5Space🚀Scientists aboard a plane with 26 cameras chase burning satellite and film its fiery fallChris Young17 hours ago 9Military🚀China deploys 5,000-ton torpedo frigate to hunt US nuclear submarines in open seasKapil Kajal19 hours ago 10Military🚀UK gets drone wingmen to make F-35 fighters invisible to even the smartest radarsJijo Malayil19 hours ago 1Culture🌟Tech games: Elon Musk wins as Sam Altman's Open AI drops full-profit shift for nowSujita Sinhaan hour ago 4Culture🌟Trump’s secure messaging app hacked, deportation airline also hit by cyberattackAamir Khollam10 hours ago 5Energy🌟US scientists end 70-year fusion struggle, paving way for better reactorsAamir Khollam12 hours ago 7Science🌟In a first, protons in biological system seen following quantum rules: Study Mrigakshi Dixit13 hours ago 9Space🌟US orders NASA to build first lunar time zone to guide astronauts on the MoonAamir Khollam13 hours ago Sujita Sinha iStock Archaeologists have uncovered over 6,500 previously unknown Maya structures including a hidden city with grand pyramids This major discovery highlights the impressive and populous ancient Maya landscape that had long been hidden beneath dense forests and modern settlements.  a PhD student from Northern Arizona University noted the significance of the find “We didn’t just find rural areas and smaller settlements… We also found a large city with pyramids right next to the area’s only highway near a town where people have been actively farming among the ruins for years.” which stands for Light Detection and Ranging researchers were able to peer beneath the forest canopy in eastern Campeche a lesser-studied region of the Maya civilization.  which fires laser pulses to generate highly accurate 3D models of the landscape revealed intricate details of Maya urbanism in an area that had remained unexplored by archaeologists until now The study focused on a roughly 50-square-mile area in east-central Campeche By analyzing LiDAR data initially gathered in 2013 to monitor carbon in Mexico’s forests researchers discovered the hidden expanse of Maya settlements The Maya civilization thrived during the Classic Period (A.D and areas like the central Maya Lowlands—covering parts of Guatemala and the Mexican states of Campeche and Quintana Roo—were hubs of advanced urbanism “Our analysis not only revealed a picture of a region that was dense with settlements, but it also revealed a lot of variability,” explained Auld-Thomas showcase the diversity and scale of Maya settlements This “major urban area” includes two main hubs of monumental structures connected by continuous settlements along with evidence of sophisticated landscape engineering that supported such a large population.  The Valeriana site contains multiple plazas and a large reservoir created by damming an arroyo or dry creek bed—a design common in Maya cities to capture seasonal rainwater for use in arid months The findings shed light on the Classic Maya’s ability to transform their natural surroundings into a highly organized This discovery reshapes our understanding of Maya cities showing that much of the central Maya Lowlands was as densely populated and urban as other ancient civilizations The study challenges previous assumptions about the Maya civilization by unveiling a picture of a more interconnected and urbanized society than previously known While archaeologists have long understood that the Maya occupied and engineered vast tracts of land in the region certain areas like east-central Campeche had largely escaped scientific attention.  By focusing on this “blank spot” in Maya archaeology Auld-Thomas’s team has opened new doors to understanding the scope and organization of the ancient Maya LiDAR technology has become essential in modern archaeology especially for exploring dense forests like those covering the Maya Lowlands forestry and civil engineering have been using LiDAR surveys to study some of these areas for totally separate purposes,” Auld-Thomas added.  the technology is uniquely suited to archaeology as it can reveal hidden structures buried under vegetation exposing sites that would otherwise remain unknown The Valeriana site is a stark example of just how much more there is to uncover. The researchers wrote in the study “The discovery of Valeriana highlights the fact that there are still major gaps in our knowledge of the existence or absence of large sites within as-yet unmapped areas of the Maya Lowlands.” indicate that dense cities and extensive settlements were common across large portions of the central Maya Lowlands The findings are detailed in the journal Antiquity 0COMMENTABOUT THE AUTHORSujita Sinha A versatile writer Sujita has worked with Mashable Middle East and News Daily 24 you can find her glued to the latest web series and movies By clicking sign up, you confirm that you accept this site's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Premium Share on FacebookShare on X (formerly Twitter)Share on PinterestShare on LinkedInSOUTH MISSISSIPPI (WLOX) - The WLOX First Alert Weather Team is monitoring the potential for tropical development over the Bay of Campeche There are no immediate concerns of tropical activity impacting South Mississippi over the next five to seven days The area of being monitored is the same spot that Tropical Storm Alberto formed This region has experienced persistent unsettled weather due to the development of a broad area of low pressure known as the Central American Gyre (CAG) Thunderstorm activity associated with the CAG can lead to tropical development like in the case of Alberto a blocking ridge of high pressure over the southeast United States will steer this system towards the coast of Mexico As of Sunday morning it has a 40% chance of developing The system will not develop if it moves over land before it can further develop See a spelling or grammar error in this story? Report it to our team HERE Maybe this will give the Tren Maya the buzz it desperately needs has reportedly been hired to promote Mexico’s struggling Maya Train often dubbed the “King Midas” of the internet for his ability to turn content into gold was spotted last week at the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve with Campeche Gov Images shared by tour guides on social media showed National Guard personnel protecting the area during his visit Sansores confirmed Donaldson’s presence by sharing a photo with him on Monday Reports indicate he has been staying at the Hotel Tren Maya Calakmul while working on what appears to be a secretive advertising project Local media suggest that the military company operating the Maya Train—the Airport Olmeca-Maya-Mexica (Gafsacomm)—may have contracted Donaldson to produce promotional content across various social media platforms The timing appears strategic. The 1,554-kilometer railway that runs through Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatán has underperformed, with recent reports indicating tourist packages averaged just two passengers per day By leveraging Donaldson’s massive global following of approximately 600 million across all platforms Mexican authorities likely hope to revitalize interest in the project and boost tourism to the region’s hotels He commands 385 million YouTube subscribers alongside 115.2 million followers on TikTok His business model revolves around a mix of content including philanthropic acts that create powerful emotional connections with viewers Notable examples include funding cataract surgeries for 1,000 blind people and giving $10,000 to a homeless person—videos that blend generosity with entertainment Donaldson continuously reinvests his earnings to create increasingly ambitious content focusing on global issues like reforestation His trademark extravagant giveaways—from cars to private islands and large cash prizes—have earned him a reputation as a benevolent digital star While specifics of the alleged deal remain undisclosed Donaldson’s advertising rates provide some indication of the potential investment he earns approximately $4 million in advertising revenue from each YouTube video Time magazine reported last year that brands typically pay between $2.5 and $3 million for mentions in his videos Forbes recently ranked Donaldson as the highest-earning content creator of 2024 Donaldson was accompanied by his production team and girlfriend with local authorities present during filming at several Maya archaeological sites Tourism officials hope Donaldson’s potential promotional content will attract a diverse international audience to the region which boasts significant archaeological treasures and natural beauty but has struggled to achieve the passenger numbers projected for the Maya Train project only 138 people (1.8/day) purchased the Maya Train package The “Seas and Lagoons” package These numbers fall short of expectations—the López Obrador administration projected 8,200 daily passengers while President Sheinbaum lowered it to 3,287 Current figures show just 2,222 daily passengers Yucatán Magazine has the inside scoop on living here. Sign up to get our top headlines delivered to your inbox every week and many talented artisans traveled far to be part of it The ride-share company Uber has lifted face mask requirements for passengers in Mexico The front seat of the car is also once again available for passengers if the back seat is filled Local regulations could supersede the policy change Wearing a face mask “may be recommended”… Mexico’s electric vehicle (EV) market is experiencing steady growth with electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle sales surging by 83.8% in 2024 compared to the previous year reaching 69,713 units.  This boom is driven by decreasing costs While still in its early stages compared to markets like… The cast of the upcoming Black Panther sequel was announced earlier this week during a panel at San Diego’s Comic-con The cast includes two actors of Mayan origin They will play the roles of Attuma and Namora respectively.  “This is such an incredible opportunity We have been writing a version of this story for years and years And here we go again: Yucatán’s capital city of Merida ranked as one of the top Mexican Cities in this year’s Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards 2021 That makes this the fifth time the city appears on the “Mexico’s Top City”… A small seismology station that tracked earthquakes around the world was operating as recently as 2014 Advertise With Us Aristos is a Newsweek science and health reporter with the London He is particularly focused on archaeology and paleontology although he has covered a wide variety of topics ranging from astronomy and mental health Aristos joined Newsweek in 2018 from IBTimes UK and had previously worked at The World Weekly He is a graduate of the University of Nottingham and City University You can get in touch with Aristos by emailing a.georgiou@newsweek.com. Languages: English either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content Archaeologists have revealed thousands of previously unknown ancient Maya structures in southeast Mexico including an entire hidden city—Valeriana—with impressive pyramids Many of the more than 6,600 structures identified by a study are located close to modern settlements despite being unknown to the Mexican government and the scientific community involved an analysis of LiDAR data covering parts of Campeche state—an understudied corner of the Maya world is a remote sensing technique that can reveal hidden archaeological features in a landscape The study supports the notion of a "populous and urban ancient Maya landscape" in the examined area the results suggest that much more evidence of urbanism is waiting to be discovered in the central Maya Lowlands—a region in the southern part of the Yucatán Peninsula encompassing parts of present-day Guatemala Belize and the Mexican states of Campeche and Quintana Roo was a core hub of the ancient Maya civilization particularly during the Classic Period (A.D "Our analysis not only revealed a picture of a region that was dense with settlements but it also revealed a lot of variability," study lead author Luke Auld-Thomas of Northern Arizona University said in a press release "We didn't just find rural areas and smaller settlements," he continued "We also found a large city with pyramids right next to the area's only highway near a town where people have been actively farming among the ruins for years The government never knew about it; the scientific community never knew about it That really puts an exclamation point behind the statement that archaeologists have known that the Classic period Maya transformed the rugged interior of the Mexican state of Campeche into a densely settled and extensively engineered landscape have received little attention from archaeologists compared with other parts of the Maya Lowlands Auld-Thomas decided to focus on this "blank spot" in east-central Campeche The team analyzed LiDAR data for a roughly 50-mile-square area of eastern Campeche that had never been examined by archaeologists before The data had been collected by a consortium in 