Surrounded by bones, ancient Maya canoe may have been used in rituals

In 2021, underwater archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Mexico located a mysterious canoe inside an underwater cave near the Maya city of Chichén Itzá. It was found while workers were building a tourist rail project as part of the archaeological rescue work.

It was revealed that the wooden canoe was surrounded by 38 bone remains, including a human metatarsal, armadillo, dog, turkey, and eagle bones. 

Based on the initial studies in laboratories in Mexico and abroad, experts concluded that due to the presence of the large variety of bones, the boat was possibly used by the Maya in an ancient ritual before it was placed in the cavern and was flooded.

Signs of ritual

The armadillo, as per the Maya, was considered an avatar of the underworld deity commonly known as God L, who wears a cape that mirrors the design of the armadillo’s shell.

The archaeologists commented that the remains of the armadillo, which could swim easily underwater whilst holding its breath and holding its claws to the ground, would be “an allusion to the entry of said animal into the underworld.”

“There are known images in Mayan ceramics in which [the armadillo] appears as a ‘stool of the gods,’ with characters that place their feet on it,” stated Alexandra Biar, an archaeologist from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). “This would be directly linked to the archaeological evidence observed in the cenote,” with the armadillo serving as a manifestation of the deity. 

Archaeologists Jesús Gallegos, along with Biar stated that the morphology of the boat itself also supports the ritual use of the canoe; since having a very heavy bow and stern, its navigation capacity should have been limited in more dynamic waters; hence they do not rule out that it had been created for symbolic purposes, they said in a statement.

Earlier claims refuted

It was also earlier reported that the Mayan canoe is tentatively dated between 830-950 AD, near the end of the Maya civilization’s classical zenith, when dozens of cities across present-day southern Mexico and Central America thrived amid major human achievements in math, writing, and art.

But after studying the wood of the canoe, Biar pointed out that the analyses for carbon 14 have shown that the organic material dates from the 16th century and not from the classical zenith period.

Measuring 1.6 meters in length and 80 cm in width, it was earlier believed that the canoe was used to transport water from the cenote or deposit ritual offerings, as per INAH.

Earlier last month, Interesting Engineering reported that INAH had discovered the ruins of an ancient Mayan city in the deep jungles of Mexico. Archaeologists named the city Ocomtun, which means “stone column” in the Yucatec Maya language.

DNA study shows migration patterns of ancient Mexican civilizations much more complex than expected

An international team of biologists, geneticists, anthropologists, and biochemists has found, through genetic analysis, that the migration patterns of ancient Mexican civilizations were much more complex than previously thought.

In their study, reported in the journal Science, the group generated genomic and mitochondrial DNA data to test theories surrounding the migration of ancient peoples in Mexico.

Bastien Llamas and Xavier Roca-Rada with the University of Adelaide have published a Perspectives piece in the same journal issue outlining the ethical approach used by the research team to learn more about ancient Mexico.

Prior research, based mostly on archaeological evidence, has suggested that drought-driven migration of ancient people from Mexico’s north to the south occurred many times in the years before Europeans arrived. The northern region, called Aridoamerica, was dry and mostly desert.

The people living there at the time survived as hunter-gatherers. Farther south was Mesoamerica, where early people survived by farming.

Prior research has shown that there were several long-term droughts in Aridoamerica, leading people to move south. But now it appears that these conclusions were in error.

Instead of relying on archaeological evidence, the team in this new effort looked at the DNA of people living there to see if they were migrating.

To learn more about the history of the people living in what is now Mexico, the researchers analyzed DNA samples going back approximately 2,300 years. In all, they were able to study 27 samples obtained from eight archaeological sites from people who lived in regions of what is now Mexico.

The researchers could see that the expected migrations had not occurred.

They point out, for example, that despite droughts, sometimes decades-long, people living in Sierra Gorda did not leave.

The team found none of their DNA in people living farther south.

The research team was not able to explain why the northerners had not migrated south when conditions grew dry, but suggest it might have been related to cinnabar commerce.

The mineral was easily found in the north, and was sacred to people in the south—thus it seems trade was likely.

