The Jade Head: it is Belize's most prized artifact. A truly iconic object, it appears on our currency, countless postcards, products and posters promoting Belize, and it comes to mind almost reflexively when we think of the grandeur of the Maya civilization that once spread across Belize. Indeed, the Jade Head is all this and more, but is it even ours? For decades, the widely held belief has been that like many Maya antiquities discovered in Belize, the jade head has been secret-ed out of Belize and is being hoarded somewhere else, most likely in Canada where there's no shortage of stolen Belizean treasures. But that's not the case with the jade head, it's right here, and it's been here for the past three decades. But where in Belize can you safely preserve an object that is 1,400 years old and the only one of its kind in the world? We went on a mission yesterday to find out and that took us to the vaults of the Belize Bank.

Jules Vasquez Reporting,
At 1:30 pm, Director of the Institute of Archaeology Dr. Jaime Awe and I walked to the Belize Bank on Albert Street where the Special Patrol Unit was already in place along with Brian Woodeye and George Thompson from the Department of Archaeology. They had the documents in quadruplicate which they reviewed along with Dr. Awe as the armed police stood guard. From there we went into the bank and asked to see the precious object.

Dr. Jaime Awe,
[Talking to security guard] "Most Belizeans believe that the Jade Head is not in Belize so we're recording that it is indeed here and indeed held in the vault in the Belize Bank so we would try to dispel the mythology."

After Dr. Awe signed off on the documents, all four of them, but the bank wasn't quite ready to dispel that mythology. The keeper of the vault, Sandra Vasquez explained that for security reasons we couldn't videotape into the vault. But that was only one small hitch in the multi-tasked process that is involved in seeing the jade head.

Dr. Jaime Awe,
"Try to dispel a myth, that myth is that we in Belize do not have the Jade Head. I can assure you that we do have the Jade Head and its right here at home but it's not something that you can just decide on a whim that we want to see the Jade Head, there's a protocol and that protocol requires several days preparation. As Director of the Institute of Archeology I have to make an official request to the Belize Bank, where it is in safe storage, requesting that they release it to us. The request also has to have a document signed by four different people: myself, another member of the Department of Archeology, another member of the institution, and somebody outside of the institution; for today's request the outside was Mr. Gibson who is from the Department of Archives. Once we make that arrangement we also have to make arrangements for protection when it is out of the custody of the bank, hence the reason why we get in touch with the police force, in fact today we have members of the Dragon Unit who are providing protection once that Jade Head leaves this bank and then goes wherever it is that we want to show it."

Jules Vasquez,
Obviously with all the preparation and all the ceremony, all of this is like foreplay, in terms of does it still fill you up with some sense of excitement or some sense of apprehension whenever you are going in to retrieve it?

Dr. Jaime Awe,
"Without a doubt. Yes even though I have seen it before and I've held it before, its not something that you do everyday and it brings with it a certain amount of excitement. It's a unique object, you won't find another one of its type anywhere in the world and I feel very privileged, I mean how many Belizeans have the opportunity to hold this object which we revere in terms of our national symbols of identity so I feel very special, very privileged, and I think it does sort of gives you a little bit of goose bumps every time you get the opportunity to get it out."

And today I got to share in that opportunity. We couldn't tape inside the vault but we were there when the safe deposit box was taken out.

Dr. Jaime Awe,
"We've just managed to get the box out of the safe and these keys are only held by the Archaeology Office but this is kept here at the bank and we usually have to verify that it is indeed in here, and I think for this I will use my glasses. It's got several different compartments and this is the largest piece of carved jade found at any Maya site anywhere and like we were saying, the crown jewel of Belize. One of the tell tale signs that we know that it is the original one is you can see that it has like a chip right there and that has been there ever since."

After that check, he re-packed it, all the layers of foam plus the silica gel to take it back to the Museum of Belize. George Thompson carted it out of the bank, under the same heavy security, this time four machine gun toting SPU officers surrounded him.

It was taken over to the museum where the SPU stood guard for re-opening where and again to prove its authentic, it was taken out of the safety box and taken over to a scale. It was placed on the scale and weighed, again 4.3 kilos, just under nine and a half pounds; another sign that it is the genuine article.

