Archaeologists studying the ancient Mayan city of Tonina near Ocosingo in Chiapas have released their latest findings. The city is twice as large as originally thought and they have identified several districts outside the royal palaces and priests quarters, including residential neighborhoods and administrative buildings. More than 300 hieroglyphic inscriptions have also been recovered and will help cast more light on the city’s history and its ties with allies and wars with rival cities in northern Chiapas, Campeche and Guatemala.
They also discovered that the Acropolis, a sprawling complex of temples on a hillside is actually much taller than originally thought. The hill is not a natural earth mound but is in fact a 240-foot-high pyramid with stone steps leading from the base to the summit. Later Tonina rulers erected temples over the structure, believing that they were consolidating their power by doing so.
This discovery now makes the Acropolis one of the tallest ancient buildings in the Americas.
