(PatriotWise.com) — A team of archeologists found the ruins of an ancient Mayan city deep in the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula of southern Mexico, the Daily Caller reported.
The Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History said in a statement last week that the Mayan city, which was found in the Balamkú ecological reserve, dates from the Classic period between 250 to 1000 AD.
The search began in March when the University of Houston used laser scanning in the region and located multiple areas with “pre-Hispanic structures.”
A team headed by Slovenian archeologist Ivan Sprajc then spent May and June studying and documenting the site. And what they discovered surprised them.
In one unexplored area of the jungle, Sprajc’s team found a city covering more than 50 hectares with stone columns, buildings, and multiple pyramids. The archeologists named the city Ocomtún (Mayan for “stone column”).
Ocomtún, with large pyramidlike buildings, stone columns, a ball field and imposing buildings and plazas, was likely an important city, anthropologists say. https://t.co/4ZNdwGXmix
— NBC Latino (@NBCLatino) June 25, 2023
The city surrounds three main plazas, between which are a series of “low and elongated structures” that appear to be arranged in concentric circles, Sprajc said.
Researchers believe that the stone columns likely served as entrances to the upper rooms of the buildings on the site.
The archeologists also found what they believe could be an athletic court for a ball game.
According to Sprajc, most of the ceramics collected at the site are from the Late Classic period which dates from 600-800 AD. However, further analysis of the samples should provide “more reliable data on the sequences of operations,” Sprajc said.
Based on analysis of the structures, the archeologists believe that the city collapsed sometime around 800 to 1000 BC.
Sprajc told the BBC that the city likely collapsed due to sociopolitical changes as well as the “demographic decline” in the central lowlands.
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