An international team of archaeologists exploring the wild, hard-to-reach areas of Mexico accidentally discovered the ancient Mayan city.
The once majestic cultural center, home to tens of thousands of people, has been hidden for centuries in the dense jungle. According to scientists, a human's foot has not set foot in it for a thousand years. Well, or almost so: someone was in the city quite recently, but for some reason chose to keep it a secret.
The ancient city, located on an area of about 22 hectares, is located in the southeastern state of Campeche, about 120 km west of the city of Chutemal. A large-scale study of this region, in the late 1980s for the sake of saving the forest from the deforestation of the declared reserve, began in 1996. Since then, about 80 archaeological discoveries have been made in Campeche, but the map of this area is still covered with a mass of blank spots.
Scientists discovered the new city about two weeks ago by accident, since no mention of it has been found in historical documents to this day. At first, they conducted reconnaissance of the area from the air for a long time. And then, noticing signs of something man-made on the ground, we set out on a hike.
After kilometers of impenetrable jungle, an amazing sight suddenly opened up in them: among the trees, the remains of the stonework of buildings, houses of ordinary residents and palaces of the elite rose. Researchers have found many monuments, altars, ritual steles and even ball courts.
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And, of course, the pyramids - only 15 pieces - reaching 23 meters in height. Some objects have been preserved so well that in some places you can clearly distinguish patterns and inscriptions carved on the stone surface, and even notice traces of plaster and paint.
The city was named Chactun, which in translation from the language of the Indians means "big stone" or "red stone". According to archaeologists, its heyday fell on 600-900 AD. About 30-40 thousand people could live in it, but they all left their hometown at once around 1000. Why - so far we can only guess: perhaps they were forced to flee by the war, or the local society was overcome by some demographic problems, and the city simply died out.
Later, centuries later, it was probably periodically visited by some Indian tribes - scientists have discovered some signs of the later presence of man. However, these were people who clearly belonged to a completely different and much less developed civilization.
They felt the greatness of this place, but did not understand the meaning of what they saw. For example, some objects of religious worship found in Chaktuna were clearly not in their places. “They did not understand the significance of the monuments, but they felt that they were once something important to people, and therefore worshiped them,” said archaeologist Octavio Esparza.
But people also came to Chaktun quite recently, just some 20-30 years ago. The researchers made such a conclusion after noticing notches and devices for collecting resin here and there on trees. However, whoever it was, for some reason he did not tell anyone that the majestic ancient Mayan city is hidden in the thicket of the jungle.