QUINTANA ROO, MEXICO—According to a report in Mexico News Daily, two platforms with stucco reliefs have been uncovered at a ball court in the Dzibanché Archaeological Zone on the Yucatán Peninsula by researchers from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). The reliefs have yielded information about the Kaanul Dynasty, which ruled areas of what are now Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala from about A.D. 250 to 650. The first scene depicts two guardians flanking a pedestal bearing glyphs that name a ruler of the Kaanul Dynasty; the second shows figures thought to represent ancestors who inhabit the night sky surrounded by stars and snakes; and the third relief features a group of mythological animals associated with constellations, including intertwined snakes. Archaeologist Sandra Balanzario Granados said that the rulers of Dzibanché may have used the images to reaffirm their ancestry or lineage. To read more about the Kaanul Dynasty, go to "Jungle Realm of the Snake Queens."