2013 for a different purpose: measuring and monitoring carbon in Mexico's forests forestry and civil engineering have been using LiDAR surveys to study some of these areas for totally separate purposes," Auld-Thomas said in the press release LiDAR has emerged as a powerful tool in archaeologists' arsenal capable of documenting entire landscapes in minute detail even under dense forest cover LIDAR involves the use of laser pulses fired at the ground—usually from an aircraft—to generate 3D models of a given landscape This method can map the topography of the land while also revealing hidden man-made features that would be challenging to detect through traditional fieldwork or satellite imagery alone LiDAR is particularly useful for surveying dense tropical forests where thick vegetation can obscure ancient ruins helping researchers to "see through" the canopy The latest study revealed a dense and diverse array of previously unknown Maya settlements dotted across the region This "major urban area" encompasses two major hubs of monumental architecture more than a mile apart linked by continuous dense settlement and evidence of landscape engineering The larger of Valeriana's two monumental precincts has "all the hallmarks" of a Classic Maya political capital These features include multiple enclosed plazas connected by a broad causeway a ball court and a reservoir formed by damming an arroyo (a dry creek bed or gully that temporarily fills with water after heavy rainfall or flash floods) The available evidence suggests that the settled area associated with the city even continues beyond the area covered by the LiDAR dataset "The discovery of Valeriana highlights the fact that there are still major gaps in our knowledge of the existence or absence of large sites within as-yet unmapped areas of the Maya Lowlands," the authors wrote in the study The authors said that when the latest findings are taken into account with the current understanding of the Maya in this region they can "only conclude that cities and dense settlement are simply ubiquitous across large swaths of the central Maya Lowlands." Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsletters in your inbox See all Too many automated requests from this network CAMPECHE - Automotive company Chihuahua Electrical Wiring Systems (CEWS) has inaugurated its plant in Campeche The facility will manufacture harnesses for automotive companies such as Kia and Hyundai according to the company's CEO Gustavo Saucedo the businessman commented that about a year ago CEWS began the search for a site to install this plant and chose Campeche among 10 other locations as well as other elements such as the growth in first class infrastructure labour force with well-trained human resources," he said He also reiterated her commitment to make CEWS ‘the spearhead’ and pioneers of the automotive industry in the state and to get more companies to set up in Campeche so that it can consolidate itself as a great industrial city stressed that the arrival of CEWS will contribute to the economic diversification of the state We have a first factory aimed at the automotive industry whose entrepreneurs had confidence in Campeche and chose this site to be their home,’ she said We’re in the business of providing relevant information through print and electronic media organizing events to bring industrial value chain actors together and services to create new business relationships Our goal is to improve our clients’ competitiveness Archaeologists using an old map of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula have uncovered a lost Maya city with thousands of buildings densely packed into a small area Lidar can even shake up archaeologists’ understandings of thoroughly researched sites; in 2021, a lidar survey of Tikal revealed an previously unknown neighborhood complex on the sprawling site That’s where an old map comes into play—a 2013 lidar survey of the region commissioned by a group monitoring carbon reservoirs in Mexico’s forests The recent archaeological team got access to that data saving them from a costly new scan of the region The team interrogated the 2013 map for evidence of previously undocumented Maya settlements and found more than they bargained for: 6,674 previously unknown structures in Campeche “Our analysis not only revealed a picture of a region that was dense with settlements, but it also revealed a lot of variability,” said Luke Auld-Thomas, an archaeologist at Northern Arizona University and lead author of the paper, in an Antiquity press release “We didn’t just find rural areas and smaller settlements We also found a large city with pyramids right next to the area’s only highway near a town where people have been actively farming among the ruins for years.” “The government never knew about it; the scientific community never knew about it,” Auld-Thomas said. “That really puts an exclamation point behind the statement that, no, we have not found everything, and yes, there’s a lot more to be discovered.” In the paper, the team noted that the recent data offered support to the previously stated concern that “archaeologically motivated lidar surveys have inflated estimates of regional settlement density.” While lidar surveys are great for discovering sites and making conjectures about the layout of cities, the aerial approach to archaeology cannot replace good old-fashioned fieldwork. According to the Antiquity release, future research will focus on fieldwork at the sites. Given that there are nearly 7,000 structures in the area, that research could take some time. ' + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.webview_notification_text + ' " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_title + " " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_text + " © 2025 Pro Global Media Ltd. All rights reserved. Volume 5 - 2017 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2017.00161 This article is part of the Research TopicInsect Hematophagy: A Trip for PathogensView all 4 articles some tick-borne diseases such as anaplasmosis and ehrlichiosis became widespread worldwide The aims of this study were to determine the presence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Ehrlichia chaffeensis in 102 opossums (Didelphis spp.) and 44 owned free-ranging dogs in southeastern Mexico using a specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) phagocytophilum was detected in opossums and dogs with a prevalence of 3 and 27% We report the first evidence of infections of A phagocytophilum in Didelphis virginiana and D The infection rates and patterns we found of A phagocytophilum suggest that dogs are more directly involved in the ecology of this pathogen than opossums our results are of public health concern because of the zoonotic capabilities of A the high tick infestation rates found and because both opossums and free-ranging dogs can achieve high population densities in the region It is a pathogen of high veterinary importance for dog health the objective of our base line study was to identify the role of opossums (D free-ranging dogs in the epidemiology of A chaffeensis in a rural area near the city of Campeche we determined the prevalence of those three pathogens in opossums and dogs through a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnosis method as well as assessing the abundance of Ixodidae ticks in both hosts Then we identify factors associated with the abundance of ticks and the prevalence of these pathogens within the hosts The sample collection was carried out from January 26 to April 15 Opossums were captured with Tomahawk traps in three different sites at each location We categorized the sites for trapping as anthropogenic Anthropogenic sites included human structures and areas adjacent to buildings this kind of site where mostly in the villages but also in isolated farms Traps cataloged as “natural,” were placed on the primary or secondary forest and to avoid any potential edge effect on tick abundance in opossums traps were placed at least 50 m from the nearest edge We also captured opossums in “edge zones” between forest and agricultural fields All procedures were conducted after approval from El Colegio de la Frontera Sur Ethic Committee and trapping permits granted by SGPA-DGVS-SEMARNAT No Consent from all dog owners was provided before handling and sampling their animals we collected and counted feeding ticks (larvae and adults) on all the opossums and dogs sampled For those opossums and dogs that were highly tick-infested we counted the ticks located on the bare body parts (legs and ears) and in two areas (circles with 5-cm diameter) located on the ventral and dorsal area to extrapolate the number of ticks as a function of the body size PCR was performed on a Thermocycler Applied Biosystem 2720 We used extracted DNA from dogs naturally infected with each pathogen as a positive control and ultrapure water as negative controls The nested PCR product was electrophoresed in 1.5% agarose gels stained with bromide ethidium and photographed the reaction in the thermocycler and the electrophoresis were performed in different rooms Photos of agarose gels with products amplified by nested PCR (A) shows the fragments of 400 base pairs of the 16s rDNA gene of A (B) shows the fragments of 400 base pairs of the 16s rDNA gene from E Red arrows indicate bands (thresholds) for positive detection of pathogens Values of prevalence of infection and tick abundance in hosts were established as the number of hosts infected with a particular pathogen species divided by the number of hosts examined for that pathogen species, and the total number of individuals of Ixodes ticks in the host sample divided by the total number of hosts examined (Bush et al., 1997) We related tick abundance with the variable of kind of host (dogs or opossums), and tick abundance in the opossum with the independent variables of sex, localities, and the kind of site (anthropogenic, natural, or edge zone), using either a U-Mann-Whitney (when the independent variable has two groups, such as sex), or a Kruskal-Wallis test (when the independent variable has more than two groups) (Zar, 1984) A generalized linear model with a negative binomial distribution and a logarithmic link function was subsequently performed to determine the influence of locality and weight-length rate on the tick abundance in the opossums We opted for the negative binomial distribution due to high levels of over dispersion in the data when models were fitted with a Poisson distribution but biological or epidemiological significance was considered and analyzed independently of p values Based on the mean human: dog ratio derived from a human household survey of 14 different rural localities in México, we estimated the owned dog abundance in each locality and in the study area which is a polygon delimited by the principal routes and that comprise the four localities presented in this study (Gompper, 2014) we used localities (with higher or lower dog abundance) as a variable that explains the tick abundance of the hosts and as a risk factor for infection chaffeensis and tick mean abundance among dogs and opossum (Didelphis Summary of Generalized Linear Model (GLM) explaining tick abundance in opossums Spatial representation of dog and opossum relative abundance by locality and the prevalence of A which in turn it is also the “exposed group” who had a higher risk of infection than the “non-exposed group” comprised by Bobolá There were no association of infection by E marsupialis for the presence of the three pathogens using molecular tools (PCR analysis) in southeastern Mexico Further research is needed in order to infer the low prevalence of E chaffeensis in the dog population from the study area the little veterinary health care that dogs receive here makes them vulnerable to contracting high tick infestations as we found where the abundance and density of dogs are lower the distribution of the three positive opossums suggests that the localities with a greater abundance of dogs also have an increased risk of infection by A involve the diversity of local vertebrate hosts and human health through North and Central America Further research is needed to determine which vertebrate species are involved in such dynamics; their host-competence; and which tick species from the high extent diversity are competent vectors of these and other tick-borne pathogens Understanding the dynamics of disease transmission in the human-domestic-wildlife interface has become a major priority in current ecological and epidemiological research phagocytophilum in opossums and dogs in a rural area of The Yucatan Peninsula Despite of the low prevalence of this pathogen in opossums they could be indirectly involved in the dynamic transmission of tick-borne pathogens due to the high abundance of ticks that they presented Males may have a major role in the transmission of those pathogens due to the greater average abundance of ticks in relation to the females Other regional factors also appear to affect the abundance of ticks or agriculture that may decrease it; and