Mexico: Zapotec tomb find of decade

• IN THIS STORY: Mexican officials are calling the discovery of a Zapotec (Be’ena’a) tomb one of the country’s greatest archeological discoveries of the last decade.
• The tomb, dated to 600 C.E., features colorful murals that experts hope they can soon decipher.
• Other architectural highlights within the tomb include friezes and carvings in doorposts.

Tomb features colorful murals that experts hope they can soon decipher (Lelia Valduga/Getty)

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Mexican Pres. Lopez Obrador and Sheinbaum

Officials are lauding a newly unearthed tomb, tucked into the Central Valley of Oaxaca [pronounced \wah-hah-kah\] in Mexico [Mesoamerica], as the greatest archeological find made in the country in the last decade.

 

Dated to 600 C.E.—a pre-Hispanic [Pre-Columbian era, pre-arrival of Spain and European Conquistadors] period during which the Zapotec culture ruled the region—experts believe the architectural and cultural meanings they can extract from the find will reveal unknown elements of Zapotec life 1,400 years ago.

“This is an exceptional discovery due to its level of preservation and what it reveals about Zapotec culture: its social organization, its funerary rituals, and its worldview, preserved in the architecture, and mural paintings,” Mexico’s Secretary of Culture Claudi Curiel de Icaza said in a translated statement from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

The tomb features sculptural elements and mural paintings that contain symbols often associated with power and death, while friezes and tombstones bear inscriptions which appear to reference calendars. 

Pres. Claudia Sheinbaum in front of MX flag

“This is the most important archeological discovery in Mexico in the last decade due to its level of preservation and the information it provides,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo said at a press conference, according to INAH.

The murals and architecture start at the entrance to the antechamber. An owl, which symbolized night and death for the Zapotec people, covers the painted face of a lord. Experts with INAH believe that the portrait may be of the ancestor to whom the tomb was dedicated. His descendants may have hoped that he would serve as an intercessor with deities. More

• Tim Newcomb, popularmechanics.com, Jan. 29, 2026, via MSN; Crystal Quintero, Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly