Tikal Burial 196 Tomb of the Jade Jaguar - Maya Archaeology

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on the surfaces of some of the fallen wall stones. In one
place on the wall there was a large spot of red where it
looked like a sock-full had hit the wall, The scarcity of the
red on the walls suggested that there was no deliberate attempt
to scatter it on the wall and what did adhere to the
wall did so by accident. In no place was there any red on any
of the vault stones lending support to the theory that the
body and offerings were placed in the tomb before the vault
was raised.
The fact that there was red paint both sprinkled over
the top of the jade jaguar and under it implies that some
cinnabar was sprinkled over the bench before some of the offerings
were put in place, yet there was no red beneath offering
#2. In no place was there evidence that any red paint
had been placed in the aisle. What red there was all fell
over off the top of the bench.
There were several concentrations of cinnabar, one being
in the pelvic region where the incised stingray spines
were sunk deep into it, and under the left (?) hand; another
being around the skull, and a third being immediately north
of the pile of carved bones, under the massed bones. Cinnabar
over the skull showed that the paint had been added when the
body was in place, or that cinnabar had been added before the
body was wrapped. There was no place where there was any cinnabar
in the spondylus shells that lay over the cover cloth
and most of the jade beads associated with the shells were
lying