Get unlimited access to everything VICE has to offer.

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

4 Magazines Delivered to Your Door

Archaeologists Just Found 226 Human Teeth in an Ancient Maya Burial Cave

Researchers found 226 human teeth in an ancient Maya burial cave, uncovering clues about family ties and ancestral rituals.

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

A Maya woman who was buried in a cave in southern Belize sometime between 250 and 400 CE was so revered, according to researchers, that people have been visiting her gravesite for centuries, leaving offerings, and one of the most popular offerings is teeth. 226 human teeth, to be exact.

As detailed in a recent preprint reported on by Science magazine, archaeologists and geneticists analyzed DNA from the remains found in Bats’ub Cave in the mountainous south of Belize. The woman herself had been decapitated post-mortem, her head replaced with a ceramic bowl containing a single jade........

© Vice