In Yucatan

A portrait carved in a bone pendant reveals the deformed face of the Maya ruler Ukit Kan Lek Tok, famous for giving splendor to Ek Balam kingdom between 770 and 801 AD. Anthropological studies verified the ruler’s physiognomy.
 
Researchers of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) Leticia Vargas de la Peña and Victor Castillo Borges, co-directors of the Ek Balam Archaeological Project, mentioned that the royal deviated jawbone and broken lip are represented in the pendant.
 
Physical anthropologist Vera Tiesler, from the Autonomous University of Yucatan (UAdY), performed analysis to the osseous remains of the governor. The results confirmed the pathologies that gave the face its particular aspect: dental problems such as caries, tartar and alveolar problems affected his mouth.
 
Three severe infections were detected; one of them affected his molars and premolars, provoking the loss of 5 pieces when he was alive. The right mandible suffered bone loss, affecting the symmetry of the face.
 
The appearance of the upper lip of Unit Kan Lek Tok captured in the portrait, could not be confirmed by physical anthropological studies. “We can affirm that the bone pendant is the only portrait known that represents the ruler at the end of his life; there are images where he is represented young and at his better shape”, commented the Yucatan INAH Center archaeologists.
 
The remains of the ruler were put in a precinct known as Sak Xok Naah or White House of Lecture, which zoomorphic façade outstands.
 
This space “besides having the extraordinarily decorated banquette, with 4 stucco modeled figureheads representing the solar deity, had the aim of being the tomb of Ukit Kan Lek Tok”, mentioned Vargas and Castillo.
 
“The remains were accompanied with a rich offering, conformed with 21 vessels and more than 7,000 jadeite, shell, bone and pyrite pieces, as well as a rare frog-figured golden pendant and 3 pearls”.
 
The Maya ahaw was represented in other objects and monuments of Ek Balam archeological zone, as the Column 1 (originally attached to the wall that covered the Sak Xok Naah), a tripod vessel and the Stela 1, where he was represented as a great warrior, ballgame player and divine ancestor, respectively. I
 
Victor Castillo declared that due to the place where the glyph-emblem was found, we know now the real name of the ancient kingdom: Talol. Nevertheless, it cannot be discarded that Ek Balam was the name of the city, because in other vestiges references to this name were found.
 
The INAH experts concluded that several glyph texts and images recovered at Ek Balam, painted, carved and stucco modeled, have allowed perception of its history and development during the Late/Terminal Classic period (600-900 AD).
 
“This flowering was propelled by its rulers and especially by Ukit Kan Lek Tok, who left at his royal palace at the heart of Talol kingdom, multiple constancies of his presence and power, in a spectacular set of facades and interiors”.