In a ancient Maya tomb at the site of Chochkitam, Guatemala, Francisco Estrada-Belli, lead archaeologist and his team found funeral offerings including a mosaic jade mask and writing on carved human femur bones.
The tomb was found in 2022 less than 2 meters from looters trenches. The site of Chochkitam had been identified and visited during the Peabody Expedition of 1909 and first explored by Fran Blom, an early director of Tulane’s famed Middle American Research Institute (MARI), in 1924. Francisco started working on site in 2019 while working on sites identified by lidar.
Francisco Estrada-Belli, is a research assistant professor in the Tulane University School of Liberal Arts, National Geographic Explorer and Project Director for the Holmul Archaeological Project.
