A Team Dug the Same City for 40 Years — Then Found Its Founding King

Arlen and Diane Chase had been excavating Caracol together for over 40 years. In 1993, they documented a tomb beneath the Caana pyramid and moved on. In 2025, they broke through its floor — and found an entirely separate chamber underneath. Inside was Te K'ab Chaak, the city's founding king, buried since 331 AD. Diane Chase later said that if one prior season's excavation had gone just 40 centimeters deeper, they would have found him decades earlier. The tomb held eleven pottery vessels, one possibly bearing the king's own painted portrait. A jadeite mosaic death mask so rare, the Chases had only ever found one other in four decades of digging. And cremation evidence proving contact between the Maya and the distant empire of Teotihuacan began a full generation earlier than anyone believed. The king himself died old, toothless, standing roughly 5 foot 7 — and the wealth buried with him tells its own story about power, one that later rulers deliberately walked away from. This is what forty years in one place can still give you, if you never stop digging. I'm Dr. James Croft. Thanks for watching. Caracol Belize, Te Kab Chaak, Maya King Tomb, Arlen Chase, Diane Chase, Maya Civilization, Ancient Maya, Jadeite Death Mask, Teotihuacan, Maya Archaeology, Belize Archaeology, Founding King Tomb, Maya Ruins, Caana Pyramid, Ancient Tomb Discovery, Mesoamerican Archaeology, Maya History, Lost Civilization, Archaeology Documentary, Ancient Burial, Royal Tomb Discovery, Maya Culture, Central America Archaeology, Archaeology News, Deep History, Ancient Kings, Mesoamerica, Maya Empire, Archaeology Discovery 2025, Historical Mystery #Caracol #Maya #AncientMaya #Archaeology #Belize #MayaCivilization #LostCivilizations #AncientHistory #Documentary #Teotihuacan #HistoryDocumentary #ArchaeologyNews #DeepHistory #MesoamericanArchaeology #RoyalTomb