GUATEMALA.- The latest discoveries of the ancestral Maya civilization that inhabited mesoamerica are presented starting today by local and international experts in the capital of Guatemala. Around 125 investigators have gathered at the XX Symposium of Archaeological Investigations of Guatemala which opened today and will run through Friday at the Guatemalan Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.

“The most recent archaeological investigations in the area will be covered by investigators from Mexico, Europe, the United Sates and Japan”, the director of he museum Claudia Monzón explained to journalists.

The central theme of the symposium Hill cover studies on social, commercial, political and cultural relations that the Maya of Guatemala mantained with the ones from El Salvador and Honduras.

The Mayas, considered to be one of the most important ancestral cultures, occupied the mesoamerican region, which is now known as México, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and some parts of Costa Rica.

“Apart from presenting the most recent discoveries pf this civilization, the symposium also aims to develop conscience between the participants on the importance of the defence and conservation of the cultural heritage”, said Monzón.

These types of symposiums began in Guatemala in 1987 with the objective to exchange the knowledge of those who investigate the Maya culture.