A Secret Passage Is Discoveryed In The Maya City of Uxmal
During our November 2019 symbolist tour of the Yucatan we noticed something unusual. Access to the south-eastern extremity of the Governor’s Palace in Uxmal was restricted. This was due to an investigation of a recently discovered hidden passage inside the Governor’s Palace.
New Discovery of A Secret Passage in the Governor's Palace
A hidden passage measuring 25 meters (82 feet) was recently discovered by a team of researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and it’s estimated to date from 670-770 AD. Chaac masks and the remains of three old staircases were also revealed.
The new Uxmal Project is directed by archaeologists José Huchim and Lourdes Toscano and consists among other things of restoration works in the Governor’s palace located in the ancient city of Uxmal in the state of Yucatan.
The Hidden Passage
A pair of Mayan arches corresponding to the ends of the vaulted passage were uncovered in the building. They are estimated to be at least 200 years older to that of its superstructure. The discovery of the passageway not only changes the current understanding of the intertior structure of the Governor’s Palace, but also becomes one of the few monumental footprints in Uxmal of the puuc Temprano architectural style.
“In Uxmal, the Puuc Temprano style (characterized by fine cuts in the limestone and austere finishes) was discovered over time by other constructions, unlike other areas of the region, such as Labná or Kabah, where it is visible,”
Discovery Reveals New Theories about Uxmal
The discovery of the arches are evidence of the aesthetic evolution that led to the Late Uxmal architectural style (850-950 A.D.), attributed to the Governor Palace and the Nunnery Quadrangle. It also proves that already in the eighth century “the inhabitants of Uxmal were able to erect incredibly complex buildings”. This new information along with date registered in the 2014 season which located a similar passageway in the northeast sector of the palace, “allows us to know that the building was originally divided into three segments, that were linked by these vaulted corridors to facilitate transit both in its upper part, and at the level of the Great Platform,” says Toscano..