Regardless of the reasons, the research team suggests migration patterns in early Mexico were far more complex than previously thought.

Rare Maya Sculpture Discovered in Mexico

Archaeologists performing rescue work on section 7 of the Maya Train route have found a rare stone sculpture of the Mayan god K’awil, a deity linked to power, abundance, and prosperity.

The discovery was announced by Diego Prieto Hernández, general director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), during President López Obrador’s morning press conference.

“This finding is very important because there are few sculptural representations of the god K’awil; so far, we only know three in Tikal, Guatemala, and this is one of the first to appear in Mexican territory,” Prieto said.

He explained that the deity is more commonly seen represented in paintings, reliefs, and Mayan codices. This rare three-dimensional image was found on the head of an urn whose body shows the face of a different deity, possibly linked to the sun.

Prieto said AMLO had been shown the piece during a tour last weekend to inspect progress on section 7 of the Maya Train, which runs between Bacalar, Quintana Roo, and Escárcega, Campeche.

He added that archaeological rescue work is now concentrated on sections 6 and 7 of the train’s route, as work is now completed on sections 1 to 5, between Palenque, Chiapas, and Tulum.

“Work is still being done on complementary projects, such as the collection and cleaning of archaeological materials, their classification, and ordering,” Prieto said.

“All this work should lead to an analysis of the vast information, preparation of academic reports, and a large international research symposium on the Mayan civilization, which will be organized for this year.” 

As of April 27, the INAH has registered and preserved as part of the Maya Train archaeological rescue project: 

• 48,971 ancient buildings or foundations 
• 896,449 ceramic fragments 
• 1,817 movable objects 
• 491 human remains 
• 1,307 natural features, such as caves and cenotes.

Other notable discoveries made during construction include a 1,000-year-old Maya canoe at the San Andrés archaeological site near Chichén Itzá, an 8,000-year-old human skeleton in a cenote near Tulum, and a previously unknown archaeological site of more than 300 buildings in Quintana Roo, dubbed Paamul II.

Prieto has previously said that a new museum will be constructed in Mérida that will be dedicated to discoveries unearthed during the construction of the Maya Train.

The INAH is also analyzing the findings at its laboratory in Chetumal, which Prieto said would nourish the study of Mayan civilizations for the next 25 years.

However, while the archaeological rescue process is thought to be progressing well, the Maya Train continues to face strong resistance from environmentalists, who believe the project will do irreversible damage to the region’s unique ecosystems and subterranean lakes.

Unpredictable Rainfall May Have Helped Destabilized Ancient Maya Societies

Reduced predictability of seasonal rainfall might have played a significant role in the disintegration of Classic Maya societies about 1,100 years ago. The decline in seasonal predictability potentially destabilized Classic Maya societies in a new study recently published in Communications Earth & Environment.

University of New Mexico archaeologist Keith Prufer is among the authors, along with colleagues at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Potsdam University. The findings may have significance for populations in the region facing climate change today. 

The research team studied variations in stable isotope signatures from a stalagmite collected in a cave in Belize near an archaeological site in the former heartland of the Maya. The carbon and oxygen isotope ratios are sensitive recorders of local and regional rainfall dynamics. 

This paper is a continuation of 18 years of research by Prufer, UNM colleagues, and an international team of scientists into the past climate in the Belize tropics.  

Prufer has been a principal investigator for the research program, with funding from the National Science Foundation and the Alphawood Foundation. 

“The climate record was generated from a cave called Yok Balum, located near the ancient Maya city of Uxbenká. That ancient city figures prominently in this article and is important because it is the closest to the site of the climate data and because of two decades of research there exploring the timing of the collapse,” Prufer explained. 

This paper is a collaboration with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany to get advanced time-series modeling to understand the patterning of seasonal variation. The lead at PIK, Tobias Braun, used this study for his dissertation. 

Also included in the research team from UNM are Ph.D. candidate student Erin Ray and Victor Polyak, a senior research scientist in the UNM Department of Earth and Planetary Science. Ray worked to assemble the cultural data, such as the data that records the dynastic history of the Maya from their hieroglyphs, and demographic data. Polyak originally developed the high-precision chronology for the climate and seasonality records. 

