A lost city of the Maya Indians, which existed from prehistoric times until after the Spanish conquest of Yucatan, is being excavated in a thorny wilderness area by the National Geographic Society and Tulane University.
The city is Dzibilchaltun, a metropolis from which the Mayas vanished after becoming the most civilized peoples of pre-Columbian America.
Dzibilchaltun’s gray ruins cover an area of 20 square miles north of the Yucatan capital, Merida. The excavation project in Mexico is headed by Dr. E. Wyllys Andrews, an archeologist affiliated with Tulane’s Middle American Research Institute. Luis Marden of the Geographical Society’s foreign editorial staff, leads an underwater team that is exploring a huge cenote, or natural well, in the center of the city.
Largest in New World
The city apparently became the largest in the New World after its founding between 2000 and 1000 B. C., Dr. Andrews reports in the January issue of the magazine. He says it kept growing and thriving uninterruptedly through the crises of Mayan history and into Spanish colonial times.
In its heydey, Dzibilchaltun bristled with pyramidal temples, palaces and buildings of vaulted stone. The city’s size is significant because most Mayan cities formerly were thought to be only ceremonial centers.
Until now, the lost city has been overshadowed by other well-known Mayan centers, such as Chichen Itza and Uxmal. Among the city’s most striking features are a great white causeway paved with limestone and a rambling complex of buildings called the Palace. This covers a dozen acres and could hold most of the principal buildings at Chichen Itza.
Pottery Found
Nearly 250.000 fragments of pottery have been taken from excavations at the Palace. Some of the items obviously were imported from Guatemala, a discovery that helps archeologists cross-date architecture from Yucatan with that of the southern area for the first time.
The diggers also have discovered burial places at the Palace. One elderly man had been equipped for the afterlife with plates and jars of food, and beside him were the skeletons of two adolescents, presumably his wives.
Many of the city’s treasures are submerged in the cenote. Mr. Marden and his divers have reached a recorded depth of 144 feet in the well and have recovered a treasury of artifacts. These include spears and lances, jade pendants, carved bone ornaments and human bones. The well appears to have been the center of a cult.
Beneath the rubble is one major archeological find—an entire temple that the Mayans carefully and intentionally buried. It is called the Temple of the Seven Dolls after seven figurines buried beneath the floor. Oddly, the dolls are all malformed, suggesting they were used by priests in attempts to cure disease.
The Evening Star, Washington, DC, December 28, 1958