Discover the skeleton 'Red Queen' of the Maya

Scientists discovered the skeleton of a woman named "Red Queen" in the Mayan temple.

Fanny Lopez Jimenez, a young Mexican archaeologist, and her colleague accidentally discovered a 6m long corridor leading to a tomb containing a stone coffin in 1994, while studying the temple's steps. XIII in Palenque, Mexico, according to Ancient Origins.

When the research team opens the lid of the coffin. They discovered a skeleton preserved by red cinnabar. Around the skull is a crown made of jade beads as well as hundreds of green fragments from a broken mask.

The Red Queen's skeleton is in a stone coffin.(Photo: INAH).

In the catacombs, the team also collected many artifacts including fabric looms, small statues and ceramic bowls dating from 600 to 700. Jimenez doubted the stone coffin was in store. holding the body of a royal woman regarding K'inich Janaab Pakal I , the famous king of the Maya. The reason is that the temple XIII is a smaller pyramid structure located right next to the Pakal burial pyramid.

The hypothesis Jimenez put forward was strengthened when Arturo Romano Pacheco, an expert at the Mexican Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), conducted a skeletal examination. Pacheco confirmed this is the body of a woman after analyzing the pelvic shape, jaw structure and skull. Jimenez felt very happy that he was the first to discover the tomb of a Mayan queen.

Arnoldo Gonzalez Cruz, an archaeologist and director of research project of INAH, named this royal woman "Red Queen". The identity of the Red Queen so far has not been accurately determined.

According to Cruz, there are 4 candidates for the identity of the Red Queen based on the description of Pakal's family recorded in his grave with hieroglyphs and drawings, which is Yohl Ik'nal (Pakal's grandmother), Sak K'uk (Pakal's mother), Tz'aakb'u Ahau (Pakal's wife) and K'inuuw Mat (Pakal's daughter-in-law).