[imagesource: Ministerio de Cultura de Panama]

Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient tomb containing a remarkable assortment of gold artefacts, considered to hold “incalculable” historical and cultural value.

At the archaeological site of El Caño in the Central American nation of Panama, the country’s Ministry of Culture announced in a press release that a great lord’s tomb was found.

The location houses a necropolis, a vast burial ground, belonging to the pre-Hispanic Gran Coclé culture. It was built circa A.D. 700 and deserted by A.D. 1000. The culture thrived in the area from approximately 200 B.C. to A.D. 1550, as documented by the University of South Florida.

Renowned for its unique artistic flair, the pre-Hispanic Gran Coclé culture is notably distinguished by the prevalence of finely crafted gold artefacts, which constitute a significant portion of the archaeological findings in Panama’s Coclé Province, the location of the necropolis’s discovery.

Archaeologists unearthed several artefacts in the tomb, primarily ceramics, but also several gold objects, all thought to have been buried for 1,200 years. From the ancient grave, archaeologists unearthed breastplates, two belts made of gold beads, bracelets, figure-shaped earrings, crocodile-shaped earrings, gold-covered sperm whale teeth earrings, bells and gold plates.

Image: Ministerio de Cultura de Panama

The gold diggers also found bracelets and skirts made of dog teeth, bone flutes and lots of pottery pieces.

Image: Ministerio de Cultura de Panama

Newsweek reported that Linette Montenegro, national director of heritage with the Ministry of Culture, said the assemblage of gold artefacts was of “incalculable” historical and cultural value.

The tomb appears to have belonged to a high-status adult male – a great lord – said Julia Mayo, director of the El Caño Foundation and the archaeological project that has been conducting excavations at the site since 2008.

The remains of an adult male between 30 and 40 years old were found in the tomb alongside the grave goods—thought to be its main occupant. But the tomb also contains the remains of other people who were potentially sacrificed and buried alongside the lord to accompany him to the afterlife, Mayo said.

It is not yet known how many people were buried there, but what is known is that the lord was buried face down – as seen at other Coclé sites – on top of a woman.

What a way to go.

[source:newsweek]