He recorded that a chamber, located at the low-
est part of the temple, “resembled an abandoned
chapel. Across the walls stucco figures processed
in relief. The floor... was almost entirely filled
with a great carved stone slab.” The body under
the slab, covered with a jade death mask wearing
a penetrating gaze, was identified as Pakal, laid
to rest there after his death in 683.
The magnificent sarcophagus lid, in-
scribed with Maya glyphs, and elabo-
rate imagery centering on a crouched
figure, became the source of widespread
fascination. Mayanists assert the likely in-
terpretation is that the figure is Pakal posed
before the Maya World Tree. In the tomb,
his body was surrounded by jade objects,
whose green color symbolizes maize and
water, the materials on which Maya civili-
zation rested. Some of the tomb’s objects
were dusted with cinnabar, an ore of
oxidized mercury, whose red color
represents blood, life, and the af-
terlife.
Stability continued into the reign of
Pakal’s grandson and beyond, but by the mid-
800s, Palenque’s influence in the region startedto falter. By 900 Palenque would be empty, be-
lieved to be part of what scholars call the Maya
collapse, an as yet unexplained abandonment of
the great urban centers of the empire. Palenque’s
buildings would stand strong as their vivid col-
ors faded over time.
Uncovered centuries later, Palenque’s monu-
ments continue to proclaim their people’s past
glory. Archaeologists are continuing to explore
these. In the 1990s a passageway hidden under
the stairs of Temple XIII was found to lead to an-
other tomb of a highborn woman, now known as
the “Red Queen.” She is now believed to be Lady
Tz’akbu Ajaw, Pakal’s queen consort.
A team of archaeologists, led by Arnoldo Gon-
zalez, in 2016 announced the discovery of a water
tunnel under the Temple of the Inscriptions and
Pakal’s tomb. They believe the tomb and pyra-
mid were deliberately placed on top of a spring
so that the water would provide Pakal’s spirit a
way to travel to the underworld.DIVINE ATTIRE
The elaborate stone
sarcophagus lid
of Pakal the Great
depicts the ruler
adorned in the
garments of a god.
KENNETH GARRETT/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHICPalenque: Eternal City of the Maya
David Stuart and George Stuart, Thames & Hudson, 2008.Learn moreQUEEN’S MASK
A broken malachite
mask found in the tomb
of the “Red Queen”
(below) is now believed
to have belonged to
Pakal’s consort. Museo
de Palenque, Mexico
ALAMY/ACI