AT THE MAYA CITY OF OXKINTOK, ARCHAEOLOGISTS FROM THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND HISTORY (INAH) FOUND A HEADLESS STATUE.
On the northernmost point of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, in the Puuc area, is where you may find Oxkintok.
At Oxkintok, there is evidence of human occupancy dating back to the Late Pre-Classic and continuing until the Late Post-Classic eras.
During the Early Classic and Terminal Classic periods (also known as the Middle Classic), Oxkintok became a significant center. During this time, the locals built substantial pyramids and embellished their city with a profusion of intricately crafted iconography and hieroglyphs.
As evidenced by a drop in human activity in the archaeological record around the year 1500, the city was abandoned at some point. However, the reason for the fall at Oxkintok is unknown because there is no proof that starvation or war were to blame.
Researchers discovered a headless life-size Maya statue while excavating for the Maya Train, a 1,525-kilometer intercity railway in Mexico that would pass across the Yucatán Peninsula.
The statue, known as “Yum keeb” or the deity of the phallus or fertility, stands 1.65 meters tall and is made of limestone. The statue, which was discovered lying on his back close to a stairway covered in hieroglyphs and being cleaned and maintained, may have been used as a sacrifice to the gods. According to experts, the statue symbolizes a human person and shows a prisoner of war who has been taken prisoner during hostilities.
In Maya culture, fighting among Maya towns was mostly done to expand one’s political dominance or control over new lands and resources. The objective might possibly have been to frighten competitors into submission and paying tribute, or to gather sacrifice victims to legitimize the ruler of a nation. Only high-status prisoners of war were typically sacrificed, while lower-status captives were put to work.
Archaeologists from INAH also reported that more than 1,730 pre-Hispanic structures, ranging from modest household structures to massive structures for civil and ceremonial activity, had been found during a survey that covered 254 kilometers.
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