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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Burnt remains of Maya royalty mark a dramatic power shift

Finds in pyramid at Guatemalan site suggest that remains were disinterred and desecrated in a public ritual.
Carved pendant plaque of a human head from the burial.

A stone pendant was among the thousands of beads and other ornaments found in a Maya pyramid. Credit: C. Halperin

The ancient Maya were organized into several kingdoms, some of which began to collapse from around AD 760. Archaeologists have now found evidence for the ritual burning of the remains of Maya royals — an event that probably marked a major change in the political regime of one Maya kingdom1.

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Nature 628, 693 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01075-8

References

  1. Halperin, C. T., Perea Carrera, M. L., Miller Wolf, K. A. & LeMoine, J.-B. Antiquity https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2024.38 (2024).

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