Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Scientists excavating in the archaeological zone of Oxkintok, about 55 kilometers south of Mérida, Mexico, have unearthed an intriguing ancient statue of a male warrior.
The limestone statue without a head, hands, lower legs, and feet measures 1.65 meters tall, or about 5 feet 5 inches. it was made in the image of a Maya warrior, most likely a prisoner of war. Its lack of a head “surely represents a warrior who was a prisoner in combat,” said Diego Prieto, general director of the National Insтιтute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
Headless statue of life-size ancient Mayan warrior discovered in Mexico. Credit: INAH
“He was found lying on his back and represents the human figure,” archaeologist Luis Pantoja Díaz said during a media tour of the area. “We see the marked pectorals, the middle part that could be the hanging belly and the part of the member.”
The archaeological announcement was made during a press conference when researchers also reported the progress of excavation work for the Maya Train that has been temporarily nicknamed “Yum keeb” — the god of the phallus or fertility.
“He also said one could see ʙuттocks (which are clearly visible in the pH๏τo) and some lines on the back, such as those that delineate shoulder blades (which are not).
While the newspaper La Jornada used the terms falo (phallus) and miembro (member) in describing the figure, another newspaper reported nothing along those lines, or about fertilidad (fertility), explaining instead that the sculpture is that of a warrior,” Mexico Daily reports.
According to INAH and Mexican media, ” the sculpture was possibly used as an offering to the gods. It was found near a hieroglyph-laden staircase that was being cleaned and restored. Pantoja Díaz stressed that the figure is still being analyzed to determine its specific function, thus the “temporary” nickname. Even the statue’s status as the representation of a male is not 100% ᴀssured, he added.”
During a press conference, “President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the general director of the INAH, Diego Prieto Hernández, also reported on the progress in what represents the largest archaeological investigation carried out in the Mexican southeast. during the tasks of supervision of the construction works of the Mayan Train, ” INAH reports.
He said that approximately a third of Section 7 had been covered, which extends 254 kilometers, between Chetumal, in Quintana Roo, and Escárcega, in Campeche. In this survey, more than 1,730 pre-Hispanic constructions have been detected so far, ranging from simple domestic architecture to monumental constructions for civil and ceremonial activities, some with standing architecture.
The anthropologist highlighted the discovery of buildings with decorated façades erected between the 8th and 9th centuries AD when the power of the ancient Mayan city of Calakmul began to decline.
No less important, he said, are the data obtained through the analysis of LiDAR images that, together with field verification, show a large number and variety of domestic complexes located in the middle and high parts of the topographic elevations.
The documentation of complex housing systems with ridges and residential walls demonstrates a remarkable population density and a complex urban organization. “Information of vital interest to understand the daily life and subsistence strategies of the ancient Mayan society,” said Prieto Hernández.
He said that the excavation phase in this section is just beginning, but it is promising, as it announces the great potential offered by these investigations. “From the INAH, and with the support of the National Fund for the Promotion of Tourism (Fonatur) and the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena), strategies are being developed to investigate and protect these examples of ancient Mayan settlements.”
When making a general balance, the head of the INAH highlighted that the monitoring of the construction works of the Mayan Train entails different phases: prospective, registration, excavation and recovery of the archaeological material, as well as one more stage for the treatment, classification, cleaning , ordering and analysis of the data obtained (condensed into 45 terabytes of information), which will imply at least two decades of study, thus nurturing knowledge about the Mayan world.
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Regarding the advances in the seven sections of the Mayan Train route, the general director of INAH announced that in the first three, the fieldwork had been completed, and only laboratory and office work remains; likewise, it is probable that in the remaining weeks of 2022 the excavation tasks in Section 4 will finish, which have also begun in sections 5, 6 and 7, the latter being the longest.
“We have uncovered information that will nourish the knowledge of the Mesoamerican Maya world for at least the next two decades,” said Prieto, the INAH director. “This work will undoubtedly impact the study of Maya cultures … over many, many years.”
Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Staff Writer
