Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have uncovered a rare statue of Kʼawiil, the Maya lightning god.

Kʼawiil is associated with lightning, serpents, fertility, and maize, and is often represented having a zoomorphic head with large eyes, a long, upturned snout, and an attenuated serpent foot which represents a lightning bolt.

From descriptions of the Maya New Year rituals, written by Diego de Landa Calderón, a Spanish Franciscan bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yucatán, and depictions of these rituals in the Dresden Codex, it can be inferred that Kʼawiil was called Bolon Dzacab during the 16th century.

Although depictions of Kʼawiil can be found in Maya reliefs and the Dresden and Maya codices of Mexico, only three statues of Kʼawiil have been previously discovered, all of which come from the city of Tikal in Guatemala.