MEXICO CITY: Mexican experts said Thursday they have unearthed the ruins of nearly 2,500 pre-Hispanic structures and 80 burial sites on just one-sixth of the route of the presidents’ controversial Maya train project on the Yucatan Peninsula.
Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History did not report whether any remains were disturbed or destroyed by the train project, which runs along existing rail lines in some places. It described the ruins as being on the edge of the project.
Possible damage to the environment and archaeological sites are some of the reasons why critics oppose the project pushed by President Anders Manuel Lepez Obrador.
Discoveries range from pottery and simple stone outlines of pre-Hispanic Maya houses to ceremonial platforms. Archaeologists said they were particularly impressed by the discovery of two ceramic vessels with handles or bases in the shape of human breasts.
The sites were found on the first, 140-mile (228-kilometer) section of a 950-mile (1,500-kilometer) train line that would run in a rough loop around the Yucatán. That first section runs from the Maya ruins of Palenque to the highway intersection in Escaregá.
The first four phases of the train project pass through areas that were probably occupied by the Mayans, who built a vast empire of city-states in the Yucatán and Central America between 2000 BC and 900 AD. Their descendants still live on the peninsula.
The fifth and sixth sections run along the resort-studded Caribbean coast. But the seventh and final section running near the forest ruins site of Kalkamul may also contain a large number of finds.
There was no immediate report available on how many artifacts have been found so far in other parts of the project.
Experts already knew about the existence of some of the sites announced on Thursday, but some are new.
To stimulate economic development around its 15 stations, the train aims to connect Caribbean beach resorts with largely indigenous populations and ruin sites to the peninsula’s interior. The government says it will cost $6.8 billion, but others say it will be much more.
Critics say that Lpez Obrador penetrated through the project without adequate study of its effects on the environment, with underground sinkhole caves known as cenotes and ruin sites.
Parts of the route already have tracks, and the institute said some artifacts from railway construction decades earlier had already been disturbed. But other stretches have to pass through sensitive forested terrain, though they will be parallel to existing roads or transmission lines. Even where an old railway line exists, the project would mean updating the tracks and building new stations.
Some Maya communities have filed court challenges against the project, arguing that it would harm the environment. They also say that they have not been adequately consulted or will not share in its benefits.
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