Temple XIX, overgrown by jungle and never previously excavated, was selected for investigation because it faces the Group of the Cross in a southern extension of the ceremonial precinct. Here, it was felt, later Palenque rulers might well have built their most important structures, perhaps on top of earlier tombs.

Temple XIX is at the very bottom of the map. In 1999, the Group of the Cross Project discovered a painted tomb in the adjacent Temple XX. (Map courtesy of the Palenque Mapping Project, a FAMSI-sponsored project.)