Who Was the Mysterious Mayan Red Queen of Palenque?

Her name was Isik Tz’aka’ab Ajaw and she was the wife of Pakal. the greatone of the most important monarchs of Palenque, present-day Mexico. He lived in the 7th century AD, the golden period of the kingdom, and reached a not inconsiderable age at the time: 56 years. However, all this information took a while to discover. During the first decade after the discovery of his tomb, The one known as the “Red Queen” was a real enigma.

Part of the mystery that surrounds her is due to the fact that, contrary to Mayan tradition, she was buried without any inscription that would shed a little light on her identity. Fortunately, ten years after the discovery, DNA study techniques were already sufficiently developed to determine who was the woman who was buried in Palenque, covered in red cinnabar and without inscriptions.

The Mayan Red Queen: the second great discovery of Palenque

In 1952, archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier (1906-1979) made what would be the great discovery of Palenque, the great Mayan city: the tomb of Pakal the Great, the monarch who led the city-state for almost seven decades. During his reign, Palenque prospered in an extraordinary way, and formidable administrative and religious buildings were built; among them, the great Temple of the Inscriptions, where, when he died, the king was deposited.

The team was excited about the discovery, which the scientific community compared to that of Tutankhamun, which occurred thirty years earlier. What they did not know was that, right next to the temple where Pakal rested, in a smaller annex building that also served as a temple, was his wife, Isik Tz’aka’ab Ajaw, the Mayan Red Queen.

Red Cinnabar Cover

The new awakening of the sovereign had to wait until 1994 (just now 30 years have passed since its discovery). On June 1, a team of archaeologists led by Arnoldo G. Cruz and Fanny López Jiménez were excavating next to the Temple of the Inscriptions. Suddenly, they came across a corridor that led into three chambers. The largest of them was scrupulously sealed by a wall that still showed signs of ritual smoke, so scientists immediately knew that it was a tomb.

Through a hole in the surface, archaeologists were able to discover a tiny vaulted room in the center of which was a monolithic limestone sarcophagus, around which ceramic objects were scattered. A hole was opened in the lid of the sarcophagus, the psychoduct, designed so that the soul of the deceased could “escape” to the kingdom of the dead.

The smallness of the room made it difficult to open the cover. The team had to hastily design a metal and wood device that would allow the block to be opened using hydraulic jacks (they would later recall with amusement that they had to use those from their own cars). It was 5 in the morning on June 1, 1994 when, finally, the lid of the sarcophagus gave way. Everyone leaned in to see what was inside.

Before them, human bones appeared entirely covered in a reddish substance that they soon identified as cinnabar, a composition of sulfur and mercury that the Mayans used to preserve bodies. But, in addition, the deceased was accompanied by beautiful jades, shells and stones.

Companions for the Beyond

But the most shocking thing was the discovery of two skeletons, located on both sides of the sarcophagus. One was face down on the ground and had his hands tied behind his back; the other, which by size looked like that of a child, had been decapitated. The archaeologists had no doubt: they were facing two victims of a sacrifice, whose objective was for the deceased to have two companions in the Afterlife.

Not only that. According to Mayan cosmogony, the world is moved by blood, which constitutes the food of creation. Thus, the ritual sacrifice implied, in addition to the accompaniment of an important person on his way to the afterlife, a spreading of blood that purified and delivered new energy to the world.

Therefore, one thing was clear: the one who had been buried there was not just anyone. There were several indications in this regard: first, that his body rested right next to the Temple of the Inscriptions (where, remember, the great Pakal slept his eternal sleep). Second, his sarcophagus was full of jade, a highly valued material. Third, that two people had been sacrificed to the dead man, something that was only reserved for the elite. And fourth, that the skull of the deceased was deformed, something characteristic of the Mayan aristocracy.

Who can be the Red Queen?

There was something, however, that didn’t fit. If the deceased really was someone important (as everything seemed to indicate), why were there no inscriptions on his tomb?

The mystery continued for ten more years, during which the person buried there became known as the “Red Queen” because of the cinnabar that covered her. In 2004, DNA technology was perfected enough to study bones genetically. The undertaking was very difficult, since the highly corrosive cinnabar had broken down most of the material. Despite everything, a series of conclusions were drawn:

First, that the Red Queen had been a woman about 150 cm tall, who had died at an age between 50 and 60 years.

Second, he had been fed a diet rich in meat, which corroborated the theory that he was someone belonging to the elite.

And third, that the mysterious woman was not a native of Palenque, but from the area of ​​Tokhtan or Ox te’ kub (in present-day Tabasco), a place rich in minerals; among them, jade.

If the Red Queen was not from Palenque but had been buried as a member of its elite, there was no doubt that she had entered it through marriage. The DNA tests also shed light on her identity: ruling out the hypothesis that she was the mother or grandmother of Pakal the Great, the only thing left was that she was his wife, who arrived in Palenque at the age of thirteen, the result of a diplomatic pact. between both kingdoms.

Isik Tz’aka’ab Ajaw, the great lady of Palenque

Thus, in light of the data, everything indicates that the one known as the “Mayan Red Queen” or “Red Queen of Palenque” is the wife of Pakal the Great, the most important ruler of Lakam Ha’ (the original name of the city). Apparently, her father was a second-class ruler, closely linked to the reigning dynasty of Palenque, a fact attested to by the marriage contract made between his daughter and the king.

Isik Tz’aka’ab Ajaw therefore had the highest status within Mayan society and, like all royal wives, she must have been in charge of the custody of the sacred books. His life, spent within the walls of the city, was filled with comfort and good food, as his DNA attests.

Mayan society was strongly hierarchical. The victims of ritual sacrifices always belonged to the lowest stratum, to which the two people murdered to accompany the queen on her journey to the underworld would undoubtedly belong. DNA tests also shed light on who these companions were: one was a young woman between 20 and 30 years old, whose hands were tied and her heart was ripped out. The other, a boy of about 12 years old, who was beheaded. The three have slept in the Palenque tomb for more than 1,350 years.

By the way, the reason for the non-existence of registrations is an issue that has not yet been clarified. Some scholars suggest that Isik Tz’aka’ab Ajaw was murdered and had to be buried quickly and in a hurry; Others suggest that her husband, King Pakal, had the inscriptions erased for unknown reasons. Be that as it may, her name remains in history as the Mayan Red Queen of Palenque.