This is the first time that there is a record of ancient homes inside this Mayan site in Yucatán
• A 26-meter-long building stands out that would have been decorated with carvings of feathers, birds and beads
BULLETIN 589
Derived from the infrastructure improvement work being carried out in the Kabah Archaeological Zone, in Yucatán, within the framework of the Mayan Train priority project, personnel from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) discovered two sets of buildings for residential use . This is the first time that this type of pre-Hispanic constructions have been located in the heritage site.
This was reported by the general director of INAH, Diego Prieto Hernández, when participating in the morning conference of the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, where he summarized the progress of the Program for the Improvement of Archaeological Zones (Promeza), promoted by the Ministry of Culture federal, through the institute.
Although, he said, “there were already indirect notions of these complexes,” located in the central part of the settlement, “until recently they remained covered by the vegetal mantle that they acquired over time.” Now, its research and consolidation will allow expanding the visiting circuit in the pre-Hispanic city and will provide greater insight into the ancient inhabitants of Kabah.
This city, whose name in Mayan means “Lord of the strong or powerful hand”, is located approximately 100 kilometers from the city of Mérida, and was founded between the years 250 and 500 AD, by migrants from the Petén region. Guatemalan or Belizean.
When delving into the recently found homes, the anthropologist reported that among them stands out a palace-type building, with an extension of 26 meters and a main façade composed of a portico with eight pilasters and nine openings.
This structure was decorated with motifs of feathers, beads and birds carved into its architecture; Likewise, its staircase has vestiges of a stucco figurehead, which covered up to nine meters in length.
So far, the team of researchers, coordinated in Kabah and in the Puuc region of Yucatán by archaeologists Lourdes Toscano Hernández and José Huchim Herrera, has also recovered ceramic remains characteristic of the Petenera area, such as polychrome bowls and utilitarian vessels.
After referring to the working meeting held by President López Obrador, on September 2, 2023, in the Archaeological Zone of Chichén Itzá, with more than 500 professionals, including base personnel of the institute and experts under contract, who carry out the Promise on the Mayan Train route, the head of the INAH highlighted the symbolic opening headed by the federal president of the Chichén Viejo complex or Initial Series, which will soon be open to public visits and will allow national and international tourism to discover a primeval enclave of this archaeological site.
Investigated by the INAH since 1997, the Initial Series group receives that name because in its main pyramid the only inscription with a date in the Mayan long count has been deciphered, which corresponds to July 26, 878.
As a closing to his intervention, Prieto Hernández explained that as of this September 7, 2023, the general archaeological rescue work of the Mayan Train has allowed the registration and preservation of: 55,132 real estate properties; 1,249,777 ceramic fragments and 1,925 complete furniture items or those that have been restored; 1,339 archaeological pieces in the process of restoration; 647 bones and 2,252 natural features associated with the landscape and human activity.
https://www.inah.gob.mx/boletines/arqueologos-del-inah-descubren-dos-conjuntos-habitacionales-en-la-zona-arqueologica-de-kabah
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