that eventually translates into a greater or lesser risk of infection phagocytophilum in dogs we found as well as previous reports in Mexico and in the world they could be considered as a reservoir host in this region This is a finding that cannot be overlooked in terms of public human and animal health nor for future research with rickettsiosis in this and other Neotropical socio-ecosystems and data analysis; ER-V and GG-P: laboratory analysis; ER-V The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest Abel Gutiérrez and Carla Sánchez for support in DNA extraction; Tadeo Mateos and Irwin Te for field assistance; Jorge Gaona and Carolina Jiménez for laboratory assistance; Alonso Castillo for facilitating access to his family ranch Special thanks to Gabriela García Marmolejo for support with the maps CONACYT (M.Sc scholarship to the ER-V) and the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social IMSS provided financial support Detection of the etiologic agent of human ehrlichiosis by polymerase chain reaction Anaplasma marginale and Anaplasma phagocytophilum: Rickettsiales pathogens of veterinary and public health significance Social-ecological factors determine spatial variation in human incidence of tick-borne ehrlichiosis Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Ehrlichia ewingii in dogs in North America Prevalence and geographic distribution of Dirofilaria immitis and Anaplasma phagocytophilum in dogs in the United States: results of a national clinic-based serologic survey Multiple causes of variable tick burdens on small–mammal hosts Parasitology meets ecology in its own terms: Margolis et al Çetinkaya Serological and molecular investigation of Ehrlichia spp PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text “Common opossum,” in Mammals of Mexico Increasing incidence of Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Anaplasma phagocytophilum in the United States Emerging infectious diseases of wildlife Threats to biodiversity and human health Evaluation of a prototype Anaplasma phagocytophilum surveillance system using white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) as natural sentinels CrossRef Full Text Estrada-Peña The ecology of ticks and epidemiology of tick-Borne viral diseases Free-Ranging Dogs and Wildlife Conservation Google Scholar Guerrero-Sánchez “Riesgo zoonótico y antropozoonótico en carnívoros silvestres peque-os y mediados en Calakmul Campeche,” in El Huerto Familiar en el Sureste de México Mariaca (Tabasco: Secretaría de Recursos Naturales y Protección Ambiental del estado de Tabasco; ECOSUR) Anaplasma phagocytophilum in dogs in Germany Global trends in emerging infectious diseases Impacts of biodiversity on the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases Reservoir competence of vertebrate hosts for Anaplasma phagocytophilum Infectious diseases: preparing for the future The challenge of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Countrywide serological evaluation of canine prevalence for Anaplasma spp. Dirofilaria immitis and Ehrlichia canis in Mexico CrossRef Full Text “Ecosistemas continentales: Síntesis de los tipos de vegetación terrestre,” in La Biodiversidad en Campeche: Estudio de Estado Ortega-Pacheco A survey of dog populations in urban and rural áreas of Yucatan Ehrlichia chaffeensis: a prototypical emerging pathogen and the emergence of Amblyomma americanum-associated zoonoses in the United States CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Molecular diagnosis of Ehrlichia canis in Dogs and Ticks Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Acari: Ixodidae) in Yucatan Ehrlichia canis-like agent isolated from a man in Venezuela: antigenic and genetic characterization Pfäffle PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text and Fernández–de–Mera Sex-biased differences in the effects of host individual host population and environmental traits driving tick parasitism in red deer Guideline for veterinary practitioners on canine Ehrlichiosis and Anaplasmosis in Europe Sosa-Gutiérrez Tick-borne rickettsial pathogens in rodents from Mexico CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Sosa-Gutiérrez Tick-borne rickettsial pathogens in questing ticks Movement patterns and home range in the common opossum (Didelphis marsupialis) CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Migratory birds as global dispersal vectors Villalobos-Zapata La Biodiversidad en Campeche: Estudio de Estado Campeche: Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (Conabio) Gobierno del Estado de Campeche; Universidad Autónoma de Campeche; El Colegio de la Frontera Sur Social and environmental risk factors in the emergence of infectious diseases Nature Medicine 10 CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar The natural history of Anaplasma phagocytophilum Natural history of Ehrlichia chaffeensis: Vertebrate hosts and tick vectors from the United States and evidence for endemic transmission in other countries “Virginia opossum,” in Mammals of Mexico Google Scholar Gordillo-Pérez G and Weber M (2017) Infection of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Ehrlichia spp Received: 25 July 2017; Accepted: 28 November 2017; Published: 21 December 2017 Copyright © 2017 Rojero-Vázquez, Gordillo-Pérez and Weber. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Manuel Weber, bXdlYmVyQGVjb3N1ci5teA== Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish The World Heritage Centre is at the forefront of the international community’s efforts to protect and preserve World Heritage partnerships for conservation Ensuring that World Heritage sites sustain their outstanding universal value is an increasingly challenging mission in today’s complex world where sites are vulnerable to the effects of uncontrolled urban development Our Partners Donate Take advantage of the search to browse through the World Heritage Centre information Campeche is a typical example of a harbour town from the Spanish colonial period in the New World The historic centre has kept its outer walls and system of fortifications designed to defend this Caribbean port against attacks from the sea Le centre historique de Campeche est une ville portuaire de l'époque coloniale espagnole dans le Nouveau Monde Elle a gardé son mur d'enceinte et son système de fortifications mis en place pour protéger le port contre les attaques venant de la mer des Caraïbes يُعتبَر وسط كامبيش التاريخي مدينةً مينائيّةً من عصر الاستعمار الاسباني في العالم الجديد وقد حافظت على سورها ونظام التحصينات فيها لحماية المرفأ من الهجومات التي تتعرَّض لها من جهة بحر الكاريبي 坎佩切城是西班牙殖民者征服新世界时期的典型港口城市，该历史要塞保留了其外墙和防御体系，这些防御工事是这个加勒比海港口为抵御海上袭击而修建的。 Кампече – это типичный пример города-порта периода испанских колониальных владений в Новом Свете Исторический центр сохранил внешние стены и систему укреплений чтобы защитить этот порт Карибского региона от атак с моря Campeche es una ciudad portuaria caribeña de tiempos de la colonización española Su centro histórico ha conservado las murallas y el sistema de fortificaciones creado para protegerla contra los ataques navales was founded in the 16th century on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in the Maya region of Ah-Kim-Pech by Spanish conquerors It was the most important seaport at the time and played a major role for the conquest and evangelization of the Yucatan Peninsula Its commercial and military importance made it the second biggest town in the Gulf of Mexico Due its port importance in the sea route: Spain and Veracruz; as point of embarkation of the natural riches of the peninsula and political differences of the kingdoms of the old continent was systematically attacked by pirates and corsairs in the pay of enemies of Spain; this is why a large-scale defensive system was installed This military defensive system for mid-17th century was inadequate and poorly strategic so a new fortification with construction started in 1686 and concluding in 1704 the redoubt of San Jose on the east Hill of the village and the redoubt of San Miguel on the west Hill is mainly in the area of historic monuments at both ends and facing the sea were constructed The sea was the starting point of the Villa of San Francisco of Campeche and the construction of the military defensive system directed the urban growth and the development of this walled and baroque city with a Plaza Mayor facing the sea and surrounded by government and religious edifices The walls enclose an irregular hexagon corresponding to the defensive belt encircling the town civil and military architecture with Renaissance the town endowed itself with a fine theatre A section of the wall was pulled down in 1893 to open up a space with a view of the sea and the main square was turned into a public garden the traditional areas of the town centre were little affected by the modernization movement owing to a relative slackening of the economy The area of historic monuments is in the shape of an uneven polygon spread over 181 ha following the configuration of the coast and the relief The protected group consists of two subgroups: area A with a high density of buildings of great heritage significance which is not so dense but which forms a transitional and protective zone The almost 1,000 heritage buildings include the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception the Toro theatre and the municipal archives Criterion (ii): The harbour town of Campeche is an urbanization model of a Baroque colonial town with its checkerboard street plan; the defensive walls surrounding its historic centre reflect the influence of the military architecture in the Caribbean Criterion (iv): The fortifications system of Campeche an eminent example of the military architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries is part of an overall defensive system set up by the Spanish to protect the ports on the Caribbean Sea from pirate attacks The inscribed property encompasses 181 ha which include all necessary elements to convey the Outstanding Universal Value of the property The area of historic monuments is a coherent reflection of colonial architecture The very well conserved system of fortifications illustrates military engineering during the period of Spanish colonialism in the Caribbean The property maintains good conservation conditions which ensure the physical integrity of heritage buildings The area of historic monuments and the system of fortifications have a high degree of authenticity because of the small number of transformations and interventions Restoration works make use of traditional techniques and materials The authenticity of the historical centre is due to the continuity of a traditional family lifestyle with manifestations of a rich intangible heritage Legal protection is ensured by the 1972 federal legislation on Monuments and Archaeological Areas and by the application of regulations of 1975 under which all modifications to buildings must receive prior authorization A Federal Decree of 1986 lists the area of historic monuments of Campeche and places it under the authority of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) to function as a regulator and to authorize any kind of intervention in historic monuments within the historical monuments area the exterior and interior of the historical monument the Coordination of Sites and Monuments of the Cultural Heritage of Campeche was created in 1998 for the management and protection of monuments in the city of Campeche the State Secretary of Culture was established leaving such coordination as sub office working in the dissemination of tangible and intangible heritage activities a number of prescriptions regulate the conditions for carrying out work Conservation is regulated by the partial plan of development for the municipality of Campeche; The urban director program the regulation for construction for the municipality of Campeche updated and published in 2009; the Urban Image for the municipality of Campeche and the Partial program of preservation and improvement of the historical centre and traditional wards of the city of Campeche published in the “Diario Oficial of the State of Campeche” through the National Council for Culture and the Arts and the Ministry of Social Development allocates resources to the municipality for the implementation of projects centred on restoration The city of Campeche manages and administers these resources through the Bureau of Urban Development and the Bureau of Buildings and Services  It is important to delimit the surrounding areas around the historical monuments of the city of Campeche and protect the traditional neighbourhoods of Santa Ana dating from the 16th and 17th centuries which were excluded from the Presidential Decree of 1986 It is also important to establish regulatory measures for the urban corridors that give access to the heritage area for the improvement and maintenance of the property A graduate student made the discovery of a lifetime while looking over some public data and images taken in the jungles of Campeche Maya is the correct term to use when referencing those