A detailed greenstone mask discovered beneath Mexico’s Pyramid of the Sun could be a portrait of a single person.INAH uncovered a variety of artefacts, including clay ceramics, three serpentine human figurines, and, of course, the distinctive green mask, after entering the ground level through a 380-foot-long tunnel excavated in the 1930s.  But wait, there’s more to it! 

Do you think it’s a recent discovery?

The photo that started circulating of a green mask found in pyramid ruins that has the internet freaking out Twitter yesterday (12 August) is actually from 2011. The mask’s image has now resurfaced on Twitter, with one post receiving over 13,000 likes and 1,500 retweets. Archaeologists in Mexico have discovered a small cache of artefacts that may have been left as offerings to commemorate the commencement of building on the Teotihuacan Pyramid of the Sun about 2,000 years ago. Pieces of obsidian and ceramics, as well as animal remains, are among the offerings. Three human sculptures made of greenstone, one of which is a serpentine mask that scholars believe was a portrait, are perhaps the most stunning. 

Know more about the pyramid of the Sun

Mexico is steeped in pre-Columbian archaeology, which provides insight into the country’s complex history. The Pyramid of the Sun, one of the most spectacular constructions, is full of unexpected surprises. The Sun Pyramid is the grandest monument in Teotihuacan, a pre-Columbian ancient city northeast of Mexico City that originates from around 100 B.C. The city persisted urbanised for hundreds of years, and inhabitants are thought to have begun construction on the Pyramid of the Sun around the year A.D. 100. An archaeologist from Arizona State University, George Cowgill, provided some information on the ancient city of Teotihuacan, where the pyramid was constructed. Teotihuacan was given the name Pyramid of the Sun by the Aztecs, who came to visit centuries after it had been deserted. The world’s third-largest pyramid has no original recorded name.  Teotihuacan, previously known as the City of the Gods, was a prosperous city. It had a population of 200,000 at its zenith. Despite this, experts have next to no clue who these influential figures were or why they fled. An archaeologist stated, ” “Before the 1400s, it was the largest city in the Western Hemisphere. It had tens of thousands of residential compounds and dozens of pyramid temples equivalent to Egypt’s greatest pyramids.” Teotihuacan had a population of roughly 125,000 people in the first millennium (1 AD to 500 AD), making it one of the world’s most populous towns at the time. 

The mask isn’t the only thing that should make you go nuts!

A Green Mask Found in Pyramid Ruins Has the Internet Freaking Out isn’t the real result of the archaeology study. There’s hell a lot of it! In 2004, beheaded human remains, perhaps sacrifices, were discovered near the Pyramid of the Moon. For the past several years, historians from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have been mining 59 shafts and three minor passageways within the pyramid in quest of value propositions and tombs. They discovered seven human graves, some of which were infants, dating back to before the Pyramid of the Sun was built.  The researchers also discovered two offerings in the pyramid’s base, one of which contained the green mask and the other of which was “deposited as part of a dedication ritual,” according to Perez Cortez, an investigator with the Zacatecas INAH Center. 

Let’s just hope it doesn’t end up in the hands of Jim Carrey

Because of the apparent parallels, references to Jim Carrey’s The Mask emerged solid and quick. People immediately began linking the green mask found in the ruins of the pyramid that has the internet freaking out to Jim Carrey’s The Mask after a “facts account” tweeted a photo of a serpentine stone mask discovered in a pyramid in Teotihuacan, Mexico. You will get twitter flooded with such hilarious tweets. 

1 Do you think it’s a recent discovery?2 Know more about the pyramid of the Sun3 The mask isn’t the only thing that should make you go nuts!4 Let’s just hope it doesn’t end up in the hands of Jim Carrey