Tomb of the Red Queen, Royal Maya tomb in Palenque, Mexico

The Tomb of the Red Queen sits within Temple XIII at the Palenque archaeological site and holds a limestone sarcophagus containing the remains of a high-ranking Maya woman. The burial structure includes multiple connected chambers, with the main room housing the sarcophagus and two additional spaces holding offerings and other burials.

Fanny López Jiménez found the tomb in April 1994 while doing stabilization work on the stairs of Temple XIII, next to the Pyramid of the Inscriptions. The team of Arnoldo González Cruz entered the vaulted chamber on 31 May and lifted the lid on 1 June. The burial dates to 600–700 AD; the woman's skeleton was aged 38 to 40 by Arturo Romano Pacheco.

The name comes from the bright red cinnabar powder that covered the woman's remains and the objects in the sarcophagus when the tomb was opened. The burial lies in Temple XIII, a stepped pyramid about twelve metres high beside the Pyramid of the Inscriptions. The chamber walls carry no paintings or decoration.

The burial chamber lies inside Temple XIII, a stepped pyramid about twelve metres high beside the Pyramid of the Inscriptions, reached by an external stairway. The chamber itself has no wall paintings and is not entered; the finds, including the malachite mask pieces, are kept in the site museum. The temple's internal stairway had collapsed and was blocked by debris before the 1994 discovery.

Analysis of strontium isotopes in the woman's teeth shows she grew up in the area around Palenque, pointing to local origins. These chemical clues supported the theory that the burial belongs to Tz'akbu Ajaw, the wife of King Pakal.