A Texas archaeologist couple recently unearthed the ancient tomb of a legendary king in Central America — a feat that's been over 40 years in the making.

Arlen Chase and Diane Chase, both professors at the University of Houston, uncovered the 4th-century tomb at the Caracol archaeological site in Belize. The university shared the discovery on July 10. (See the video at the top of this article.) 

Caracol was a major Mayan city established in the 300s A.D. The tomb belonged to Te' K’ab Chaak, the earliest ruler of the city and the founder of its royal dynasty – and it's the first confirmed royal tomb found at the site.

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"Now in ruins, this metropolis was a major political player in Maya history, dominating the southern part of the Yucatan Peninsula from 560 through 680 AD before its abandonment by 900 AD," the University of Houston said in its press release.

Teʼ Kʼab Chaak's tomb was filled with treasures, including 11 pottery vessels and carved bone tubes. Excavators also found a mosaic death mask made of jadeite, along with jewelry made from the same type of gemstone.

The Chases are the foremost scholars on Caracol, and this latest excavation is just one of many they've conducted. 

Their son, Adrian, is also an archaeologist and discovered Caracol's decentralized water system.

Judging from the ruler's remains, the Chases also found that Te' K’ab Chaak was 5'7 in height and died at an advanced age. He also had no remaining teeth.

Speaking to Fox News Digital, Arlen Chase called the recently unearthed artifacts "priceless."

"Professional archaeologists will not put a dollar value on the items they dig up … That being said, the true value of the materials is in what they can tell us about the ancient culture," the expert described.

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"In this case, most of the individual artifacts are unique, but together they not only tell a story about the individual who once owned them but also enable us to provide a date for the burial."

Arlen Chase said the artifacts date to 350 A.D. and "include a full range of vessel types for this time period," including two from the Highlands of Guatemala and shells from the Pacific Ocean. 

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Both these types of treasures, he noted, were the "result of long-distance trade."

Arlen Chase also confirmed that archaeologists identified the burial "based on the size of his chamber, the presence of jadeite mosaic death mask and earflares, and everything being covered in cinnabar." 

Diane Chase told Fox News Digital that the ceramic vessels in particular really showed off Teʼ Kʼab Chaak's status and wealth.

"The two Pacific spondylus shells near his head, the jadeite earflares, the carved jadeite tubular beads, and the mosaic jadeite death mask also show his ability to obtain long-distance prestige items," she noted.

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A car trip between Teotihuacan and Caracol today would take over 23 hours. Ancient people would have had to walk at least 153 days to complete the journey, making the burial offerings particularly special.

Above all, Diane Chase noted that finding a ruler's burial is "extremely unusual, and important."

She said, "This is the first one we have discovered within the ancient city of Caracol."

She added, "Even more important, he is the first ruler of the Caracol dynasty with some 30 other rulers following him (according to the hieroglyphic[s]) before the city was abandoned."

Congress is officially sending a package detailing $9 billion in spending cuts to President Donald Trump’s desk, minutes after midnight on Friday.

The bill, called a "rescissions package," was approved by the House of Representatives in a late-night 216 to 213 vote after intense debate between Republicans and Democrats. Just two Republicans, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Mike Turner, R-Ohio, voted in opposition.

Friday was also the deadline for passing the legislation, otherwise the White House would be forced to re-obligate those funds as planned.

It’s a victory for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., but a mostly symbolic one – the spending cuts bill was largely seen by Trump allies as a test run of a fiscal claw-back process not used in more than two decades.

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"This bill tonight is part of continuing that trend of getting spending under control. Does it answer all the problems? No. $9 billion, I would say is a good start," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said during debate on the bill.

When signed by Trump, it will block $8 billion in funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and $1 billion to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the remainder of the fiscal year. The dollars had been allocated by Congress for the duration of fiscal year 2025.

Republicans celebrated it as a victory for cutting off the flow of U.S. taxpayer dollars to what they called "woke" initiatives abroad, while Democrats accused the right of gutting critical foreign aid.

Rescissions packages are a way for the president to have input in Congress’ yearly appropriations process. The White House sends a proposal to block some congressionally obligated funds, which lawmakers have 45 days to get through the House and Senate.

Republicans have also been able to sideline Democrats so far, with the rescissions process lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51.

The last time a rescissions package was signed into law was 1999.

Consideration of the bill began with a House Rules Committee hearing at 6 p.m. on Thursday evening.

Democrats attempted multiple times throughout the process to weaponize the ongoing inter-GOP fallout over the Jeffrey Epstein case, both in the House Rules Committee and on the chamber floor during debate on the bill. 

Multiple calls were made for votes to force the release of the so-called Epstein "files."

"If every Republican votes to block our attempt to release the records, they are telling Epstein's victims, you don't matter as much as our political convenience. And that should disgust every single one of us," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.

Far-right GOP figures are demanding accountability, while Trump has called on his base to move on after the Department of Justice (DOJ) signaled the case was closed.

Initial plans to begin advancing the bill earlier in the day were quickly scuttled, with Republicans on the committee being concerned about being put into a difficult position with potential Epstein votes.

In the end, a compromise led to the House Rules Committee advancing a separate nonbinding measure dealing with Epstein transparency, on a parallel track to the rescissions bill.

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"All the credible evidence should come out. I've been very clear with members of the House Rules Committee. Republicans have been taking the incoming criticism because they voted to stop the Democrats' politicization of this, and they're trying to stick to their job and move their procedural rules to the floor so we can do our work and get the rescissions done for the American people," Johnson told reporters during negotiations earlier in the day.

Democrats nevertheless pressed on, mentioning Epstein multiple times on the House floor. McGovern even briefly led a chant of "release the files" when closing debate on the bill.

Republicans, in turn, accused Democrats of hypocrisy.

"Interesting how they talk about Jeffrey Epstein, because for four years, Mr. Speaker, President Joe Biden had those files, and not a single Democrat that you're hearing tonight tried to get those files released," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said at one point during the House floor debate.

The House initially voted to advance a $9.4 billion rescissions package, but it was trimmed somewhat in the Senate after some senators had concerns about cutting funding for HIV/AIDS prevention research in Africa.

Trump is expected to sign the bill on Friday.