Tikal Burial 196 Tomb of the Jade Jaguar - Maya Archaeology

191
Spherical Jade Beads Scattered Over the Body Plan #’s 105 to
150 117A-63 Figs. 42, 89 Photo 100
Sixty-one spherical beads of jade of all sizes were
found over and around the body. At first no pattern or explanation
could be put forward for their original positionit
appears that many of them had rolled, five landing in the
aisle. The beads varied considerably in size with the smallest
concentrated on both sides of the skull. They did not appear
to have been pendants for the jade wristlets, nor were
there enough near the ankles to suggest that they had been
anklets. There were not enough altogether or in the correct
position to suggest that they originally belonged to a collar
such as the one laid over the body in Bu. 116. Because the
beads always occur in the vicinity of the spondylus shells
and because in Bu. 116 some of the spherical beads were
clearly unassociated with the collar and were adjacent to the
spondylus shells the author believes that most of the beads
were connected with the shells in both tombs. In Bu. 196 some
of the beads may have belonged to parts of the headdress but
there was usually at least one spherical jade bead for each
of the 26 spondylus shells. One flaw in the jade-shell theory
is that there are no jades in close proximity to shells #93
and 94 at the foot of the skeleton.
The greatest dimension of any bead was 3.7 cm., the
least dimension .9 cm. The relative sizes and colors may best
be seen in the photographs. At least one of the beads