Tikal Burial 196 Tomb of the Jade Jaguar - Maya Archaeology

172
vessel, the plate was missing one of its tripod feet. That
the plate was placed in the tomb without one foot rather
than one foot’s having been lost in excavation is proved by
the impressions made by the plate in the soft plaster of the
bench top. Here were the perfect impressions of two feet and
the jagged scar left where the footless part of the vessel
had been forced into the plaster by the weight of the collapsed
walls. There did not appear to have been any food in
this plate, because when pieces of plaster were pried from
its interior bottom, there were no decayed food particles
visible or any impressions of food or seeds.
The rest of the details of this plate are summarized in
the chart on tripod plates on page .
WOODEN OFFERINGS
It has always been presumed that Mayan tombs contained
many offerings of wood that have decayed long before the excavator
reaches them. The discovery of a treasure of wooden
objects by George Guillemin in Bu. 195 in Str.5D-32 on the
North Acropolis made the author keep a special eye out for
the remains of wood, usually first noticed by rot or flakes of
painted stucco. Unfortunately, the factors of preservation
within Bu. 196 were not favorable for the sort of preservation
found in Bu. 195; and, in addition, the author was unskilled
in the removal of crumbled wooden artifacts.