For those of you who are well-versed in the study of the ancient Maya, the story of the discovery of the tomb of K'inich Janaab' Pakal at Palenque is a familiar one – how in 1952, the Mexican archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier while exploring and excavating the Classic Maya site of Palenque, Mexico found a mysterious hidden stairway at the bottom of the interior of a temple. He then discovered a 1200-year-old magnificent undisturbed tomb in a chamber containing an intricately carved sarcophagus lid with a royal skeleton inside. The task of getting to the bottom of the stairway was daunting. He and his crew spent four swelteringly hot seasons (three long seasons and one very short one) digging out the solidified mortar inside the 80-foot-deep stairs in the belly of the Temple of the Inscriptions. That information is relatively well-known, but the fascinating history that I am going to relate to you is the “story behind the story” of how all that happened. For instance, in his INAH Informes, he noted the funding assistance that he received from Nelson Rockefeller but did not elaborate as to how that funding materialized or how much it was. I am going to reveal that and include many other historical tidbits that are not common knowledge. It’s a story of the trials and triumphs encountered during archaeological excavation work including the qualities of friendship, trust, and scholarship between individuals and agencies. On the other hand, the story reveals moments of frustration, mystery, ineptitude and mistrust among those same persons and institutions – qualities that illuminate the fallibility of human nature. I hope you will join us.