A groundbreaking underwater archaeological mission has confirmed the existence of a submerged Maya settlement beneath the waters of Lake Atitlán in the Guatemalan highlands, reframing the site from scattered ritual remains into a once-thriving village now permanently flooded by rising lake levels. The research, carried out in close collaboration with the indigenous Tz'utujil Maya community, has been published in the Journal of Maritime Archaeology and represents one of the most significant underwater archaeological discoveries in Mesoamerica in recent decades.
Led by Mexican archaeologist Helena Barba-Meinecke of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the international team included specialists from Belgium, Spain, Argentina, and Guatemala. Their findings reveal that the site, long known informally as Samabaj and, of course, dubbed the "Maya Atlantis", is not merely a collection of isolated artifacts but a structured settlement that flourished during the Late Preclassic period, roughly 350 BC to AD 250, writes Earth.com. The authors conclude that "the nature and scale of the site make it an exceptional and unique case within the Mesoamerican region".
A Restless Volcanic Basin
Spreading across 53 square miles, Lake Atitlán sits inside a volcanic caldera - a collapsed basin left after a massive eruption approximately 84,000 years ago. Because the basin has no surface outlet, its water levels are highly susceptible to fluctuations caused by rainfall, seepage, landslides, and seismic activity. Geologists have tracked swings of more than 33 feet in the lake's recorded history, and a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in 1976 alone dropped the lake level by six feet. It is this volatile geological history that likely caused the island settlement to disappear beneath the surface nearly two millennia ago.
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During the 2022 UNESCO mission, the team used a multibeam echo sounder to conduct a bathymetric survey, running 70 kilometers of sonar transects across 3.78 square kilometers of lakebed to narrow their search area. Eight divers then rotated across four working days, accumulating approximately 2,400 minutes of diving time at altitude - a significant challenge, since lower atmospheric pressure at high elevation increases the risk of decompression accidents explains the Greek Reporter. What they documented looked built for living: platforms, plazas, stelae, and rectangular rooms arranged in architectural groups.
One of the submerged structures. (LarissaGomez /H. Barba-Meinecke et al. 2026)
Signs of an Ancient Settlement
The team documented five main architectural complexes using nomenclature established in previous publications to maintain scientific continuity. Complex 1, known as the Closed Plaza, includes a rectangular platform measuring at least 18.8 meters long by 3.5 meters wide, with an alignment of carefully worked stones; to the south lies Monument 1, a stela 1.2 meters high associated with an altar. Complex 3, the Squares Group, consists of three aligned rectangular structures with carved stone walls interpreted as Late Preclassic Maya dwellings. Two further stelae were documented in Complexes 4 and 5, both uninscribed but clearly monumental in character.
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A shallow test excavation, 41 centimeters deep and located 20 meters west of Monument 1, cut through five stratigraphic layers and preserved the clearest timeline yet. At a depth of 15.55 meters below the modern lake surface, a paleosol - an ancient buried ground layer - marked the land surface that people once walked on. Ceramic fragments and an obsidian flake recovered from the deeper sediments were dated to the Late Preclassic period, confirming occupation between 350 BC and AD 250. The layers also suggest the island flooded rapidly and stayed wet, which helped shield even organic materials from erosion. "Site A4 clearly corresponds to a submerged site that fits the definition of a 'submerged cultural landscape'," wrote Barba-Meinecke.
Photogrammetric model and archaeological drawing of the structures of Complex 3 (Grupo Cuadro), investigated during the 2022 UNESCO mission. (H. Barba-Meinecke et al. 2026)
Archaeology With the Community, Not Over It
Perhaps the most notable aspect of this research is the unprecedented degree of collaboration with the Tz'utujil Maya community, the indigenous people who have lived around Lake Atitlán for centuries and are direct descendants of those who once inhabited the island. In 2019, the community, through its ancestral authority (the Cabecera, based in Santiago Atitlán) formally expressed the need for a new archaeological intervention that would meet scientific standards while respecting their ontology, their understanding of the world and the place that ancient objects occupy in their present identity.
The research design was co-defined by all parties from the outset. A transparency commission composed of community members joined every meeting, a local diver named Xelani Luz was trained in underwater techniques to accompany archaeologists beneath the water, and results were returned to the community in the form of 3D photogrammetric models that could be shared across generations. Crucially, every ceramic fragment and obsidian flake recovered during the test excavation was returned to the excavation pit after study, and the hole was sealed, honoring the agreement with the community, for whom ancient places hold presence and obligation, not merely data for specialists. The community has also proposed three names in the Tz'utujil language to replace the contested designation "Samabaj," a name coined by the diver Roberto Samayoa who first encountered the site in the 1990s.
The authors note that pressure from evangelical and Orthodox Catholic groups in the region gives the defense of submerged heritage a political and cultural resistance dimension, making the community's claim to this underwater landscape far more than an archaeological matter. The project demonstrates, as the authors put it, that "underwater archaeology, when carried out with communities and not over them, can transform knowledge of the past and the relationships among science, heritage, and identity in the present".
A Wider Submerged Landscape
The confirmed settlement may not stand alone beneath the lake's surface. Reconstructions of lake-level changes at the end of the Preclassic period suggest that other areas, including a nearby point designated A1, may also preserve the remains of former islands that were similarly submerged. The density of architectural structures, the presence of monumental architecture, the exceptional preservation of organic elements beneath the sediments, and the possibility that other similar settlements exist in the lake all make this discovery a turning point for Maya archaeology. The next phase of research will incorporate new geophysical surveys, deeper stratigraphic test pits, and the joint development of protection and management policies, with the Tz'utujil community as equal partners in every step.
Top image: View of Lake Atitlán and the Atitlán volcano in Guatemala, 2009. Source: Juan Francisco/CC BY-SA 2.0
By Gary Manners
References
Barba-Meinecke, H. et al. 2026. Community-Engaged Archaeology with the Tz'utujil Maya to Approach the Submerged Cultural Landscape of Lake Atitlán (Guatemala). Journal of Maritime Archaeology. Springer Nature. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11457-025-09432-w
Carvajal, G. 2026. Archaeologists and the Tz'utujil Community Confirm the Discovery of an Ancient Maya Settlement Submerged Beneath Lake Atitlán. La Brújula Verde. Available at: https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2026/03/archaeologists-and-the-tzutujil-community-confirm-the-discovery-of-an-ancient-maya-settlement-submerged-beneath-lake-atitlan/
Earth.com staff writer. 2026. Ancient Mayan settlement found submerged beneath a lake in Guatemala. Earth.com. Available at: https://www.earth.com/news/unesco-mission-confirms-mayan-settlement-lake-atitlan-in-guatemala/
Howells, C. 2025. Sunken Maya City Found in Guatemala Shows Striking Similarities to Atlantis. GreekReporter.com. Available at: https://greekreporter.com/2025/10/09/sunken-maya-city-atlantis-guatemala/
