by Last week, some media outlets claimed that archaeologists at Chichen Itza had uncovered a previously unknown elite housing complex. But it turns out these “newly discovered” structures were actually found more than a century ago, according to Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
However, there is news from Chichen Itza, a city on the Yucatán Peninsula that thrived between the 9th and 13th centuries AD and has a mix of Maya and Toltec influences. According to INAH, which is responsible for the site, a new part of Chichen Itza will open to the public later this year, the agency announced in a translated version on Feb. 21 opinion (opens in new tab).
Over the past 30 years, a team of researchers has cleared an area of modern-day structures from overgrowth archaeologists Call the “initial group”. The teams are also conducting conservation work and analysis on the buildings, the statement said.
Some media reports (opens in new tab) It was claimed last week that new elite residences had been discovered in the original group, but the statement emphasized that these structures were excavated in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Early archaeologists gave them elaborate names like “House of the Moon”, “House of the Phallus” and “House of the Snail”. Details of some of the structures were published in 1952 by Karl Ruppert, an American archaeologist who helped excavate the site, in his book “Chichen Itza: Architectural Notes and Plans (opens in new tab)‘ (Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1952).
Related: What is hidden in the ancient Mayan pyramids?
While the “elite shelters” are not new, the conservation work will allow the public to visit them for the first time. In addition, new architectural information about the structures – such as the shape of the roofs – could be derived, the statement said.
Cynthia Kristan-Graham (opens in new tab), an art history professor at Auburn University who specializes in Mesoamerican architecture but isn’t involved in the recent work, told Live Science in an email that some of the elite residences may have served multiple functions — possibly, too as places for rituals and political activities in addition to the dwellings. The people who lived in them “could have been rulers or high-ranking figures in the Chichen Itza community,” Kristan-Graham said, noting that one question is where the rest of the people of Chichen Itza lived.
Live Science contacted archaeologists at INAH who are leading the work, but they did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.
