Much of history have yet to be uncovered. Many are found underneath the ground surface or hiding in plain sight. So, what happens when builders come across ruins in an area that was supposed to be an industrial park? Preserve it, of course.
Ruins have a way of sharing the secrets of the past. They tell you how ancient man lived and what they used. The Mayans play an important role in history, and while experts have uncovered many of their secrets, there is much that still have to be discovered.
Mauricio Montalvo is the property owner of industrial park that was supposed to be developed. However, they have halted their efforts for now. “It is more important to preserve the Maya legacy,” Montalvo said. The efforts needed to be delayed when they came across a large Mayan settlement that had been estimated to come around 600 CE.
The site is filled with structures such as plazas, pyramids, and a natural sinkhole that us called a cenote. The latter is oftentimes a mainstay feature in Mayan settlements. They also estimated that there may have been around 4,000 people living in the area back then.
The city remained unknown until around 2015. The construction workers were simply there to prepare for the industrial park when they stumbled upon the ancient city. They then gave the temporary Maya name of “Xiol,” in the municipality of Kanasín. This is close to Yucatan’s capital of Merida. Upon its uncovering, work stopped to give a chance to archeologists to study the new findings.
Some newspapers labeled it as “lost city,” but it wasn’t the case. In fact, it was in plain view of the highway, as stated in Yucatan Magazine. However, it has new been dubbed as a historic site after it will be unveiled in the latter part of this year. They are going about with the excavations and restoration as of right now.
The site is around 51 acres now and excavators have also uncovered a large central plaza that’s in the middle of 12 restored buildings of living areas and workshops. It also has foundations of another 76 under the area’s vegetation. As for both the big buildings found on either side of the plaza, archeologists assume that these were the elite residencies at that time.
Aside from the buildings, they also discovered a burial that had the remains of 15 people. They saw different kinds of grave goods and an altar. These may have been used as part of a ritual in the burial ceremony they practiced.
Carlos Rosado van der Gracht, writing for Yucatan Magazine, said that there may be a possibility that were Maya, but also not Maya (which is a genetically-Maya subjugated city state).
In the months to come, the cavers start to explore the cenote. They still are unsure about the the remnants that they are about to find.
In the past discoveries, Maya settlements had been typically built around natural sinkholes. Thus, they have been considered one of the few sources of freshwater on the Yucatan. These have the tendency to be labeled as wells of discovery as well as water wells.
They have also recovered precious items such as jape, copper, marble, obsidian, human remains, beads, and several others that were found at the bottoms of the many eroded limestone features.
Now, the Yucatan Peninsula is known to the rest of the world as the Riviera Maya. The once richly populated centers in the territory of surrounding countries such as Guatemala and Belize have begun to decline at a fast pace. However, the populations on the peninsula have grown.
Why were these Maya habitation sites abandoned? The answers have eluded the experts to this very day. However, there may be several possibilities, according to historians, some of which would be extreme drought, warfare, or events that less disastrous such as changing trade patterns.
While there may still be unanswered questions, they hope that the discovery of the ruins will provide them with some answers that will help them further unlock the mysteries of the past. Whatever the outcome may be, these historic sites need to be preserved.
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