Credits: Guatemala Ministry of Culture and Sports
Guatemala: In Guatemala’s Petén jungle, archaeologists uncovered three previously unknown Mayan cities, NDTV reported.
Archaeologists from Slovakia and Guatemala, working together with the Uaxactún Archaeological Project (PARU), made the new discovery, revealing ancestral statues, astronomical complexes, pyramids, and advanced water systems, offering rare insights into Preclassic and Classic Maya civilisation.
According to the NDTV report, the sites lie around 5 kilometres apart, forming a triangle, and span a long period of Maya history from the Middle Preclassic era (about 1000–400 B.C.) to the Late Classic period (A.D. 600–900). Scientists believe that the discovery might shed light on the early history of Mayan civilisation.
The largest site among the freshly discovered is known as Los Abuleos, which means “The Grandparents”. The site is believed to have been active in Preclassic and Classic times. Stone statues of a man and a woman were found at the site. The city included an astronomical complex with buildings aligned to mark the solstices and equinoxes. Excavators found a ceremonial frog-shaped altar and a carved stela with Maya writing that has not yet been deciphered. An elaborate burial contained the bones of a person and two large cats, along with pottery vessels, shells, and arrowheads.
The second site is known as Petnal, and archaeologists believe it to be a regional political centre. The place features a 108-foot (33-meter) pyramid with a flat summit chamber decorated with red, black, and white murals.
A frog-shaped altar suggests rituals linked to fertility and renewal.
At nearby Cambrayal, researchers uncovered the remains of a palace topped by a water reservoir and an ingenious canal system. A system found to channel rainwater from rooftops via cisterns and hidden pipes, according to experts, was for sanitation.