Thousands Of New Archeological Remains Found Along Route Of Upcoming Maya Train

Last Updated 2 years ago

As construction continues with the Maya Train project, more archeological discoveries are being made during the process. It was announced earlier this week that around 12 thousand archeological remains were found along a section of the proposed train route. These historic parts were discovered in the area of what is planned to be section 7 of the Maya Train, and such a high number of artifacts indicate that there was a high population in this particular region of the route during pre-Hispanic times. 

185 Historic Mayan Monuments Excavated On Site

The recent findings were officially reported by Quintana Roo’s governor, Mara Lezama Espinosa. They were found specifically on “front 1” of Maya Train’s section 7, where construction was first announced last year, with a number of delays happening before and after the announcement that the construction project was going to begin.

At this time, a total of 848 archeological remains have been found in the area. 185 historic monuments have also been excavated, including walls, housing foundations, parts of temples, and more. 

These recent findings mean that section 7 of the Maya Train now counts for 34.5% of the total historic monuments that have been discovered so far since the construction of the train began. 

“Until today, we have covered 100% of this front 1 of section 7 to identify archaeological remains. At the moment, there are 185 excavated monuments out of 848, equivalent to 22% classified. Nearly 68% of this front already has the go-ahead for the progress of the work”, the governor stated during the announcement.

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Where Is Section 7 Of The Maya Train?

According to the current planning, section 7 of the Maya Train project will go from the southern Quintana Roo town of Bacalar to Escarcega, which is a small city in Campeche. The state of Campeche is just west of Yucatan state and is part of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, and is the least-visited by international tourists of the three states in the peninsula (Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Campeche).

 This train route will cover approximately 178 miles along the land, going along the southern region of Quintana Roo and Campeche, just north of the Central American country of Guatemala.

Train Section Will Pass Through Biosphere

It is also planned that section 7 of the Maya Train project will go through the Reserva de la Biosfera Calakmul. Located in Campeche state, this protected area in Mexico is home to about 12% of the country’s sub-perennial jungles.

The Reserve currently covers an area of around 2,800 square miles and is also one of the largest protected areas in all of Mexico. You can find the popular Calamakul Mayan ruins here at the Reserve as well as over 70,000 species of flora and fauna, some of them completely unique to this region of the world. 

New Discovery One Of Many Amidst Train Construction

This isn’t the first time that a huge archeological discovery has been made during the construction process of this train. Last September, we reported that a major archeological site was discovered near Cancun. For reference, more than 300 historic Mayan buildings were uncovered near the train construction area. 

The findings were located along section 5 of the Maya Train, which is arguably going to be the most popular route of the train, as it’s between the major Riviera Maya cities of Playa del Carmen and Tulum. 

Archeological Findings Currently Under The Examination Process

You won’t be seeing these new findings at a museum anytime soon, but it looks like it’s in process. The Quintana Roo governor also mentioned during her announcement on Tuesday that the uncovering process with these Mayan remains is currently at the examination/surveillance stage under the guidance of an appointed team of experts.

The examination stage is the first part of the process before the official excavation work is done for these historic Mayan remains.

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