ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNCOVER EVIDENCE OF MAYA TOWN AT OXKUTZCAB MUNICIPALITY [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

A TEAM OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS FROM THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND HISTORY (INAH) HAVE UNCOVERED EVIDENCE OF THE FORMER MAYA TOWN OF OXKUTZCAB, ALSO KNOWN AS OOXPUTCAJ, LOCATED IN THE PRESENT-DAY OXKUTZCAB MUNICIPALITY IN THE MEXICAN STATE OF YUCATÁN.

Oxkutzcab was a pre-Columbian Maya town, which became a regional capital ruled by the Tutul Xiu family after the fall of Mayapán in the AD 1440s.

Although the Xiu collaborated with the Spanish, the town and its temples were demolished, making way for a Spanish colonial town in AD 1550 following the Spanish conquest of the Yucatán.

At its centre, the Spanish constructed the Parroquia de San Francisco de Asis, a large Franciscan church on where one of the earlier Maya temples may have stood.



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Header Image Credit : Carlos Ek UC

Little evidence of Pre-Columbian Oxkutzcab survives today, but within the wider municipality are several small associated Maya ruins in the surrounding forests.

More:
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2022/11/archaeologists-uncover-evidence-of-maya-town-at-oxkutzcab-municipality/145292