Early in
1963 the attention of Belize's first archaeological commissioner,
A. H. Anderson, was drawn to the coastal-zone site now known
as Altun Ha when a villager from Rockstone Pond attempted to
sell a large carved jade pendant he had unearthed at the site
to tourists in Belize City. Anderson contacted David Pendergast,
who had carried out work in the country's western district at
the beginning of that year, and in late summer Pendergast began
test excavations at the site. Shortly thereafter Pendergast
was invited by the Royal Ontario Museum to lead the revival
of the museum's research programme in Belize, and discussions
led to the ROM's commencement of full-scale excavations at Altun
Ha. At the time it was the largest-scale and longest-term archaeological
endeavour ever carried out in Belize.
In 1968, the jade head was discovered; 5.9 inches-high
x 9.74 pound, the Maya sun god, Kinich Ahau. It was on the right
wrist of the person interred in the earliest of a series of
seven royal tombs in an Altun Ha Structure. Fragmentary
remains showed that the ruler's body was once covered with several
skins of large jungle cats, jaguar and cougar, and that a corner
of the crypt had contained a large pile of cloth, matting, and
other perishables. Bits of cloth, probably parts of the individual's
garments, lay around the skeleton, impregnated with the red
pigment that covered the entire burial. Beneath the crypt contents
stood the remains of a large, round-cornered wooden platform
with short cylindrical legs, under which were impressions of
large cables used to lower the device into the crypt. Excavation
below the earth floor revealed a further pottery vessel, a pyrite
mirror, and the remains of 2 gourd bowls. The jade head, has
become the national symbol of Belize, and appears on
the country's currency.
