Unique Maya Box Made from Volcanic Stone Was Stolen

Guatemala has just been in the news due to a major archeological find. But now a more unfortunate thing has happened: Looters have stolen a rare and exquisitely carved 1,500-year-old Maya box from a cave near the city of Cancu�n. The box is carved from volcanic stone and is decorated with symbolic figures and characters - including the god of the underworld, a scribe, and another artisan.

Archaeologists said the theft was most likely to benefit a collector in the United States or Europe. "I know that oftentimes looters, when they're working on the local level, get about 50 quetzals [the Guatemalan currency] a day," said Brent Woodfill, the archaeologist who discovered the theft two weeks ago. "They're working for five or ten dollars a day to find all these things that end up selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars."

He said that the box was "one of the most impressive finds from the Early Classic period of the Maya Indian civilization (A.D. 250 to 600)" not only because of its intrinsic beauty but also because "it's very rare that you find [�] really important and beautiful artifacts actually in situ" - preserved in their original setting as they were last used.

The vessel measures roughly 38 centimeters by 22 centimeters by 14 centimeters and at the time of the discovery last year it contained the leg bone of a tapir. However, scientists say the bone probably was placed inside the box centuries after the artifact was actually made. According to a Guatemalan hieroglyph expert Federico Fahsen's, the symbols on the box indicate that the stone vessel may have originally contained a Maya codex, or ancient book.

At the time of the looting, "the landowner was actually in the process of building a museum to house the stone box," Woodfill said. "It's sad."

The photograph of the box was taken almost a year ago by Stephen Alvarez for a future National Geographic magazine article. "I've seen a lot of Maya artifacts, and I've seen a lot of Maya artifacts underground. I've never seen anything like this before," said Alvarez.

"Pots get looted all the time, really beautiful pots. That's too bad. But there are a lot of Maya pots. There's nothing like this," added Alvarez.

Photo credit: Stephen L. Alvarez, National Geographic