people who spoke one of the dozens of languages that fall under the Mayan banner Keep reading to learn more about the unprecedented discovery of an ancient Maya city, including the reason why experts believe that the 50,000 people who once called the area home likely fled from the area. Luke Auld-Thomas was reading LiDAR maps from 2013 online when he made the find according to his professor Marcello Canuto who shared the exciting details of the discovery with NBC News Auld-Thomas had pulled up some LiDAR maps — so named for the light detection and ranging equipment that is used to collect data by using lasers to map the topography of a given area — that had been commissioned to track carbon reservoirs in the region including some pyramids similar to the famous Chichén Itzá designs that have become a popular tourist hot spot in Mexico's Yucatan It's believed that somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 Mayas may have called this ancient city — which has since been named Valeriana after a lagoon researchers say is located not too far from where the city was found — home back in its heyday According to a press release from Antiquity the map used by Auld-Thomas (which was actually from 2013) was full of surprises but it also revealed a lot of variability," he explained "We didn't just find rural areas and smaller settlements We also found a large city with pyramids right next to the area's only highway near a town where people have been actively farming among the ruins for years." Ancient mayan city discovered in mexico jungle by accident #news #fyp #maya #mexico While researchers have only been able to make some preliminary guesses about what went on within the confines of Valeriana they're pretty confident in their theory that civilization likely ended in the region sometime between 800 A.D Professor Canuto believes that overpopulation may have made it hard for ancient Mayas to adapt to changing climates within the region "The growing consensus is that climate variability was a major factor causing stresses leading to more systemic unrest," the professor told NBC News And while his theory is still just an educated guess at this point he hopes that future improvements to technology will allow researchers to learn more about what went on all those years ago including what else lies beneath the canopy of other unexplored areas of the Mexican jungle That's because researchers are uncovering far more signs of civilization than they previously thought existed especially in new areas like the east-central region Campeche "Given the environmental and social challenges we're facing from rapid population growth it can only help to study ancient cities and expand our view of what urban living can look like," Auld-Thomas said in the Antiquity press release Hopefully this new discovery will help them get more funding to learn more about the people who called these jungles home all these years ago so they can find out more about what led to the region's collapse, and help modern civilizations from meeting the same fate Climate Change Continues to Cause and Strengthen Hurricanes Like Hurricane Beryl How This 19-Year-Old Activist Is Fighting for Intersectional Environmental Justice (Exclusive) Mexico’s New Climate Goals Involve Doubling Its Renewable Energy Capacity Link to XLink to InstagramContact us by EmailOpt-out of personalized ads People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website Offers may be subject to change without notice Archaeologists draw on laser mapping to find city they have named Valeriana After swapping machetes and binoculars for computer screens and laser mapping a team of researchers have stumbled on a lost Maya city of temple pyramids all of which had been hidden for centuries by the Mexican jungle The discovery in the south-eastern Mexican state of Campeche came about after Luke Auld-Thomas an anthropologist at Northern Arizona University began wondering whether non-archaeological uses of the state-of-the-art laser mapping known as lidar could help shed light on the Maya world our sample of the Maya civilisation was a couple of hundred square kilometres total,” Auld-Thomas said “That sample was hard won by archaeologists who painstakingly walked over every square metre hacking away at the vegetation with machetes to see if they were standing on a pile of rocks that might have been someone’s home 1,500 years ago.” Lidar is a remote sensing technique that uses a pulsed laser and other data obtained by flying over a site to generate three-dimensional information about the shape of surface characteristics Lidar reveals the extent of ancient Maya settlements and landscape modification obscured by forest on either side of a modern highway A farming community (street grid at lower left) shares space with the ruins Illustration: Luke Auld-ThomasAlthough Auld-Thomas knew that it could help Funders are reluctant to pay for lidar surveys in areas without obvious traces of the Maya civilisation which reached its height between AD250 and AD900 It occurred to the anthropologist that others may already have mapped the area for different reasons forestry and civil engineering have been using lidar surveys to study some of these areas for totally separate purposes,” Auld-Thomas said “So what if a lidar survey of this area already existed?” a forest monitoring project had undertaken a detailed lidar survey of 122 square kilometres of the area Together with researchers from Tulane University Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History and the University of Houston’s National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping Auld-Thomas began analysing the survey’s data to explore 50 square miles of Campeche that had never been investigated by archaeologists View image in fullscreenDetail of the Valeriana site core Illustration: Luke Auld-Thomas et al/Cambridge University PressTheir analysis turned up a dense and diverse range of unstudied Maya settlements including an entire city they named Valeriana View image in fullscreenSites and settlement densities in the survey area Illustration: Luke Auld-Thomas et al/Cambridge University PressAccording to Auld-Thomas the team’s findings show just how many undiscovered treasures the area could yet yield “We didn’t just find rural areas and smaller settlements,” he said “We also found a large city with pyramids right next to the area’s only highway the scientific community never knew about it That really puts an exclamation point behind the statement that no The team are planning to follow up on their lidar analysis with fieldwork at the newly discovered sites which they say could offer valuable lessons as parts of the planet deal with the demands of mass urbanisation “The ancient world is full of examples of cities that are completely different than the cities we have today,” Auld-Thomas said “There were cities that were sprawling agricultural patchworks and hyper-dense; there were cities that were highly egalitarian and extremely unequal Given the environmental and social challenges we’re facing from rapid population growth it can only help to study ancient cities and expand our view of what urban living can look like.” Six years ago, some of the same researchers used lidar to uncover tens of thousands of previously undetected Maya houses defence works and pyramids in the dense jungle of Guatemala’s Petén region suggesting that millions more people lived there than was previously thought which included industrial-sized agricultural fields and irrigation canals were announced in 2018 by an alliance of US European and Guatemalan archaeologists working with Guatemala’s Maya Heritage and Nature Foundation The study estimated that 10 million people may have lived within the Maya lowlands meaning that huge-scale food production may have been needed Tulane University researchers have used data from laser based technology to find unexplored Maya settlements in Mexico dating back centuries NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Archaeologists using laser-sensing technology have detected what may be an ancient Mayan city cloaked by jungle in southern Mexico dubbed Valeriana by researchers after the name of a nearby lagoon may have been as densely settled as the better-known pre-Hispanic metropolis of Calakmul in the south part of the Yucatan peninsula “Previous research has shown that a large part of the present-day state of Campeche is a landscape that was transformed by its ancient inhabitants,” said Adriana Velázquez Morlet of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History this study shows that a little-known region was a urbanized landscape.” Mexico’s National Institute said about 6,479 structures have been detected in LiDAR images covering an area of about 47 square miles (122 square kilometers) The technique maps landscapes using thousands of lasers pulses sent from a plane which can detect variations in topography that ware not evident to the naked eye Those images revealed structures that include what appear to be temple platforms agricultural terraces and even what appears to be a dam The Institute said the structures may date to between 250 and 900 A.D. but the settlement could have been started 100 years earlier A consortium of researchers made the discovery by using software to re-examine a 2013 LIDAR survey originally carried out to measures deforestation then a graduate student at Tulane University noticed strange formations in the survey of the jungle said the extensive data they’ve collected will “allow us to tell better stories of the ancient Mayan people,” marrying what scientists already know – political and religious histories – with new details about how ancient civilizations were run “We have always been able to talk about the ancient Maya especially in the lowland regions because of their hieroglyphic texts because they left us such interesting record,” he said “What we are now able to do is match that information with their settlement and the population and what they were fighting over an anthropology professor at the University of Florida who was not connected to the study some of the features would have to be confirmed by researchers on the ground “They realize that small natural rock piles (chich in the local parlance) were likely misinterpreted as house mounds they recognize that their feature counts are preliminary,” Gillespie wrote is contemporaneity of use of mapped features,” Gillespie said a large region might be dense with structures but the size of an occupation at any one time cannot known with aerial survey data alone.” There are no pictures of the newly-discovered city but its pyramid temples are described as similar to this structure in nearby Calakmul ancient Maya city under a jungle in Mexico dotted with more than 6,000 structures including temple pyramids is located in the south-eastern Mexican state of Campeche and may have housed up to 50,000 residents between 750 and 850AD Luke Auld-Thomas, a doctoral student in anthropology at Tulane university in New Orleans, led the project along with his supervisor, Marcello Canuto. “I was on something like page 16 of Google search and found a laser survey done by a Mexican organisation for environmental monitoring,” Auld-Thomas told the BBC He refers to a forest monitoring project undertaken in 2013 which targets an object or region with a laser and maps measurements by documenting the amount of time the reflected light takes to return to the receiver 122 square kilometres of the area were investigated “Our analysis not only revealed a picture of a region that was dense with settlements, but it also revealed a lot of variability. We didn’t just find rural areas and smaller settlements. We also found a large city with pyramids right next to the area’s only highway, near a town where people have been actively farming among the ruins for years. The government never knew about it; the scientific community never knew about it,” Auld-Thomas adds in a statement. The architectural arrangement “generally indicates a founding date prior to 150AD”, says the Antiquity article, which adds that there are multiple enclosed plazas connected by a broad causeway; temple pyramids; a ballcourt and a reservoir formed by damming an arroyo (a seasonal watercourse). Auld-Thomas adds: "Because lidar allows us to map large areas very quickly, and at really high precision and levels of detail, that made us react, 'Oh wow, there are so many buildings out there we didn't know about, the population must have been huge’.” Further fieldwork is planned at the newly discovered sites. Tulane University adds that the study highlights the “transformative power of lidar technology in unveiling the secrets of ancient civilisations. It also provides compelling evidence of a more complex and varied Maya landscape than previously thought.” news20 December 2023Hidden burial chamber discovered at Tulum Maya site in MexicoThe cavern’s entrance had been concealed by a boulder that appears to have pinned an unfortunate person to the spot when it was installed news26 June 2024Laser scanning reveals lost Maya