Ancient Mayan City, 250 Egyptian Mummies, Passageways In 3,000-Yr-Old Peru Temple — Latest Archaeological Finds

A team of archaeologists uncovered the ruins of an ancient Mayan city filled with palaces, pyramids and plazas on a site near Merida, on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

New Delhi: Several interesting archaeological discoveries have been made in May 2022. These include the discovery of a network of passageways under a 3000-year-old Peruvian temple, an ancient Mayan city on a construction site, and hundreds of mummies in Saqqara, Egypt. 

Mayan City Filled With Palaces, Pyramids, And Plazas

A team of archaeologists uncovered the ruins of an ancient Mayan city filled with palaces, pyramids and plazas on a site near Merida, on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, on May 27, 2022. A park is being constructed on that site, news agency Reuters reported.

The site is known as Xiol, and has features of the Mayan Puuc style of architecture, according to archaeologists. These features are common in the southern Yucatan Peninsula but rare near Merida. The city is estimated to have been occupied from 600 to 900 AD.

Quoting Carlos Peraza, one of the archaeologists who led the excavation of the city, a Reuters report said the team thinks that more than 4,000 people lived around the city, and that the people were from different social classes, including priests and scribes, who lived in great palaces, and common people, who lived in small buildings.

The archaeologists also discovered nearby burial grounds of adults and children. They were buried with obsidian and flint tools, offerings and other belongings, the report said. Obsidian is a naturally occuring volcanic glass, and a flint tool is a primitive axe made from chipped stone. 

Based on the remains of marine life discovered in the area, the archaeologists concluded that the city's inhabitants complemented their agricultural-based diets by fishing along the nearby coast.

The discovery was made after the construction of the industrial park began. However, the owners of the land have said that the park will still be built, and the archaeological remains will be preserved, according to the report.

Peraza said that with time, urban sprawl has grown and many of the archaeological remains have been destroyed. He added that as archaeologists, they were surprised because they did not expect to find a site so well preserved.

250 Mummies Discovered At Burial Site In Saqqara

Hundreds of ancient Egyptian coffins and bronze statues of deities were discovered in Saqqara, Egypt, in the last week of May 2022. 

Archaeologists working near Cairo discovered statues of Egyptian gods Anubis, Amun, Min, Osiris, Isis, Nefertum, Bastet, and Hathor in a cemetery near Egypt's Saqqara necropolis. They also uncovered a headless statue of the architect Imhotep, who built the Saqqara pyramid, Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said on Monday, May 30. 

As many as 250 coffins, 150 bronze statues, and some other objects have been discovered. The objects date to the Late Period of Egypt (525-332 BCE), according to the ministry.

The coffins and statues were accompanied by a musical instrument known as a sistrum and a collection of bronze vessels used in rituals for the worship of the goddess Isis. The sarcophaguses are around 2,500 years old.

According to the report, the painted wooden coffins were found intact in burial shafts and contained mummies, amulets, and wooden boxes. Other discoveries include wooden statues of Egyptian goddesses Nephthys and Isis from an earlier period, both with gilded faces.

Mostafa Waziri, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said one coffin contained a well-preserved papyrus written in hieroglyphs. Papyrus is a material similar to thick paper which was used in ancient times as a writing surface, and hieroglyphs are characters used in a system of pictorial writing, particularly those used on ancient Egyptian monuments. 

The hieroglyphs which were written on the well-preserved papyrus could be verses of the Book of the Dead, according to Waziri. The coffin containing the papyrus was sent to the laboratory of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo for further study.

The archaeologists also discovered a collection of cosmetics, including kohl containers, along with bracelets and earrings.

In recent years, several archaeological discoveries have been made in Saqqara, which is located to the south of the Pyramids of Giza. 

Discovery Of Passageways In 3,000-Year-Old Peruvian Temple

Archaeologists have discovered a network of passageways under a temple in the Peruvian Andes. The temple, known as the Chavin de Huantar temple, is more than 3000 years old, and is located in the north-central Andes. The temple was once a religious and administrative centre for people across the region.

John Rick, an archaeologist at Stanford University who was involved in the excavation of the site,  said that the passageways, found earlier in May, have features believed to have been built earlier than the temple's labyrinthine galleries, according to a Reuters report. 

At least 35 underground passageways have been discovered over several years of excavation. The passageways are situated 3,200 metres above sea level, and are connected to each other. They were built between 1,200 and 2,00 years BC, in the foothills of the Andes.

Rick said that it is a passageway, but it is very different. He added that it is a different form of construction, and has features from earlier periods that archaeologists have never seen in passageways.

When the Peruvian armed forces built a network of tunnels to rescue 72 people taken hostage by the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) rebel group at the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima in 1997, they carried out an operation named Chavin de Huantar. The temple in the Peruvian Andes was named after the operation carried out by the Peruvian armed forces, and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1985.