Trascrizione completa di 11.12.26

00:04:36.569 and nobles in castles, and everyone else was scattered throughout 65 00:04:36.610 --> 00:04:41.730 the countryside. The Spaniards slapped that two-class model onto the Maya. 66 00:04:43.350 --> 00:04:46.230 By the time Arlen and Diane were in graduate school 67 00:04:46.269 --> 00:04:50.250 at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1970s, more was 68 00:04:50.310 --> 00:04:53.790 known about the ancient culture. For instance, that the Maya 69 00:04:53.870 --> 00:04:57.350 had designed one of the world's most sophisticated calendars and 70 00:04:57.410 --> 00:05:02.329 held a deep understanding of astronomy, mathematics, and architecture. But 71 00:05:02.410 --> 00:05:06.889 most scholars saw the Maya as peaceful stargazers, so absorbed 72 00:05:06.970 --> 00:05:11.649 by gauzy ceremonial pursuits that they neglected certain practical concerns. 73 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:16.139 In the influential 1954 book, The Rise and Fall of 74 00:05:16.220 --> 00:05:21.860 Maya Civilization, British archaeologist J. Eric S. Thompson wondered how 75 00:05:21.899 --> 00:05:24.920 the Maya were able to, quote, chart the heavens, yet 76 00:05:25.019 --> 00:05:28.800 fail to grasp the principle of the wheel, to visualize 77 00:05:28.899 --> 00:05:33.170 eternity as no other semi-civilized people has ever done, yet 78 00:05:33.259 --> 00:05:36.589 ignore the short step from core belt to true arch, 79 00:05:37.069 --> 00:05:40.089 to count in millions, yet never learn to weigh a 80 00:05:40.149 --> 00:05:45.920 sack of corn. anthropologists believed that Maya cities had been 81 00:05:45.980 --> 00:05:50.439 near-empty husks with a dispersed rural population who ventured into 82 00:05:50.500 --> 00:05:56.240 town only for occasional ceremonies or to serve elites. Arlen 83 00:05:56.420 --> 00:06:02.120 and Diane challenged this conventional wisdom. In 1979, four years 84 00:06:02.259 --> 00:06:05.399 after they were married, they set off for a six-year 85 00:06:05.420 --> 00:06:09.980 stint at Santa Rita Corazal, a Maya site in Belize 86 00:06:10.120 --> 00:06:14.949 just south of the Mexican border. As they excavated residential areas, 87 00:06:15.389 --> 00:06:19.430 they found that many non-elites had owned tools made of obsidian, 88 00:06:19.970 --> 00:06:24.009 a dark glassy stone found only in distant volcanic regions. 89 00:06:24.930 --> 00:06:28.629 Scholars at the time assumed that Maya elites had total 90 00:06:28.689 --> 00:06:34.000 control over ancient economies and distributed goods directly to specific people. 91 00:06:34.819 --> 00:06:38.399 But the sheer number of non-elites in Santa Rita who 92 00:06:38.439 --> 00:06:42.379 had this imported material made it unlikely that that elites 93 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:47.079 were bestowing obsidian directly to those households as gifts or rewards. 94 00:06:47.860 --> 00:06:51.660 A more plausible explanation was that Santa Rita was an 95 00:06:51.720 --> 00:06:55.839 important trading junction between the coastline and two rivers and 96 00:06:55.860 --> 00:07:01.480 that residents had market access to imported goods like obsidian, jade, ceramics, 97 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:07.420 and shells. Santa Rita, though rich in history, had its limitations. 