John Henderson is a professor of anthropology at Cornell University who conducts Mayan research in the Mesoamerican region. He comments on the recent discovery of Mayan ruins in the Campeche province of Mexico.
He says:
"It's nice to see a restrained announcement of archaeological discoveries. No one knew there was a site of Chactún's size in that part of Campeche, but it shouldn't surprise anyone either — substantial parts of the Maya world are still relatively remote and will produce surprises when they are carefully investigated.
"Chactún's importance is not that it is among the earliest or largest Maya cities (it isn't); it probably wasn't the richest or most powerful either. It is a substantial city and it will eventually lead to a different understanding of the history of that part of the Maya world — a far more important contribution to archaeology than the discovery of some treasure of jade jewelry."
RSS