Explorers discover intact Mayan city hidden in jungle for over 1,000 years

A group of explorers have discovered a Mayan city that has been left intact in the Mexican jungle for over 1,000 years. The group, made up of Slovenian and Mexican explorers, was exploring in the Calakmul Nature Reserve in Mexico when they made the incredible fine.

Trekking in the jungle in the state of Campeche, the researchers found the city which has now been named Minanbe. It was covered by dense forestation. Further analysis of the city, that covers an area of 13 square hectares, has led researchers to believe that it may have been constructed between the years 600 to 900.

The team was led by archaeologist Ivan Sprajc. Mr Sprajc is associated with the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences. The survey was carried out after assessment of LiDAR images by fellow archaeologists Atasta Flores Esquivel, Vitan Vujanović, Israel Chato López, and Quintín Hernández Gómez. It was these images that indicated there might be something beneath the thick canopy.

As well as being 13 square hectares in size, the city has a number of buildings including a pyramid in the Rio Bec style measuring 13 metres in heigh and a relief that depicts water features and a beheading. On this, Mr Vujanović told Inah it was “the first time I have recorded a more or less well-preserved temple, and a stele that still bears glyphs”.

The project is not the result of merely one trek, however, with the discovering marking the end of a project that has been dedicated to the exploration of the Central Maya Lowlands.

During the project, one endorsed by the Archaeology Council of the National Institute of Anthropology and History, Mr Sprajc and his team explored the norther part of the reserve. This formed part of a surface survey of an area west of Chactun.

In order to access some of the most difficult and treacherous areas of the forest, the explorers used machetes extensively to clear a path. They also used quadbikes in their exploration as well. When it came to this challenge, Mr Sprajc said the lack of any clear paths was a sign that they were onto something.

Mr Sprajc explained: “Compared to other places where we carried out surface surveys, access here proved much more difficult. However, in the last three years, this is the first site we’ve found that’s intact; there are no signs of looting. It was a real discovery, a huge surprise for us.

“That is why we chose the name Minanbé, which comes from Yucatec Maya (mina’an, ‘there is none’, and be, ‘path’). In this way, we are following the tradition in Maya archaeology of naming certain sites after a characteristic of the place or in reference to the circumstances of the discovery.”

Mr Sprajc concluded that the Minanbe is in keeping with something he’s seen in other finds in the region in that it has been changed to fit around an agriculturally driven power. However, some questions remain about whether there were incursions from other groups that may have changed the dynamics of the city.