98 00:07:08.120 --> 00:07:11.550 Much of the ancient city had been bulldozed, by development, 99 00:07:11.750 --> 00:07:15.860 or lay buried under modern buildings. So the chases set 100 00:07:15.899 --> 00:07:20.040 their sights on the largely untouched site of Karakol, deep 101 00:07:20.139 --> 00:07:25.560 in the rainforest about 180 miles south. Arriving in 1987, 102 00:07:25.560 --> 00:07:30.350 Diane recalled, we found no visible temples, no architecture. We 103 00:07:30.430 --> 00:07:33.949 pretty much had the place to ourselves. Our colleagues thought 104 00:07:33.970 --> 00:07:37.689 we were crazy. But the chases and their team have 105 00:07:37.750 --> 00:07:42.120 shown that far from being a ceremonial husk Caracol had 106 00:07:42.139 --> 00:07:47.699 a peak population of more than 100,000. By comparison, Belize City, 107 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:50.959 the largest urban area in the nation today, has a 108 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:56.759 population around 66,000. Uncovering actual evidence of how residents of 109 00:07:56.819 --> 00:08:01.250 this vast metropolis lived, Arlen said, meant going against the 110 00:08:01.370 --> 00:08:05.310 anthropological concepts of the day, so everything you were taught 111 00:08:05.370 --> 00:08:10.000 in grad school you find out isn't right. The chases 112 00:08:10.069 --> 00:08:13.579 felt fortunate that the Spaniards never reached the ruins of Caracol, 113 00:08:14.420 --> 00:08:17.740 nor did many other people. In fact, the site had 114 00:08:17.779 --> 00:08:21.459 been all but lost to history when a lumberman stumbled 115 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:25.819 upon it in 1937 and noticed strange swellings in the 116 00:08:25.879 --> 00:08:31.509 verdant landscape. A year later, A. H. Anderson, the archaeological 117 00:08:31.550 --> 00:08:35.389 commissioner of what was then called British Honduras, now Belize, 118 00:08:35.830 --> 00:08:39.070 braved a several-day slog on muleback to see the ruins 119 00:08:39.129 --> 00:08:43.620 for himself. He named the site Caracol, the Spanish word 120 00:08:43.659 --> 00:08:47.379 for snail, a reference both to the plentiful shell fragments 121 00:08:47.460 --> 00:08:52.139 littering the site and the nearly impassable nautilus of overgrown 122 00:08:52.220 --> 00:08:57.250 track leading to it. Anderson unearthed eleven monuments, several of 123 00:08:57.289 --> 00:09:02.440 them carved with Mayan hieroglyphics. Lacking the resources and expertise 124 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:05.799 to continue, he spent the next decade trying to lure 125 00:09:05.820 --> 00:09:11.580 a team of better-financed investigators to join him. Linton Satterthwaite, 126 00:09:12.019 --> 00:09:15.899 a Maya specialist from the University of

Pennsylvania, arrived at 127 00:09:15.980 --> 00:09:20.820 Caracol in the 1950s and excavated 20 tons of mostly 128 00:09:20.899 --> 00:09:26.389 fragmented limestone monuments over three seasons. Among the finds were 129 00:09:26.389 --> 00:09:32.820 35 ceramic vessels and stone slabs engraved with hieroglyphics. Years later, 130 00:09:32.980 --> 00:09:36.460 on one of their first dates, Arlen and Diane saw 131 00:09:36.539 --> 00:09:39.820 a collection of these relics at the university's Museum of 132 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:44.870 Archaeology and Anthropology, better known as the Penn Museum. The 133 00:09:44.970 --> 00:09:49.049 university's link with ancient Maya culture set their own careers 134 00:09:49.190 --> 00:09:52.090 in motion. As they went on to teach at a 135 00:09:52.129 --> 00:09:58.139 number of institutions, Caracol remained their enduring passion. As you 136 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:03.440 walk through Caracol today, the most striking feature is Cana, 137 00:10:03.460 --> 00:10:08.879 a 141-foot-high sky palace that was abandoned around the year 900, 138 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:13.820 at the tail end of the Maya Classic era. Cana 139 00:10:14.059 --> 00:10:17.620 is still the tallest construction in Belize, yet when the 140 00:10:17.659 --> 00:10:22.909 chases arrived in the 1980s, The massive multi-tiered complex was 141 00:10:22.950 --> 00:10:28.429 an enormous mound, mostly covered in jungle overgrowth. Satterthwaite did 142 00:10:28.470 --> 00:10:32.269 some initial mapping of the structure, but the chases meticulously 143 00:10:32.350 --> 00:10:37.250 cleared the vegetation, opening long sealed passageways and excavating the 144 00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:41.879 rooms and stairwells. The complex was built in the triadic style, 145 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:44.559 with the main temple at the rear of the top 146 00:10:44.600 --> 00:10:48.519 terrace and two smaller temples facing each other at its flanks. 