Situated within the northern portion of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, two Maya cities have been discovered in the Yucatan peninsula by an international team of scientists.
Led by Ivan Šprajc from the Slovenia Academy of Sciences and Arts Research Center, the team went on an expedition as a follow-up to an Archaeological Reconnaissance project in Southeastern Campeche. The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve where the two cities were found is home to numerous archaeological sites and Maya ruins, but it is dense and particularly difficult to travel through so aerial surveys, geodesy, and local guides were employed to explore the jungle before finding Lagunita and Tamchén.
Technically though, just one city was newly discovered. Lagunita was first found in 1970 by an American archaeologist named Eric Von Euw. He documented stone monuments in the Maya city as well as an extraordinary facade with very visible markings depicting the open jaws of an earth monster, but his works were never published. It was these works, however, that let Šprajc and his team identify the Maya city as Lagunita, after having compared the American archaeologist's drawings with what they found.
The other Maya city, Tamchén , was named as such because of the many underground chambers found in the area. Shaped like bottles and used to collect rainwater, these chambers resemble deep wells, which translate to "tamchén" in Yucatec Maya. Over 30 of the underground chambers were found within Tamchén, some of which extended as far as 13 meters down.
More than the simple discovery (and rediscovery) of Lagunita and Tamchén, what interested Šprajc and his team more was what they found inside the two cities. For starters, Lagunita had monuments and pyramid temples that were rare in the region. And then there were the underground chambers in Tamchén. They are found in other Maya cities but it was unusual that such a large number was concentrated in the city. The northern portion of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve remains largely unexplored though, so it is possible that what is being considered as rare and unusual now may in fact be more common in the undiscovered parts of the region. Only further research will tell.
The exploration that led to the discovery of Lagunita and Tamchén has the approval and support of the National Institute of Anthropology and History in Mexico. Funding was provided by the KJJ Charitable Foundation, Villas, Hotel Rio Bec Dreams, Ars longa, Adria Kombi, Aleš Obreza, and Martin Hobel.