Dr. Jaime Awe,
"The story of the Jade Head is such that it was discovered in 1968 at the site of Altun Ha. An archeologist at the Royal Ontario Museum was excavating what we call structured B4, this is a drawing of what that structure would have looked like, its other name is the temple of the masonry altar because there is an altar up at the top of the pyramid. Here is a drawing of what that structure would have looked like somewhere between 600 and 650 AD which is the time that they put in this tomb and it is in that tomb that the Jade Head was found. I will flip this so you can see another picture of the actual tomb. This drawing here shows the skeleton of an adult male, this individual was certainly an elite person, we know that he was interred or buried in this important temple with a lot of objects, over 40 objects, but the most important piece being the large Jade Head that you can see in green on the drawing."

Jules Vasquez,
Who is this person?

Dr. Jaime Awe,
"This is probably one of the early Classical rulers of the site of Altun Ha. Now in the past a lot of people used to say they are all priests but today we know these people were rulers, maybe yes they would have done some priestly activities but they were like your king and queen and presidents or prime ministers of a modern country. For its size in comparison to other large Mayan cities, Altun Ha was incredibly rich. Now what was the source of the wealth of Altun Ha? We think because of its proximity to the sea, that it exploited a lot of the marine resources, and it exploited it inland, and thus as a commercial center it became very wealthy allowing its rulers to be able to afford a lot of these very impressive objects like the Jade Head."

And Dr. Awe explained that this most valuable of antiquities unmatched in the world of the ancient Maya is singular. You appreciate how special it is when it is seen here beside a replica on your left which was made from a mold. The one on the left is the one that is on display in the museum on an everyday basis.

Dr. Jaime Awe,
"A lot of time people would look at this and say how do we know its real? Well we know that this object should weigh just over 4 kilograms and that's just over 9 pounds so we go over there and we put it on the scale to ensure that it is again what we brought from the bank. One of the things you can tell about jade that is hard to replicate is the mottled color of the green, its like it has a million little specks of white or a lighter color mixed in with the green and its incredibly difficult to get that kind of color in modern textures. We know that its actually trying to depict the Sun God which is known as Kunich A'hau in Maya. Kunich is day so the passing of a sun is like the passing of a day and A'hau is Lord so our Lord Sun. We know that because there are some carvings that you find on every depiction of the sun god: on the forehead you can see the little eyes there and a smiley face right up on top. Other thing that is really common too with the sun god is that it has a little serpent right around the mouth; you can see the tail right here and it goes right across and over here you can see what looks like a scroll. So again if you go to Xunantunich there is a little mask on the side of their central stairway and it also is a Kunich Ah'au, a sun god, and you can see that. Sometimes what we call the T shape symbol as well, you will see it in the teeth or on other parts of the depiction of the individual. Its an incredible piece of art because it was carved out of one solid piece of jade, it is still the largest three dimensional carved jade object found in the Maya world. There are other things that are unique about it, jade is one of the hardest stones to carve and these people use stones tools to carve this so it didn't take one day, two weeks, a few months, the artists who made this was not only gifted but also it took him probably years for him to have this finished product; it was an incredible feat. This object was not made by somebody who was practicing at being a stone carver, this was done by somebody of exceptional skills so I would totally with your comparison that whoever produced this was the equivalent of a Picasso, the equivalent of a Michelangelo, the equivalent of one of these great historic artisans that we read about when we do art history."

And while the Jade Head is real and right here in Belize, what then is the explanation for the story, a myth actually, which states that it is in Canada?

Dr. Jaime Awe,
"It was discovered like I said in 1968 by an archaeologist who was working with the Royal Ontario Museum at the time and after the excavations were done the Royal Ontario Museum, who funded the research at Altun Ha, requested that it be loaned to them for a period of three years."

And its been sitting in the Belize Bank, previously the Royal Bank for all those years.

Dr. Jaime Awe,
"All that time it has been in Belize and it has been kept in the vault at the Belize Bank, before it used to be at the Royal Bank."

Jules Vasquez,
Why is it important that it is in Belize and why is it important that we know it is in Belize?

Dr. Jaime Awe,
"It is important because what we at the NICH want people to know is that we are charged by the country, by the people of Belize, to safeguard, to try to protect and preserve the past, this object is one of these symbols of the past, this is one of the objects that reflect our national identity as a people and as a country and it is important that people know it is here in Belize and that we continue to make every effort to ensure that it will be here a hundred generations from now, and your great great grandchildren can still look at it and go wow."

And it made me do the same.

Jules Vasquez,
Finally Jaime, may I?

Dr. Jaime Awe,
"Yes you could kiss it.

The Jade Head is taken out intermittently for display. It requires no polish or special care, just the silica gel to fend off moisture.

7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited and Prepared for the internet by Keith Swift