Among Mexico’s dense tropical forests in central Campeche, archaeologists have identified pyramids and a ceremonial center, as well as a subterranean structure beneath a ball court constructed by the ancient Maya.
The archaeological efforts, which focused on a lesser-studied forest called the Balam Kú Biosphere Reserve, were spearheaded by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). The area covers roughly 54 square miles of rough terrain. Given that terrain and its difficulty to farm, fewer settlements and structures have been found there previously.
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“The inevitable impression is that the Maya culture of this region that we have just explored was noticeably less elaborate than that of Petén, to the south, and the regions of Chenes and Chactún, to the north and east,” Ivan Šprajc, an archaeologist from the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, said in a statement.
Using LiDAR laser remote sensing technology, researchers were able to record the topographical data of these previously hidden structures. They discovered a main plaza with a pyramid construction and a drainage channel among a group of structures near Nadzcaan, which was initially found in the 1990s.
Another large building believed to have been a center for civic and ceremonial duties, measuring at 43 feet tall, was also revealed. Though the building’s purpose is still unclear, experts believe the space would have held “socio-political importance,” given its size.
A ball court constructed over top of a substructure that may date to the Early Classic period (200 CE–600 CE) was additionally identified at the eastern part of the site.
Several structures located at a third site on a natural hill that dates to the Late Postclassic period (1250–1524) include a 52-foot-tall pyramid surrounded by a flint point, ceramics, and the fragment of an animal leg. This site would have operated just a few centuries before Spanish conquest and demonstrates how these cultures lived despite political downturn in the Central Lowlands.