- Title: GUATEMALA: ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVER REMAINS OF A MAYAN FAMILY TOMB.
- Date: 26th August 2005
- Summary: (AMERICA) PETEN, GUATEMALA (RECENT) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS DIGGING AT LOCATION OF ROYAL POOL 2. ARCHAEOLOGIST LOOKING AT ARTEFACT EXHUMED FROM SITE 3. VARIOUS OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS DIGGING 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF CANCUEN PROJECT, ARTHUR DEMAREST, SAYING "It's a massacre. Thirty-one nobles - men women and children were killed with lances and axes and then sort of dismembered and put in to the pool." 5. VARIOUS OF EXHUMATION PROCESS 6. VARIOUS OF BONES 7. MAYAN FIGURINE 8. ARCHAEOLOGIST PUTTING SPEAR HEAD IN PLASTIC BAG 9. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DIRECTOR OF FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY FOUNDATION, JOSE SUASNAVAR, SAYING: "What we want to determine is the number of people found here, the sex of the groups, and the cause of death of the people. If they (all died) at the same moment, or how they began to arrive and that would help interpret the context of all this that brings us here." (AMERICA) PETEN, GUATEMALA (AUGUST 26, 2005) (REUTERS) 10. PRESIDENTIAL HELICOPTER LANDING 11. VARIOUS OF GUATEMALAN PRESIDENT OSCAR BERGER MEETING ARCHAEOLOGISTS AND LOCALS AND TOURING SITE 12. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BERGER SAYING: "We hope they will turn into historians, in guides as experts on the subject, and that they may have the infrastructure to attend to our tourists. So to tourists of the world Cancuen and Guatemala await you." 13. BERGER SPEAKING TO ARCHAEOLOGISTS Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 10th September 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: PETEN, GUATEMALA
- Country: Guatemala
- Reuters ID: LVAJ9LYNGLBH7VFITUQP404RD7M
- Story Text: Archaeologists in Guatemala discover remains of a Mayan family tomb.
Archaeologists in Guatemala have discovered the remains of what they
believe to be members of the royal family of the Mayan city of Cancuen located
in the Peten rainforest.
The archaeologists who work on the Cancuen Project, financed by
Vanderbilt University in the United States, believe they were massacred.
"It's a massacre. Thirty-one nobles, men women and children were
killed with lances and axes and then sort of dismembered and put in to the
pool," said Cancuen Project Director, Arthur Demarest.
Archaeologist believe the discovery, which dates to 850 A.D., could
signal the population turned against their rulers.
"What we want to determine is the number of people found here, the
sex of the groups, and the cause of death of the people. If they (all died)
at the same moment, or how they began to arrive and that would help interpret
the context of all this that brings us here," said Jose Suasnavar,
Director of Forensic Anthropology Foundation.
On Friday, President Oscar Berger toured the site and praised the
archaeologists.
"We hope they will turn into historians, in guides as experts on
the subject, and that they may have the infrastructure to attend to our
tourists," he said.
The Peten, in northern Guatemala, was once home to millions of Maya
before their collapse in the 9th century. Thousands of tourist flock to the
ancient sites each year.
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