MEXICO ARCHAEOLOGY EXHIBIT (Mexico City opens ambitious Maya exhibition in the National Palace)

The latest showcase of Mayan artefacts opened in Mexico City's iconic National Palace on Friday (December 13), bringing together hundreds of priceless pieces from the width and breadth of the ancient Mayan empire. "Maya: The Revelation of a Time Without End" brings together over 450 artefacts retrieved from abandoned Mayan cities in Mexico and Central America and shows off the richness and diversity of the mysterious ancient culture. Amongst the artefacts are some pieces never before seen pieces in Mexico such as an intricate stone board that had sat by the throne in the ancient Mayan city of Palenque. "What stands out most is what's at the exhibition's entrance, a board from a throne in the city of Palenque which is extraordinary and this piece has never been exhibited in Mexico. It's a new piece from a recent discovery and it has an incredible aesthetic value," said exhibition curator, Mercedes de la Garza. The exhibition covers various eras of the Maya dating as far back as 2500 B.C.E. and includes epigraphs from the mysterious ancient civilisation. "This exhibit, "Maya: The Revelation of a Time Without End," is the most important exhibit in Mexico of Mayan art and Mayan culture in general. An important component of the exhibition is the Mayan epigraph, that is the information given us to us in the hieroglyphic information that the own Mayans noted about their history," said Mayan expert, Guillermo Romero. The Maya were among the great ancient civilisations of Mesoamerica, building cities with elaborate ceremonial centres and soaring stone pyramids from modern day Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Dominating the region for some 2,000 years, the ancient civilisation mysteriously abandoned its cities around 900 A.C.E. "Maya: The Revelation of a Time Without End" will run in Mexico City's National Palace until April 2014.