structures in forests of CampecheArchaeologists have used light-detection and ranging (Lidar) technology to uncover new findings about ancient Maya Lowland settlements news20 March 2023New museum planned for ancient Mayan complex Chichén Itzá, Mexico’s most visited archeological site With first leg of controversial $20bn Maya Train project set to begin operation authorities have stepped up excavation and development of archaeological destinations excavated over the course of the past 65 years now features a museum housing archaeological pieces and vestiges recovered from the former regional Maya capital President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum inaugurated the new museum on Friday highlighting the project’s aim to provide greater context and understanding of the rich Maya cultural heritage located 55 kilometers southeast of the city of Campeche The diverse architectural styles located in the area around the main plaza indicate that it was a powerful regional capital from 400 to 1000 A.D The most remarkable structure at Edzná is the 40-meter-high temple in the main plaza but the site also features groupings such as the Grand Acropolis and structures including a ball court and a 31-meter-high structure known as Cinco Pisos inhabitants of Edzná built a complex hydraulic system to direct surface water into a lake The system featured a dam and irrigation canals While delivering an update on INAH activities INAH Director Diego Prieto said that the Edzná Site Museum will not only serve as a space for the exhibition of recovered artifacts but also as a living testimony of the cultural and archaeological wealth of the Maya civilization Prieto said the museum and the recent restoration work at Edzná are the product of the federal Archaeological Zone Improvement Program (Promeza) that was developed to take advantage of excavations done for the Maya Train project Promeza provided funding for the exploration of the territory and the verification of photogrammetric and LiDAR images excavation and registration of archaeological materials some of the recent finds will be displayed at the new Edzná museum and other museums that are part of the network of recently created sites in ancient Maya cities in southeastern Mexico With reports from La Jornada and El Sol de México ADVERTISE WITH MND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES Subscription FAQ's Privacy Policy Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC The Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo easily recorded the highest economic growth among Mexico’s 32 federal entities in the first quarter of 2024 with GDP increasing more than 20% on an annual basis Data published by the national statistics agency INEGI on Monday shows that 25 entities recorded annual growth in the first quarter of the year while the economies of six states contracted The economy of Baja California was stagnant with GDP unchanged in annual percentage terms The national economy grew 1.6% annually in the first three months of the year Annual data shows that the Quintana Roo economy expanded 20.1% in the first quarter of 2024 The state’s primary sector recorded growth of 3.4% while the tertiary sector — which includes Quintana Roo’s large tourism industry — expanded 5.5% which includes manufacturing and construction grew a whopping 125.6% compared to the first three months of 2023 The state’s economy has benefited from the construction of large infrastructure projects, including the US $20 billion Maya Train railroad as well as urban projects in cities such as Cancún and Playa del Carmen Governor Mara Lezama celebrated Quintana Roo’s position at the top of Mexico’s economic growth rankings in a video posted to social media The INEGI data “positions us as the leading state in economic growth in the entire country,” she said “… We continue to work so that all this [growth] is reflected in the social wellbeing of every family in Quintana Roo but shared prosperity,” said the Morena party governor The Quintana Roo economy also performed well in 2023 another state that has benefited from the construction of the Maya Train railroad recorded the second highest economic growth among Mexico’s 32 federal entities in the first quarter of the year The state’s economy grew 5.8% in annual terms between January and March Campeche’s secondary sector expanded 89.8% annually in the first quarter of the year Ranking third to 10th for overall economic growth in the first quarter were: México state and Nuevo León all recorded growth above 2% while the economies of seven states – Querétaro Tlaxcala and Aguascalientes – expanded by 1.1%-1.9% Nayarit recorded annual growth of 0.4% in the first quarter while the economies of Michoacán and Mexico City expanded by 0.2% While the economy of Baja California was stagnant with annual growth of 0.0% the economies of six states went backwards with GDP declining 3.1% in the northern border state The other states that recorded annual economic contractions in the first quarter of 2024 were: With reports from La Jornada Maya and Excélsior  Triathlon writer and age-group long course triathlete Jenny Lucas-Hill gives you the inside track on racing IRONMAN 70.3 Campeche to the best places to stay and the must-see vacation hot spots With UNESCO World Heritage listed architecture the harbour town of Campeche sets a stunning scene for an IRONMAN 70.3 race – which returned in 2024 after a hiatus this early season race is a great way to kick off your triathlon year Often referred to as Mexico’s ‘best kept secret’ the beautiful city of Campeche sits on the popular Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico Fortified against pirates in the 17th Century the city walls are home to impressive baroque colonial architecture and pretty pastel-coloured buildings – earning it UNESCO World Heritage listed status since 1999 the Campeche region is filled with beautiful natural landscapes From tropical rainforests to hilly valleys and biosphere nature reserves when you can see flamingos and other wildlife The race itself starts just outside of the historic city centre with the swim start and T1 hosted by a country club on the coast near the Lerma area A split transition means after the bike you’ll head into the downtown area for a spectator-lined run towards the finish line – finishing your race in front of the iconic sea gate Offering a mix of tropical beach getaway and cultural city centre experiences IRONMAN 70.3 Campeche is a destination race well worth considering IRONMAN 70.3 Campeche is a great destination race to add to your calendar offering up the chance to explore a stunning and unique location while racing on a fast fun course with plenty of spectator support from 2025 IRONMAN 70.3 Campeche will now feature a stunning sunrise start A sight to be seen as the sun rises over the turquoise water of the Gulf of Mexico flat bike course along the Merida Highway sets you up for a quick time While the spectator-friendly run course creates a great race day atmosphere with athletes entering the water at Country Club Campeche The single-loop follows a straight forward rectangular course as the sea temperature tends to be around 28 degrees Celsius at this time of year the bike course takes you out along the fast And while the 2-loop course is predominantly a straight out and back there are a few little twists and turns to be aware of along the way You'll make your way past the Marine Fountains and into the downtown area of Campeche along a spectator-friendly route before finishing at the iconic sea gate Given that IRONMAN 70.3 Campeche takes place early in the season if you’re based in the northern hemisphere you’ll want to factor some heat preparation into your training – otherwise those balmy race day temperatures may come as a shock Indoor training is a great way to simulate warm conditions when the weather outdoors is anything but toasty It’s also worth taking note of that warm water temperature – be prepared for a non-wetsuit swim flat bike course is certainly TT bike-friendly – spend some time dialling into your aero position and you’ll be in a good place to make the most of this speedy middle distance triathlon race course Campeche has an international airport just a few miles away But for most travellers – particularly if you’re coming from Europe – expect to have a connecting flight or two to get there IRONMAN 70.3 Campeche have not announced their partner hotels But as a tourist location growing in popularity such as the Puerta Campeche and Casa Don Gustavo To budget-friendly and mid-range options such as Hotel Castelmar and Hotel Tucan Siho Playa Keep an eye on the IRONMAN 70.3 Campeche race website for more details on the partner hotels once they’re released spectators are best heading back into the centre of Campeche Here you can take the opportunity to explore some of the city’s unique architecture and the city walls The athletes will pass by the finish area several times on the course so you’ll have a chance to cheer them in as they finish off the bike And then see them several times on the run before they finally get to head down to the finish chute it’s time to flip the switch into tourist mode and explore everything the city of Campeche and the surrounding area has to offer head to 59th Street to take a walk down this iconic ‘corridor’ of beautiful pastel-coloured buildings The boardwalk is a great spot to go and take a photo of you with your finisher medal next to the colourful Campeche sign too A walk a-top the historic fortified walls give you the chance to see the city from a new perspective And with plenty of cafes and restaurants on offer you can get a taste for the local cuisine – chaya water with pineapple cochinita and pomuch bread are all specialities a trip to the top of the Calakmul Pyramids offers up stunning uninterrupted views of the surrounding jungle Thrill-seekers can go and experience a zip line flying 90 metres above the water filled crater at Cenote Azul de Miguel Colorado Nature-lovers will enjoy a kayaking trip through the mangrove forests or a visit to Laguna de Terminos to spot the dolphins And for an insight into the history and culture of the area it’s worth making a trip to Edzna to see the Mayan Ruins This coastal city has more than enough to keep you busy on your post-race vacation World-heritage listed beauty and warm hospitality sets the scene for a spectacular day of swim-bike-run More event inspiration with our Let's Race.. have found an underground structure beneath a Maya ball court as well as offerings on top of a Maya pyramid at another site Archaeologists in Mexico have discovered a mysterious subterranean structure with painted walls hidden beneath a Maya ball court The team found the building while excavating the ball court the playing space for the ritual ball game played by the Maya and other Mesoamerican peoples "We located parts of an earlier building that had painted walls, but only further excavations may reveal the shape of that underlying building and what its function was," said Ivan Šprajc an archaeologist at the Institute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies in Slovenia and director of the excavation.  