A.D. 796 ó A 600-pound stone altar is commissioned by Taj Chan Ahk, the Maya lord of CancuÈn, to commemorate a summit with the vassal king of a neighboring kingdom. The large limestone disk is carved with images of the two Maya lords playing a sacred ball game. It is used as a marker for the game and a place for animal sacrifices. A.D. 800 to A.D. 810 ó CancuÈn is abandoned a few years after Taj Chan Ahk’s death, and the altar is covered over by mahogany rain forest that begins to blanket CancuÈn. 1900s ó Altar remains buried and goes unnoticed by explorer Sylvanus Morley, who uncovers a similar altar at the ball court in 1915. Exploration of the site in 1967 by Harvard University graduate students also fails to discover it. 1996 to 1999 ó Vanderbilt University archaeologist Arthur Demarest determines that the site was once a major trading center and that its royal palace was one of the largest in the Maya world. Major excavation of the site begins, though excavation of the ball court is postponed until 2005. The project is supported by National Geographic. October 2001 ó Heavy rains expose the altar, for the first time in more than 1,000 years. A son of the leader of a local gang of looters spots it and tells his father, who leads his gang on a raid of the site, hauling the heavy altar out of the ball court and placing it into a boat. The altar is taken to the gang leader’s encampment, down river from CancuÈn. November 2001-December 2002 ó The altar is photographed and the pictures are distributed by the gang in search of a buyer. Local drug traffickers inspect the altar and offer $4,000 (U.S.) for it, but the gang leader holds out for more money. December 2002 ó A split in the gang leads four members to steal the altar, moving it across the river and burying it. Later, the gang leader retrieves the altar in a gun battle heard by nearby villagers. The gang continues to try to sell it. January-February 2003 ó One of the drug traffickers, leading men with submachine guns and ski masks, raids the place where the men believe the altar is hidden, badly beating an innocent woman in an effort to learn the altar’s whereabouts. Villagers concerned about the incident enlist the help of archaeologist Demarest, who is known to them because of his work on sustainable development in the area. April 2003 ó Demarest makes formal report of the altar’s theft to the Guatemalan Ministry of Culture, which calls in the Ecological and Cultural Patrimony division of the S.I.C. (Guatemala’s equivalent of the FBI). The S.I.C. stages an evening raid on the outlaws, with guidance from Demarest and his survey director, Marc Wolf. The gang leader and a lieutenant are arrested. The altar, however, is not found. It has been sold to a looter, who has loaded it onto a truck and hauled it to a town 20 miles to the south. May 2003 ó A photograph of the altar is recovered, and the Ministry of Culture and S.I.C. send copies of the photograph and drawings made from it to law-enforcement officials around the world, including Interpol and Belizean authorities. The dealer last known to have the altar is arrested but says he no longer has it; it has gone to a dealer in Melchor de Mencos, on the border with Belize. August 2003 ó The authorities learn that their efforts to make the altar too hot to sell have been effective when they hear from Maya villagers that it has been moved back to the region from which it was stolen and then buried until it can be sold safely. September-October 2003 ó The altar is recovered after another series of S.I.C raids. Several looters are arrested and await trial. The altar, dirt-covered but in otherwise sound condition, is transported to the National Museum in Guatemala City for cleaning and decipherment.
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Ancient Maya stone altar recovered in Guatemala, unparalleled investigation leads to looters’ haven and arrests
Background: CancuÈn Sustainable Tourism and Indigenous Development Project
Media contacts: David F. Salisbury, (615) 343-6803 david.salisbury@vanderbilt.edu
Mimi Koumanelis, (202) 857-5814 mkoumane@ngs.org