Mexican archaeologists discover ancient Mayan city at construction site | Globalism

Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of an ancient Mayan city full of palaces, pyramids and plazas at the construction site of a futuristic industrial park near Merida in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

The archaeological site, called Sheol, has features of the Mayan architecture style, according to archaeologists, common in the southern Yucatan Peninsula but rare in the Mérida region.

“We think more than 4,000 people lived here,” said Carlos Peraza, one of the archaeologists who led the excavations of the city, which is estimated to have been inhabited between 600 and 900 AD.

Men work near the ruins of the Mayan civilization in Mexico on May 26, 2022 (Photo: Lorenzo Hernandez/Reuters)

“There were people of different social classes … priests and clerks who lived in these great palaces, and there were also ordinary people who lived in small buildings,” said Peraza.

Researchers have also identified tombs for adults and children, buried with obsidian stone tools, offerings, and other possessions.

A picture of ruins discovered in Mexico on May 26, 2022 – Photo: Lorenzo Hernandez/Reuters

Remains of marine life were found at the site, indicating that the townspeople supplemented their farming-based diet with fishing in the nearby coastal area.

Xiol was discovered after construction began on an unfinished industrial park, although archaeological remains will still be preserved, according to the landowners.