Šprajc and his colleagues surveyed a large area of the Maya Lowlands in the Mexican state of Campeche with lidar a technique that shoots millions of laser pulses from an aircraft These pulses then bounce off the ground and return to the machine in the aircraft allowing researchers to map the landscape's topography The newfound site is in a previously unexplored area south of Ocomtún the team discovered another site that includes a plaza a 52-foot-high (16 meters) pyramid and a rectangular water reservoir the archaeologists found some offerings: ceramic vessels; a ceramic animal leg possibly of an armadillo; and a chert knife or spear point Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox —What's hidden inside the ancient Maya pyramids? —Rubber balls used in famous Maya game contained ashes of cremated rulers, archaeologists claim —Maya sacrifice victims found with mysterious blue string in their teeth These offerings "were deposited on top of the temple in the Late Postclassic period (last centuries before the arrival of Spanish conquerors)," from 1250 to 1524 even after most of the Classic period Maya settlements had been abandoned small and impoverished human group[s] were still rambling around putting offerings on or near the buildings of their forebears," Šprajc said Her work has appeared in The New York Times She has won multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association for her reporting at a weekly newspaper near Seattle Laura holds a bachelor's degree in English literature and psychology from Washington University in St Louis and a master's degree in science writing from NYU Archaeologists discover hundreds of metal objects up to 3,400 years old on mysterious volcanic hilltop in Hungary May's full 'Flower Moon' will be a micromoon Platforms NASA operates state-of-the-art platforms that collect critical information about our home planet Drill down to the data and tools you need by exploring platforms on Earth and in the sky Instruments instruments aboard NASA platforms collect a vast array of Earth science data Space Geodesy Techniques These data are used to support scientific and societal applications Earth observations Atmosphere The atmosphere is a gaseous envelope surrounding and protecting our planet from the intense radiation of the Sun Biosphere The biosphere 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Services, and Software Policies Open Science and Data Management Plan ESDS Leadership Meet the Earth Science Data Systems Program leadership team Organizational Chart View the internal structure of the ESDS Program Multi-Mission Data Processing System Study We are considering the right data processing system for open-source data Program Performance and Metrics and distribution metrics for the ESDS program Events Sign up or watch a past recording of events covering Earth science data topics Worldview Image of the Week Learn about the Earth through the lens of NASA’s Worldview Feature Articles Read stories inspired by NASA Earth science data Data User Stories Discover how people are researching with NASA Earth science data Earthdata Blog Take a deeper dive into NASA Earth science data A true color/natural color corrected reflectance image overlaid with the Fires and Thermal Anomalies layer showing red points in Campeche Bay on August 1, 2022. This image was acquired by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard the joint NASA/NOAA NOAA-20 satellite The image shows a cluster of red fire and thermal anomalies points in the bay These points correspond to gas flares emanating from oil rigs on offshore platforms Crude oil often contains natural gas and when the oil reaches the surface oil rig operators sometimes will burn the excess gas if it cannot be easily stored and utilized elsewhere click on the image to open the full version of Worldview in a new browser tab Visit Worldview to visualize near real-time imagery from NASA's EOSDIS; check out more Worldview weekly images in our archive Explore data collected by platforms in space Dive into one of the planet’s largest repositories of Earth science data Access a range of tools that enable data discovery The Maya Train project continues to pay dividends for archaeologists The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) this week disclosed findings uncovered by archaeologists at 26 ancient Maya burial sites found along the Maya Train route The burial sites were found along Section 7 of the Maya Train an east-west route that extends 256 kilometers from Chetumal in the state of Quintana Roo to Escárcega in Campeche After the section was surveyed in late 2022 INAH explored along the route and identified potential pre-Columbian archaeological sites Excavations began in February 2023 and dig sites were established primarily in the 36-km stretch between the present-day villages of Constitución and El Lechugal Though some segments of the Maya Train were built in close proximity to ancient Maya cities there was no previous record of extensive settlements in this area scattered structures were discovered: a few plazas and terraces and modest residential buildings many of which were found in cist graves or small stone-built coffin-like boxes used for individual burials archaeologists found ceramic funerary objects allowing them to date the burials to somewhere between the Early and Late Classic periods (250-900 A.D.) Among their discoveries was a collection of four burial sites within a single residence Two of the four bodies were in cist graves in flexed position with several ceramic objects placed along their sides and at their feet Another noteworthy find was a grave about 1.5 meters deep in the middle of a plaza likely signifying that the body was dedicated to the monuments discovered on the southern end of the plaza excavations unveiled three tombstones ranging from 45 cm to 70 cm in size The INAH archaeologists have speculated that these could have been part of the facade of the main structure or served as lintels Although the remains are in poor condition INAH hopes they will provide some information about the diet and origin of the Maya peoples in the area Surveys of the area surrounding the digs revealed that the closest water source was the Silvituc lagoon, though INAH also found evidence of chultuns (bottle-shaped underground chambers used to capture rainwater) INAH reported that archaeologists had found 9,700 monuments walls and artifacts along a 34-km stretch of Section 7 just a few miles east of Constitución The newspaper La Jornada reported that this was the greatest concentration of artifacts yet uncovered along the Maya Train route Reports from Aristegui Noticias and La Jornada MexicoChevron CampecheChevron Ilan RabchinskeySave this storySaveSave this storySaveAll products and listings featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links All listings featured in this story are independently selected by our editors when you book something through our retail links with ample opportunities for detours and pit stops at ancient temples half-consumed by the jungle The historic plantation turned hotel Hacienda Uayamón Any visit to Campeche should begin with a stay at Hacienda Puerta Campeche in the 481-year-old capital city that gives the state its name the tidy streets of the old town are lined with pastel-hued houses whose windows are thrown open to draw in breezes off the electric-blue sea the barrios of Santa Ana and San Francisco are home to some of Campeche's best food Have lunch by Parque de Santa Ana: tacos of cochinita pibil at Taquería Hecelchakán or tortas de lechon (roasted-pork sandwiches) at Taquería del Parque while the simple fondas under the arches at the Portales de San Martín are ideal for late-night tamales and icy coconut horchata a cluster of cabins at the edge of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve After lunch at the hotel's restaurant a small archaeological site just northwest of Conhuas to see one of the best-preserved Mayan friezes use the remainder of the day to explore the ruins of Becán where covered passageways and a tight urban layout give the rare sense of what Mayan daily life was like Chile peppers for sale at a market in the capital city Campeche An ancient ceiba tree at Hacienda Uayamón Wake before dawn to the sound of howler monkeys and drive 90 minutes south through virgin forest to Calakmul, once a rival to Tikal in Guatemala and awmong the mightiest cities of the classical Mayan world a vast network of pathways winds through the jungle between plazas and soaring pyramids whose peaks rise like mountains above the canopy to your room at Hotel Puerta Calakmul for a siesta drive four and a half miles east to a cave hidden just off the road and watch millions of bats spiral into the evening sky located a short distance outside the capital the agave fiber that powered the peninsula's formidable economic engine until the 20th century it makes for a refined and peaceful last stop Dominic TrevettThis article appeared in the September/October 2021 issue of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine here. up-to-the-minute voice in all things travel Condé Nast Traveler is the global citizen’s bible and muse We understand that time is the greatest luxury which is why Condé Nast Traveler mines its network of experts and influencers so that you never waste a meal or a hotel stay wherever you are in the world Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Once he decided that he was going to pursue a career in law Marlon Campeche ’19 knew that the Immigration Justice Clinic at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University would best fulfill his desire to practice immigration law Knowing that he too ultimately wanted to practice law studied political science in undergraduate school as a stepping-stone towards that goal ultimately choosing Haub Law to pursue his studies in immigration law as well siblings Marlon and Ulises speak about their impactful experiences at Haub Law Marlon: I decided I wanted to pursue a career in law when I was in high school I used to volunteer as an ESL teacher to adults at nights That experience motivated me to believe that I could do more for the immigrant community in college I majored in political science with a clear aim towards law school post-grad Ulises: I’ve always been interested in law particularly beginning throughout my years in high school I took AP Government & Politics and I feel that learning experience solidified my interest in the field of law Studying political science as an undergrad certainly exposed me to a variety of fields I’ve always been drawn to learning and understanding the important role that law and courts have on society What was it about Pace in particular that appealed to both of you Marlon: I chose Haub Law because I always admired the Immigration Justice Clinic ran by Professor Vanessa Merton The Clinic serves our local immigrant community in Westchester the community where my brother and I were raised I knew choosing to attend Pace and to join the Clinic was the right decision for me Ulises: While I chose Haub Law for their network connections with prestigious firms and organizations I mainly based my decision off what my brother had told me about his experience while at Pace Law schools have a certain stigma that everyone is constantly competing against each other but thus far I haven’t felt or experienced that here at Pace and empathy and that is something I appreciate Marlon: I currently practice immigration law at a non-profit organization in Brooklyn which means I primarily defend people in removal proceedings at immigration court immigrant children and victims of domestic violence Ulises: I’ve always been interested in the field of immigration as it’s been a recurring theme in our family humility and determination are values our parents inculcated in us from a young age and is something I adhere to each day I hope to be able to advocate for immigrant rights particularly for children facing a legal system alone Which experiences stand out to both of you from your time at Pace my favorite course was the Immigration Justice Clinic The Clinic provided me with first-hand experience of lawyering real cases which ultimately was an upper-hand when searching for employment Professor Merton is so knowledgeable in the field and her teaching style pushed me to become a better attorney I will always be grateful for Professor Merton and the Clinic I would say I grew to enjoy civil procedure but Professor Mushlin certainly engaged his students and broke down each concept to the most minute detail as possible for us and Humbach were very understanding in light of some personal issues during my first semester and their empathy and understanding was very much appreciated was there any advice you gave Ulises upon entering law school I told him it would be a very different experience than undergraduate and thus he should prepare as much as possible because I know my brother is a hard-worker and very dedicated to his academics I often stress the importance of taking some time off and hanging out with friends -mental breaks are also very important in law school students from Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems joined forces with peers from Parsons School of Design for an unforgettable game jam experience themed around scientific phenomena After spending the last 35 years pursuing a career in finance Todd Jacobson ’27 decided to switch gears and pursue a law degree the potentially negative longer lasting consequences became abundantly clear – from educational outcomes to healthcare access I would like to pursue a career in public policy to work on these issues.” this list has everything you need to kick off your Pace experience the right way Copyright © 2024 Pace University Privacy Policy The disturbance we have been tracking for the last several days has been designated as potential tropical cyclone four in the Bay of Campeche Further development into a depression or tropical 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BrowseServicesOpen researchInstitution LoginSearchMenu links one of the Spanish Empire's main Mexican ports was a place where previously distinct cultures and populations intermingled during the colonial era (AD 1540–1680) Investigation of the town's central plaza revealed a Hispanic cemetery of multi-ethnic burials The authors combine previous analyses with newly generated genome-wide data from 10 individuals to trace detailed life histories of the mostly young local Indigenous Americans and first-generation European and African immigrants none of whom show evidence of genetic admixture These results provide insights into the individual lives and social divides of the town's founder communities and demonstrate how ancient DNA analyses can contribute to understanding early colonial encounters was the first African registered in New Spain He was part of the military consortium led by Hernán Cortés in 1519 (Bishop Diego Durán; image courtesy of Arqueología Mexicana/Raices) Locations