An NIU anthropology professor directed a team of students and scientists who uncovered spectacular 1,200-year-old jade and flint artifacts in an ancient Mayan city.

William Fash led 12 students to the discovery in Copan, a Mayan city in western Honduras.

Of the 12 students currently involved in the Honduran archeological excavations led by Fash, eight are NIU students, two are enrolled at Yale, one at Princeton and one at the University of Illinois in Urbana.

One of the artifacts was a jade figure which was buried under an alter in the city nearly 12 centuries ago. “This is the finest ceremonial offering that has yet been discovered in the ruins of Copan,” Fash said.

Mercer Cross, of the National Geographic Society in Washington D.C., said a student found the jade figure. He said David Stuart, a Princeton University sophomore, found the artifacts March 5 as he was supervising the crew during an excavation beneath an altar. Cross said Stuart found two large jade pieces, both carved in the shape of human and supernatural figures.

“They are clearly the two finest jades that have ever been discovered in the ancient city,” Fash said. “The really neat thing about both jades is that they are heirlooms,” he said. Fash said the pieces had been owned by previous kings in Copan and passed down from generation to generation.

Stuart said the jades were carved during the Early Classic Period (A.D. 250-600), centuries before they were placed under the altar. Stuart said that he named the one jade “Sumo,” and it is seven and one-quarter inches tall. Cross said the other jade is about 10 inches long and is the largest jade ever found at Copan.

Cross said three large, elaborate flint spear heads, each with seven Mayan faces chipped in profile, also were discovered.

Other discoveries were a spiny oyster shell and several stingray spines, Cross said. Fash said the most exciting aspect of the find is a reddish-brown substance inside the oyster shell. “If it is dried blood,” as Fash said, “it almost certainly will be that of a Maya king.”

The Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History displayed the artifacts in a town near Copan on March 19 in observance of a Catholic religious holiday, Cross said. Since it is a Catholic community, the scientists wanted it displayed in the town for people to celebrate.

“It is very exciting to us to be among the first archeologists who have paid any attention to the local population and made an effort to get them to realize and appreciate the fabulous patrimony they have there,” said Fash.