It has been hailed as ‘the most significant archaeological discovery in a decade.’
Archaeologists in Mexico have uncovered a 1,400-year-old tomb in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca that had been lost to history.
The stone structure, built by the Zapotec culture, known as Be’ena’a, or ‘The Cloud People’, is adorned with sculptures, murals and carved symbols that suggest ritual significance.
The Zapotec believed their ancestors descended from the clouds and that, in death, their souls returned to the heavens as spirits.
At the entrance sits a massive carved owl, its open beak revealing the face of a Zapotec lord, a symbol the National Institute of Anthropology and History said represented death and power.
Pictured is the face of the Zapotec god inside the owl’s mouth
American Buddhist Net 