of (left) the town of Campeche (map by the authors) and (right) the old Novohispanic church within the fortified central plaza of San Francisco de Campeche in 1604 (source: Historical Military Service of Madrid recovered 129 interments from this complex These were examined through a combination of standard archaeological and anthropological methods we present new genome-wide ancient DNA (aDNA) data for 10 of these individuals and evaluate and discuss the results alongside the previously published datasets we identify the areas where these data sources complement or contradict each other and the implications of combining and interpreting multiple types of information about the life histories of people in the past Explorations at the main plaza of Campeche: left) burial distribution; middle) excavation in progress in 2000 (photograph courtesy of Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH)); right) grid of excavation area and test pits (courtesy of INAH & Laboratorio de Bioarqueología/Autonomous Schematic plan of grave locations surrounding the early colonial church on Campeche's central plaza (figure by the authors) 1) determine whether it was possible to generate genome-wide data from the petrous portions of the Campeche individuals; 2) compare results from aDNA to the existing biomorphological and biomolecular data; and 3) explore any patterns evident in the aDNA data (OSM5) Figure 5. Plotted radiocarbon distributions of two individuals from the Campeche churchyard dated as part of this research (dates calibrated in OxCal v4.3.2, using the IntCal13 atmospheric curve; Reimer et al. Reference Reimer2013; Bronk Ramsey Reference Bronk Ramsey2017) (figure by the authors) Summary data from ancient DNA analysis of 10 Campeche individuals with previous biomorphological assessments in brackets Notes: SNP = single nucleotide polymorphism; M = male; F = female; NID = not identified; EUR = European; AFR = African; AME = Native American Unsupervised ADMIXTURE clustering plots of the 10 individuals relative to highly diverged modern populations (for modern sample information The small proportion of Han-related ancestry detected for Burial 30 at K = 4 is statistical noise due to the much lower dataset size (only approximately 40 000 SNPs) for this individual The Native American-related ancestry detected for the modern French DG individual at K = 4 is also probably an artefact of the data (figure by the authors) Principal components analysis of ancient individuals projected onto the principal components inferred from modern individuals consisting of Han Chinese European (French and Finnish) and Native American (Pima Chane and Mixe) individuals (for modern sample information Neighbour joining tree from outgroup-f3 statistics (above) and location of modern and ancient individuals used (below) Ancient Campeche individuals are most closely related to modern Maya the group in closest geographic proximity (figure by the authors) To determine whether there is any detectable substructure in the eight individuals consistent with Native American ancestry we computed statistics of the form [D(Campeche.individual.A Campeche.individual.B; Campeche.individual.C; YRI.SG)] This method examines whether a test individual “Campeche.individual.C” shares more genetic alleles with “Campeche.individual.A” or “Campeche.individual.B” using modern West Africans from Nigeria as an outgroup baseline (YRI.SG) Of all 252 (= 9 × 8 × 7/2) unique statistics of this type involving comparisons of the individuals inferred to have broadly Native American ancestry which is not significant after correcting for the number of hypotheses tested (p = 0.0087 the eight Campeche individuals with typical Native American ancestry are unstructured within the limits of our resolution; in other words these eight individuals could not be split into subgroups Genome-wide and mitochondrial (L3 haplogroup) data for Burial 11–1 are consistent with an African origin (Figures 6 & 7 and Table S4) The high-resolution genetic analysis allows us to determine that Burial 11–1 had negligible European or Native American ancestry (OSM5) While additional statistical analysis did not reveal a specific geographical origin for Burial 11–1 (OSM5) we were able to determine that her ancestry was broadly West African Ethnically distinctive cultural dental modifications: above) the lower dentition of male Burial 52–1 shows concave wear facets between the canine and first premolar suggesting regular pipe use; below) cleft from chipping in two adjacent central incisors from a collective ossuary within the church perimeter (photographs by the authors) Figure 10. Burial 52–1 projected onto the Eurasian PCA from Lazaridis et al. (Reference Lazaridis2016: 420). This demonstrates that Burial 52–1 is genetically closest to individuals from modern-day Spain and northern Italy, suggesting an overall north-western Mediterranean ancestry (figure by the authors, based on data from Lazaridis et al. (Reference Lazaridis2016)) We use singular gendered pronouns when discussing Burial 11–1 and 52–1 instead of the non-gendered ‘they’ because these individuals were part of multiple burials thus the plural ‘they’ could mistakenly conflate all individuals in the burial when we are we are using ‘he’ and ‘she’ only in reference to measured X and Y-chromosome ratios and recognise that the individuals may not have identified themselves in these gendered binaries while alive five centuries ago palaeogenetic results for Burial 128 are inconsistent with both the isotopic values and the macroscopic sex estimation; our present analyses of the petrous portion—bagged and labelled in the field as part of this individual—demonstrate unadmixed Native American ancestry We currently have no convincing explanation for this contradiction other than that the sampled petrous portion (recorded in the field as contiguous to the mandible and the post cranium) belonged to a different isolated adult (labelled here as ‘Burial 128 ass.’); we are unsure how these individuals became commingled This highlights a methodological pitfall when using spatial association and morphological similarity to individualise disturbed assemblages such as this one It also demonstrates how genetic analyses can make important contributions to the archaeological interpretations of highly commingled assemblages our sampling strategy was not designed to study individuals that we believed might harbour only one particular ancestry component based on phenotype or archaeological context where poor tissue preservation has hampered the recovery of aDNA our ability to generate robust palaeogenomic data is highly encouraging for future studies of colonial-era sites in the Americas While historical documents paint a picture of social demarcation and segregation, our palaeogenetic research demonstrates and confirms previous findings (Tiesler et al. Reference Tiesler, Zabala and Cucina2010) which show that individuals from populations who were segregated in most other aspects of life were indeed buried in the same Catholic cemetery Most of the deceased seem to have been interred in austere but were soon disturbed due to overcrowding and a general lack of organisation We view such instances as opportunities to re-evaluate discrete lines of evidence from different fields in order to provide a more critical Ancestry assessments founded on the classification of non-metric dental traits appear to be less secure than genetic assessment. Our results show some of the previously published biomorphological ancestry assessments (e.g. Tiesler & Zabala Reference Tiesler, Zabala, Tiesler, Zabala and Cucina2010; Tiesler et al. Reference Tiesler, Zabala and Cucina2010) to be inconsistent with palaeogenetic ancestry An additional inconsistent observation relates to the nature of poorly preserved and disturbed secondary assemblages especially when the sampled material originated from different anatomical parts such as dental arches and petrous portions macroscopically determined cultural body modifications suitable for discerning origins were consistent with the palaeogenetic results although they were of less diagnostic value The INAH has recently recovered human remains from both parish cemeteries we are confident that future scrutiny of additional individuals from the central cemetery of Campeche will provide an even more nuanced picture of the timing of population mixing We hope this research provides a starting point for further studies in this direction in the Americas and beyond This research ensued from the archaeological rescue project Registry Restoration and Study of the Archaeological and Human Remains Found in the Main Square of Campeche (directed by Heber Ojeda Permission to study the Campeche individuals was granted by INAH's Consejo de Arqueología We are grateful to all who have supplemented and aided this research: Pilar Zabala Aguirre and the two anonymous reviewers of previous versions of this article is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and his ancient DNA laboratory work was supported by an Allen Discovery Center grant and by grant 61220 from the John Templeton Foundation is supported by a National Institute of General Medical Sciences (GM007753) fellowship The aligned DNA sequences are available through the European Nucleotide Archive, accession no. PRJEB50901. Genotype data used in the analysis are freely available at https://reich.hms.harvard.edu/datasets Any other relevant data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request To view supplementary material for this article, please visit https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.79 Jakob Sedig and Vera Tiesler contributed equally to this article Plotted radiocarbon distributions of two individuals from the Campeche churchyard dated as part of this research (dates calibrated in OxCal v4.3.2 using the IntCal13 atmospheric curve; Reimer et al 2013; Bronk Ramsey 2017) (figure by the authors) Burial 52–1 projected onto the Eurasian PCA from Lazaridis et al This demonstrates that Burial 52–1 is genetically closest to individuals from modern-day Spain and northern Italy suggesting an overall north-western Mediterranean ancestry (figure by the authors - No HTML tags allowed- Web page URLs will display as text only- Lines and paragraphs break automatically- Attachments Your email address will be used in order to notify you when your comment has been reviewed by the moderator and in case the author(s) of the article or the moderator need to contact you directly shared ownership in or any close relationship with any organisation whose interests may be affected by the publication of the response Please also list any non-financial associations or interests (personal religious or other) that a reasonable reader would want to know about in relation to the submitted work This pertains to all the authors of the piece numerous cylindrical stone columns and a ball court are among the features of an ancient Maya city recently rediscovered amid jungle in the southeastern state of Campeche The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) announced the “discovery” of the “monumental site” which means “stone column” in the Yucatec Mayan language The pre-Hispanic city is located within the Balamkú ecological reserve in the municipality of Calakmul A team of researchers led by Slovenian archeologist Ivan Šprajc reached the site by traversing 60 kilometers along logging paths covered with thick vegetation, INAH said in a statement issued Tuesday experts from the University of Houston’s National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM) used the laser surveying method known as LiDAR (light detection and ranging) to scan the area where Ocomtún was located NCALM’s images were of “great assistance” to the researchers as they indicated the “probable” presence of “archaeological relics,” INAH said who is well known for his work at and study of Maya archaeological sites said that the “the greatest surprise” on the recent exhibition in Campeche “turned out to be the site located on a ‘peninsula’ of elevated land surrounded by extensive wetlands.” The “monumental core” of Ocomtún “covers more than 50 hectares and has several buildings of large dimension including several pyramids over 15 meters high,” he said Šprajc said that “the site served as an important center at the regional level probably during the Classic period,” which lasted from 250-1,000 AD Ceramics collected at the site appeared to be from the late Classic period of 600-800 AD adding that an analysis of the samples would provide more reliable information about the occupation of Ocomtún said that the numerous stone columns must have been part of entrances to upper rooms of the buildings that make up the ancient Maya city surrounded by “imposing buildings,” he said “Between the two largest plazas a group of several low and long structures stretches out There is also a ball court,” Šprajc said connects the buildings in the southeast of the site to the northeast of the ancient city where the “most voluminous” structure is located Šprajc described the