“A key ingredient for Maya agriculture was the timely arrival of sufficient rainfall. Farming in subtropical Central America is tough because freshwater is only available during the summer rainy season.

Changes of onset and intensity of the rainy season can have serious repercussions for Central American societies,” Braun noted in a PIK press release about the newly published study. While most scientists agree that repeated intense droughts were one of the key factors that led to the fragmentation of urban centers and population dispersal in lowland Maya societies, evidence at seasonal time scale was so far missing. And this is exactly what the study takes into focus.  

The significance of this record is three-fold, according to Prufer. 

“First, it is a novel climate record for the American tropics with such high resolution – one to seven samples per year over a 1,600-year period − allowing us to look at changes in seasonality from year to year. It is also the first such record to incorporate advanced time series modeling to evaluate seasonal variation in the neotropics and link those changes directly to quantitative cultural records,” Prufer explained. 

Second, the research sheds new light on an enduring question in Maya archaeology: What caused the population decline and disintegration of political institutions at the end of the Classic Period between 250 and 850 CE? 

Prufer and his colleagues found that changes in seasonality would have challenged food production in this region where all agriculture is directly dependent on rainfall by making the timing for planting harvesting much more difficult − or impossible − to predict from year-to-year. 

“The collapse was significant,” he noted. “Over the course of perhaps 100 to 150 years, populations as high as 5 to 10 million people declined by as much as 60 to 70 percent, and a complete form of governance was abandoned.” 

Third, this research has significance for farming today. The past is an indication of what might be expected in a dire future. 

“With modern global climate change, seasonality patterns are again far less predictable than they were only a couple of decades ago,” Prufer pointed out. “This is forcing modern Maya farming communities − and everyone else − to rethink how they produce food and how to achieve food security, considering their dependence on the timing of the rainy season and the seasonal distribution of rainfall, which is no longer predictable.

“This is important because farming requires both traditional knowledges of when to clear fields and plant, as well as a reliable amount of rainfall each season. When this breaks down, it causes food shortages and human suffering. This case study has implications for collective responses to climate change across the global tropics, a region that feeds over 2 billion people.” 

Intact Ball Game Carving Discovered at Chichen Itza

*** Presents two ball players in the center; It has a diameter of 32.5 centimeters, 9.5 centimeters thick, and 40 kilograms in weight.

*** It must have been attached to an arch that served as access to the Casa Colorada architectural complex

 In the Archaeological Zone of Chichén Itzá, archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) discovered a stone marker of the Ball Game in a circular shape, which presents a bas-relief glyphic band surrounding two attired characters like ball players. 

The relevance of the finding lies in the fact that it is a sculptural element that preserves its complete glyphic text.

With 32.5 centimeters in diameter, 9.5 centimeters thick, and 40 kilograms in weight, the piece was found during archaeological work carried out as part of the Program for the Improvement of Archaeological Zones (Promeza), in charge of the Federal Ministry of Culture.

The piece, named Ball Players Disc, was found by archaeologist Lizbeth Beatriz Mendicuti Pérez, within the Casa Colorada architectural complex (named after the remains of red paint inside) or Chichanchob ─located between the Ossuary and the Observatory─, as part of Structure 3C27, which corresponds to an access arch to the area, informed the archaeologist Francisco Pérez Ruiz, who together with the archaeologist José Osorio León coordinates the execution of the Promise in Chichén Itzá.

“In this Mayan site it is rare to find hieroglyphic writing, let alone a complete text; It hasn’t happened for more than 11 years,” said archaeologist Pérez Ruiz, explaining that the monument found functioned as a marker of some important event related to the Casa Colorada Ball Game, a court much smaller than the Great Game of Chichen Itza ball.

The researcher estimates that this Ball Game marker must correspond to the Terminal Classic or Early Postclassic period, between the end of the 800s and the beginning of 900 AD.

In turn, the archaeologist Mendicuti Pérez explained that the monument was found in an inverted position, 58 centimeters from the surface, which suggests that it was part of the east wall of the aforementioned arch, and its final position was due to its collapse.