147 00:10:49.110 --> 00:10:53.570 all surrounding a central elevated plaza. I found it beyond 148 00:10:53.629 --> 00:10:57.769 belief that this magnificent temple was erected without the aid 149 00:10:57.809 --> 00:11:01.250 of the wheel, metal tools, or a single beast of burden. 150 00:11:02.129 --> 00:11:04.789 Climbing to the top, I was rewarded with a sweeping 151 00:11:04.889 --> 00:11:10.669 view of the surrounding Chikibul Forest Reserve with undulating, tree-covered 152 00:11:11.250 --> 00:11:15.889 hills stretching toward the Maya Mountains. Exotic bird sightings here 153 00:11:16.009 --> 00:11:21.120 might include king vultures, woodcreepers, toucans, parrots, and, for the 154 00:11:21.159 --> 00:11:26.679 very lucky, the resplendent scarlet macaw. The roars of howler 155 00:11:26.750 --> 00:11:30.070 monkeys seem to come straight from the Jurassic Park soundtrack, 156 00:11:30.769 --> 00:11:35.470 and spider monkeys swing through the treetops like arboreal acrobats. 157 00:11:36.870 --> 00:11:41.100 Karakol's buildings were clearly meant to be admired from outside. 158 00:11:41.820 --> 00:11:45.860 Some of the pyramid temples even doubled as astronomical observatories. 159 00:11:46.389 --> 00:11:50.570 where elites tracked the movements of Venus and other heavenly bodies. 160 00:11:51.610 --> 00:11:55.509 But the interior space at Cana was also carefully designed. 161 00:11:56.110 --> 00:12:00.870 Rooms with C-shaped stone benches were most likely formal meeting spaces, 162 00:12:01.309 --> 00:12:05.509 while L-shaped benches were most likely used for sleeping. The 163 00:12:05.590 --> 00:12:09.299 walls were bedecked in white stucco and red paint. I 164 00:12:09.379 --> 00:12:13.700 found Cana's broad limestone stairway steep to the edge of treacherous, 165 00:12:14.200 --> 00:12:17.970 and I shuddered, to imagine young Maya children making the climb. 166 00:12:18.769 --> 00:12:21.929 I was told they were carried by servants, but that, too, 167 00:12:22.049 --> 00:12:27.440 seemed perilous. Kana is the most iconic relic at Karakol, 168 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:30.679 but it may not be the most important. In the 169 00:12:30.740 --> 00:12:34.840 late winter of 1986, Arlen was slashing through the brush 170 00:12:35.220 --> 00:12:38.840 of an overgrown Maya ball court when his machete struck 171 00:12:38.899 --> 00:12:42.470 something solid. The object turned out to be a large 172 00:12:42.590 --> 00:12:48.919 limestone disk incised with concentric rings of Mayan hieroglyphics. The 173 00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:52.879 disk was eroded, but half of the glyphs were still legible. 174 00:12:54.019 --> 00:12:59.370 Epigraphers found a reference to Karakol Lord Khan II and 175 00:12:59.450 --> 00:13:05.610 his A.D. 631 war against the city-state of Naranjo. Scholars 176 00:13:05.850 --> 00:13:09.909 call such conflicts Star Wars because the Maya noted them 177 00:13:09.970 --> 00:13:14.360 with a glyph of an ascendant star. These bloody battles 178 00:13:14.460 --> 00:13:18.480 not only diminished the losing state's prestige and power, but 179 00:13:18.620 --> 00:13:22.980 also threatened its economy by slaughtering its rulers and conscripting 180 00:13:23.100 --> 00:13:28.399 its soldiers into