To the rescue of sections 6 and 7 of the Maya Train: INAH will intensify archaeological rescue

The director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), Diego Prieto Hernandezannounced during the morning conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) that salvage work will be accelerated in the last two sections of the Mayan trend to be able to release them next April.

The person in charge of INAH revealed that the archaeological prospection has already been concluded in the more than 1,600 linear kilometers that cover the entire mega project, so it now continues to conclude with the work of registration and rescue of the remains found in the area , which are already counted in thousands .

Only in section 7 of the route, which goes from Bacalar (Quintana Roo) to Escárcega (Campeche), are close to 11 thousand archaeological pieces belonging to ancient Mayan colonies. As such, the INAH is entrusted with carrying out the rescue work in order to free the rights-of-way and for the train to be completed and inaugurated in December 2023.

“We have already covered, taking into account the variants, more than 1,600 linear kilometers of rights-of-way. This in addition to the complementary and induced work of the train itself that we have allowed ourselves to identify elements which constitute the basis of the largest archaeological survey which was developed in the Mayan region of Mexico and Mesoamerica,” he commented.

According to the manager, the item 5 (which runs from Cancun to Tulum) to Quintana Roo, almost 82% of the work approval has been achieved; he item 6 (Tulum – Bacalar) already has just over 60% archaeological approval, while the item 7 It is the one that has made the least progress, with 57%.

According to the Ministry of Culture, these figures will increase considerably in the coming weeks, under the supervision and with the work of various specialists in the field.

And it is that, until March 13, Prieto pointed out that in the whole Mayan train project it was already possible to preserve 46,000,416 properties (i.e. structures and bars); 832 thousand 23 ceramic pieces found between sections 1 and 5; thousand 795 personal property (ceramics, lithics and figurines); nearly 700 ships; 490 bones, as well as more than thousand 200 caves and cenotes.

At the moment, in the seven sections of the Mayan train, they are working 520 archaeologists, topographers, drones, ecologists, geologists and physical anthropologists, according to the presidency of Mexico, while they are assisted by 500 military elements.

On the other hand, thanks to the Program for the Improvement of Archaeological Areas (Promezza) 26 sites near the train route were rescued and responded to. Among all, Diego Prieto underlined the importance of Dzibanché-Kinichna, which is located south of Quintana Roo and had not received attention, remaining in the shadows for centuries; The reasons: its small population, the difficulty of the territory and the economic precariousness.

It should be noted that this archaeological area became known almost a century ago, when – during the six-year tenure of Lázaro Cárdenas – the Mexican Scientific Expedition. However, explorations in this area did not begin until the 1990s, when archaeologist Enrique Nalda he was interested.

These are the remains of an ancient civilization, born around the 3rd century BC. AD, and whose apogee of splendor occurred between the 6th and 9th centuries, during the Canul dynasty.

It is located in an area of ​​60 square kilometers and has four large interconnected architectural complexes with roads. Among its main buildings, the temples of Los Cautivos, del Búho and Cormoranes stand out, where there were burial chambers of important cultural personalities.