In an operation worthy of a major movie, Guatemalan authorities have recovered an important Maya stone altar from looters.
US archaeologists and Mayan villagers aided the six-month investigation, which led to several arrests. Three ringleaders will go on trial in January. Archaeologists are now deciphering the text, which they hope will help them understand the fall of Mayan civilisation shortly after it was engraved in 796 AD.
The altar was one of a pair at opposite ends of the royal ball field in the ruined city of Cancu茅n. It depicts a ritual ball game that symbolised an alliance between Taj Chan Ahk, the last and greatest in Cancu茅n鈥檚 long line of rulers, and another Maya king.
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The first altar, discovered in 1915, is among the greatest Maya treasures in Guatemala鈥檚 National Museum of Archaeology. The second is better preserved, but was unknown when Vanderbilt University archaeologist Arthur Demarest began investigating the Cancu茅n site in 1996.
Shoot out
Looters hauled away the 270-kilogram altar after heavy rains exposed it in 2001. After turning down an offer of $4000 from local drug dealers, the gang broke up and four of its members stole and hid the altar.
The leader recovered it after a gun battle in December 2002. Then, early in 2003, drug dealers returned to try to steal the altar, and beat a local woman when they could not find it.
Disturbed by the theft and the beating, four elders of the Q鈥檈qchi鈥� Maya asked for help from Demarest, who had earned their trust by involving villagers in developing the archaeological site for sustainable ecotourism. He persuaded the local drug lord not to intervene, only to find he was murdered hours later, and took up the case with the Guatemalan authorities. They raided the looters鈥� camp in April, but the altar had already been sold.
A month later, undercover officials tracked down a photo of the altar and arrested a dealer, who said he had sold it on to another dealer near the border with Belize. Recent raids brought yet more arrests and recovered the altar, now in the national museum.
Expanding kingdom
The fact that the recovered altar comes from the last years of Cancu茅n makes it 鈥渟cientifically much more important鈥�, Demarest said. Located at the head of the Pasi贸n river, Cancu茅n was a rich port that controlled the jade trade.
The text on the altar shows that Taj Chan Ahk was still expanding his kingdom and forming alliances as other Classic Maya centres in the area were collapsing.
He was also building a vast palace, but soon after the altar was laid the residents of Cancu茅n moved to a more protected city in the north, leaving the palace unfinished.