Mayan panels - level 3
Archaeologists in Guatemala have uncovered three ancient Mayan panels, offering new insights into the mysterious civilisation. The pieces, understood to be 1,300 to 1,400 years old, were excavated at two archaeological sites in May. They feature well-preserved ancient Mayan script and stone carvings, providing researchers with new clues about Mayan culture and practices.
“They're extremely important for us because they give us very detailed information about how a Mayan ruler becomes king. It gives us a step-by-step process by which a king over a period of two years is not a royal member of a dynasty and then becomes king of the site.
This is a fascinating kind of information that is extremely detailed and often not explicated with as much detail in other texts. And s, at La Corona we're getting some great, very fine-grained information that we don't normally see in text.”
The panels make up the most significant Mayan discovery since archaeologists uncovered a text containing only the second known reference to the so-called "end date" of the Mayan calendar at the same site in 2012. The calendar was thought by some to be a countdown to the apocalypse, but thankfully that date has come and gone.
These priceless artefacts have been moved to Guatemala City for further research.
Difficult words: ancient (very old), insight (understanding), excavate (to dig out), feature (to have), script (text), clue (a piece of information), explicate (to explain an idea in detail), fine-grained (very detailed), significant (great), priceless (great), artefact (a thing which is historically important).