slavery. The glyphs highlighted Khan II's father, 181 00:13:29.169 --> 00:13:35.909 Yeha-Ti-Kanich II, and his defeat of the kingdom of Tikal 182 00:13:36.350 --> 00:13:40.450 roughly 50 miles to the northwest. The very notion that 183 00:13:40.490 --> 00:13:46.059 a presumed pipsqueak like Karakol had defeated mighty Tikal, struck 184 00:13:46.139 --> 00:13:50.620 many scholars as a far-fetched David and Goliath story. No 185 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:54.419 one believed us, Diane said. Some people thought we carved 186 00:13:54.590 --> 00:13:58.889 the glyphs ourselves. But newer evidence pointed to a period 187 00:13:58.929 --> 00:14:04.370 spanning from 557 to 682, a tumultuous time when Tikal's 188 00:14:04.769 --> 00:14:10.059 monuments were neglected, suggesting a decline in

population and prestige. 189 00:14:10.759 --> 00:14:16.480 And as Tikal declined, Caracol rose dramatically in population and power, 190 00:14:16.980 --> 00:14:20.570 as evidenced by a boom in new construction and infrastructure 191 00:14:20.620 --> 00:14:24.370 throughout the city. The chases noted that these shifts in 192 00:14:24.429 --> 00:14:28.450 fortune coincided with the Star War described in the glyphs. 193 00:14:29.350 --> 00:14:32.210 When a state wins a war, it grows in population 194 00:14:32.309 --> 00:14:36.289 and prosperity, Diane told me. When it loses a war, 195 00:14:36.429 --> 00:14:41.450 it declines, which suggested that Caracol, not Tikal, had won. 196 00:14:42.539 --> 00:14:47.529 The chase's theory of Caracol's victory over Tikal was bolstered 197 00:14:47.590 --> 00:14:53.480 by further excavations, surveys, epigraphy, and isotope analyses of bones 198 00:14:53.529 --> 00:15:00.659 and other organic material. Caracol dominated Tikal and Naranjo for 199 00:15:00.700 --> 00:15:05.409 roughly 140 years, Arlen said. During that period, it replaced 200 00:15:05.529 --> 00:15:09.940 Tikal as the major regional power. While this version of 201 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.279 history was once hard for traditionalists to accept, the chase's 202 00:15:14.470 --> 00:15:18.710 further discoveries made it all but undeniable. I was eager 203 00:15:18.789 --> 00:15:22.070 to see some of them. During my visit to the 204 00:15:22.129 --> 00:15:26.230 field camp, Diane guided me to a large ramshackle structure 205 00:15:26.610 --> 00:15:30.470 known as the laboratory, a jumble of books, odd pieces 206 00:15:30.529 --> 00:15:34.730 of equipment, and overflowing suitcases flanked by a well-stocked meat 207 00:15:34.769 --> 00:15:39.960 freezer powered by a recently installed solar array. A diaphanous 208 00:15:40.139 --> 00:15:43.730 curtain shielded what passed for a bedroom from a pair 209 00:15:43.830 --> 00:15:48.070 of plywood worktables littered with water bottles, coffee mugs, and 210 00:15:48.129 --> 00:15:52.370 hundreds of clay shards. I watched as Arlen reassembled the 211 00:15:52.409 --> 00:15:55.990 shards into vessels, holding the bits and pieces in place 212 00:15:56.309 --> 00:16:02.860 with wooden clothespins as the glue dried. Nearby, Diane examined, identified... 213 00:16:02.750 --> 00:16:07.350 and tagged bone fragments as Adrian demonstrated a handheld scanner 214 00:16:07.809 --> 00:16:12.610 used to locate and map the ruins. For nearly 25 years, 215 00:16:12.809 --> 00:16:17.250 Arlen mapped Caracol by foot, crashing through the jungle with 216 00:16:17.309 --> 00:16:23.429 surveying equipment slung over his shoulder. His team uncovered vaulted passageways, 217 00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:29.139 secret corridors, sacred altars, and caches of pottery and elaborate jewelry. 