Intact Maya city Minanbé discovered in Mexico's Calakmul Reserve

Archaeologists have recently discovered Minanbé, an ancient Maya city that's remarkably well-preserved, located in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in Campeche, Mexico. Covering 15 hectares, the site includes a pyramid temple, 14 stone monuments, plazas, palaces, and terraces. Led by Ivan Šprajc from the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the team used Lidar technology, with permission from INAH, to find this city, which dates back to the Late Classic period (AD600-AD900). The tallest structure is a 13-meter pyramid featuring three stelae at its base, one of which shows a decapitation and is dated 5 Ajaw (AD849). Octavio Esparza Olguín is currently working on the inscriptions. Remarkably, the site has not been looted, offering unique research opportunities. To reach it, the team cleared paths with machetes and chainsaws. Šprajc has identified over 80 Maya sites over 30 years, including Chactún in 2013 and Ocomtún in 2023. The reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is the second-largest remaining forest in Latin America, spanning 723,185 hectares and containing more than 500 archaeological sites. However, future excavations will face challenges, like needing permission to build access roads.