マヤ文明最後の都市で陶器など発見　グアテマラ

【フローレスＡＦＰ＝時事】スペインの侵略に最後まで抵抗したマヤ人の都市があった遺跡で、陶器や墓地、スペイン製の銃弾などが発見された。当局が２８日、発表した。（写真はグアテマラ北部フローレスのタヤサル遺跡の出土品）
　発掘を担当した考古学者はＡＦＰに対し、６月に始まった今回のプロジェクトは、紀元前９００年ごろにマヤ人が定住していたタヤサルの集落を調査するものだと説明した。
　タヤサルはマヤ文明最後の都市で、欧州人が入植を始めてから１００年以上過ぎた１６９７年まで独立を保っていた。
　タヤサル遺跡はペテン・イツァ湖近くに位置し、面積は７平方キロ。建造物の多くは土と植物に覆われているが、高さ３０メートルのとりでは一部が露出している。研究によると、とりでは支配者層の住居として使われていた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/11/01-14:11）

Ceramics, human burial grounds and bullets from Spanish guns are among artifacts that have been uncovered by archaeologists in Guatemala at the site of the last Mayan city to resist European conquest, officials said Friday.
The new excavation project began last June in an effort to understand more about the Tayasal outpost where Mayan inhabitants first settled in 900 BC during their Preclassic period, the archeologist in charge of the dig told AFP.
Tayasal was the last Mayan city to yield to the Spanish conquest in 1697, a century after Europeans entered the western highlands of what is now Guatemala, Suarlin Cordova said.
More than 100 years passed in which the northern part of Guatemala was totally outside of Spanish rule, and this happened mainly because the jungle functioned as a natural border that made the arrival of the Spaniards to these places very difficult.
In 1525 Tayasal was also part of the route used by Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes on his journey to present-day Honduras.
Most of the buildings at the Tayasal site are buried under earth and vegetation inside a seven-square-kilometer area near Lake Peten Itza.
Among partially exposed structures at the site is a 30-meter-high acropolis that according to research functioned as the residence of the ruling elite.
Also visible is a water well used since pre-Hispanic times.
One of the objectives of the project is to enhance the site so tourists can better appreciate the vast region's Mayan archaeological value, said Jenny Barrios from Guatemala's Ministry of Culture and Sports.
The Maya civilization reached its height between 250 and 900 AD in what is present-day southern Mexico and Guatemala, as well as parts of Belize, El Salvador and Honduras.