagus holding the remains of K’uk Bahlam I will be discovered in an anti-chamber to the room that archaeologists have already started to catalogue and explore. K’uk Bahlam I, the first of the dynasty that would later produce Pakal, was also known as Quetzal Jaguar. He is often depicted in ceremonial head dress and with jaguar ears. A team of restorers, photographers, chemists, and architects are on hand to try and preserve the previously unexplored tomb as much as possible. No further exploration will be done for at least three weeks while they try to stabilize the murals that were already discovered.
"What is important in tombs of that time, the Early Classic Period, is the painting,” said Gonzalez in a statement about the first foray into the tomb. “We're looking at one of the few examples of murals discovered in a funerary context in Palenque, which is why the work we're doing is so important.”
