Unique 1,500-year-old city of the Mayans in Mexico

The city, called Xiol, which means “spirit of man” in Mayan, was once home to more than 4,000 people, including priests, scribes, dignitaries and commoners.

According to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Mexico, the first traces of the city were discovered by archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in 2018, but the survey work was only accelerated in 6 days. past month.

During that time, the houses science restored a number of works in the ancient citadel, and discovered more settlements.

Representative of the INAH Center in Yutacan Arturo Chab Cárdenas emphasized the importance of this find, given Xiol’s massive architecture.

Covering an area of ​​about 21 hectares, the city dating from the Late Classical period – AD 600-900 – has a main square where a pyramid with 2 staggered sections is located.

In the upper part there is another square with a palace-like structure, and the entrance is divided in half by a monolithic column.

There is also a cenote – a sinkhole containing underground water formed by the collapse of limestone, which is sacred in indigenous beliefs – that will begin to be studied by geologists within a few days. next.

According to archaeologist Carlos Peraza of INAH, so far scientists have discovered 12 structures in Xiol, among which, surprisingly, there are buildings in the “Puuc” style, which is very typical in the South. Yucatan, but less common in the northern peninsula.

Here, experts found many small rooms where people lived and workshops for making tools for construction activities, as well as about 15 houses, mostly of adults, with sacrifices. are vases, necklaces, earrings and some everyday items.

In addition, archaeologists have also unearthed a number of pottery dating back to earlier Middle Ages (700-350 BC), Upper Classical and Early Classical (350 BC-600 BC). A.C).

Maya was once a great civilization, reaching the pinnacle of everything from architecture, mathematics, astronomy to the arts.

Dating back to 2,000 BC, many impressive Mayan structures still exist in the forests of southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and western Honduras.

During the early AD period, a series of Mayan states and nations were established and developed brilliantly and diversely.

However, the vast majority of these countries perished mysteriously and almost completely by the 10th century.