Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Two were martyred in an initial toll of the Israeli drone strike that targeted the al-Asira neighborhood in the city of Baalbek, eastern Lebanon
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: An Israeli drone strike targeted the al-Asira neighborhood east of Baalbek, eastern Lebanon
Sheikh Naim Qassem to the pager attack survivors: You are the greatest resistance. Know that 'Israel' will fall because it embodies aggression, crime, and occupation; victory is truly yours
Sheikh Qassem to the pager attack survivors: The value of what you are doing despite your wounds is immense, and here you are, treading the path of the Master of Nation's Martyrs and the leaders
Sheikh Qassem to the pager attack survivors: You are moving forward with insight deeper than sight itself. The enemy sought to eliminate your role in the battle, yet you remain steadfast and continue the fight
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem to the pager attack survivors one year later: You are healing from your wounds and rising above them. You have successfully passed the test
Palestinian media: Reports of stabbing operation in occupied al-Quds.
Israeli media: Sirens blare in Arava in South, near Ramon Airport.
Egyptian PM Mostafa Madbouli: Egypt is targeted in plans to redraw regional map
AEOI Chief Mohammad Eslami: Our presence in IAEA General Council and fact-checking helped in preventing unilateral rhetoric that aims to portray Iran as an unregulated country

Rare Mayan architecture revealed under 1,500-year-old salt work

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: ARTnews
  • 8 Oct 2022 20:50
4 Min Read

Excavations uncovered the ruins of multiple buildings from the sixth century C.E.

  • x
  • Archaeologists conducting underwater excavations of Ta’ab Nuk Na (600-800 AD). Image Credit : Antiquity
    Archaeologists conducting underwater excavations of Ta’ab Nuk Na (Antiquity)

Archaeologists have discovered a rare cluster of submerged Mayan structures at Ta'ab Nuk Na, the main salt works site in Paynes Creek National Park in southern Belize. Their findings, published today in the journal Antiquity, reveal enormous residential complexes, as well as three salt cookers submerged in the coastal lagoon.

“[We found] hundreds of wooden posts that define the walls of Classic Maya ‘pole and thatch’ wooden buildings,” E. Cory Sills, a co-author of the study, said in a statement. “Since wood normally decays in the tropical landscape of the Maya area, the wooden buildings provide a rare view of the architecture that once dominated most ancient Maya communities.”

Excavations uncovered the ruins of several buildings from the Late Classic Maya civilization dating back to the 6th century C.E., including salt cookers and a large residence built around 650 C.E. Over 600 flags identified the sites of key objects uncovered on the lagoon floor by underwater archaeologists. The flags were then digitally mapped.

“Mapping individual artifacts on the sea floor allowed us to see their distribution in relation to the 10 pole-and-thatch wooden buildings and to reconstruct the activities in the different buildings,” said co-author Heather McKillop in a statement.

Not only did the Maya "work from home" by manufacturing salt in their garden, but they also engaged in household chores such as fishing, food preparation and cooking, woodworking, and cotton spinning.

The home dwellers would have manufactured salt for themselves before trading the surplus with other communities, according to academics. Salt was a scarce commodity inland, where Maya civilizations were thriving, and the majority of those places were supplied by salt mills located along the shore. Ta'ab Nuk Na and other places in the lagoon may have given enough salt for 24,000 people.

McKillop described the discovery as "startling" in an email to ARTnews, saying the structures are the only ancient Maya timber buildings that have survived to this day, as opposed to the more usual stone temples and palaces of the wealthy Maya found in city centers.

“Ta’ab Nuk Na had 10 wooden pole-and-thatch structures known from the 500+ wooden posts that had been driven into the ground, which was highly-organic mangrove peat,” she explained. “The workers lived on site, which shows it was a ‘cottage industry’, featuring families producing more than their needs [and supplying salt for] the nearby inland Maya.”

Workers traded the salt surplus for other commodities found at the site, including as pottery and stone tools. A variety of pottery was discovered, as well as a rare ocarina—or figurine whistle—depicting a woman. “The ocarina from Ta’ab Nuk Na is a rare discovery at the site,” added McKillop. The instrument has “a woman on the front with a sound chamber on the back [and] a mouthpiece and two holes so it can be played.”

Lubaantun, an inland city, had numerous such ocarinas, as well as molds for creating them, and a modern community whose citizens required salt, making them a logical trading partner.

A ceramic spindle whorl, used to spin cotton for fishing nets or garments, was also discovered, as well as cohune nuts, candeleros (little incense burners), a small wooden paddle for stirring pots of food, and tools for whittling wood, grinding maize, and processing fish and meat. There was also a figurine and a miniature canoe with four suspension holes that could have been children's toys.

Belize Red, a service ware brought from the upper Belize Valley, was included in the ceramic collection, along with Warrie Red, imprinted jars, vases, orange-slipped bowls, and a red-slipped tobacco pot. A clay funnel, which researchers assume was used to concentrate the saltiness of the brine, was also discovered at the site, as kitchens employed the "brine boiling" method to evaporate saltwater over the fire.

Ta'ab Nuk Na's salt manufacture appears to have ceased around 800 C.E., during the Terminal Classic era, when another salt kitchen in Paynes Creek, known as Ek Way Nal, took over.

“Our research at Ta’ab Nuk Na provides a model for other salt production sites along the coast of Belize and the Yucatan [where] they likely also had wooden buildings, making them a more tangible and permanent part of the landscape in antiquity,” McKillop said.

  • Mayan architecture
  • Belize

Most Read

Pro-"Israel" conservative Charlie Kirk shot during Utah speech

American far-right activist Charlie Kirk shot dead during Utah speech

  • US & Canada
  • 11 Sep 2025
Uprising against Volker Turk at the Human Rights Council over Gaza.

Uprising against Volker Turk at the Human Rights Council over Gaza

  • Politics
  • 12 Sep 2025
A screengrab from the ad played on Fox News. (X Screengrab)

Fox airs ad warning Trump not to let Netanyahu 'play' him on Gaza

  • US & Canada
  • 11 Sep 2025
Lapid: Egypt’s Arab Force plan a 'severe blow' to normalization

Lapid: Egypt’s Arab Force plan a 'severe blow' to normalization

  • Palestine
  • 14 Sep 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
A Hezbollah supporter who lost his sight in a pager attack carried out by "Israel" on Sept. 17, 2024, covers his eyes with a red headband inscribed with the name "Hussein" during Ashoura, July 6, 2025 (AP)
Politics

'We Have Recovered': Lebanon marks 1st anniversary of Pager Attack

The Arab neighborhood of El Za'im, on the outskirts of east Occupied Al-Quds in the West Bank, near where Israeli government says housing units will be built as part of the E1 settlement project, Thursday, August 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Palestine

'Israel’s' deliberate policies drive West Bank economy toward collapse

Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Politics

Ben & Jerry’s co-founder resigns over parent company curbing activism

Trump’s approval rating falls to new low in second term: Poll
US & Canada

Trump’s approval rating falls to new low in second term: Poll

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS