Archeology / A spectacular Mayan altar, discovered and stolen by bandits, has been recovered thanks to a collaboration between researchers, detectives and residents in Guatemala
John Noble Wilford New York Times
The latest story about looting and violence as part of the illegal trade in Mayan antiquities, sounds familiar. Two years ago, a gang of robbers attacked the remains of a palace in the ancient city of Cancuen, in the jungles of Guatemala, and left with a magnificent stone altar, weighing 270 kg, on which inscriptions were carved and beside it the image of a powerful king from the end of the eighth century AD.
The thieves tried to sell the ancient object to drug dealers - the only ones in the area who could pay for it, but then a dispute emerged in the gang. One group after another seized the altar; At least one of the mutual thefts was accompanied by shootings, and on one occasion there was also an attempt, which was unsuccessful, to cross the border into Belize to bring the altar to the lucrative international market for antiquities.
In early 2003, men wearing ski masks and armed with submachine guns raided a village near the archaeological site. They shot everywhere and attacked a woman trying to get the desired object. Then the story took an unexpected turn - archaeologists switched from scientific detective to criminal detective and joined the pursuit of the looters that lasted six months, together with local villagers and undercover agents of the Guatemalan government. Last month the pursuit resulted in the restoration of the altar.
In a conversation with reporters, Dr. Arthur Demarest from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, one of the leaders of the Canquen excavation project who participated in the operation, said that the limestone altar is a "masterpiece of Mayan art." He added that the inscription engraved on it will be "of great importance in understanding the last days of the kingdom in Kankwan and the greatest queen", Tah Chan Ach Ah Calumet. According to the announcement of the "National Geographic" company, government officials in Guatemala said that this may be the first time that an entire network of looters and traders in Mayan treasures has been exposed. Four suspects were taken into custody and will be prosecuted in January.
According to archaeologists, in the past researchers gave up on trying to locate and return stolen Mayan artifacts. This time they were successful thanks to the cooperation of the elders of the village near the excavation site with the police and the Guatemalan Ministry of Culture. Together they followed the suspects' tracks and seized the altar in a night raid on their hiding place.
The team of researchers led by Dr. Demarest did not know at all about the existence of the altar in the palace complex, which covers a very large area. It was uncovered by the gang of looters after a rainstorm washed away soil at the site. Demarest said that the first time he heard about him was more than six months ago, when four village elders showed up at the door of his tent at the excavation site.
They told him that men in ski masks had beaten a woman to get information about a large altar stolen from the palace. The elders feared for their lives and their livelihood: two years ago a program was launched with the support of Vanderbilt, National Geographic and the American Agency for International Development with the aim of training residents of nearby villages to take part in the archaeological project and related tourism initiatives. As they progressed in their training and acquired training skills, maintaining sites and running tourism initiatives, the villagers developed a protective attitude towards the project and began to guard against looters.
As it has now become clear to archaeologists, the altar was placed in 796 at the edge of the royal playground adjacent to the palace. The carvings on it depict the ruler of Kankuan with another king next to him - both elegantly dressed and making ceremonial ball-playing movements, which according to practice occurred at the end of a political visit or after concluding a new alliance.
The inscription on the altar indicates that the ruler is "participating in the game", in the diplomatic sense and in practice, together with the other king, who in the area northeast of Kankuan, the river routes that passed through it were essential to the prosperity of the city. Dr. Federico Passan, a Guatemalan expert on Maya inscriptions currently engaged in deciphering the inscription on the altar, says that the text "allows a glimpse into the last years of the Cancuan kingdom."
In the message, Fasan was quoted as saying, "Tah Chan was the greatest of the long dynasty of Canquen rulers, and his titles engraved in the inscription testify to his ambitions to take control of the entire region in those last decades of the Classic Maya culture."
The Maya were a dominant force in Central America and southern Mexico in the first millennium AD. The decline of this culture began under mysterious circumstances around the year 900, but in the Canquan region, which lies in the depths of the jungle near the sources of the Passion River, the collapse probably happened even earlier.
According to Passan, Tach Chan was able to seize power and expand it while many other Maya kingdoms in the west were collapsing. He managed to build one of the most magnificent palaces in the Mayan culture, although he did not finish its construction. According to archaeologists, the altar may lead to finding the tomb of the great king, when the excavations resume next year.
Demarest said the discovery, along with the other research being carried out at the palace site, indicates that Canquen, which grew rich thanks to the jade trade, was abandoned when its condition began to deteriorate and its rulers and residents moved north, where they took over another city. But their heyday was already behind them.
The archaeologists said the altar was well preserved. According to them, as a source of information and a find of artistic value it surpasses a similar altar that was discovered in 1915 and is currently displayed in the National Museum of Archeology in Guatemala City.
