 Although
it seemed hardly possible, the contents of the Inner Chamber were even
more dazzling than those already discovered. As predicted, a second body
was present, and this one appeared to have been buried with more care and
ritual than the first. Wearing the Ceremonial
Head Dress (no.8), it had been placed in a highly polished white sarcophagus
(no.9), which had in turn been sealed behind an exquisite and elaborately
hung translucent curtain (no.10). The proportions of the sarcophagus had
been precisely determined to prevent the deceased from ever sliding down
into a fully reclined position. Two water trumpets, one about five feet
above the other, projected from the end wall facing the deceased. Some
of the music required during the final ceremony was produced by forcing
water from the sacred spring through the trumpets and out through a small
hole in the floor of the sarcophagus. Other music came from the music box
(no.6) situated above the Sacred Urn (no.2).
Articles No.1 and No.4 were used in preparing the body for its final journey
and No.5 was he Sacred Parchment, pieces of which were periodically placed
in the urn during the ceremony. The Headband, which bore the ceremonial
chant, and the Sacred Collar (not numbered) were still in place on the
Sacred Urn to which they had been secured following the ceremony. |
The
sacred collar was worn by the ranking celebrant in the burial ceremony.
The collar is made of the highest-grade porcelain and the workmanship is
the finest quality (as are all the collars we found at the Motel - another
indication that this was the tomb of very wealthy and important families).
Experts date this collar at A.D. 1989, making it one of the earliest collars
ever found. The ancient North Americans seemed to have had some proscription
against the use of graven images in their religious artifacts, preferring
words to pictures.