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.

An ancient Maya settlement, lost to the forest for centuries, was unexpectedly discovered by a Ph.D. student who fell down an internet rabbit hole.

Tulane University Ph.D. candidate Luke Auld-Thomas was more than a dozen pages into Google search results when he came across a laser survey conducted in Mexico by CartoData for environmental monitoring purposes.

Published in the journal Antiquity, Auld-Thomas and his colleagues reported the discovery of an ancient Maya site hidden within neglected LiDAR data, buried at the bottom of a Google search query.

LIDAR Discovery

While advances in remote sensing technology have transformed archaeology over the last two decades, Maya archaeology is often imagined as the result of laborious expeditions through dense jungle terrain in search of long-lost ruins. Instead, Auld-Thomas made a major discovery from the comfort of home.

LiDAR creates a 3D map by firing laser pulses at a landscape from above using drones, aircraft, or other aerial platforms. In this case, the original survey data showed only a dense forest canopy, making the site indistinguishable from the surrounding terrain. However, once that upper layer was digitally removed, a sophisticated settlement came into view.

Located in Mexico’s southeastern state of Campeche, the lost city contains plazas, causeways, ball courts, and pyramids that had remained unseen for centuries. Although the LiDAR operators were focused on environmental monitoring and did not investigate the data at this level, Auld-Thomas and a colleague recognized the archaeological significance of what they were seeing and identified the site, naming it Valeriana.

Valeriana 

During their classic period, between 250 and 900 AD, the Maya developed the rugged Campeche landscape into complex urban environments.

The city of Valeriana, which the team found in the data, turned out to be the second-largest Maya site in North America, eclipsing Calakmul, some 100 kilometers distant. According to the researchers’ estimate, 30,000 to 50,000 people resided in the city between 750 and 850 AD, and it possibly served as a regional capital.

The site’s tropical setting has been a subject of debate among archaeologists, who question whether the population density of typical tropical settlements is skewed by the overrepresentation of large, dense settlements in the data. The team’s discovery of a dense and sophisticated urban environment comprised of nearly 7,000 buildings suggests that such dense sites are not unusual.

While the site contains many features typical of Maya cities, one unusual element particularly intrigued the researchers, consisting a sinkhole leading to a partially collapsed cave system, surrounded by a narrow quatrefoil-shaped ditch—a form frequently used in Mesoamerican art to symbolize caves and sinkholes.

Because the feature lacks substantial embankments and is relatively small in scale, the team does not believe it served a defensive purpose. However, its unusual design may warrant further investigation.

LiDAR Discoveries

Remote-sensing technologies such as LiDAR have transformed archaeology in recent decades, allowing researchers to identify hidden sites across vast and inaccessible landscapes without setting foot on the ground.

In 2013, LiDAR surveys revealed extensive urban networks surrounding Cambodia’s Angkor region, once the heart of the Khmer Empire. Researchers later used the technology to digitally strip away the Guatemalan rainforest canopy, uncovering more than 60,000 previously unknown structures. Using traditional survey methods, discoveries on that scale would likely have taken generations to achieve.

Remarkably, Valeriana itself has yet to be surveyed in person. At present, LiDAR imagery remains the only detailed view of the site. The researchers note that field investigations in Mesoamerica rarely result in fewer structures being identified than LiDAR suggests. In many cases, apparent false positives are offset by previously overlooked features discovered during ground surveys.

For now, Valeriana remains concealed beneath the forest canopy much as it has been for centuries. The researchers hope these remote sensing technologies will reveal more such hidden sites in the coming decades; if funding is sufficient to cover more area with drone-based LiDAR systems, they are almost certain that more discoveries similar to Valeriana could await discovery.

The paper, “Running Out of Empty Space: Environmental Lidar and the Crowded Ancient Landscape of Campeche, Mexico,” appeared in Antiquity on October 29, 2024.

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.

A prolonged drought means the nation’s largest reservoirs are dwindling, and litigation over access to water could lie ahead.

A prolonged drought means the nation’s largest reservoirs are dwindling, and litigation over access to water could lie ahead.

© Nina Riggio for The New York Times

Researchers have obtained the first-ever photographs of the Cozumel dwarf fox (Urocyon sp.), an elusive dwarf fox living on the Caribbean island of Cozumel, off Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Captured in September 2023, the images provide the first confirmed evidence since 2001 that the elusive animal still survives on the island.

The post Scientists Capture First-Ever Images of Cozumel Dwarf Fox appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Desde bolas com sensor de alta precisão a avatares 3D foto realistas gerados por inteligência artificial, conheça as inovações tecnológicas do Mundial de Futebol FIFA 2026, e como é que a tecnologia promete redesenhar o maior evento desportivo da história.

The post O Mundial FIFA 2026 e a revolução tecnológica no futebol appeared first on Tek Notícias.

Experts discuss the threat and how to escape aggressive bees. Hint: Don’t jump in water.

The parasitic, flesh-eating fly has now been confirmed in cows, goats and dogs.

Paleontologists have identified a new species of the axolotl genus Ambystoma from several fossilized specimens found deep in the rocky outcrops of the Mexican state of Hidalgo.

The post New Species of Fossil Axolotl Unearthed in Mexico appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Paleontologists have described a new species of bipedal shuvosaurid archosaur from New Mexico, shedding light on a group of creatures that roamed North America during the Triassic period, more than 200 million years ago.

The post Toothless, Bipedal Crocodile Relative Lived in New Mexico 212 Million Years Ago appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Companies say it’s a better way to dispose of the Cold War-era material — and fix a shortage of nuclear fuel. But the plan has also faced criticism from nonproliferation experts.

© Science Source