8 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Archaeologists Discovered 1,500-Year-Old Maya Palace in Mexico

Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) archaeologists have discovered a palace at an ancient Maya city in southeastern Mexico that shares characteristics with ruins in neighboring Guatemala, which could point to an “important” period of migration thousands of years ago.

The palace was found in the archaeological zone of Kabah—a pre-Hispanic settlement located in the Puuc region of Yucatán state, south of the modern city of Mérida.

The buildings were discovered by the team in advance of the Maya Train railroad project, a 930-mile (1,500-kilometer) railway that will traverse the Yucatán Peninsula.

The newly discovered palace has a main facade composed of a portico with eight pilasters—shallow, decorative columns attached to a wall—and nine openings, as well as an extension of 85 feet, INAH general director Diego Prieto Hernández said.

Researchers have named the newly uncovered Maya remains Petenero Palace. Hernández said the quadrangular structure appears to be more than 1,500 years old.

The palace was decorated with motifs of feathers, beads and birds that were carved into its architecture. Researchers think the roof of the building was made with a perishable material, such as guano palm, which has not survived.

A general view of the Petenero Palace. Image credit: INAH
A general view of the Petenero Palace. Image credit: INAH

The palace shares some characteristics with Maya remains found in the Petén Department of Guatemala, Hernández said.

Until recently, the housing complexes, along with other parts of the ancient city, were covered with vegetation, the INAH statement noted. The city was founded by people who came from the Petén region, which includes Guatemala and Belize, sometime between A.D. 250 and 500, although the precise date of the building’s construction is unknown. Toscano Hernández said the city’s first ruler may have lived in the structures.

“We propose that an important migration from that site founded Kabah,” Hernández said.

The Maya civilization dominated what is now southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and the western areas of El Salvador and Honduras for more than 3,000 years until the era of Spanish colonization.

INAH

Related Articles

New Huge Viking-age boat grave discovered by Radar in Norway

12 April 2022

12 April 2022

Archaeologists have located a boat grave from the Viking Age near Øyesletta in Norway during a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey....

A Celtiberian city more than 2000 years old found in Spain

16 July 2023

16 July 2023

The Polytechnic University of Madrid announced the discovery of a Roman camp and the Celtiberian city of Titiakos in the...

8,000-year-old Cave paintings found in Türkiye’s İnkaya Cave depict life and death

10 September 2023

10 September 2023

A number of cave paintings dating back some 8,000 years have been found in İnkaya cave in the Marmara province...

A mysterious lead tablet with an unknown 13th-14th-century script: Might be an old Lithuanian script?

26 February 2024

26 February 2024

In the Museum of the Palace of the Grand Dukes in Vilnius, Lithuania, a mysterious lead tablet dating back to...

A Viking ship discovered at Salhushaugen Cemetery in Norway

22 April 2023

22 April 2023

Archaeologists in Norway, a 20-meter-long Viking ship has been discovered using georadar on a mound previously believed to be empty....

Peru finds perfectly preserved a wooden figure in the Americas’ largest mud-brick city

29 June 2022

29 June 2022

A perfectly preserved wooden figure has been discovered at the Chan Chan archaeological site, in northern Peru, the Ministry of...

Archaeologists have discovered a treasure trove of sixth-century coins in ancient Phanagoria in Russia

27 July 2021

27 July 2021

Archaeologists have discovered 80 coins known as Copper staters dating back to the sixth century at Phanagoria on the Black...

Hundreds Of Mummified Bees inside their Cocoons from the Time of the Pharaohs found in Portugal

25 August 2023

25 August 2023

Hundreds of mummified bees inside their cocoons have been found on the southwest coast of Portugal, in a new paleontological...

A Unique Discovery in Europe: Ancient Stone Circles Cover 2,800-Year-Old Graves of Children in Norway

29 June 2024

29 June 2024

Archaeologists from the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo discovered an unknown burial site in a quarry near Fredrikstad, in...

First example of Roman crucifixion in UK discovered in Cambridgeshire village

8 December 2021

8 December 2021

In Cambridgeshire village, the earliest evidence of a Roman crucifixion has been discovered. Archaeologists investigating a previously unknown Roman roadside...

Researchers discovered clay tablets with ancient cuneiform writing, a game board, and large structural remains in Kurd Qaburstan

16 January 2025

16 January 2025

Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, associate professor of history at the University of Central Florida (UCF), and a researchers team have made important...

Horse cemetery in Westminster revealed as likely resting place for elite imported animals

25 March 2024

25 March 2024

Archaeological analysis of a medieval horse cemetery discovered in London nearly 30 years ago has revealed the international scale of...

Folded Gold Diadem discovered in Ancient Burial Urn in Southern India

12 August 2022

12 August 2022

A gold diadem, bronze, iron objects, and pottery were reportedly found in a burial urn at the archaeological site of...

Poseidon Temple in Greece Larger than Previously Assumed

27 January 2024

27 January 2024

New excavations at Kleidi-Samikon in Greece’s Western Peloponnese show that the temple, discovered in 2022, is more monumental than previously...

Archaeologists discover 1,300-year-old ski trapped in Norwegian ice

6 October 2021

6 October 2021

The melting of an ice sheet in Norway has uncovered a pair of remarkably well-preserved skis that had been undisturbed...