gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mayans, Olmecs, Aztecs, archaeology, history, archaeogemology

The jade workshop was built during the Early Classic period and formed part of a planned residential group that included areas for specific activities, a period in which residential tasks became separated from domestic tasks. Its function was identified through materials recovered from the surface and excavations, represented among other things by hundreds of jade flakes. Investigations carried out from 2015 to the present have made it possible to understand the construction processes of the building, as well as the location of burials. Two burials were recorded on the south façade of the structure, situated at different depths, each resting on a fill of jade flakes and covered with flagstones. The most recent discovery, from the 2018 season, was made on the west façade through the location of a termination offering placed on a flagstone. Beneath this find, two skulls and several limbs belonging to at least three adult individuals were preserved, which, owing to the characteristics of the burial, may have formed part of an ossuary.