Residents fear that the Trump administration’s plans to build a border wall will threaten the region’s spectacular starry skies.

An international team of archaeologists reports the discovery of a previously unknown Maya city, Minanbé, whose name roughly translates from Yucatecan Mayan as “There is no path.”

Working under the Archaeology Council of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), archaeologists from Slovenia and Mexico, led by Ivan Šprajc, discovered the lost settlement miles deep in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in Campeche, Mexico. 

Hidden beneath more than a millennium of forest growth, the ancient Maya site required a challenging journey by ATV, followed by several miles on foot before the team could reach the ancient ruins.

Maya Civilization

For three decades, Ivan Šprajc of the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences has investigated the Central Mayan Lowlands. During the Maya civilization’s Late Classical period, the region was home to an estimated nine to eleven million people.

The discovery of Minanbé came west of Chactún, another Maya site that Šprajc’s team uncovered 13 years ago. Researchers first identified the approximately 15-hectare settlement using LiDAR to peer through the dense jungle canopy before carving a five-kilometer path to the ruins with machetes. Ironically, the difficult journey to reach Minanbé ultimately proved to be one of the site’s greatest assets.

“Compared to other places where we made surface routes, here access was much more difficult; however, in the last three years, it is the first one we found intact, and there was no looting. It was a discovery, a great surprise,” Šprajc said. “That’s why we chose the name of Minanbé, which comes from the Yucatecan Mayan (mina’an, ‘there is no’, and bej, ‘path’). Thus, we follow the tradition in Mayan archeology of naming some sites according to some characteristic of the place or in reference to the circumstances of the discovery.”

Urban Ruins

Upon arriving at Minanbé, the archaeologists uncovered plazas surrounded by ceremonial and palatial structures, along with terraces and hydraulic infrastructure. Among the site’s most impressive features was a 13-meter-high pyramid with a smooth façade, a steep staircase, and finely crafted molding. One grisly stela depicts a decapitation, while others preserve intricate iconography and hieroglyphic inscriptions. The team also identified a row of monuments lining a road that connected the city’s central and northeastern sectors.

The researchers took thousands of photographs, which were then referenced in the construction of 3D models of stelae and altars. Despite erosion softening the limestone details, epigraphist Octavio Esparza Olguín identified several important elements using editing software, including a date of 5 jaw, corresponding to 848 AD, on the decapitation stele.

“This is an important key because we can think that the entire set of monuments or some were erected for that moment of the Classic Terminal, close to the abandonment of the sites of the region, which happened in the 10th century AD,” Olguín explained.

Maya Records

Among the round and rectangular altars discovered at the site, several show evidence of having been intentionally altered over time. Monument 6 features an unusual split design, with the figure of a ruler carved on its front face wearing a feathered headdress, necklaces, wristbands, and a pectoral adorned with trilobed elements, while its sides are covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions.

Within those inscriptions, researchers identified a Long Count date they believe corresponds to the late seventh century, suggesting Minanbé may rank among the oldest known Maya settlements in the region.

Taken together, the discoveries provide important new insights into the history of the region. According to Šprajc, it likely fits into the regional pattern of an agricultural site that peaked in the Late Classical period, organized around a hierarchy linked to the production and distribution of surplus agricultural products. Later, a group from the north of the Yucatan may have arrived, changing the city’s dynamics. Despite the team’s success, there are currently no plans for additional fieldwork at the site.

Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.

Archaeologists in Mexico report “a unique, unprecedented” discovery in the country’s state of Veracruz, including a monolith bearing unique features and pre-Hispanic ruins unlike others found in the region.

The ancient ruins are believed to display motifs that archaeologists have linked to early Maya culture, according to recent reporting by Agence France-Presse.

The monolithic sculpture, which stands taller than six feet and features an engraving that depicts a pair of individuals engaged in what may be a ritual activity, was accompanied by a large stone platform positioned nearby, and is believed to date to between A.D. 200 and 600. This falls within the Maya Early Classic period, a foundational era of the ancient civilization during which the proliferation of its hieroglyphic writing and calendar systems occurred, as well as the onset of massive stone pyramid construction.

Alberto Vazquez, one of the principal archaeologists at the site, called the discovery “a very particular structure,” adding that archaeologists in Mexico presently “don’t have any records so far of a correlation with other sites.”

The Maya Early Classic Period

Monumental construction was a hallmark of the Maya Early Classic period, an era that was also partially defined by the widespread use of sculpted stone stelae and altars that often bore historical significance related to political events.

These stelae and altars preserved a record of events from the period using the Maya Long Count calendar, as rulership governed by hereditary dynasties was believed to leverage religious ceremonies to help legitimize their positions in power.

Several aspects of the recent discovery align with such known components of Early Classic period structures, although some elements about the site remain outliers, such as the circular stone platform, which bears little resemblance to others found throughout Mexico.

A Monolithic Mystery

The most intriguing component of the site is its monolith, which stands slightly taller than six feet and is under five feet across at its broadest point. The sculpture also features a pair of individuals that researchers say is likely related to symbolism associated with the period in question.

Lino Espinoza Garcia, an archaeologist with Mexico’s National Institute of Archaeology and History (INAH), described the imagery on the monolith as depicting “two characters who are requesting something,” adding that the individuals “have a bowl and are receiving something.”

“[W]e think it’s a liquid,” said Garcia, who also serves as a coordinator at the nearby Campo Viejo site near Coatepec, Mexico. “Obviously, in that context, it’s a divine liquid, we think it would be water.”

A “Very Relevant” Discovery

Additional discoveries at the site include a flagstone and a large platform made of limestone, which features a series of square-lined patterns, which INAH archaeologists say are unlike those found at nearby sites.

One possible interpretation of the discovery is that the figures depicted with a possible “divine liquid” may document a period of drought that struck the region, which could account for the depiction of two individuals receiving water from a God or other divine figure. Garcia and his colleagues also suggest the two recipients of the liquid may have been members of the ruling class from the period.

During a press conference last week, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called the discovery “very relevant” and added that investigations would continue with support from her administration.

For Garcia and others, the monolith and its surrounding features offer a unique look at features unlike those they have worked with in the past and may help to deepen our understanding of ancient cultural and political dynamics in Mexico’s pre-Hispanic past.

“It’s a unique, unprecedented finding,” Garcia said.

Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.