He explained that it is a disc composed of rock of sedimentary origin, recognized by the geographer Arlette Herver Santamaría. The glyphic band, present on the front face, measures approximately six centimeters wide, which surrounds an iconographic interior record 20 centimeters in diameter: the iconographic and epigraphic study, headed by the responsible archaeologist, Santiago Alberto Sobrino Fernández, has identified two characters dressed as ball players, standing in front of a ball.

“The character on the left wears a feathered headdress and a sash that features a flower-shaped element, probably a water lily. At the height of his face, a scroll can be distinguished, which can be interpreted as breath or voice. The opponent wears a headdress known as a ‘snake turban’, whose representation is seen on multiple occasions in Chichén Itzá.

The individual wears ballcourt protectors. The epigraphic band consists of 18 cartouches with a short count date of 12 Eb 10 Cumku, which tentatively points to AD 894.

Pérez Ruiz announced that the study of the piece will be carried out within the Promeza; At the moment, its conservation is already being attended to.

Meanwhile, the movable property restorer, Claudia Alejandra Mei Chong Bastidas, desalinated the piece with cellulose fiber compresses and physical-chemical cleaning with distilled water.

In turn, the biologist Luis Alberto Rodríguez Catana has carried out the photogrammetry process, in order to have high-resolution images of the details of the iconography and the glyphic text, to later be studied down to the smallest detail, the researcher concluded. 

83 ancient Mexican artifacts returned from Italy, Germany, France

The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) has announced the return of 40 historical artifacts from Italy, as well as another 40 from Germany and three from France.

Some of the artifacts are nearly 1,700 years old.

The artifacts arrived safely back in Mexico thanks to Aeromexico, who collected them in Rome, Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto reported during President López Obrador’s daily press conference on Tuesday.

Frausto traveled to Rome to repatriate the articles in person. 

“There was joy, applause, and a lot of pride,” amongst the team on the return journey, she said. Videos on Twitter showed the group jubilantly celebrating the loading of the items into the aircraft in Rome.

“Not only do we announce the recovery of heritage but also the recovery of dignity in this country,” she told the assembled press.

The artifacts were confiscated in 2021 by the Carabinieri group for the Protection of Cultural Heritage — and Italian enforcement agency tasked with identifying cultural items that may have been removed without permission from their countries of origin. 

Some of the pieces in question were in private hands at the time of the seizure.

It is not the first time Italy has returned missing cultural artifacts to Mexico: as recently as July, it returned 30 artifacts found by Italian authorities being offered for sale online and at auction. At the time, Mexico gave Italy custody of 1,271 documents in its possession that were connected to the Italian sculptor Ettore Ferrari in exchange. 

The Italian government has been directly advising Mexico on how to create a similar cultural protection enforcement organization that could further recover more missing items and has sent an attaché to Mexico to assist.

The recovery of historical artifacts has been a key element of foreign policy under the López Obrador government, and foreign embassies have been instructed to advertise repatriation services. 

“Binational cooperation is experiencing a happy moment,” said Giorgio Silli, the Italian Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs.

Las piezas sustraídas del país, que la casa Millon Maison de ventes aux enchères pretende vender, son parte de la identidad y riqueza invaluable del pueblo de 🇲🇽

Insistimos en el llamado a desistir de la venta ilegal de piezas #MiPatrimonioNoSeVende, se ama y se defiende. pic.twitter.com/kkQjk1NxZI

— Alejandra Frausto (@alefrausto) March 29, 2023

President López Obrador has prioritized the recovery of pre-Hispanic artifacts, and through the Culture Ministry, launched an education campaign aiming at getting owners to repatriate such items. In this tweet, pre-Hispanic items being offered for sale outside Mexico are highlighted.

In addition to the artifacts recovered from Italy, INAH says that a further 40 pieces have been returned by Germany, as well as 3 from France, several of which date from 400 B.C. 

The French pieces were part of a private inheritance that had been delivered to an auction house. According to the newspaper El Pais, the owner delisted and returned the objects to the Mexican embassy in Paris after learning of the government repatriation scheme, according to El País.

