Diego Prieto highlighted that 21 archaeological zones will be rehabilitated; the head of INAH mentioned different findings in the area
The director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), Diego Prieto, said that 21 archaeological zones will be reconditioned and rehabilitated along the Mayan Train, as well as remains of pottery, vessels, bones and structures.
Well, an immense job is opening in this matter (…) Here in (the Mayan Train line) 21 sites are going to make very important improvements that will begin to be observed from March 2023, ”explained the head of the INAH.
Prieto said that, to date, vestiges have been located in section 5 South of the Mayan Train, however, a change of line is not expected in that sector that runs parallel to the Mexican Caribbean coast.
We have located, from Section 1 to 5, 23 thousand 778 real estate structures, they can be foundations, platforms, pyramidal bases or paths, or sacbé, as the Mayans called (…) that have been registered, that have been georeferenced and that, of course, , we have taken the relevant information.
We have located 373 human burials, some on the surface and some also submerged in caves or cenotes”, Prieto assured.
We have located 1,334 diverse movable assets including ceramics, metates, lithics, relatively complete assets. And 775 natural features associated with archaeological contexts, such as caves, wells, cenotes or structures for planting and channeling water”, Prieto pointed out.
He stressed that in Section 5 South the route has been announced up to three times, so he considered it complex to point out if there is any vestige that could lead to changing or canceling that section in the future.
Section 5 represents, in the first place, a difficulty in the sense that the line has been changed three times, for different reasons that it is not for me to elucidate.
This section does not present this density of archaeological remains. Indeed, what it does present is a set of bodies of water and cavernous bodies that we must take care of. It has already been documented how different towns, particularly Playa del Carmen, have significantly affected the Mayan aquifer and that has absolutely nothing to do with the Mayan Train”, pointed out the INAH director.
Diego Prieto commented that it is in sections 1 to 3 of the Mayan Train where there is the highest density of archaeological remains in the area through which this train will cross.