In the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, on the Yucatán peninsula, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) has officially registered an ancient monumental Mayan settlement called El Jefeciño (“the capetto”), with 80 Petén-style buildings distributed over an area of 100 hectares. The discovery is the result of reconnaissance work conducted between 2023 and 2024 by archaeologists Sonny Moisés Ojeda González and Diana Karina Blancas Olvera as part of conservation activities linked to the Tren Maya infrastructure project.
The site was already known to the inhabitants of the region, who had reported it to the authorities during archaeological reconnaissance work, coordinated by the archaeologist Manuel Pérez Rivas. The name El Jefeciño it was attributed ironically precisely in reference to the monumentality of the complex, given that it is an enormous site. Preliminary data indicates an extension of at least 100 hectares, with 80 recognizable buildings.
The area could prove to be even larger: a systematic exploration of the area will be necessary to precisely determine its boundaries, the dimensions of the structures and the settlement pattern. The architectural features of the site, such as buildings with corbel vaults, rounded and recessed corners, and forepart moldings, refer to the Petén style, typical of the Early and Late Classic period (250-900 AD) of the Maya Civilization.
The central area of the site is made up of five buildings between 11 and 14 meters high and between 16 and 40 meters long, arranged around a “C”-shaped square. In one of the buildings, identified as monument 53035, remains of plaster with decorative wall painting with white, orange pigments and red bands, and fragments of human bones that could be pertinent to a funerary context were identified.
Since the work carried out was a reconnaissance and not an excavation, the materials remained in situ and it was not possible to analyze them in detail. For the subsequent phases, a mapping campaign with LIDAR technology is envisaged, which will allow the settlement model to be precisely defined. Work will follow for the conservation, consolidation and exploration of the site. Mexican scholars underline that the site will help clarify the network of relationships between the Mayan centers of southern Quintana Roo.
