Ruins of a building and staircase.
The jungle hides many incredible creatures and biodiversity, but it also obscures important human-made structures.
The city was discovered with LiDAR in March 2023.
Ruins of a building and staircase. (Photo:Ivan Šprajc via National Institute of Anthropology and History)
The images taken by the technology showed buildings as topography under the jungle cover.
The site also has stairs, plazas, and many stone columns.
In honor of this last feature, the team named the site Ocomtun meaning stone column in Yucatec Mayan.
A stone bearing inscriptions from the Ocomtún site. (Photo:Ivan Šprajc via National Institute of Anthropology and History)
The site dates to the Mayan Classical period, which lasted approximately from 250 to 1,000 CE.
By about 1,000 CE, the civilization was in decline and many sites became abandoned.
However, the design of Ocomtun gives clues to how its inhabitants once lived.
LIDAR scan of the discovered site. (Photo:National Institute of Anthropology and History)
Plazas would likely have been public gathering places, too.
The scans also indicated a strange construction of concentric low structures creating a mysterious building.
Shrines along the nearby La Riguena River also were sites of gathering for worship.
Meanwhile, peering closely, one can note inscriptions upon stone left by the highly cultured inhabitants.
The Mayans wrote in ahieroglyphic system, inscribed on stele stones, pottery, and other surfaces.
A stone bearing inscriptions from the Ocomtun site.
(Photo:Ivan Sprajc via National Institute of Anthropology and History)
LIDAR scan of the discovered site.
