(Daily Vantage.com) Archeologists found the ruins of an ancient Mayan city in the Yucatan Peninsula of southern Mexico, the Daily Wire reported.
In a statement last week, the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History said the Mayan city, which was found in the jungle of the Balamk ecological reserve, dates from the Classic period between 250 and 1000 AD.
Slovenian archeologist Ivan Sprajc, who headed the team, said that what surprised them the most was that the site was located on high ground surrounded by wetlands. The city, complete with pyramid structures and buildings, covers over 50 hectares, Sprajc said.
In March, a team from the University of Houston used laser scanning in the region and located multiple areas with “pre-Hispanic structures.” Sprajc and his team of archeologists then spent May and June studying and documenting the site.
In one unexplored area of the jungle, Sprajc’s team found a city with stone columns, buildings, and multiple pyramids, which they named Ocomtn (Mayan for “stone column”).
Most of the ceramics collected on the surface of the site are from the Late Classic period, which dates from 600–800 AD, but analysis of the samples will provide “more reliable data on the sequences of operations,” Sprajc said.
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.
The BBC reported that, based on the analysis of the buildings, the archeologists believe that the city collapsed sometime between 800 and 1000 AD. Sprajc said that this was likely due to sociopolitical changes as well as “demographic decline” in the central lowlands.
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