Mexico: Lost Mayan city discovered in jungle

Alia Shoaib, Business Insider (businessinsider.com/), June 25, 2023; Crystal Quintero, Pfc. Sandoval, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Mexico's INAH teamed up with the University of Houston to make a startling discovery.

What will the Mexico's Ocomtun look like when it's restored? Mexico's INAH discovered this lost Mayan city in Balamku ecological reserve in Campeche, Mexico on June 20, 2023 (WQ).

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Lost ancient Mayan city discovered in the dense, remote jungle of Mexico by archaeologists

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of an ancient Mayan city in Mexico. The site is sprawling and had several pyramid-like structures measuring around five stories tall.

Mexico is rich in history and lore

Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) discovered an ancient Mayan city inside the Balamku Ecological Reserve in Campeche state, Mexico on June 20, 2023.

The lead researcher said that it must have been an important site between 250 AD and 1000 AD.

Deep in the jungles of Mexico, the previously unknown village was discovered in the Yucatán Peninsula by a team from the Archeology Council of the INAH.

White Latina (Ginger) jests with her Mexican mom

Post-Mayan culture lives on today, alongside Aztec customs, in modern Mexico and the USA.

Mexican pyramid: The Castle or Temple of Kukulkan (Chichén Itzá, México, wiki)

The site has several pyramid-like structures. measuring around 50 feet in height, Mexico's INAH said.

The site must have been an important center of the Central Lowlands during the Classic period dating back between 250 AD and 1000 AD, researchers said, based on ceramic collected from the site.

• [EDITORIAL NOTE: There are amazing and remarkable similarities between Mexican Buddhist (see Rick Fields' A Narrative History of Buddhism in America) archeological sites prior to Columbus and the arrival of European Christianity/Catholicism and Buddhist/Hindu archeological sites like Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and others in the jungles of Cambodia near Siem Reap. Both jungles are the source of monolithic new discoveries every few years thanks in large part to LiDAR and growing scientific interest.]
• Ancient Maya masons had a smart way to make plaster stronger (msn.com) An ancient Maya city might seem an unlikely place for people to be experimenting with proprietary chemicals, but scientists think that’s exactly what happened at Copán, an archaeological complex nestled in Mesoamerica, in a valley in the mountainous rainforests of what is now western Honduras (just below Mexico).
• Impressive facts about the pre-Mexican Aztec Empire
• VIDEO: Scientists finally cracked the code of the Mayan Calendar (Dailymotion)

Mayan Calendar was more advanced than this later Aztec one.

Led by archeologist Ivan Sprajc, the team undertook a 60km (roughly 37 mile) journey through the dense vegetation of the Balamkú ecological reserve in Campeche state.

"The biggest surprise turned out to be the site located on a 'peninsula' on high ground, surrounded by extensive wetlands," Ṡprajc said in a statement. "Its monumental nucleus covers more than 50 hectares and has various large buildings, including several pyramidal structures over 15 meters [50 feet] high."

The cylindrical columns are believed to be entrances to the upper rooms. The researchers named the site Ocomtún, meaning "stone column" in the Mayan language.

"It is possible that they are markets or spaces destined for community rituals, but only future research will shed light on the functions of these groups, which represent a regional peculiarity," Sprajc said.

Sprajc said that the site most likely underwent changes between 800 and 1000 AD and then experienced the collapse of the Lowland Maya civilization in the 10th century.

Mexico's INAH also said that the discovery was made partly through airborne laser scanning carried out by the University of Houston, which helped locate the site in an area spanning 3,000 square km (roughly 1158 square miles) of the uninhabited jungle.

Now a train will ruin it all, collapsing caverns

The Maya are considered to have been one of the most advanced civilizations in the Western hemisphere before the arrival of European settlers enslavers, invaders, and violent occupiers.

They lived in an area that now encompasses parts of modern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize and were known for their impressive architecture, love of ball games [including a game that was a mix of soccer (futbol) and basketball], advanced calendar systems, writing, and mathematics. Source