218 00:16:30.019 --> 00:16:33.799 As in Santa Rita, they found that non-elites in Caracol 219 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:38.820 had wide access to obsidian. Both Diane and Arlen kept 220 00:16:38.940 --> 00:16:43.500 meticulous records of everything they found, with Diane especially focusing 221 00:16:43.620 --> 00:16:48.460 on skeletal material and Arlen on ceramics. The process was 222 00:16:48.620 --> 00:16:52.519 arduous and achingly slow, and they managed to cover only 223 00:16:52.600 --> 00:16:56.870 a fraction of the city. But in 2009, their team 224 00:16:56.899 --> 00:17:00.450 became the first in Mesoamerica to make full use of 225 00:17:00.529 --> 00:17:05.289 light detection and ranging, or LIDAR, a highly sensitive instrument 226 00:17:05.630 --> 00:17:08.809 that deploys thousands of laser beams to look beneath the 227 00:17:08.849 --> 00:17:14.079 jungle canopy. Before the LIDAR study, we had no idea 228 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:18.220 how big Maya cities were, Arlen explained. Everything was still 229 00:17:18.279 --> 00:17:22.940 conceptualized as small cities, with central architecture and rural settlement 230 00:17:23.059 --> 00:17:27.500 around the larger architecture. The imaging shifted the picture, We 231 00:17:27.539 --> 00:17:30.160 could see all of the terraces. We could see all 232 00:17:30.200 --> 00:17:33.680 the residential groups, all the road systems. We could see 233 00:17:33.779 --> 00:17:38.400 looters' trenches and looted tombs. The chases have estimated that 234 00:17:38.460 --> 00:17:44.059 Caracol had around 36,000 structures as well as causeways covering 235 00:17:44.119 --> 00:17:50.289 an astonishing 77 square miles. The densely populated megacity had 236 00:17:50.369 --> 00:17:55.269 its own civic infrastructure, including a road system, terraced farms, 237 00:17:55.390 --> 00:18:01.799 and about 1,600 reservoirs. The temples, ball courts, acropolises, and 238 00:18:01.859 --> 00:18:06.910 plazas were all linked by broad limestone paved avenues. Residential 239 00:18:07.049 --> 00:18:10.930 units were grouped in tight-knit neighborhoods of roughly 250 to 240 00:18:10.930 --> 00:18:16.710 300 people. A major revelation was that almost all the 241 00:18:16.750 --> 00:18:20.880 city's residents lived within a 20-minute walk of a marketplace. 242 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:25.400 Caracol was what real estate agents today would call a 243 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:29.579 walkable city. with residential neighborhoods close to markets that the 244 00:18:29.640 --> 00:18:34.980 Chases describe as strip malls. The Chases' LIDAR work ushered 245 00:18:35.160 --> 00:18:38.809 in a paradigm shift in Maya studies, said Brett Hoke, 246 00:18:39.369 --> 00:18:44.210 an archaeologist at Texas Tech University. It really changed everything 247 00:18:44.309 --> 00:18:48.029 from our appreciation of the scale of Maya landscape interventions 248 00:18:48.529 --> 00:18:52.630 and settlement to our research questions and field priorities. It 249 00:18:52.670 --> 00:18:56.920 was quite remarkable. but a true neighborhood is more than 250 00:18:56.960 --> 00:18:59.339 a group of

people who happen to live near each other, 251 00:18:59.799 --> 00:19:02.480 and Arlen wanted to see whether each area had its 252 00:19:02.599 --> 00:19:06.700 own unique character. The residents, of course, were long dead, 253 00:19:07.160 --> 00:19:11.509 but their tombs provided important clues. The Chases and their 254 00:19:11.589 --> 00:19:15.390 colleagues determined that the people buried in these tombs accounted 255 00:19:15.809 --> 00:19:19.250 for only about 20% of the residents in each neighborhood. 