Emily Chan
“We have found several ancient Maya settlements, with remains of residential buildings and temple pyramids,” Šprajc said.
In 2023, Šprajc and his team discovered a lost Maya city named Ocomtún. It had several large pyramids from A.D. 200 to 900, the Maya Classic period. In addition, they encountered another site with a plaza, a rectangular water reservoir, and a 52-foot-tall pyramid.
There were offerings that had been left on top of the pyramid, such as ceramic vessels, a spear point, and a ceramic animal leg that may have been of an armadillo.
The offerings were placed on top of the pyramid somewhere between 1250 and 1524 during the Late Postclassic period, which was the last centuries before the arrival of Spanish conquerors.
By the Late Postclassic period, the central Maya Lowlands were suffering through political turmoil. Still, some people remained in the area even after the crisis of overpopulation, long-lasting droughts, soil depletion, and warfare that occurred in the 9th and 10th centuries.
“The offering indicates that even after most of the Classic period Maya settlements had been abandoned, small and impoverished human groups were still rambling around, putting offerings on or near the buildings of their forebears,” Šprajc said.
