Astonishing 1,400-year-old tomb featuring giant owl sculpture discovered in Mexico

By Jack Guy, CNN

(CNN) — Archaeologists have discovered a 1,400-year-old Zapotec tomb in southern Mexico, adorned with complex carvings, which has been called “the most significant archaeological discovery of the last decade.”

Located in San Pablo Huitzo, in the state of Oaxaca, the tomb was built by the Zapotec culture in around the year 600, according to a statement from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) last week.

Among the many well-preserved details are a sculpture of an owl that sits above the entrance to the burial chamber.

A sculpture of a man’s head can be seen inside its beak, possibly representing the individual who was buried inside, according to the INAH.

Hundreds of thousands of Zapotec speakers still live in Mexico to this day. For the Zapotec, owls signify both night and death.

The site is also home to multicolored murals, featuring symbols associated with power and death.

At the threshold to the burial chamber there are carvings of two human figures holding various artifacts in their hands, who may have been the guardians of the tomb, according to the INAH.

And inside the burial chamber itself is an “extraordinary” mural in ocher, white, green, red and blue, showing a procession of people carrying bags of copal, a tree resin burned as incense during ceremonies.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum highlighted the importance of the discovery at her daily news conference last Friday.

“It’s the most significant archaeological discovery of the last decade in Mexico due to the level of preservation and the information it provides,” she said.

Mexico’s culture secretary, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, also underlined that the tomb is an “exceptional discovery” for what it tells us about Zapotec culture and “its social organization, funerial rituals and belief system, preserved by the architecture and the murals.”

A multidiscplinary team from the INAH is now working to protect the site and conduct further research.

This includes stabilizing the murals, which are in a “fragile state” due to the impact of tree roots, insects and rapid changes in environmental conditions, said INAH.

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