building as an approximately 10-meter high rectangular “acropolis” with sides measuring 80 meters Atop the northern part of the structure is a pyramid Šprajc also said that “construction elements” removed from buildings at Ocomtún were found in places of worship within courtyards and plazuelas (small squares) at the site Their removal reflected “ideological and population changes in times of crisis that finally led to the collapse of the complex socio-political organization and the drastic demographic decline in the central Maya lowlands,” he said The archaeologist also noted that he and his team explored structures similar to those at Ocomtún in an area extending to the La Rigueña River. Various groups of structures were found, “which in some cases include a ball court and central altars in others,” Šprajc said Some of those structures might be markets or “spaces used for community rituals,” he said adding that future investigations will be required to determine their function The laser mapping and exhibition that led to the re-discovery of Ocomtún were carried out as part of an INAH project called “Ampliando el panorama arqueológico de las Tierras Bajas Centrales mayas” or “Broadening the Archaeological Panorama of the Central Maya Lowlands.” “The initiative seeks to increase knowledge of a vast area practically unknown to archaeology,” INAH said jungle-covered 3,000-square-kilometer zone occupies the central part of the state of Campeche Among the other Maya sites in the Yucatán Peninsula state are Calakmul, Edzná and Becán The largest tropical forest in North America yields to perfect rows of corn and soy Light-haired women with blue eyes in wide-brimmed hats bump down a dirt road in a horse and buggy past simple brick homes and a whitewashed schoolhouse: A Mennonite community in southern Mexico in the state of Campeche on the Yucatan Peninsula at the northern edge of the Maya Forest the Mennonites say they live to traditional pacifist values and that expanding farms to provide a simple life for their families is the will of God In the eyes of ecologists and now the Mexican government which once welcomed their agricultural prowess the Mennonites’ ranches are an environmental disaster rapidly razing the jungle one of the continent's biggest carbon sinks and a home to endangered jaguars the Maya Forest is shrinking annually by an area the size of Dallas a non-profit organisation that monitors deforestation The government of President Andres Manuel Lopez is now pressuring the Mennonites to shift to more sustainable practices but despite a deal between some Mennonite settlements and the government ongoing land clearance was visible in two villages visited by Reuters in February and May a leader in the Mennonite settlement of Chavi “Our people just want to be left in peace,” he said standing on a shaded doorstep to escape the unforgiving afternoon sun Beyond his neat farm rose the green wall of the rainforest Mennonites – for whom agricultural toil is a core tenet of their Christian faith – grew in numbers and expanded into remote parts of Mexico after first arriving from Canada in the early 20th Century Despite shunning electricity and other modern amenities away from work their farming has evolved to include bulldozers and chainsaws as well as tractors and harvesters Groups including palm oil farmers and cattle ranchers also engage in widespread land clearance Data on how much deforestation is driven by Mennonite settlers and how much by other groups is not readily available found that property owned by Mennonites in Campeche had rates of deforestation four times higher than non-Mennonite properties The clearance contrasts with the traditions of indigenous farmers who have rotated corn and harvested forest products such as honey and natural rubber since Maya cities dominated the jungle from the Yucatan to El Salvador Itself under international pressure to pursue a greener agenda in August the government persuaded some Campeche Mennonite settlements to sign an agreement to stop deforesting land On the edge of the remote village of Valle Nuevo Reuters journalists witnessed farmers clearing jungle and setting fires to prepare for planting a Mennonite school teacher in Valle Nuevo said the agreement had not made an impact on how Valle Nuevo approaches agriculture “We haven’t changed anything,” Harder said Leader Dyck Thiessen and a lawyer representing some communities and farmers said Mennonites felt attacked and scapegoated by the government's efforts said they were unfairly blamed while the government pays less attention to others that deforest a senior official at the federal environment ministry warned villagers the military could be brought to the area to prevent deforestation if the communities did not change their ways “That was the direct threat,” Reyna Tecua said In response to a Reuters question about Avila’s alleged comments the environment ministry denied any mention of using the military saying the government operated on the basis of dialogue head of the Campeche office of Mexico's National Forestry Commission (CONAFOR) told Reuters the government was not singling out the Mennonites and was also working to tackle other causes of deforestation Mennonites trace their roots to a group of Christian radicals in 16th century Germany and surrounding areas that emerged in opposition to both Roman Catholic doctrine and mainstream Protestant faiths during the Reformation a group of about 6,000 moved to northern Mexico and established themselves as important crop producers Still speaking Plautdietsch - a blend of Low German Prussian dialects and Dutch - a few thousand moved to the forests of Campeche in the 1980s some from local Maya indigenous communities More arrived in recent years as climate change worsened drought in the north increasing deforestation and the number of farms in the state When Mexico opened up the use of genetically modified soy in the 2000s Mennonites in Campeche embraced the crop and the use of the glyphosate weedkiller Roundup The higher yields means more income to support large families - 10 children is not unusual - and live a simple life supported by the land explaining that settlements often invest as much as 90% of profits to buy land At least five Mennonites who spoke to Reuters said they wanted to acquire more land for their families While most Mexican Mennonites remain in the north there are now between 14,000 and 15,000 in Campeche spread over about 20 settlements who has attended government meetings but did not sign the agreement The Mennonites largely maintain a tense peace with local indigenous communities who serve as guardians to the surrounding forest but also rent equipment from their new neighbors for their own land We see that it gives us results,” said Wilfredo Chicav Such advances in agricultural efficiency has taken its toll on the Maya Forest home to fauna that includes up to 400 species of birds Its 100 species of mammal include the jaguar at risk of extinction in Mexico if its habitat shrinks the three states that comprise the forest in Mexico lost about 15,000 sq km of tree cover an area that would cover much of El Salvador Farmers used to schedule planting for the first of May now they often wait until July as less forest implies less rainfall capture leading to a drop in moisture uptake in the air and a decrease in rain said the Mennonites in the state did not always have the right paperwork to turn the forest into farmland Reyna Tecua acknowledged problems with land purchases Families sometimes fall victim to deals based on a handshake and verbal word and sellers can take advantage by promising land that is not up for legal sale in the first place The agreement signed last year created a permanent working group between the government and Mennonite communities to try to resolve permitting land ownership and administrative and criminal complaints against them from local people including for illegal logging Laffon said there were signs the agreement is having an impact Global Forest Watch data showed a decrease in deforestation in Campeche in 2021 but said that could be the result of factors including a lack of remaining land suitable for agriculture and government incentive programs which include a nationwide scheme popular with Maya indigenous farmers that rewards tree planting Mennonite leaders are seeking a proposal from the government that won’t cut their production dramatically A government plan to phase out glyphosate by 2024 is the biggest worry for many Leal said lower production may be a price farmers “We are at the point of having to sacrifice our position” as Mexico’s second largest grain producer “for a healthier Campeche,” she said Lifting his cap to wipe sweat from his brow doubted organic methods proposed by the government would be successful Tension with officials has stalled his plans to acquire more land “If the government shuts us down,” he says Women help the Harder family to pack their belongings in the Mennonite community of El Sabinal Pedro poses for a photo surrounded by trees he cut down with heavy machinery in the Valle Nuevo Mennonite community Additional reporting: Adrian Virgen and Jose Luis Gonzalez Text editing: Stephen Eisenhammer and Frank Jack Daniel Juan Cano de Coca Gaitán and his fellow sailors bound for Campeche on a ship that set sail mere hours ago from Veracruz are losing control of the vessel in a hurricane a dark-skinned figure appears on deck and helps the ship navigate through the winds and waves ensuring the survival of its crew and precious cargo: a large crucifix bearing the image of the Cristo Negro (the Black Christ) they have been at sea just 24 hours despite the storm — a journey that usually is a two-day sail Over four centuries since this arrival on the coast of Campeche the Iglesia del Cristo Negro (Church of the Black Christ) continues to venerate and celebrate this lauded icon The church in which the crucifix has been housed since its arrival was built in 1563 though it was later enlarged to accommodate the growing congregation and to house the sizable saint It sits a little way from Campeche’s historic center Its imposing façade is otherwise unassuming; it lacks the vibrancy of the exteriors of the churches of Guadalupe and San Francisco elsewhere in the city or the imposing stature of the cathedral on Campeche’s main square multitudes from across Mexico and beyond flock to Barrio de San Román every year to pay homage to the 1.8-meter-high ebony icon no matter your religion — he is the patron saint of the fishermen and of the state so his celebration is a tradition here,” says local resident Laura Haw Pacheco “It’s the only festival for a patron saint celebrated in such a large way in Campeche.” the Descent of the Cristo Negro heralds the beginning of the traditional Fiestas de San Román the Black Christ is paraded through the streets and into the waters of the Bay of Campeche on boats to recreate its first arrival to the city The festival culminates in a two-week-long celebration between September 14 and September 28 Though restrictions due to COVID-19 have subdued the celebrations this year the usual festival is a time for the community of San Román to come together through processions agricultural exhibitions and artisanal fairs these celebrations supplant even Independence Day in importance to residents in the years since the Black Christ arrived in Campeche a number of other miraculous events have been associated with the Church of San Román a band of looting pirates attempting to steal the venerated crucifix were zapped by an electrical charge emanating from the cross and sent hurrying from the building in fear it is near-miraculous in itself that the statue has withstood the relentless march of time to survive another local who has lived his full 67 years no more than half a block from the Christ “The Cristo Negro is an integral part of the cultural history of Campeche.” “which is immensely important in a city that has such strong affiliation with its Catholic past But the Festival of San Román also feeds into the history of the campechano people as an emblematic example of the community that has always existed here and continues to exist today.” The Cristo Negro of San Román is far from the only Black Christ in Latin America; veneration of such statues is widespread Such figures emulate the development of other dark-skinned idols in Latin America there is a global folk history of dark-skinned figures coming to hold a variety of connotations although where these are racial appropriations — such as the Dutch Zwarte Piet also known as the Black Santa — they have become polemical figures What marks out the Black Christ of San Román is that although the symbology was imposed by the Spanish the local population has taken the symbol as its own “We may not be Black as such,” says Haw Pacheco the perception of our skin was that we were darker but we take this symbol as a badge of honor Our skin is a mix of all our races and all our histories Shannon Collins is an environment correspondent at Ninth Wave Global an environmental organization and think tank