Pakal’s Tomb: Why Does the Mayan King Look Like He Is Piloting a Machine?

Podcast: Ancient Astronauts · Forbidden Knowledge Network

Opublikowano: 2026-10-06

In 1952, archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier and his team reached a sealed royal burial chamber beneath Palenque’s Temple of the Inscriptions after years of clearing a concealed stairway. Inside stood the sarcophagus associated with the Maya ruler K’inich Janaab’ Pakal and its monumental carved limestone lid. In 1968, Erich von Däniken popularized a startling reading of the relief: Pakal, he argued, appeared to be an astronaut operating a spacecraft. The angled figure, apparent controls, projection near the face, and forms beneath the body have made the image one of the most recognizable artifacts in ancient-astronaut literature. Yet the lid...