256 00:19:19.809 --> 00:19:23.539 They estimated the sizes of households by looking at common 257 00:19:23.640 --> 00:19:28.940 archaeological measures, like the number of sleeping platforms. The criteria 258 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:32.579 for burial remain unclear, but the calendar seems to have 259 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:37.190 played a role. Burials occurred every 40 years, based on 260 00:19:37.230 --> 00:19:40.809 the dates of ceramics found in the tombs. The burial 261 00:19:40.890 --> 00:19:45.650 sites held caches of polychrome pottery, obsidian and jade ear flares, 262 00:19:46.130 --> 00:19:49.150 all of which offered evidence that non-elites as well as 263 00:19:49.250 --> 00:19:54.519 elites had access to treasures. In some, but not all, neighborhoods, 264 00:19:54.960 --> 00:19:59.490 the chases found teeth inlaid with jade. They also found 265 00:19:59.549 --> 00:20:03.829 caches of ritual offerings that the Maya buried underground or 266 00:20:03.910 --> 00:20:08.269 inserted in vessels. Both the styles of the ceramic vessels 267 00:20:08.690 --> 00:20:12.109 and their contents tended to be similar within a given neighborhood. 268 00:20:12.849 --> 00:20:17.190 People throughout Karakol basically share in the same kind of rituals, 269 00:20:17.589 --> 00:20:20.529 but they get different goods because there's a market system, 270 00:20:20.670 --> 00:20:25.170 Arlen explained. One neighborhood might have more jade, while another 271 00:20:25.230 --> 00:20:29.039 had more obsidian or shells. The chases have yet to 272 00:20:29.099 --> 00:20:33.599 figure out whether such trends were driven by wealth, aesthetic tastes, 273 00:20:33.740 --> 00:20:39.519 or hyper-local traditions. Caracol was a sprawling urban center, but 274 00:20:39.660 --> 00:20:43.920 unlike its modern counterparts, residents there grew their own food. 275 00:20:44.839 --> 00:20:48.519 This crucial distinction took a long time to uncover because 276 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:52.619 of the lush overgrowth in the Maya regions. Elsewhere, the 277 00:20:52.789 --> 00:20:57.910 Andes Mountains displayed obvious remnants of terraced farming, while ancient 278 00:20:58.009 --> 00:21:01.390 irrigation systems were still visible in the arid Middle East. 279 00:21:02.190 --> 00:21:07.450 But early colonists didn't immediately spot similar infrastructure in Maya lands, 280 00:21:07.890 --> 00:21:11.450 so they assumed the ancients had been primitive farmers, clearing 281 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:16.180 out forests with slash-and-burn methods. That picture started to shift 282 00:21:16.279 --> 00:21:21.900 around 1980, when archaeologist Paul Healy from Canada's Trent University 283 00:21:22.279 --> 00:21:25.559 made the trek to Caracol and argued that its terraced 284 00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:29.839 hillsides had been shaped by human hands, not natural elements. 285 00:21:30.759 --> 00:21:35.710 The chases confirmed this theory finding elaborate reservoirs and channels 286 00:21:35.789 --> 00:21:40.089 that captured, stored, and delivered water to neighborhoods all over 287 00:21:40.130 --> 00:21:44.740 the city where crops were grown. These findings blur the 288 00:21:44.779 --> 00:21:49.859 lines between the modern categories of cities and countryside. In 289 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:55.690 a 2016 paper called Urbanism and Anthropogenic Landscapes, the chases 290 00:21:55.789 --> 00:22:01.759 noted parallels between Karakol and Angkor, Cambodia, an ancient metropolis 291 00:22:01.799 --> 00:22:07.220 where vast rice fields intertwined with dense residential areas. Just 292 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:10.559 as there is no single city type, the Chases concluded, 293 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:15.369 there is no one single urban experience. In February 2025, 294 00:22:15.369 --> 00:22:19.869 the Chases and their team returned to a tomb they 295 00:22:19.910 --> 00:22:23.789 had first opened in 1993, on a