The Mexican government is now targeting the return of 83 Olmec artifacts from France that are set to be sold at a private auction on April 3. Frausto has slammed the auction of these pre-Hispanic pieces and at the press event, she challenged people who would buy such artifacts to appreciate works being made by modern artisans throughout Mexico.

“They are put up for sale as if they were a luxury item to decorate a house as if they were merchandise. This is not only illegal but it is also immoral…

“We call for potential buyers to set their eyes on the art in towns today. There are extraordinary pieces that may be adorning the most luxurious houses in the world. Contemporary art in Mexico is also a power. Visit and see this art that is being created right now,” she said. 

INAH reports that a total of 11,505 archaeological pieces have now been repatriated under President López Obrador’s government.

Burial Chamber Uncovered at Maya Site of Palenque

The discovery of a burial chamber in the archaeological zone of Palenque with a primary burial, composed of a human skeleton, and a secondary burial, an offering made up of three plates and a niche with various green stone figures, was reported by archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), informed its director Diego Prieto during the morning conference of President López Obrador, from Palenque, Chiapas.

Prieto Hernandez emphasized that the discovery was registered during the salvage of Structure CP3, during the construction works of the Mayan Train.

The head of INAH explained that the skeleton of the individual of the primary burial presents a face-up position and is oriented towards the north, something usual in the ancient funerary customs of Palenque.

The skeletal remains of the second deposit would correspond to a woman, who was probably buried in a different place.

Prieto Hernandez said that there is also another skull, of which the analyses continue for its identification.

The archaeological salvage tasks, said Diego Prieto, are practically concluded, nevertheless, the archaeologists and other professionals continue with the analysis and interpretation of the archaeological information.

Cemetery Found in Mexico City Reflects Changing Burial Customs

INAH experts recovered the skeletal remains of 21 individuals during the construction of the so-called “Pavellón Escénico“, in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City.

A cemetery from the early viceregal period (1521-1620 AD) was found in the area where the Chapultepec Forest Garden and “Pabellón Escénico” (Scenic Pavilion) are being built, reports the Ministry of Culture.

Experts from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), through the Directorate of Archaeological Rescue (DSA), made the discovery in the area known as ecological parking.

In the text, the coordinator of the DSA, María de Lourdes López Camacho, explains that during the monitoring of the works as part of the Chapultepec Project, the INAH dug a two-by-two-meter test pit, and “human skeletal remains were detected from 1.37 meters deep.

With the field assistance of archaeologists Blanca Copto Gutiérrez and Alixbeth Daniela Aburto Pérez, “it was decided to double the excavation.

In the last three weeks, the team recovered the bones – in various states of conservation – of 21 individuals, mostly female and male adults, including a couple of infants”, adds the archaeologist.

It details that the burials were carried out directly in the ground and at three different moments during the first century after the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. 

“Despite the fact that most of the burials presented the same west-east orientation, which alludes to the belief in the resurrection in the Christian faith, their arrangement suggests two types of population: one of indigenous origin, probably Mexica, and another European”.

The archaeologist explains that for the most part, “individuals were placed outstretched with their arms crossed over their chests or in the pelvic region, as indicated by the Catholic funeral rite; However, two were buried in a flexed and lateral way, in the Mesoamerican style, not to mention that another couple of individuals were buried carrying a seal and a green obsidian blade, both pre-Hispanic”.

According to their studies, it is a collective burial that corresponds to an early viceroyalty cemetery, “because it shows the transition from pre-Hispanic funeral customs to those implemented with the arrival of the Spaniards and their religious system.”

The report adds that “according to the coordinator of the DSA Bioarchaeology Section, Jorge Arturo Talavera González, who made a first osteological report -which will be complemented with other analyses, including DNA-, the epigenetic traits of certain individuals indicate the presence of two different populations in that context, the Amerindian individuals being identifiable by their spade-shaped teeth .”

Regarding health conditions, the document concludes, “preliminary observations indicate that the people buried suffered, among other conditions, hypoplasia, attrition and dental calculus (wear of enamel and dental structure, as well as tartar), inflammation of the periosteum ( fibrous sheath that covers the bones) and other infectious processes, as well as diseases related to the nutritional deficit”.