1,500-year-old palace-like home was hidden by jungle foliage -- until now. Take a look

[Judi Lynn]

BY MOIRA RITTER
SEPTEMBER 11, 2023 2:15 PM

Moira Ritter
Mon, September 11, 2023 at 4:15 PM CDT·1 min read
118

More than 1,500 years ago, two sets of residential buildings was constructed in the jungle in Mexico.

Since then, archaeologists have worked to find the buildings to no avail — until now. Experts recently discovered the two structures hidden beneath layers of jungle foliage and growth, according to a Sept. 7 news release from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.

- click for image -

https://tinyurl.com/yph4tcm6

One of the buildings found in the group during the restoration.

The homes were discovered at the Kabah Archaeological Zone in Yucatán, which is in southeast Mexico. Archaeologists said they were built sometime between 250 A.D. and 500 A.D.

- click for image -

https://tinyurl.com/bdvkmwe9

Experts noted that one of the homes stood out from the others for its palace-like appearance, according to the institute. The home included an approximately 85-foot extension with a portico decorated with nine openings and eight pilasters — which are shallow columns built against a wall, according to Britannica.

- click for image -

https://tinyurl.com/yutfj7vk

A close-up view of the home during restoration work.

The intricately decorated home included carvings depicting motifs of feathers, birds and beads, archaeologists said. The staircase displayed vestiges of a stucco figurehead extending up to nearly 30 feet in length.

Archaeologists also discovered ceramic remains including polychrome bowls and utilitarian vessels at the site, they said.

Google Translate was used to translate a news release from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/nation-world/world/article279219114.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. The google translation of the entire news release from the National Institute of Anthro. & History

This is the first time that there is a record of ancient homes inside this Mayan site in Yucatán

• A 26-meter-long building stands out that would have been decorated with carvings of feathers, birds and beads



BULLETIN 589



Derived from the infrastructure improvement work being carried out in the Kabah Archaeological Zone, in Yucatán, within the framework of the Mayan Train priority project, personnel from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) discovered two sets of buildings for residential use . This is the first time that this type of pre-Hispanic constructions have been located in the heritage site.



This was reported by the general director of INAH, Diego Prieto Hernández, when participating in the morning conference of the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, where he summarized the progress of the Program for the Improvement of Archaeological Zones (Promeza), promoted by the Ministry of Culture federal, through the institute.



Although, he said, “there were already indirect notions of these complexes,” located in the central part of the settlement, “until recently they remained covered by the vegetal mantle that they acquired over time.” Now, its research and consolidation will allow expanding the visiting circuit in the pre-Hispanic city and will provide greater insight into the ancient inhabitants of Kabah.



This city, whose name in Mayan means “Lord of the strong or powerful hand”, is located approximately 100 kilometers from the city of Mérida, and was founded between the years 250 and 500 AD, by migrants from the Petén region. Guatemalan or Belizean.



When delving into the recently found homes, the anthropologist reported that among them stands out a palace-type building, with an extension of 26 meters and a main façade composed of a portico with eight pilasters and nine openings.



This structure was decorated with motifs of feathers, beads and birds carved into its architecture; Likewise, its staircase has vestiges of a stucco figurehead, which covered up to nine meters in length.



So far, the team of researchers, coordinated in Kabah and in the Puuc region of Yucatán by archaeologists Lourdes Toscano Hernández and José Huchim Herrera, has also recovered ceramic remains characteristic of the Petenera area, such as polychrome bowls and utilitarian vessels.



After referring to the working meeting held by President López Obrador, on September 2, 2023, in the Archaeological Zone of Chichén Itzá, with more than 500 professionals, including base personnel of the institute and experts under contract, who carry out the Promise on the Mayan Train route, the head of the INAH highlighted the symbolic opening headed by the federal president of the Chichén Viejo complex or Initial Series, which will soon be open to public visits and will allow national and international tourism to discover a primeval enclave of this archaeological site.



Investigated by the INAH since 1997, the Initial Series group receives that name because in its main pyramid the only inscription with a date in the Mayan long count has been deciphered, which corresponds to July 26, 878.



As a closing to his intervention, Prieto Hernández explained that as of this September 7, 2023, the general archaeological rescue work of the Mayan Train has allowed the registration and preservation of: 55,132 real estate properties; 1,249,777 ceramic fragments and 1,925 complete furniture items or those that have been restored; 1,339 archaeological pieces in the process of restoration; 647 bones and 2,252 natural features associated with the landscape and human activity.

https://www.inah.gob.mx/boletines/arqueologos-del-inah-descubren-dos-conjuntos-habitacionales-en-la-zona-arqueologica-de-kabah

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

[Judi Lynn]

3. Here are ancient buildings in that area which were discovered well before these 2 new finds:

- click for page of thumbnail photos of structures uncovered earlier in the Kabah Archaeological Zone in the Yucatán Peninsula -

https://tinyurl.com/39b9wzrp

[Deuxcents]

4. Where did all the material come from to build

So many structures, I wonder. I saw on the History Channel that new technology can locate settlements that the jungle has overtaken and there are many with roads connecting them. It was quite a civilization of the Mayans once upon a time. Really fascinating and I enjoy your posts enlightening us about them and other great finds.

[Judi Lynn]

5. It's almost as if there has been a technology explosion for archeology!

Since the arrival of LIDAR, which is, I think, ground penetrating radar, zapping right past layers of jungle growth and accumulated dirt and rocks for hundreds of years, perhaps thousands, for future discoveries, and incredible expanses of sand in the deserts, even amateur archeologists can use their computers in their own homes and locate structures the modern world has never seen, buried far below the surface!

Unbelievable! At the same time technology for astronomers is supercharged, too.

It has to be the very best possible time for people in these fields, with a whole new universe waiting to be found!

I think a lot of earlier "historians" are going to have to eat their words concerning ancient Latin American civilizations once really intensive discover develops. I have ever belief that the crap passed on about the nature and behavior of the "natives" the invaders massacred and tortured in such numbers is going to be entirely revealed as a massive, embarrassing lie, concocted to justify their astonishing abuse of the people who lived in the conquered lands which were stolen from them.

We all have a lot to look forward to, if the right wing doesn't outlaw science!

Thank you, Deuxcents, very much.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

6. That last image, with people standing around, really shows the scale.

That's a palace.