Mexico: Archaeologists uncover 1,500-year-old Mayan city
After uncovering the ruins of an ancient Mayan city on a construction site in Mexico, researchers have presented their discoveries. The site hosts an array of palaces and other buildings.
The style of architecture of the buildings at Xiol is more typical of the style found in regions further south
Archaeologists working in the Yucatan region of Mexico have revealed the remains of a centuries-old Mayan city, local media reported on Friday.
The city of Xiol — which means "the spirit of man" in Mayan — is believed to have been the home of some 4,000 people between 600 and 900 CE, during the late classic period.
The area was first uncovered in 2018 on a construction site for a future industrial park close to the town of Merida on Yucatan's northern coast. Archaeologists from the National Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH) then took over the site.
The Mayan civilization was destroyed by Spanish colonizers in the 17th century
"The discovery of this Mayan city is important for its monumental architecture and because it has been restored despite being located on private land," delegate for the INAH center in Yucatan, Arturo Chab Cardenas, told news agency EFE.
More:
https://www.dw.com/en/mexico-archaeologists-uncover-1500-year-old-mayan-city/a-61961351
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Online News Editor
May 27, 2022
2 minutes read
By Martha Lopez Huan
Merida, Mexico, May 27 (EFE).- An ancient Mayan city occupied between 1,400 and 1,100 years ago was discovered four years ago amid the low rainforest of the southeastern Mexican state of Yucatan.
Since then, a group of archaeologists have been cataloging the riches of that site – known as Xiol (Spirit of Man) in the Mayan language – and working to understand the full significance of a locality that was home to more than 4,000 people, including priests, scribes, dignitaries and commoners.
The palace-type buildings constructed in the Mayan Puuc style – discovered in 2018 by 24K, a company that is developing an industrial park in the northern Yucatan municipality of Kanasin – are located in the heart of Yucatan’s Henequen zone, 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) east of Merida.
“The discovery of this Mayan city is important due to its monumental architecture and because it was recovered despite being located on private land,” Arturo Chab Cardenas, representative of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) Yucatan Center in Merida, told Efe.
More:
https://www.laprensalatina.com/archaeologists-unlocking-mysteries-of-ancient-mayan-city-in-southeast-mexico/
Researchers estimate the city, which features the Mayan Puuc style of architecture, to have been occupied from AD600 to 900
A white stone structure has walls on three sides and columns across the front with jars set into a section of the wall.
The ruins of a Mayan site, called Xiol, have been uncovered on a construction site near Mérida, Mexico. Photograph: Lorenzo Hernandez/Reuters
Reuters in Kanasin
Fri 27 May 2022 14.59 EDT
Archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of an ancient Mayan city filled with palaces, pyramids and plazas on a construction site of what will become an industrial park near Mérida, on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula.
The site, called Xiol, has features of the Mayan Puuc style of architecture, archaeologists said, which is common in the southern Yucatán peninsula but rare near Mérida.
“We think more than 4,000 people lived around here,” said Carlos Peraza, one of the archaeologists who led the excavation of the city, estimated to have been occupied from 600 to 900 AD.
“There were people from different social classes … priests, scribes, who lived in these great palaces, and there were also the common people who lived in small buildings,” Peraza said.
Vases, pots and tools were discovered at Xiol, an ancient Mayan city filled with palaces, pyramids and plazas. Photograph: Lorenzo Hernandez/Reuters
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/27/mexico-mayan-city-xiol-discovered
Thanks to JudyLynn for bringing these stories our way. 