Excavating ancient Maya city in farmyard yard

Researchers found the lost capital of Sak Tz'I ​​kingdom when excavating the ranch.

Preliminary map of the excavated area.(Photo: IB Times).

Whittaker Schroder, a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, heard about an ancient stone tablet in a ranch ranch drive while driving around Chiapas state in southeastern Mexico in 2014. To confirm the information, Schroder and a friend in Harvard University Jeffrey Dobereiner informed the anthropology professor Charles Golden and paleontologist Andrew Scherer at Brown University. However, the research team took years to obtain a permit to excavate the site and ensure the government did not confiscate the farmer's land.

Published in Field Archeology, the team identified the archaeological site in Lacanja Tzeltal farmyard as the capital of the Sak Tz'I ​​kingdom founded in 750 BC. In the area, they found evidence of a nearly 14-meter-wide market for merchandise, pyramids, and remnants of some of the more likely aristocratic residences.

The researchers also found evidence of a football field and royal palace, as well as Maya tombs with many important inscriptions. They also collected dozens of statues here, most of them degraded. The best preserved artifact is a thousand-year-old stele.

A relatively humble kingdom, surrounded by Sak Tz'I ​​are the more powerful nations. According to Golden, maybe the existence of the Sak Tz'I ​​kingdom among strong countries is due not only to its military strength but also to its peace policy with its neighbors. The team is planning to return to the region in June this year to reinforce collapsed buildings, map ancient cities with advanced tools, and look for more artifacts.

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