74 Scientific American, October 2020THE LACANDON were not isolated in this area of southern Mexico—and
they appear to have fought extensively with neighboring Maya groups. Exca-
vations at a site called Tzibana on the eastern side of the lake are revealing
how the Lacandon defended their territory. There, among the village ruins,
the archaeologists have found the remains of a defensive wall that was
built between two pyramids, which form a choke point in the landscape.
Constructed from uncut chunks of limestone, the wall stands a few feet high.
Team member Josuhé Lozada Toledo of Mexico’s National Institute of
Anthropology and History thinks that warriors stood on the wall behind a
taller wood palisade, which would have given them cover as they fought
with spears and javelins. The hillside below the wall was planted with
piñuela, a species of agave that has sharp spines along the edges of its
leaves, forming a kind of natural barbed wire. Tzibana may have been the
first line of defense against attackers coming from the east.
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