Ancient Maya kingdom with pyramid discovered in southern Mexico

[Judi Lynn]

By Grant Currin - Live Science Contributor 2 days ago

This newly discovered Maya kingdom wasn't powerful, but its allies may have kept it safe.



A drawing (left) and a digital 3D model (right) of a stone slab found at the newly discovered kingdom.
(Image: © Stephen Houston/Brown University; Charles Golden/Brandeis)

After searching for more than a quarter century, archaeologists may have finally located the capital city of Sak Tz'i', a Maya kingdom that's referenced in sculptures and inscriptions from across the ancient Maya world. But it wasn't archaeologists who made the find. A local man discovered a 2- by 4-foot (0.6 by 1.2 meters) tablet near Lacanja Tzeltal, a community in Chiapas, Mexico.

The tablet's inscriptions are a treasure trove of mythology, poetry and history that reflect the typical Maya practice of weaving together myth and reality. Various sections of the tablet contain inscriptions that recount a mythical water serpent, various unnamed gods, a mythic flood and accounts of the births, lives, and battles of ancient rulers, according to a news statement from Brandeis University in Massachusetts.

Despite being surrounded by stronger neighbors, evidence suggests that the kingdom's capital city was occupied for more than a millennium after being settled in 750 B.C. The kingdom's longevity may be due to the fortifications that surrounded its capital city. The researchers found evidence that the city was protected by a stream with a steep ravine on one side and defensive masonry walls on the other.

The team members added that the kingdom may have benefitted from forming strategic peace deals with its more powerful neighbors. Even though this kingdom never achieved great power, "Sak Tz'i' was a formidable enemy and an important ally to those greater kingdoms, as evidenced by the frequency by which it appears in texts at those sites," the researchers wrote in the study, published online in December 2019 in the Journal of Field Archaeology.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/maya-kingdom-discovered-in-mexico.html?utm_source=notification

More details, Brandeis Report:

Ancient Maya kingdom unearthed in a backyard in Mexico
https://www.brandeis.edu/now/2020/march/maya-discovery-golden.html

Also, see a map, and fascinating photos of this area:
https://tinyurl.com/tsd52mr