US Edition1,400-year-old Zapotec tomb discovered in Mexico features enormous owl sculpture symbolizing death
The tomb features multicolored murals, carved calendrical names, and owl imagery symbolizing death and power, marking a significant intact find from Zapotec culture, INAH said.
- On January 23, 2026, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History presented a sealed tomb near San Pablo Huitzo on Cerro de la Cantera in Oaxaca's central valleys dating to about A.D. 600 linked to the Zapotec world.
- INAH says the tomb's owl and carvings honor elite ancestors, and officials discovered it after responding to an anonymous looting report.
- Inside, conservators found a carved threshold separating an antechamber and burial chamber flanked by carved male and female figures, with murals showing a procession carrying copal in ochre, white, green, red and blue.
- An interdisciplinary INAH team is now conserving ceramics, iconography, epigraphy, and bones while specialists race to stabilize fragile paint; Claudia Curiel de Icaza called it an `exceptional discovery` and President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo deemed it `most significant in a decade`.
- The find positions researchers to study calendrical names and mural evidence, but conservation threats from roots, insects and environmental changes endanger this and a dozen other Zapotec tombs in Oaxaca linked to Zapotec-speaking communities in Mexico.
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Intact Zapotec Tomb Discovered in Oaxaca - Archaeology Magazine
A relief of an owl sits above the entrance to a Zapotec tomb in Oaxaca, Mexico. OAXACA, MEXICO—La Brújula Verde reports that a 1,400-year-old Zapotec tomb has been found in the Central Valleys region of southern Mexico by a team of researchers from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). The well-preserved tomb complex features an antechamber and a funerary chamber. A depiction of an owl, representing night and death in Z…
der Standard AT
der Standard DEThe 1400-year-old complex is richly decorated with murals, friezes and inscriptions and allows unique insights into the life of the "cloud people"
The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, does not hesitate to affirm that Mexico must be proud of its archaeological treasures.
Mexico’s Sealed Tomb Find: The Rare Proof That Makes Ancient History Real
Key Points Mexico says it found an untouched tomb from around 600 CE, with murals still on the walls. Carved calendrical names and a painted funeral scene show how elites signaled identity, rank, and belief. Conservators are racing to stabilize fragile paint before roots, insects, and air shifts erase it. Imagine finding an old phone […]
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