(http://m.static.newsvine.com/servista/imagesizer?file=boyleE9EE1BFE-FD61-9BBF-990C-4536197BA7E5.jpg&width=600)El Peru-Waka Regional Archaeological ProjectA carved alabaster jar found in the burial chamber of a high-ranking Maya woman led archaeologists to conclude the tomb was that of Lady K'abel, who was one of the great queens of the Classic Maya civilization. These pictures show the two sides of the jar. On the left, the head of a woman rises from the conch-shell carving. On the right, Maya glyphs identify the jar's owner.By Alan Boyle
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Glyphs carved into a tiny alabaster jar have led archaeologists to conclude that the tomb in Guatemala where the jar was found belonged to one of the greatest queens of the Classic Maya civilization, known as Lady K'abel.
"She was not only a queen, but a supreme warlord, and that made her the most powerful person in the kingdom during her lifetime," David Freidel, an archaeologist at Washington University in St. Louis, said in a report released today (http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/24167.aspx). That description would put Lady K'abel in the same class as other ruling women of the ancient world, ranging from the biblical Queen of Sheba (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47907675/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/queen-shebas-gift-evidence-genetic-mixing/) to Egypt's Hatshepsut (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19454551/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/remains-pharaoh-queen-hatshepsut-idd/) and Cleopatra (http://video.msnbc.msn.com/morning-joe/40779003).
NBCNews