New findings shed light on ancient Maya royal house
New research identifies inscriptions found at Chichen Itza as referring to individuals belonging to the royal house of Cocom, a common surname to this day in Yucatán.
The discovery was made by the archaeologists Eduardo Pérez de Heredia and Peter Biró, who correlated existing information with hieroglyphs found in the structure known as the Temple of the Jaguar.
Because the majority of Maya texts were destroyed by Spanish conquistadors during the colonial era, most contemporary discoveries are made through the analysis of hieroglyphics found on surviving stone facades and stelae.
Though great strides have been made in the deciphering of Maya hieroglyphs, incomplete records and gaps in knowledge continue to present challenges. The last couple of decades have seen a boom in discoveries, fueled in part by technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, which are able to correlate data at a far greater rate.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, INAH — Mexico’s national institute for history and archaeology — has reported that Chichen Itza received approximately 18,000 visitors between September and November.
Though that number may sound large, before the pandemic the archaeological site was attracting approximately 7,000 visitors per day.
Senior Editor Carlos Rosado van der Gracht is a Mexican expedition/Canadian photographer and adventure leader. Born in Mérida, Carlos holds multimedia, philosophy, and translation degrees from universities in Mexico, Canada and Norway.
