A limestone circle with Mayan hieroglyphs on the rim was discovered by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) researchers in the archaeological zone of Chichen Itzá, in the southeastern state of Yucatan, more than 100 years after the last such find.
According to the director of the archaeological zone of Chichén Itzá, Marco Antonio Santos Ramírez, it is a stone disc of about 30 centimeters in circumference that could expand or change what is known so far about the Mayan civilization.
“The limestone circle, which has Mayan hieroglyphs on the rim and Mayan dignitaries playing Pok Ta Pok, the pre-Columbian ball game, in the center, could change the history of the site by contributing a new element that we did not know,” declared Santos Ramirez.
According to the archaeologist, the inscriptions could be the last hieroglyphs written about the Late Classic culture between 650 and 900 AD.
“It contains dates, names, or actions that the ancient inhabitants of Chichén Itzá left”, he pointed out.
Specifically, the discovery was made a few weeks ago by Mexican researcher Francisco Perez in the Morley Structure, named in honor of the American archaeologist who restored Chichen Itza after World War I.
The structure is located in the archaeological site of Chichen Itzá.
Inside, the structure – located in the area known as Casa Colorada, a few meters south of the Chichen Itzá castle – contained glyphs on stones that, when put together, reflect Kukulkan, a Mayan deity also known as Quetzalcoatl or feathered serpent.
The hieroglyphic disk is “under the care of epigraphers such as David Stuart from an American university,” Santos Ramirez said.
“We hope that soon there will be more details of the finding,” he added.
The finding was made thanks to the Archaeological Zones Improvement Program (Promeza), part of the Mayan Train Project, one of the priority works of the Federal Government, headed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“Since the creation of INAH, there has not been such an important investment in Mexico’s archeology, and today it is paying off; the discovery of the disc with hieroglyphs is an example”, celebrated the archeologist.
With information from Sputnik