In the middle of the low jungle of Yucatan, in Mexico, a pre-Columbian city of more than 1,500 years old, where more than 4,000 people lived, including priests, scribes, dignitaries and common people, called Xiol, which in the Mayan language means “Spirit of man”.
The Puuc-style palace-type buildings, discovered in 2018 by the 24K company that made the corresponding report to the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), are located in the heart of the henequen zone, that is, 2.5 kilometers from the city. meters northeast of the municipality of Kanasín and 10 km east of Mérida.
“The discovery of this Mayan city is important, for its monumental architecture and because it was recovered despite the fact that it is located on private land & rdquo ;, he explained. Efe Arturo Chab Cárdenas, the delegate of the INAH Yucatán Center.
Xiol has a main square that includes a pyramid with two staggered bodies. Towards the top there is a zócalo (central square) with a palace-type construction and the access had two entrances divided by a monolithic column.
The city, which corresponds to the period Late Classic -from 600 to 900 A.D.- has a cenote, the investigation of which will begin in the next few days by a speleologist.
“We dont know what We will find so much, because to access the body of water we have to go down about five meters & rdquo ;, he explained. The archaeologist in charge of rescuing the Mayan city of Xiol, Carlos Peraza, told Efe.
The field archaeologist who supported him During the work, Wilberth Cruz told Efe that “on the south side of the city, which is distributed over some 21 hectares, there is a structure with a ramp facing north-south and to one side there is a small adjoining structure. or foundation where there is an altar that was used for ritual activities.”
Most of the Xiol buildings are included in the 24K industrial complex and are from the Late Classic, But there are not so many masks of the Mayan god of rain, Chaac, or other gods of the Mayan culture, “because they were the target of looters,” revealed the source. Cross.
During the tour, the specialists presented some older ceramics such as the Middle Preclassic (700-350 BC) and the Upper Preclassic and Early Classic periods 350 BC-600 AD).< /p>
“Apparently, the obsidian elements come from the region of Guatemala, the shells and other elements of this marine material could come from the beaches of northern Yucatán or Campeche”, he explained. ; Cross.
One of the owners of the land, Mauricio Montalvo, highlighted The importance of the discovery: “first we saw an enormous stone and as the excavations were carried out, enormous buildings emerged”.
“It was incredible, so we notified INAH and then we We saw the need to modify the original project, because for our company it is more important to preserve the Mayan legacy,” to Eph.
The archaeologist Peraza detailed This type of building that corresponds to the Puuc style only exists in archaeological zones located in the south of Yucatán, although some buildings in Chichén Itzá, Dzibilchaltún and the Historic Center of Mérida show that influence.
Burials, workshops and archaeological pieces
Archaeologist Peraza said they found small rooms “where people lived and workshops where they made their work tools for the construction of buildings.”
There are few finds from that type because you can see the fragments of the stucco that the Mayans used to decorate and cover the stones, similar to those found in the buildings of the historic center of Mérida.
“In Xiol also We did not find about 15 burials, mostly of adults, although we did find them. there were child burials, with offerings of vessels, necklaces, earrings and other belongings used in daily life”.
The vessels and plates were found in various contexts, some appeared in burials and others in excavations in the area.
The specialists installed a table in the main square of Xiol to exhibit limestone tools, which are smoothers to achieve beautiful finishes; metate hands and flint objects, such as knives, spearheads, arrowheads, and small axes, as well as small axes. as nuclei where they took those materials.