Oldest pyramid tomb found?

OLD BONES It took archaeologists 32 hours to document and remove the remains of the principal occupant of a tomb believed to be 2,700 years old.

MEXICO CITY - ARCHAEOLOGISTS in southern Mexico announced on Monday they have discovered a 2,700-year-old tomb of a dignitary inside a pyramid that may be the oldest such burial documented in Mesoamerica.

The tomb held a man aged around 50, who was buried with jade collars, pyrite and obsidian artifacts and ceramic vessels. Archaeologist Emiliano Gallaga said the tomb dates to between 500 and 700 BC.

Based on the layers in which it was found and the tomb's unusual wooden construction, 'we think this is one of the earliest discoveries of the use of a pyramid as a tomb, not only as a religious site or temple,' Dr Gallaga said.

Pre-Hispanic cultures built pyramids mainly as representations of the levels leading from the underworld to the sky; the highest point usually held a temple. The tomb was found at a site built by Zoque Indians in Chiapa de Corzo, in southern Chiapas state. It may be almost 1,000 years older than the better-known pyramid tomb of the Mayan ruler Pakal at the Palenque archaeological site, also in Chiapas.

The man - probably a high priest or ruler of Chiapa de Corzo, a prominent settlement at the time - was buried in a stone chamber. Marks in the wall indicate wooden roof supports were used to create the tomb, but the wood long ago collapsed under the weight of the pyramid built above.

Archeologists began digging into the pyramid mound in April to study the internal structure - pyramids were often built in layers, one atop another - when they happened on a wall whose finished stones appeared to face inward. In digging last week, they uncovered the 4m by 3m tomb chamber about 6-7m beneath what had been the pyramid's peak. -- AP