Rio Bec, a place that was never conquered
The little-known Mayan ruins of Rio Bec, located in the jungles of Campeche, was not a typical Mayan city, rather it represented a society in which people lived together in differentiated groups without dominance or hierarchy.
Río Bec flourished without kings or hierarchies. The society developed a sustainable and self-sufficient system of living. Without kings or hierarchies, this settlement thrived in the jungle in what is now southern Campeche.
Excavations confirmed that Rio Bec was organized into neighborhoods. Each neighborhood was centered around one or two monumental large houses, surrounded by smaller houses, all with expansive agricultural fields.
Explorations have revealed numerous settlements with over 70 groups of houses spaced 200 to 500 meters apart. Each settlement was managed by a family residing in large houses, sharing land with their extended kin.
The ancient Mayans of this region engineered sustainable agricultural plots with extensive rainwater channels and a sophisticated dam system to preserve water and soil, particularly in areas dominated by porous stone soil.
A place that was never conquered
Rio Bec was not conquered by other Mayan city-states such as Calakmul.
The rulers of Calakmul from the Ka’an dynasty were known for their strategic and aggressive expansion. They sought to dominate and subjugate neighboring city-states to expand their influence and control over trade routes and valuable resources.
The Ka’an dynasty did not view Rio Bec as a priority target for conquest.
Rio Bec, with its scattered settlements and relatively decentralized social structure, did not have the strategic importance or perceived threat that would have forced Calakmul’s rulers to expend resources on its conquest.
Due to its obvious weakness, Rio Bek, inhabited by social groups dispersed in the dense jungle and considered hierarchically inferior, did not arouse the interest of the Ka’an dynasty, since it did not pose a threat to their power.
Modern research in Rio Bec
The first explorations at Rio Bec were carried out in 1930 by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), which was responsible for the restoration of one of the main buildings at the site in the 1980s.
However, it was not until 2002 that a team of archaeologists from France’s National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) undertook an ambitious eight-year project to try to unravel the secrets that Rio Bec held.
Since 2019, a team of French archaeologists has been trying to unravel the mysteries hidden by a mysterious society that arose in Rio Bec.
Archaeologists are seeking to shed light on the reason why this human group settled in the high Mayan jungle suddenly disappeared around the year 1000, and what is perhaps one of the greatest mysteries hidden in this unique archaeological site.
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