© ReutersA Mayan carving at El Zotz archaeological site in Northern Guatemala
Researchers uncovered the burial chamber in Guatemala's the jungle-covered Peten region in May, but the discovery has only just been made public.
The tomb is thought to date from 300 - 600AD and is located beneath the El Diablo pyramid in the city of El Zotz.
The well-sealed tomb - measuring ten feet long by nearly four feet wide - helped preserve textiles, wood carvings and red and yellow ceramics decorated with fish and wild boar motifs.
"It's like their Fort Knox, their depositary of wealth with textiles and ... trade items - and that's what's overwhelming about it," said Stephen Houston, the dig's director at El Zotz, who is based at Brown University in the United States.
The team had been investigating the site when they came across a series of buried bowls containing the remains of human teeth and fingers. They dug further and lowered a light into a hole in the ground, which revealed "an explosion of color in all directions - reds, greens, yellows."
Mr Houston said: "When we opened the tomb, I poked my head in and there was still, to my astonishment, a smell of petrification and a chill that went to my bones.
"The chamber had been so well sealed, for over 1600 years, that no air and little water had entered."
The Central American nation is dotted with pyramids and ruins from the ancient Mayan civilisation, which reached a high point between 250 and 900AD and covered territory from modern day Honduras to central Mexico.
Archeologists said the dig at El Zotz, which means "bat" in several Mayan languages, has provided fresh insights into the civilisation's funeral rites.
Adolescents were frequently sacrificed during the burial of Mayan kings. But in an unusual discovery, archeologists excavating at El Zotz uncovered bones belonging to children as young as 12 months old.
The dig also revealed evidence that the king was buried in a traditional dancer's costume, adorned with conch shells and slivers of jade, which is believed to be a first.
El Zotz is near the larger forest-wreathed ruins at Tikal, which are a popular destination for US tourists.
Historians say El Zotz was often caught in the middle of battles between Tikal and Calakmul, which lies to the north in modern day Mexico.
Like many archeological sites in Guatemala's remote Peten region, El Zotz is at risk from looters, poachers and loggers trying to make a living out of the forest, as well as drug traffickers seeking to move cocaine into Mexico.
"We still have a great deal of work to do," Mr Houston said.
"Remember, we've only been out of the field for a few weeks and we're still catching our breath after a very difficult, technical excavation.
"Royal tombs are hugely dense with information and require years of study to understand. No other deposits come close."
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter