For Immediate Release The Field Museum, Greg Borzo (312) 665-7106 gborzo@fieldmuseum.org Uncovering the Past Field Museum Archaeologists discover tomb under Zapotec residential complex in Oaxaca, Mexico CHICAGO–On a high hilltop terrace in Oaxaca, Mexico, a team of Field Museum archaeologists discovered a 1,500-year-old underground tomb while excavating a palace-like residence. Although it was near the end of their excavation season, they dared not leave the tomb unexplored. News of this find at El Palmillo was sure to get around, and looting would follow. As it was, workers had to guard the tomb every night until the tomb was excavated. Images of the stone-lined interior – snapped with a digital camera and flash through an exposure created long ago when the door of the tomb shifted – helped plan the excavation and showed that the tomb remained in good shape. “These first images were instrumental in helping us plan the tomb excavations even before we were able to enter the tomb,” said Linda Nicholas, adjunct curator of anthropology at The Field Museum. Before entering the tomb, the team carefully removed earth and rock rubble on the stone steps leading down to the door, a huge stone that required seven workers to move. Their efforts were well rewarded. The subfloor tomb turned out to be one of the most elaborately constructed subterranean masonry tombs found outside the ancient Zapotec capital of Monte Albán. And it had never been looted. The Zapotec was one of the most important cultures (in what is now Mexico) at the time of the Maya. “The importance of this tomb is that it tells us that even at a site on the fringe of the Oaxaca Valley, the Zapotecs followed burial customs that were similar to those followed in Monte Albán, the regional capital,” said Gary Feinman, PhD, chair and curator of Anthropology at The Field Museum. “It also tells us that there was more status differentiation at the top of El Palmillo than lower down the hill.” A brief report of the tomb’s discovery will be published in the September/October issue of Archaeology Magazine. Continue