1,500-year-old Mayan tomb revealed in video

Archaeologists in Mexico share first-time glimpse inside an ancient Mayan tomb sealed for over 1,500 years. The tomb lies in the Southern Acropolis archaeological site of Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico.

The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) of Mexico released images taken by a tiny, remote-controlled video camera, which they say show red-painted walls outlined with human figures in black, an undetermined amount of jade and shells, and 11 vessels.

The INAH added that the fragmented bones of a ruler of Pelenque likely lie scattered on the floor slabs and not in a sarcophagus, as found at other tombs at the site such as Pakal II and ‘The Red Queen’ dating from the seventh century A.D.

The burial chamber, located within a substructure of the Temple XX, has a stepped roof, a gateway formed by large slabs, and it amazingly retains the mural-decorated walls, according to the INAH.

These features of the burial chamber, said INAH archaeologist Martha Cuevas, indicate that the skeletal remains that lie there may belong to a sacred ruler of Palenque, probably one of the founders of his dynasty.