CAMPECHE, MEXICO—Archaeologists have rediscovered two massive ancient Maya cities in the Yucatan that were hidden by dense vegetation. Dubbed Lagunita and Tamchen, the sites were found by a team led by Ivan Sprajc, of the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts Aerial, and are just a few miles from Chactun, an ancient city discovered by the same team in 2013 (See ARCHAEOLOGY”s “City of Red Stone” for more on the discovery of Chactun.) The researchers found the sites after examining aerial photography of the area. “In the jungle you can be as little as 600 feet from a large site and not even suspect it might be there; small mounds are all over the place, but they give you no idea about where an urban center might be,” Sprajc told Discovery News. Both sites feature plazas surrounded by palace-like buildings, as well as pyramids, one of which reaches 65 feet high, and ball courts. At Lagunita, the team recovered a badly eroded stele enscribed with the date November 29, A.D. 711 and a facade depicting an earth monster opening its jaws.
