Maya Statue Discovered in the Yucatán

YUCATÁN, MEXICO—Mexico News Daily reports that work along the route of the Maya Train in southeastern Mexico has uncovered a limestone statue near a staircase covered with hieroglyphs at the site of Oxkintok. “He was found lying on his back and represents the human figure,” said archaeologist Luis Pantoja Díaz. “We see the marked pectorals, the middle part that could be the hanging belly and the part of the member,” he added. The statue, however, is missing its head, hands, and lower legs. Diego Prieto of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History suggested that the statue represents a warrior who was taken prisoner during combat and decapitated. To read about a recently unearthed fragment of the Maya ritual calendar, go to "Earliest Maya Calendar Date," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2022.