The pyramids of the Maya were not only tombs for the remains of kings, queens, and nobles but also contained many valuable artifacts made from jade and stingray bones.
The jaguar throne in the El Castillo pyramid. (Photo: Thierry Tronnel/Corbis)
The ancient Maya constructed hundreds of pyramids in the Central Lowlands of ancient Mesoamerica, from around 1000 BCE to 1500 CE, placing a variety of artifacts inside. Similar to the Egyptian pyramids, Maya pyramids housed many rich treasures but also included some peculiar objects. Some even contained smaller pyramids within them.
For instance, the El Castillo pyramid at the Chichén Itzá site on the Yucatán Peninsula contains a smaller pyramid inside. According to Andrés Tejero-Andrade, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the ancient inhabitants of the Yucatán Peninsula did not destroy existing structures when they arrived at previously inhabited sites. Instead, they built a new pyramid over the existing one, which is why El Castillo has a nested structure resembling Russian dolls.
Beyond El Castillo, many other Maya pyramids were constructed in a similar fashion, according to Denisse Lorenia Argote Espino, a researcher at the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (INAH). Espino shared that building one pyramid over another was a common practice before the arrival of the Spanish.
While some Maya temples were used for rituals, others served as tombs for kings or the noble class. These tombs often contained valuable artifacts such as jade masks (for the deceased), jade beads, obsidian blades, and stingray spines, symbolizing the sacrifices of the ancient Maya.
The Maya placed great importance on objects made from jade. One of the most famous examples is the jaguar throne found in the El Castillo pyramid. For the Maya, jade was not only prized for its rarity and beauty but also held symbolic significance, according to Karl Taube, an anthropology professor at the University of California, Riverside. For example, the Maya believed that jade represented maize, power, and the wind. This stone played a crucial role in burial rituals and invoking deities and ancestors.
Maya pyramids also contained many other unique artifacts. For example, a pyramid at the San Bartolo site in northern Guatemala holds fragments of the earliest Maya calendar, dating back over 2,200 years. The pyramid at Copán, Honduras, features a massive carving with over 2,000 glyphs on its staircase, recounting the history of the rulers of Copán. The Maya used a writing system known as Maya hieroglyphics, which consisted of many symbols representing sounds, forming words that scholars can read and translate.
