Abstract
A VALUABLE addition to our knowledge of a little-known culture of ancient Mexico, that of the Mixtec, is promised by a recent find of which news has reached New York. In a dispatch from the Times' correspondent which appears in the issue of Jan. 20, it is stated that information has been received that treasure in gold and precious stones “worth millions” has been discovered in a sealed tomb in the course of excavation, under the direction of Don Alfonso Caso, at Monte Alban, near Oaxaca. The bodies of ten Mixtec caciques were found buried under a heap of cups, urns, vases, and jars of jade, onyx, and crystal, together with personal ornaments and utensils of gold richly inlaid with turquoise. The skulls of the chieftains were encrusted with turquoise, and with them was a finely wrought mask of gold. The disorder of the funerary offerings suggests haste; and this might have been due to the fact that the interment lies in the country of the Zapotec, with whom the Mixtec , notwithstanding their probable affinity, were frequently at war.
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An Ancient Mexican Tomb. Nature 129, 229–230 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/129229c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/129229c0