A salvage excavation along the route of the Maya Train project have uncovered a limestone carving of an anthropomorphic face with features characteristic of an “elderly lord” dating to the Maya Preclassic period (2500 B.C.-200 A.D.) in the small community of Sierra Papacal, 25 miles from Yucatán’s capital city of Mérida.
It is approximately 45 cm (17.7 inches) high and depicts a human-like face with deep eye sockets, a flat nose, and lips marked by a cleft that emphasizes the pronounced chin. These features typically represent an elder figure. The sculpture was found outside an ovoid structure about 5.8 by 4.3 meters (19 x 14 feet) in dimension with double walls made of limestone blocks. The entrance is 80 cm (31.5 inches) wide and faces the western sun. It is flanked by large rocks acting as door jambs and the thick wall indicates there may have been an interior bench.
The sculpture was found behind the north jamb between the thick wall next to the bench area. This placement was very deliberate, a means to designate the structure as a place to be treated with respect upon entrance. The means the structure is not a domestic building. INAH archaeologists believe it was used for ritual or communal purposes — community meetings or ceremonies — and there were several phases of construction and occupation. The placement of the statue suggests it served as a marker or to welcome people to the space.
This sculptural marker of the elderly lord is not an isolated object but a key component of an architectural complex intended for specific and high-ranking community activities. Its discovery will decisively contribute to supporting comparative analyses, offering a more precise approach that will help to understand the use of space and the nature of the activities carried out in these architectural complexes, shedding new light on the socio-political and religious practices of the ancient Maya of the Preclassic period in northwestern Yucatán.
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