hunch that there 296 00:22:23.849 --> 00:22:27.329 was something important beneath it. Below the floor of the 297 00:22:27.369 --> 00:22:30.599 burial chamber was they found a deeper and even older 298 00:22:30.650 --> 00:22:34.660 chamber holding the skeletal remains of a toothless old man 299 00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:39.019 and his luxuries, three pairs of large jadeite ear flares, 300 00:22:39.579 --> 00:22:43.819 spiny oyster shells from the Pacific, more than 200 miles away, 301 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:49.839 finely carved bone handles and jadeite beads, and elaborate polychrome 302 00:22:49.880 --> 00:22:53.839 vessels depicting a monkey, an owl, and a coatimundi, a 303 00:22:54.440 --> 00:22:58.750 long-snouted relation of the raccoon. The floor and southern edge 304 00:22:58.809 --> 00:23:01.289 of the grave were coated in a bright red pigment 305 00:23:01.369 --> 00:23:06.289 called cinnabar, a toxic mercury ore the Maya sometimes sprinkled 306 00:23:06.430 --> 00:23:10.849 on the remains of elites. What especially caught Arlen's eye 307 00:23:11.230 --> 00:23:16.230 were small blocks of obsidian. Caracol has no nearby volcanoes. 308 00:23:16.950 --> 00:23:21.589 The stone had most likely been imported from the Teotihuacan 309 00:23:21.710 --> 00:23:25.470 region of central Mexico. which suggested that the two areas 310 00:23:25.509 --> 00:23:30.890 had been in contact decades earlier than previously imagined. Looking closely, 311 00:23:31.109 --> 00:23:35.710 Arlen also found 97 shards of jade and 26 shards 312

00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:39.119 of shell that he recognized as pieces of a mosaic 313 00:23:39.299 --> 00:23:43.740 death mask. We'd found a mask years before in Santa Rita, 314 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:46.779 but this was the first one we'd found in 40 315 00:23:46.779 --> 00:23:51.619 years of excavation at Caracol, said Arlen. The little eyepieces 316 00:23:51.700 --> 00:23:55.019 were what really told me what we had. For my wife, 317 00:23:55.240 --> 00:23:59.660 it was the huge, bulbous nose. Diane took pictures of 318 00:23:59.789 --> 00:24:04.369 each individual piece, and Arlen carefully reassembled the mask from 319 00:24:04.410 --> 00:24:07.589 the fragments. It was a mark that we had found 320 00:24:07.609 --> 00:24:11.430 a ruler, he said. And not just any ruler, he thought. 321 00:24:12.170 --> 00:24:16.980 Arlen dated the remains to A.D. 350, or nineteen years 322 00:24:17.160 --> 00:24:23.319 after the presumed founder of Caracol's dynasty, Tekabchak ascended to 323 00:24:23.380 --> 00:24:28.019 the throne. We are 99% sure we found Tekabchak, Arlen 324 00:24:28.059 --> 00:24:34.059 told me. Unearthing Tekabchak's burying place catapulted the chases into 325 00:24:34.180 --> 00:24:39.650 international headlines. Archaeology magazine cited their triumph as a top 326 00:24:39.650 --> 00:24:43.670 10 discovery of 2025, and media from around the world 327 00:24:43.829 --> 00:24:47.730 rushed in to record it. Participants in Belize's 2026 Archaeology 328 00:24:47.750 --> 00:24:52.670 Symposium could explore a replica of the tomb and the 329 00:24:52.809 --> 00:24:57.630 objects discovered within it. From my standpoint, the major finding 330 00:24:57.710 --> 00:25:01.509 in the tomb was that kingship was purely Maya, Arlen said. 331 00:25:01.529 --> 00:25:06.549 It was not imposed from outside. Later Maya tombs have 332 00:25:06.589 --> 00:25:12.180 shown signs that rulers were strongly influenced by Teotihuacan, near 333 00:25:12.220 --> 00:25:17.200 what is now Mexico City. In Tikal, for example, archaeologists 334 00:25:17.420 --> 00:25:20.680 discovered a 5th century altar that with references to the 335 00:25:20.769 --> 00:25:25.690 Teotihuacan storm god as well as headdresses