Archaeologists have recently uncovered two previously lost Maya cities in the dense Mexican jungle: Minanbé and Valeriana. Minanbé, found in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, was so remote that researchers named it "Minanbé," meaning "there is no road." This inaccessibility helped preserve the city, making it an intact and seemingly unlooted discovery.
Minanbé spans approximately 40 acres and features urban plazas, palaces, religious buildings, and water channels. Its tallest structure is a more than 40-foot-tall temple pyramid built in the Río Bec style. Researchers also found 14 stelae and altars, with one stela depicting a decapitation and dated to 849 C.E., suggesting a peak in power during the Late Classic period (600-900 C.E.), just before the Maya civilization's collapse in the Lowlands. This discovery fits into the region's history of agricultural modification and extensive population during the Late Classic period.
Valeriana, located in the southeastern state of Campeche, was discovered using lidar technology, which mapped structures hidden beneath the vegetation. Named after a nearby lagoon, Valeriana is believed to have been home to 30,000-50,000 people at its peak between 750 and 850 A.D. It features two major centers with large buildings connected by dense housing and causeways, and includes temple pyramids, a ball court, and evidence of a reservoir, indicating a sophisticated infrastructure to support a large population.
Researchers like Luke Auld-Thomas from Northern Arizona University, who processed the lidar data, suggest Valeriana had the hallmarks of a capital city and was second only to Calakmul in building density. The discovery supports the idea that Maya lived in complex urban environments. The eventual abandonment of these cities, and the broader Maya collapse, is attributed to factors like climate change, particularly drought conditions, which overwhelmed an already densely populated landscape, alongside warfare and Spanish conquest in the 16th century.
