Ancient Royal Palace Complex Found in Oaxaca Valley Elana Glowatz - IBTimes
go to original March 31, 2017

Researchers from the American Museum of Natural History uncovered remains of a 2,000-year-old royal palace in the Valley of Oaxaca in Mexico (NewsBeat Social)

Archaeologists have dug up an ancient palace that is the oldest ever found in its region of Mexico. A study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes what the team uncovered, in an area called the Valley of Oaxaca that is rich in artifacts, as being in use between 300 BC and 100 BC.

“It was a multifunctional palace, composed of courts and buildings where government officials assembled to conduct state affairs, as well as the ruler’s residential quarters,” the researchers from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City wrote. They found the “well-preserved remains” of the royal palace on the north side of the El Palenque archaeological site and say the structure “exhibits certain architectural and organizational features similar to the royal palaces of much later Mesoamerican states described by Colonial-period sources.”

According to the authors, the remains could help experts better understand how early states emerged in that region, in southern Mexico.

A report on Phys.org explains that the palace supports the idea that Oaxaca had civilization earlier than other locations in Mesoamerica, which consists of parts of Mexico and Central America.

Civilizations, such as the Mayans and the Olmecs, existed in these areas well before explorers arrived from Spain.



Read the rest at IBTimes

Related: 17th-Century Church in Oaxaca Reservoir Exposed By Drought Can Be Explored By Visitors (Mexico News Daily)

Related: Oldest Human Remains Found in Americas Are from Yucatán Teenager Who Fell to Her Death in a Cave (IBTimes)

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