In Mexico they find a pre-Hispanic Mayan canoe dating back 1,000 years

A pre-Hispanic Mayan canoe in good condition, estimated to be around 1,000 years old, was found in a cenote in southeastern Mexico during the construction of a train, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) reported last Friday. ).

Measuring 1.60 m long, 80 cm wide and 40 cm high, the vessel was discovered in this underground water reservoir during the works of a section of the so-called Mayan Train, between the states of Yucatán and Quintana Roo (southeast) .

During prospecting work in the area, a team of underwater archaeologists from INAH located a cave about five meters below the current water level of the cenote.

Inside it, a hardwood trunk was initially observed, which after inspection “indicated the presence of symmetrical cuts made to create a deck without sides, which made it clear that it was a platform-type canoe,” explained the institute in a statement.

“The small boat could have been used to extract water from the cenote or to deposit offerings during rituals,” he added.

It is the first canoe of this type so well preserved in the Mayan area, since previously only fragments of these boats and oars have been found in Guatemala and Belize, the researchers highlighted.

Its antiquity has been initially associated with the site of San Andrés, peripheral to Chichén Itzá, whose temporality is linked to the Terminal Classic period, between AD 830 and 950.

A new survey scheduled for November, with the support of the Sorbonne University in Paris, will seek to determine its age, as well as which tree the wood is from, the INAH added.

In Mexico, where various pre-Hispanic cultures such as the Aztecs and the Mayans flourished, archaeological finds are common.

In mid-September, the authorities reported that an offering and the remains of a staircase were found in a pyramid in the archaeological zone of Xochitécatl, in the central state of Tlaxcala. (I)