Ocomtún: Discovering a Maya city

The lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula were once home to many powerful Maya city-states. Today, sites such as Tikal, in Guatemala, and Calakmul, in Mexico, showcase the architectural accomplishments of these prosperous centres. The great temple-pyramids standing within them now pierce a lush jungle canopy, which can provide a sense that these settlements were islands of urbanism within an ocean of pristine rainforest. Survey work over the last decade or so has helped to reveal how effective the Maya were at taming this environment, though, with networks of road-like causeways stretching far into the jungle, while subtle irrigation and drainage systems enabled agriculture. Despite this wealth