The Maya Train Hotel's "first, ancestral guest" has been discovered, according to archaeologists excavating beside the building of the hotel close to Palenque, according to a colorful description in a press release from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
According to INAH, what they found was the skeletal remains of a human body clothed in expensive ornaments in a burial that may be more than 1,000 years old. The find was made on September 11 while archaeological work was being done in southern Mexico alongside the multibillion-dollar Maya Train project.
Six new hotels will be along the train's 1,554-kilometer (965-mile) route through the states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo, which also includes the Palenque, Chiapas hotel where the find was made.
It is only 2 kilometers from Palenque, one of the largest and most advanced metropolises of the ancient Maya civilisation, which is home to imposing temples and a vast palace complex. The city-state, also called Lakamha by the Maya, flourished from about 300 to 900 A.D.
Palenque, in Chiapas, was one of the most important cities of the ancient Maya world. (Ricraider/Wikimedia)
The human remains, which were discovered in a sizable stone box and sealed with slabs of limestone, were those of an important individual who lived outside the ancient city's core, according to INAH officials. A funerary collection of three pottery jars, two greenstone beads, and two Maya ear flares was found next to the bones.
Director of INAH Diego Prieto Hernández stated that the person was buried face up with his head facing north, adding that more examinations will attempt to ascertain the person's cause of death and other details. According to reports, the tomb was 4 meters (13 feet) below the roof of a Maya building.
Prieto Hernández presented the results at the press conference held on Monday morning by President López Obrador. He added that archaeologists and environmentalists were completing their plans for the region.
The individual was buried with lavish adornments, say archaeologists. (INAH)
The find was made on the Maya Train's Section 1, which as of Monday has recorded the following findings: There are 2,698 buildings, 248 pieces of furniture, 284,900 ceramics, 177 graves, and 55 natural elements connected to pre-Columbian Maya tribes.
Although it is expected that the federal government will spend an additional 120 billion pesos (US $6.9 billion) to complete the project and its ancillary works in 2024, the Maya Train is set for a preliminary inauguration in December. With this added, the project's estimated total cost is now 480 billion pesos ($27.7 billion).
