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Mexico Announces 600 CE Zapotec Tomb in Oaxaca, Hailed as Decade’s Top Find

After a 2025 looting tip, the sealed Huitzo chamber entered federal care for urgent conservation and research.

Overview

  • The burial, known as Tumba 10 de Huitzo, lies at Cerro de la Cantera in San Pablo Huitzo in the Valles Centrales of Oaxaca.
  • Officials cite exceptional preservation and information yield, with President Claudia Sheinbaum calling it the most relevant archaeological discovery of the last decade.
  • The monumental entrance features a carved owl whose beak covers a painted stucco face, flanked by jamb figures and a frieze of calendrical stone slabs.
  • Polychrome murals in the funerary chamber depict a procession carrying bags of copal, now under stabilization due to risks from roots, insects and abrupt environmental changes.
  • INAH and the Secretaría de Cultura have the site under custody as interdisciplinary teams undertake registration, restoration and studies in ceramics, iconography, epigraphy and physical anthropology.