Tikal Burial 196 Tomb of the Jade Jaguar - Maya Archaeology

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of the tomb. Underneath all the pieces was the rotted remains
of clothing, often with the weave impression still preserved.
117A-57a was covered with several layers of textile impressions
and cinnabar. All the disks were centrally perforated;
polished on both sides; and roughly round e and h were the
most irregular with e almost squared off. The backs of the
two central pieces were countersunk with the countersinking
filled in with green colored “plaster”. The fronts of f,
g, e, h and the backs of all except f, g, d, and k have some
groove, depression or irregularity. The front of a and l, the
end disks, have a groove around the central perforation; outside
the groove there is carved a radial petal design. The
jade varies in color almost entirely within the range of 2.5G
7/ to /4 and /4 to /8. All the disks have veins and patches
of brown and white; e and h also have some grey. The disks
vary in diameter from 5.2 to 4.2 cm. and in thickness from .3
to .15 cm.
The ruler in Bu. 116 was wearing a headband of jade but
the pieces were trapezoidal and not round. What may be head
bands of round pieces of jade are shown on several rulers on
stelae, and elsewhere (Ruz, 1952, Fig. 7, 13, p. 56).
Tubular Jade Bead with Carved Human Figures Plan #151 117A-62
Fig. 82a Photo 92
When the large shell over the skull was removed two objects
were uncovered, a “Y” shaped pearl, perforated in sev-