The legs of an ancient Mayan ambassador show a life of privilege and hardship

An important Mayan man who was buried nearly 1300 years ago led a privileged yet difficult life. The man, a diplomat named Ajpach ‘Waal, suffered from malnutrition or illness as a child, but as an adult he helped negotiate an alliance between two powerful dynasties that eventually failed. The resulting political instability left him in less economic circumstances, and he probably died in relative obscurity.

During excavations at El Palmar, a small square connection in Mexico near the borders of Belize and Guatemala, archaeologists led by Kenichiro Tsukamoto, an assistant professor of anthropology at UC Riverside, discovered a hieroglyphically decorated staircase leading to a ceremonial platform leads. When the hieroglyphs were deciphered, it came to light that Ajpach ‘Waal traveled in June 726 and met the king of Copán, a distance of 50 km in Honduras, to form an alliance with the king of Calakmul near El Palmar to close.

The findings, published in the journal Latin American Antiquity, shed light on the role that communities in the great centers played in strengthening the bonds between royal families during the late classical period (600-800 CE), and the ways in which they would suffer if something shattered the alliances.

The inscriptions identified Ajpach ‘Waal as a’ lakam ‘, a standard-bearer, an ambassador who carried a banner while on diplomatic missions between cities. He inherited this high position through the lineage of his father, and his mother also comes from an elite family. Ajpach ‘Waal must have regarded it as his crown achievement because the hieroglyphs indicate that he did not get the platform from El Palmar’s ruler, but had it built for himself a few months after the mission in September 726 CE. The platform served as a kind of stage stage where spectacular rituals were performed for an audience, with only influential people able to build their own.

Beneath the floor of a temple along the platform, Tsukamoto discovers the undisturbed burial of a male skeleton in a small room. Although he proposed in a place that owns the platform and the temple, he, unlike other Mayan cemeteries, accompanied only two colorfully decorated clay pots – no jewelry or other tombs – to this individual to the underworld.

In the new article, Tsukamoto and Jessica I. Cerezo-Román, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Oklahoma, study the bones of the person buried in this mysterious tomb to tell his story.

“His life is not as we expected based on hieroglyphs,” Tsukamoto said. “A lot of people say the elite enjoyed their lives, but the story is usually more complex.”

The man was between 35 and 50 years old when he died. Various dating methods, including radiocarbon, stratigraphy, and ceramic typology, indicate that the burial took place around 726 when the staircase was built. The high status of the individual and the proximity of the staircase lead the authors to believe that it was probably Ajpach ‘Waal, or possibly his father.

All of its upper front teeth, from right to left, were drilled to hold decorative implants of pyrite and jade, which were valuable and highly regulated. Mayans living in geographical areas associated with ruling elites underwent this painful procedure during puberty as a rite of passage to indicate their inclusion in a high office or social group. Ajpach ‘Waal may have received such implants when he inherited the title from his father.

The skull was slightly flattened in the back due to prolonged contact with something flat during infancy, which according to the Maya made a person more attractive. Because the front of the skull was not preserved, the archaeologists could not tell if the forehead was flat in the same way, a beautification practice limited to royals.

Other aspects of the bones undermined the privilege that the dental and cranial changes had. Some of his arm bones cured periostitis, caused by bacterial infections, trauma, scurvy or rickets, which would cause the arm to ache until the condition improved. Both sides of the skull had slightly porous, spongy areas, known as porotic hyperostosis, caused by nutritional deficiencies in children or diseases. The condition is relatively common at funerals throughout the Mayan world, suggesting that Ajpach ‘Waal’s high status could not protect him from malnutrition and disease.

A healed fracture on his right tibia, or shin bone, resembles fractures seen in modern athletes who practice contact sports such as soccer, rugby or soccer. This may indicate that he played some of the ball matches depicted on the stairs, which reinforced the case that it was Ajpach ‘Waal.

Long before he died, the individual lost many teeth on the left side of his lower jaw due to gum disease and he might have had a painful abscess to his premolar right below, which would have limited his diet to soft foods. One inlaid tooth thickened near the root in response to the drill injury and could have been in pain.

He also develops arthritis in his hands, right elbow, left knee, left ankle and feet as he gets older, which would cause stiffness and pain especially in the morning. Tsukamoto and Cerezo-Román suggest that his arthritis may have been caused by carrying a banner on a pole over long terrains and by walking up and down stairs. He would also be expected to kneel on the platforms of Mayan rulers.

As if these diseases were not enough, fate conspired to change the fate of Ajpach ‘Waal.

“The ruler of a subordinate dynasty beheaded the king of Copán ten years after his alliance with Calakmul, who was also defeated by a rival dynasty around the same time,” Tsukamoto said. “We see the political and economic instability that followed both of these events in the sparse burial and in one of the built-in teeth.”

Archaeologists have determined that the inlay in Ajpach ‘Waal’s right dog tooth fell out and was not replaced before his death, as tooth plaque in the cavity hardened to limestone. The hole, easily visible when the man smiles or speaks, would have been an embarrassment, public acknowledgment of suffering or the diminished meaning of El Palmar. It would also have made him a less useful missionary if he still held the role.

Although people continued to live in El Palmar for some time after the death of Ajpach ‘Waal, it was eventually abandoned and reclaimed through the jungle.