and painting techniques 336 00:25:25.750 --> 00:25:30.349 from the Teotihuacan region. The lack of such foreign influences 337 00:25:30.430 --> 00:25:35.670 into Kabchak's tomb will help archaeologists pinpoint exactly when outside 338 00:25:35.710 --> 00:25:40.410 cultures made their presence felt in the Maya world. In 339 00:25:40.470 --> 00:25:45.049 Maya society, kings were seen as divine rulers who communicated 340 00:25:45.109 --> 00:25:49.690 with gods and ancestors, maintaining the cosmic order. During de 341 00:25:49.730 --> 00:25:55.150 Kabchak's time, Karakol was strictly hierarchical, but the distance between 342 00:25:55.210 --> 00:25:59.430 royalty and commoners narrowed in the 6th and 7th centuries, 343 00:25:59.930 --> 00:26:04.559 after the successful battle with Tikal. Kings maintained their divinely 344 00:26:04.660 --> 00:26:07.740 appointed status but began to share their wealth in the 345 00:26:07.819 --> 00:26:12.240 form of luxury goods. The chases used the term symbolic 346 00:26:12.259 --> 00:26:18.490 egalitarianism to describe this system. Symbolic egalitarianism is a business 347 00:26:18.569 --> 00:26:22.190 and management strategy. It's where the upper corporate level doesn't 348 00:26:22.230 --> 00:26:25.170 want to call attention to its own wealth, said Arlen. 349 00:26:25.869 --> 00:26:31.150 The Chases believe Karakol's rulers employed a similar strategy, securing 350 00:26:31.210 --> 00:26:35.529 their position by placating the people. These guys were brilliant, 351 00:26:35.690 --> 00:26:39.549 Arlen said. His team could tell which tombs were royal 352 00:26:39.910 --> 00:26:43.329 because of their locations in the city and information found 353 00:26:43.410 --> 00:26:46.789 in the carved hieroglyphics at the sites. but they aren't 354 00:26:46.849 --> 00:26:49.910 that different from the tombs you'd find in a residential group, 355 00:26:49.950 --> 00:26:52.930 he added. There may be a little more jade, but 356 00:26:52.970 --> 00:26:55.869 that's about it. If you look at the structure of 357 00:26:55.910 --> 00:26:59.099 the city instead of a single market, which is controlled 358 00:26:59.140 --> 00:27:03.440 by the central elite, Karakol has markets all over the city. 359 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:07.920 Based on the deliberate way in which these markets were 360 00:27:07.940 --> 00:27:12.430 built into the city's causeways and irrigation systems, the chases 361 00:27:12.490 --> 00:27:15.720 have inferred that the placement of these markets was under 362 00:27:15.839 --> 00:27:19.660 elite control. But the goods they found in dwellings and 363 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:24.059 burial sites indicate that residents were free to trade among themselves. 364 00:27:25.140 --> 00:27:29.740 Scientists are still analyzing the remains and relics from Tekabchak's tomb, 365 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:34.180 but preliminary findings indicate that the king ate animals that 366 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:38.259 fed on corn. This suggests that the elite of Karakol 367 00:27:38.740 --> 00:27:43.519 fed corn to deer, turkey, and perhaps other creatures. Harlan 368 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:46.349 hopes to unearth the burial site of the ruler who 369 00:27:46.390 --> 00:27:52.029 succeeded to Cobb Chalk. Written records suggest that Caracol developed 370 00:27:52.150 --> 00:27:55.549 new trade partners and alliances around the time of his rule. 371 00:27:56.410 --> 00:27:59.220 I want to see what the tombs look like, he said. 372 00:27:59.240 --> 00:28:04.799 This concludes readings from the Smithsonian Magazine for today. Your 373 00:28:04.880 --> 00:28:07.980 reader has been Rebecca Shore. Thank you for listening and 374 00:28:08.039 --> 00:28:08.960 have a great day.