USATODAY.com – Royal tomb found hidden in Maya pyramid
An international archaeology team has discovered a royal tomb hidden inside a Maya pyramid in Guatemala.
After clearing debris left by looters, project co-director Hector Escobedo of Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, uncovered the collapsed royal tomb last week at the Maya center of Waka, along with a student, Juan Carlos Melendez.
The tomb likely dates from 200 to 400 A.D., says project co-director David Freidel of Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
It may be the tomb of Waka’s founder or K’inich B’alam the First, a Maya king from around 378 AD, Freidel says.
The newly discovered tomb lies inside the tallest pyramid, nearly 60 feet tall, at Waka. The Waka Project discovered a queen’s tomb inside a nearby pyramid in 2004.