Tomb of Maya 'snake' Queen discovered in Guatemala K'abel, considered the greatest ruler of the Late Classic period, ruled with her husband, K'inich Bahlam, for at least 20 years in the 7th century, Mr Freidel said. She was the military governor of the Waka kingdom for her family, the imperial house of the Snake King, and she carried the title "Kaloomte" - translated as "Supreme Warrior," higher in authority than her husband, the king. Mr Freidel, who is from Washington University in St Louis, said the findings at the ruins of El Peru-Waka were "serendipitous." "In retrospect, it makes a lot of sense that the people of Waka buried her in this particularly prominent place in their city," Mr Freidel said. For Marcello A. Canuto, director of the Research Center of Central Tulane University in Louisiana, the alabaster identifies the tomb as that of the "Lady of Kaan" and noted there is a stela erected in her honour at the archaeological site. "She has been given all the honours a male king would have been given," Canuto said. It's not the first such tomb discovered, but it gives an idea of the important role women played in forging dynastic alliances, and the status they enjoyed. Traci Ardren, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Miami and a Mayan archaeologist specialising in gender relations, said the traditional belief that Maya men occupied a more important place than women has to do with the amount of images in Mayan art that show men in positions of authority. "People like Lady K'abel show there were examples of extraordinary women that were able to position themselves in powerful roles, were incredibly successful and were accepted by society," Ardren said.