admin A tomb containing funerary items was discovered during the construction of the Tren Maya hotel, in Palenque, Mexico.
Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) conducted salvage excavations following the discovery, revealing skeletal remains linked to the city of Palenque of the Mayans.
Palenque, also known as Lakamha in Itza (meaning “flat river-place”), is located near the Usumacinta River in the Mexican state of Chiapas.
The city dates from 226 BC to 799 AD, with most of the major constructions representing rebuilding efforts in response to attacks by the city of Calakmul and its its client states in 599 and 611 AD. In the 8th century AD, more people lived in agriculture, leading to the abandonment of urban areas.In 1520, after the Spanish conquest, contemporary Spanish records indicate that the entire area was sparsely populated.
Excavations uncovered a burial space lined with stone and sealed with limestone slabs, in which researchers found the remains of a high-ranking individual who probably lived in the suburbs Palenque in a small village.
The tomb is four meters deep and also contains ceramic vessels and rosary beads placed as offerings. “The individual was placed on his back with his legs extended and his head facing north,” said Diego Prieto Hernández of INAH.
The discovery was announced during a press conference on the progress of the Program for the Improvement of Archaeological Sites (Promeza) in Palenque, Moral-Reforma and El Tigre, three heritage sites served by section 1 of the Maya Ship Project.
