Temple 33 was the funerary monument of Siyaj Chan K'awiil II, a 5th-century king of Tikal; it was built directly over his tomb, which was cut into the underlying bedrock.

[11] During this time Siyaj Chan K'awiil II's Stela 31 was hauled up into the second phase sanctuary and placed directly above the original tomb in a ceremony involving fire and the breaking of pottery.

[14] The excavators published a response to Berlin in which they stood by their original decision and affirmed that much had been learnt from the dismantling of the structure, including construction methods that were probably similar to those used in other Late Classic pyramids and the clarification of the stratigraphic sequence of Tikal.

[17] English Mayanist J. Eric Thompson contextualized the actions of the excavators by stating "...even granting partial demolition was a wrong decision, the loss to mankind is not too serious.

The rear face of the stela is carved with a lengthy hieroglyphic text that legitimises Siyaj Chan K'awiil's right to rule through his mother's line and the foundation of the new Teotihuacan-linked dynasty; it briefly mentions Siyaj Chan K'awiil's accession, the baktun ending of 435, the monument's dedication and the death of the king's grandfather Spearthrower Owl in 439.

The king appears to have been hastily interred in a tomb that was still being prepared while the burial took place, since plaster from the walls was splashed on some of the grave goods and a flint pick was accidentally left behind by a workman.

[27] The walls of the rock tomb were painted with hieroglyphs that locate the chamber in the divine otherworld and includes a completion date of March 457, a year after the death of the king.

[31] The deceased were accompanied by 27 ceramic vessels; fragments of five were submitted for neutron activation analysis, which revealed a mix of local and imported pottery.

[32] Among all the Maya pottery was a single non-Maya offering, consisting of a black tripod cylinder vessel that was decorated with Teotihuacan-style imagery.

[33] Although the vessel was of pure Teotihuacan style, its lid was of mixed Teotihuacan-Maya form and was probably manufactured locally to fit the foreign import.

[36] The tomb was cut via a horizontal shaft accessed through a stairway leading down from the lowest terrace of the North Acropolis; the walls were coated with stucco, onto which the hieroglyphs were painted as frescos.

[37] The shaft was tunnelled 2.1 metres (7 ft) down below the terrace and the tomb chamber measured 30 by 16 feet (9 by 5 m) (NS by EW), forming a rounded rectangle.