Archaeologists working ahead of construction associated with Mexico’s Maya Freight Train have discovered and preserved a previously unknown Maya settlement in Yucatán, where 21 structures offer a rare glimpse into the everyday lives of people outside the ancient civilisation’s elite.
The archaeological site, known as K’oxol Ja’ II, was discovered in mid-2025 during salvage excavations at the Progreso Multimodal Terminal (TMM), part of the Maya Freight Train project. Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) has since established a protected zone around the settlement, allowing all 21 identified structures to remain preserved in situ for future research.
Covering approximately 2,257 square metres, the settlement appears to have been primarily residential. Archaeologists uncovered foundations and architectural features associated with ancient Maya houses, alongside evidence suggesting that the community carefully managed its water resources.
Ceramic evidence indicates that K’oxol Ja’ II was occupied over a considerable period, from around 400 BC until AD 900, spanning the regional Preclassic through to the Late Classic period.
Mexico’s Secretary of Culture, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, said the discovery demonstrated how archaeological salvage work associated with major infrastructure projects could contribute to the understanding and preservation of the country’s heritage.
“At K’oxol Ja’ II, the work of the INAH made it possible to locate and study a previously unknown settlement and, above all, to preserve its 21 structures in the place where they were found,” she said.
“This work expands our knowledge of the daily life of the Maya people and protects the site so that future research can continue to build knowledge about our past.”
A settlement shaped by water
The name K’oxol Ja’ II derives from the Maya words k’oxol, meaning mosquito, and ja’, meaning water. It can be translated as “water of the mosquitoes” or “water where mosquitoes sprout”, a reference to the abundance of the insects in the surrounding landscape.
One of the most significant aspects of the settlement is evidence that its inhabitants modified and controlled access to natural water sources.
David Medina Arona, field manager at TMM Progreso, said archaeologists had identified both permanent and seasonal bodies of water around the settlement.
The principal cenote preserves remains of a constructed wellhead that altered its entrance, potentially allowing the inhabitants to regulate access to and consumption of its water.
The combination of residential architecture and water-management features has led researchers to suggest that K’oxol Ja’ II may have been a settlement of intermediate importance within the wider Maya landscape.
Its governing centre may have been El Chiik, whose name means “badger” in Maya. Located to the north-west of K’oxol Ja’ II, El Chiik was also discovered and documented during archaeological salvage work connected with the freight railway project.
Archaeology of everyday Maya life
Unlike the monumental temples, pyramids and palaces associated with Maya rulers and priests, K’oxol Ja’ II provides archaeologists with evidence of the lives of ordinary inhabitants who left few, if any, written records.
Researchers found relatively little pottery at the site. According to the archaeological team, this could indicate that many everyday domestic objects were made from organic and other perishable materials that have not survived.
No human burials were discovered in the areas investigated.
Researchers believe the site’s geology may help explain their absence. Houses close to the Yucatán coast were constructed almost directly on the underlying bedrock, leaving relatively shallow deposits of soil and fill in which burials could have been placed.
Only two offerings were recovered during the excavations. Both have been interpreted as foundation consecrations associated with the construction or dedication of buildings.
Fieldwork at K’oxol Ja’ II has now concluded, while laboratory analysis of ceramics, stone artefacts, sediments and other recovered materials is continuing.
The archaeological investigation involved Abraham Alarcón Carmona, Carlos Avendaño Rincón, Darwin Velázquez González and 16 other field specialists, under the coordination of Susana Echeverría Castillo.
21 structures protected for future research
Following excavation and documentation, archaeologists cleaned the settlement’s 21 monuments, restored sections of their walls and installed protective fencing.
INAH and Mexico’s Ministry of National Defence, which is involved in the infrastructure project, also agreed to establish a protected area around K’oxol Ja’ II. The decision means the archaeological remains will be preserved where they were discovered rather than removed to make way for construction.
The protected settlement will effectively serve as an archaeological reserve, allowing future generations of researchers to return as new techniques and research questions emerge.
For Medina Arona, the importance of K’oxol Ja’ II lies precisely in its apparent ordinariness.
“These are sites that complete our understanding of the Maya people,” he said. “Many people go to the great pyramids and urban centres, but here we have those other Maya who left nothing written and are often forgotten.
“Domestic archaeology allows us to give them back their voice.”
Header Image Credit : TMM Progreso
Sources : INAH
