Mysterious foreigner may have ruled ancient Maya kingdom
Bone chemistry suggests one of Copan’s early rulers came from afar
By Bruce Bower
Imported royalty may have sparked the rise of an ancient Maya kingdom.
An early Maya king and his retainers grew up hundreds of kilometers away from the seat of power, a new study suggests. The foreigners’ remains were found at Copan, an ancient Maya site in what’s now western Honduras. These Maya aristocrats may have played central roles in that city’s royal dynasty, probably thanks to local connections, proposes a team led by archaeologist T. Douglas Price of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.