MEXICO CITY, MEXICO—Live Science reports that two housing complexes have been found on the western Yucatán Peninsula at the site of the Maya city of Kabah by researchers from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) ahead of the construction of the Maya Train railroad project. These are the first residential buildings found in the city, which was founded sometime between A.D. 250 and 500. Archaeologist Lourdes Toscano Hernández said that elites are thought to have occupied both of the living spaces. One of the structures, thought to be a palace, measures some 85 feet long and is decorated with carvings of birds, feathers, and beads. The artwork may have been intended to symbolize the relationship between the gods and those who lived in the structure, as a way to help legitimize their status, Toscano Hernández explained. The structure’s facade is also adorned with a portico featuring eight rectangular columns projecting from its walls. To read about the royal women in the highstakes world of Maya politics, go to “Jungle Realm of the Snake Queens.”

Source: archaeology.org