Archaeologists in Mexico have uncovered what they imagine to be the stays of the final recorded Maya insurgent stronghold, famed for its century-long defiance of Spanish colonization.
In response to historic information, Sak-Bahlán, or the “Land of the White Jaguar,” was the ultimate refuge for the Lakandon-Ch’ol individuals, who fled deeper into the Lacandon Jungle after the seize of their capital, Lakam-Tun, by the Spanish in 1586. Sak-Bahlán endured for almost 110 years, till an expedition led by Friar Pedro de la Concepción alerted Spanish forces to its location in 1695. The stronghold was quickly invaded and renamed Nuestra Señora de Dolores (“Our Girl of Sorrows”).
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Its society decimated, the location fell into disrepair and, by 1721, into obscurity. Although its location was misplaced, paperwork and letters written across the time of its seizure enshrined its legacy—significantly amongst some Lakandon-Ch’ol descendants—as a logo of Indigenous resistance to Spanish conquest.
“Misplaced” might now not be the best phrase. In a latest announcement, the multinational Sak-Bahlán Archaeological Mission mentioned it had possible rediscovered the long-sought web site. The undertaking is co-directed by Dr. Brent Woodfill of Winthrop College in South Carolina and Dr. Yuko Shiratori of Rissho College in Japan.
An announcement from INAH (Mexico’s Nationwide Institute of Anthropology and Historical past) credited the invention to the indispensable steerage of Josuhé Lozada Toledo, an INAH Chiapas Heart specialist. Lozada Toledo relied on a mix of GIS expertise and the writings of Spanish friar Diego de Rivas to slender the search throughout the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, a protected space in present-day Chiapas.
He additionally factored in sensible concerns, reminiscent of how a lot cargo an individual might fairly carry throughout untended terrain and the estimated distance de Rivas had traveled, in response to the friar’s notes.
“By combining all these variables, I used to be capable of … get hold of an approximate vary of the place the Sak-Bahlán web site might be situated,” Lozada Toledo mentioned. The crew ultimately reached a web site on the confluence of the Jataté and Ixcán rivers, close to the modern-day border between Mexico and Guatemala.
“It was probably the most arduous discipline journey I’ve ever had in my life,” the archaeologist mentioned, “however ultimately, we discovered the archaeological proof, proper on the spot I had marked.”
