In the eastern Mexican state of Chiapas, a Mayan city that had been abandoned and lost in the jungle the past 300+ years appears to have been recently located.
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From Popular Mechanics: “Archaeologists have located Sak-Bahlán—the last city of the Lacandon rebels of Chiapas—in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve. The city had been lost in the jungle following its abandonment 300 years ago… The independent outpost of the rebels (known as the “land of the white jaguar”) was finally discovered thanks to the use of Geographic Information Systems predictive modeling.”
According to AI, “Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are computer systems that capture, store, manage, analyze, and display all types of geographically referenced data.”
So what’s the story of the city? Once again, from Popular Mechanics: ” The Maya people group known as the Lacandon lost their capital, Lacam-Tún (translated as “great rock”), to the Spanish in 1586, and retreated to Sak-Bahlán for just over 100 years of independent existence, according to historical records. The group lived undisturbed during that time, even as the Spanish searched for the site. But in 1695, Spanish Friar Pedro de la Concepcion found the stronghold by happenstance, and the Spanish soon took it over and renamed it Our Lady of Sorrows. By 1721, however, anyone still living at the site had abandoned it, leaving it lost to the jungle of what is now the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve. Efforts to relocate the site had since proven fruitless—until now.”
So how’d they find it?
“The new effort to locate the stronghold relied on predictive modeling based on information from historical documents—including a letter by Spanish friar Diego de Rivas written in 1698, which described a journey taken by a group of soldiers from the site.”
“[Archaeologist Josuhé] Lozada Toledo [ National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) Chiapas Center specialist] and archaeologists Brent Woodfill [of the U.S.] and Yuko Shiratori [of Japan] knew the city was located on a plain surrounded by a bend in the Lacantún River. Lozada Toledo used GIS to reconstruct pre-Hispanic and historical communication routes of various Maya groups, supplementing the models with further layers of data.”
“Information from Friar de Rivas’ letter showed that the soldiers left Sak-Bahlán and walked four days to the Lacantún River. They then sailed for two days to arrive at El Encuentro de Cristo (where the tributary joins the Pasión River), and left their canoes to walk to Lake Petén Itzá in Guatemala. ‘From those places mentioned, which I had georeferenced, I made a conversion of the four days mentioned, from some point on the Lacantún River to Sak-Bahlán,’ Lozada Toledo said.”
“After accounting for a number of variables—including vegetation layers and how much each person was carrying—Lozada Toledo mapped an approximate range of where Sak-Bahlán should be located.”
“The team discovered a site near the Mexico-Guatemala border full of stone structures, tools, ceramics, and even a Spanish church, Lozada Toledo told Spanish-language Milenio—evidence that matched up with documents about the former Lacandon city. They’d found it.”
Archaeologist Josuhé Lozada Toledo was interviewed by Milenio, and asked “How was daily life there?” The reply “According to the Spanish chronicles, in its apogee between 1600 to 1694, approximately 500 persons were living there in some 100 houses. They mostly dedicated their time to agriculture, especially the cultivation of corn and maintained commercial interchanges, although secret, with other Maya groups to maintain their autonomy. This village was hidden in the thick jungle of Chiapas which allowed them to resist and maintain their culture alive until the end of the 17th century.”
When asked what comes next for the site, Lozada responded “We are planning future field seasons to carry out excavations and probes, such as using leading technology such as LIDAR to map the zone under the vegetation and detect hidden structures. We want to confirm the true extension of the settlement and seek metallic artifacts that give us clues about the commercial exchange with other cultures and contact with the Spaniards. This work still has much to reveal and we hope to contribute knowledge to future generations.”