World News for Students of English

01-08-2022 15:00

Archaeologists in Guatemala uncovered three ancient Mayan panels, which offer new insights into the mysterious civilisation. The pieces, understood to be 1,300 to 1,400 years old, were excavated at two archaeological sites in May 2015.

The co-director of the archaeological project of these panels gave scientists very detailed information about how a Mayan ruler becomes a king. This kind of information is often not explicated with as much detail in other texts.

The panels make up the most significant Mayan discovery since archaeologists uncovered a text containing the so-called ‘end date’ of the Mayan calendar at the same site in 2012. Some thought the calendar was a countdown to the apocalypse, which thankfully never took place.

Scientists moved the priceless artefacts to Guatemala City for further research.

Difficult words: ancient (very old), insight (understanding), excavate (to dig out), explicate (to explain an idea in detail), significant (great), priceless (so important that you cannot put a price on it), artefact (a thing which is historically important).

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