Friday, March 3, 2017

Mysterious Jade Jewel Worn by Mayan king to Appease Wind God Found in Belize

Jade
Archaeologists have unveiled a new discovery that supports an ancient a myth. The discovery includes a jade pendant of ancient origin that used to be worn by a Maya King especially on their chest. This pendent was first discovered on the soil of Nim Li Punit and is hailed as the second largest jade of the Maya king and is supposedly a product of late 672 AD.

It is undoubtedly a remarkable piece of art and is designed in such a way that it resembles wind and breath and when the archaeologists were carrying on the expedition the pendent was found adjacent to a vessel that could have been the ancient Maya god of wind. This is a gem of a jewel which consists of inscriptions just like a historical text. An important story is described they’re with the help of almost 30 hieroglyphs.

This excavation was carried in 2015 by Geoffrey Braswell who is an UC San Diego archaeologist, and have recently published a paper depicting the importance of this jade pendent in the Ancient Mesoamerica journal.
The pendent is 7.4 inch wide, 4.1 inch in length and is .3 inch in terms of breath. The thickness was very surprising for the archaeologists.

Further research regarding this ancient jewel have unveiled the fact that the sculptors who made this must have just used a string, fat and dust of jade to develop such a piece of a gem. Another imperative fact is that the jewel is the only ancient discovery found till date that consists of 30 hieroglyphs which makes it to identify as a historical text where the name of the person who first owned is also inscribed at the back of the pendent.

Braswell who led to its discovery said that the inscription depicts a very small story with a larger than life message. The pendent was found when they were excavating a palace that was built about 400 years ago.

They discovered the jewel inside the palace along with 25 pottery vessels, a stone that was quite big in stature and resembled a deity, and amongst them the jade pendent was lying. There weren’t any remains of a human. The pendent resembled the letter T and the same alphabet was carved on the front. The archaeologists who were a part of this expedition proclaims that this ‘T’ is the personification of wind and breath.

Wind is denoted as a very vital natural resource in Maya culture, as these winds are responsible to attract monsoon rains which is important for the crops to thrive in. In their culture the king was the one who other than looking at the well being of its subjects was also responsible for all the sacred ceremonies, for that the king performed several functions as per their authentic calendar. The rituals also included many exaggerating ceremonies performed by the king, so that the wind and rain is properly restored in their kingdom.

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