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Mexico City –  A roughly 1,000-year-old Maya sarcophagus, vestiges of an extinct tribe, the oldest tomb in Mesoamerica, dinosaur fossils and human remains dating from the early 8th century are some of the most noteworthy archaeological finds made in Mexico during 2010.

"We haven't had such a fruitful period since the (19)80s, and we haven't undertaken so many investigations across the length and breadth of the country," Julio Castrejon, the head of communications for Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, told Efe.

The capital and the state of Chiapas, Chihuahua, Tlaxcala, Coahuila, Zacatecas and Mexico are the places where the institute, known by the acronym INAH, uncovered 10 of the finds that have allowed scientists to learn more about the Maya and Mexica cultures, as well as about the fauna that existed many thousands of years ago in the region.

Early in 2010, INAH specialists found in Chiapas a crypt containing skeletal remains of a man that are presumed to be more than 1,300 years old and that could be those of one of the war captives depicted in one of the murals named "The Battle" in the Bonampak archaeological zone.

Also in Chiapas, experts found in an ancient tomb a fractured skull and a collection of long human bones arranged in the shape of a cross and dating from 840-900, a find that - according to Castrejon - "will allow (us) to know who the agents of the Maya decline were."

In February in a cave complex in Barranca de la Sinforosa, in the northern state of Chihuahua, a dozen residential and funeral sites were discovered that, INAH archaeologists say, belonged to the extinct Tubares tribe.

This indigenous group isolated itself at the beginning of the colonial era in the Tarahumara Mountains to avoid being converted to Christianity and died out sometime in the 19th century.

Historians say that the tribe's disappearance was due to the fact that they remained separated from the rest of civilization.

Another outstanding discovery was the oldest elite tomb in Mesoamerica in the Chiapa de Corzo archaeological zone in Chiapas, Castrejon said.

The tomb is about 2,700 years old and contained the skeletal remains of four people, two of them wearing jade ornaments and with ceramic utensils nearby, objects that will allow researchers to adjust the developmental chronology of the ancient Olmec and Maya cultures.

In April, the fifth important find of the year occurred at Monclova in the northern state of Coahuila, namely a number of dinosaur fossils.

The remains are still being examined to determine the species, the age and the number of examples of animal life that are included.

Other finds included a pre-Columbian oven at Cerro del Teul in Zacatecas state that served as a foundry more than 800 years ago; a group of about 50 assorted items underneath the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and a group of offerings in the crater of the Nevado de Toluca volcano in Mexico state.

In addition, experts found a group of tombs from the Tlaxcalteca culture in the central state of Tlaxcala and a temple dedicated to Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl, the wind god.

For 2011, INAH will continue with its underwater archaeological research work and other expeditions in the country's archaeological zones.

"You never know what you're going to find (in archaeological work) but there's no doubt that INAH will continue with its investigative activities," Castrejon said.