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Deep in the Mexican Jungle, Archaeologists Discovered a Lost Maya City That May Yield Clues About the Civilization Just Before It Collapsed
Key takeaways
- INAH Archaeologists discovered an ancient Maya city, hidden in the Mexican jungle for more than a millennium.
- Researchers named the place “Minanbé,” a combination of Yucatec Mayan words meaning, roughly, “there is no road.”
- Minanbé’s remoteness worked in the archaeologists’ favor. Šprajc says it’s the first intact, seemingly unlooted ancient city his team has found in three years.
INAH Archaeologists discovered an ancient Maya city, hidden in the Mexican jungle for more than a millennium. Located in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in Campeche, at the base of the Yucatán Peninsula, the city is uniquely intact.
No old logging paths lead to this site—unlike others in the jungle—says excavation leader Ivan Šprajc, an archaeologist who specializes in finding ancient Maya sites, in a translated statement from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). It was very difficult to access, he says. Researchers named the place “Minanbé,” a combination of Yucatec Mayan words meaning, roughly, “there is no road.”
Minanbé’s remoteness worked in the archaeologists’ favor. Šprajc says it’s the first intact, seemingly unlooted ancient city his team has found in three years.