Pyramid burial tomb in Mexico unearthed - oldest ever found

SHOOT: Always find the attitude of the ancients to death and resurrection quaint and fascinating. Seems they tossed a 20 year old chap into the chamber for good measure. Probably as an assistant to the afterlife. Good luck with that idea.

clipped from news.yahoo.com MEXICO CITY – Archaeologists in southern Mexico announced Monday they have discovered a 2,700-year-old tomb of a dignitary inside a pyramid that may be the oldest such burial documented in Mesoamerica. The tomb held a man aged around 50, who was buried with jade collars, pyrite and obsidian artifacts and ceramic vessels. Archaeologist Emiliano Gallaga said the tomb dates to between 500 and 700 B.C. Based on the layers in which it was found and the tomb's unusual wooden construction, "we think this is one of the earliest discoveries of the use of a pyramid as a tomb, not only as a religious site or temple," Gallaga said. Pre-Hispanic cultures built pyramids mainly as representations of the levels leading from the underworld to the sky; the highest point usually held a temple.