CHIAPAS.- After three centuries swallowed by dense jungle, archaeologists believe they have located Sak-Bahlán, the legendary "land of the white jaguar" and the final refuge of the Lacandon-Ch'olti' Maya, who famously resisted Spanish colonial rule for over a century. This potential discovery in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve could rewrite a chapter in the history of Mexico's indigenous resistance.

The search for Sak-Bahlán, a site once glimpsed by a Spanish friar in 1695 before it was forcibly renamed Nuestra Señora de los Dolores and later abandoned, has been a long-standing quest. The Sak-Bahlán Archaeological Project, co-led by Dr. Brent Woodfill of Winthrop University (U.S.) and Dr. Yuko Shiratori of Rissho University (Japan), credits a predictive model developed by INAH researcher Josuhé Lozada Toledo for guiding their breakthrough.

Lozada Toledo, a specialist at the INAH Chiapas Center, utilized Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to reconstruct ancient Mayan communication routes. By inputting historical accounts, including a 1698 chronicle by Fray Diego de Rivas that detailed travel times and river junctions, Lozada created a map highlighting the most probable location of the elusive settlement.

"I took data from Fray De Rivas's chronicle of 1698," Lozada explained, detailing how he translated historical walking and navigation times into geographic distances. "By combining all these variables, I was able to propose the location on the map and obtain an approximate range of where the Sak-Bahlán site might be."

This predictive model, set to be published in the upcoming issue of Chicomoztoc magazine, proved to be the project's crucial compass, guiding the archaeological team to their target. The expedition, partly funded by Discovery Channel, will also be featured in the documentary Discovering the Hidden Mayan City: Sac Balam.

For Lozada, the arduous fieldwork, also involving Mexican archaeologists Rubén Núñez Ocampo and Socorro del Pilar Jiménez Álvarez, felt reminiscent of 19th-century explorations, albeit with the aid of satellite internet. "It was the most challenging field trip I've ever had," he remarked, "but finally, we found the archaeological evidence, precisely at the point I had marked."

The newly located site, positioned near the Jataté and Ixcán rivers, represents a pivotal opportunity to connect colonial chronicles with tangible material evidence. So far, the archaeological project has completed two field seasons, focusing on mapping the site and conducting test pits to understand its timeline of occupation.

This rediscovery of Sak-Bahlán brings a poignant full circle to the story of the Lacandon-Ch'olti' Mayas. As historian Jan de Vos noted in his work, the last three survivors of this once formidable tribe were found in an abandoned village in 1769. Three centuries later, Sak-Bahlán once again takes its place on the map, offering a deeper understanding of indigenous resilience and colonial impacts in Chiapas.