President Ernesto Zedillo attended the ceremony announcing the finds Wednesday at Palenque, a major Mayan site in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
"The discovery shows how rich we Mexicans are in art, history and culture," Zedillo said. "It is another reason for us to feel proud of our fatherland."
The National Institute for Anthropology and History said an altar or throne was discovered in one temple and an apparent funeral chamber in another, both at the south end of the Plaza of the Cross in Palenque.
The buildings date to the classical period of about 200 to 900 A.D.
The throne or altar, 5 1/2 feet by 9 1/2 feet, was adorned with beautifully carved inscriptions referring to dates that expand the knowledge about the time Palenque, a major Mayan city, was occupied, the institute said.
It said the structure had still only been partially excavated and that pieces of ceramics, obsidian knives and human bones had been found nearby.
The stuccoed, 10-by-6 1/2-foot funeral chamber found in the other temple was largely painted in red, with animal- and human-like figures representing gods.
Archaeologist Arnoldo Gonzalez said it was the first time a mural had been discovered in a funerary structure at Palenque.
Excavators also found ceramics and pieces of jade, but have not yet found human remains, leading them to believe the chamber was used for funeral but not burial purposes.
Mayan civilization reached its zenith between about 200 and 900 A.D. but then began to collapse for reasons still not fully understood. The Maya left behind immense buildings and evidence of elaborate writing, astronomical and agricultural systems.
Knowledge of the culture has expanded greatly in recent years as investigators have begun to break the code of the glyphs at Mayan cities. Any new discoveries of inscriptions could help fill gaps in knowledge of Mayan history.
The excavations were sponsored by the pre-Columbian Art Research Institute in San Francisco.
Mayan Temple Finds Open New Doors
San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico [AP] — Archaeologists say discoveries in two 1,300-year-old Mayan temples could throw more light on the history of that famed but only partially understood civilization.
Into the Ancient Society
[Source: Fox News / by Alejandro Ruiz - April 22 1999 ]
