The discovery of the 1400-year-old tomb of the Zapotec civilization in Mexico

According to ISNA, archaeologists, following reports of illegal excavations in the Oaxaca region, managed to discover a magnificent tomb belonging to the Zapotec civilization, which the president of Mexico has described as the most important archaeological find of the last decade in this country.

This historical building, which dates back to around 600 AD, is located in the city of “San Pablo Uitzo”. At the entrance of this tomb, a large statue of an owl with an open beak can be seen, holding the painted face of one of the Zapotec elders. Referring to the position of the owl as a symbol of power and death in this civilization, researchers believe that the mentioned image belongs to the person for whom the tomb was built.

The interior of this tomb consists of two rooms that are connected by a corridor decorated with calendar inscriptions. On these inscriptions, sacred symbols are engraved that indicate the calendar names and birth dates of prominent people. Also, on both sides of the entrance, there are carved statues of a man and a woman, which probably played the role of symbolic guardians of this place.

Another unique feature of this discovery is the multi-colored wall paintings in white, green, red, and blue colors that depict scenes of funeral ceremonies and carrying bags of holy gum. The Zapotec civilization, known as the “cloud people”, flourished in southern Mexico from about 700 BC, and this new discovery has provided researchers with new details of the artistic and religious traditions of this civilization before the Spanish conquests.