During 2020 the INAH found more than 1,800 Mayan archeological pieces in Yucatan towns.

The findings are mainly funerary vessels from the prehispanic period.

MERIDA, Yucatan (Televisa News) – Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have found this year more than 1,800 prehispanic and colonial period pieces in rural areas, haciendas, and Mayan police stations in Yucatan.

These are thousands of pieces that are protected under strict protocols. However, the collection decreased in 2019, when archaeologists found 3 thousand pieces of historical importance.

Most of the pieces were found in Mayan burials and discovered during the construction phase of private homes, but they were handed over to INAH for study.

Among the pieces recovered, there are bones with inscriptions, weapons used during the colony, and, above all, carved vessels.

Why are so many pots found?
About the pots, José Huchim, INAH archaeologist, explains that the pots were used in burials for food to be placed.

“These were found in the burials. It was a custom for the Mayans to place food and water in these pots to accompany the deceased on its journey”.

For her part, Silvana Boucher, director of Ceramoteca, reported that the pots reflect how people lived.

“In all the pots, you see how the common people lived. There are painted ceramics that are usually vases, where there are scenes around the glass and those are more associated with burials, to put on the face of the individual when he died because it was his vessel”.

Pieces that are difficult to be preserved
Eduardo López, director of INAH in Yucatán, informed that the textile pieces found are very difficult to preserve. “They are very difficult to preserve here. Textiles are very difficult to preserve in Yucatan because of the climate”. Researchers point out that these objects contain inscriptions and evidence about customs and elaboration periods, some of them more than 2 thousand years old.

Currently, INAH has a collection of 7 thousand Mayan pieces in the Ceramoteca or exhibited in museums of the State or other parts of Mexico, and were previously studied in laboratories to know their history.

There are 2 thousand 300 registered prehispanic Maya sites or settlements of diverse elites; 3 thousand 50 cenotes and 60 caves from which the cultural heritage has been extracted.

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