Astonishing 1,400-year-old Tomb Featuring Giant Owl Sculpture Discovered in Mexico

[Judi Lynn]

5. 1,400-year-old Zapotec tomb discovered in Mexico features enormous owl sculpture symbolizing death

News
By Kristina Killgrove
published January 26, 2026

The president of Mexico called the discovery of a 1,400-year-old Zapotec tomb in Oaxaca the "most significant archaeological discovery in a decade."



a side view of an ancient tomb with a large owl sculpture with a human head in its beak
A sculpted owl, whose beak covers the painted face of a Zapotec lord, decorates the front of a 1,400-year-old tomb in Oaxaca. (Image credit: Luis Gerardo Peña Torres/INAH)

Archaeologists in Mexico have discovered a 1,400-year-old tomb from the Zapotec culture that features well-preserved details, including a sculpture of a wide-eyed owl with a man in its beak, multicolored murals and calendrical carvings.

Officials found the tomb after following up on an anonymous report of looting at the site. Their investigation revealed the "most significant archaeological discovery in a decade in Mexico," Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, announced at a Jan. 23 news conference in Spanish.

The tomb was discovered in San Pablo Huitzo, a municipality in Oaxaca in southern Mexico, in 2025. It dates to about A.D. 600, when the Indigenous Zapotecs — also known as the "Cloud People" — flourished in the area. The Zapotec civilization was established around 700 B.C. and collapsed due to the Spanish conquest in 1521. However, hundreds of thousands of Zapotec-speaking people still live in Mexico today.

At the entrance to the newly announced tomb, archaeologists found a large carved owl whose beak opens to reveal the painted face of a Zapotec lord. In ancient Zapotec culture, the owl represented death and power, suggesting it held in its mouth a portrait of the ancestor the tomb honors, according to a translated statement from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

More:
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/1-400-year-old-zapotec-tomb-discovered-in-mexico-features-enormous-owl-sculpture-symbolizing-death