By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

          In a remote jungle of Guatemala, among the remains of a little-known
          ancient city with a name meaning Place of Serpents, archaeologists have
          uncovered one of the largest and most splendid palaces of Maya kings ever
          discovered. Its 170 high-ceiling rooms were built around 11 courtyards and
          spread over an area greater than two football fields.

          "No one has found anything like this since the turn of the last century," Dr.
          Arthur A. Demarest, an archaeologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and
          leader of the discovery team, said yesterday in describing the palace, which
          dates from the eighth century A.D. "What is most incredible about this site is
          that most of the palace is buried virtually intact."

          Dr. Demarest said that in size and preservation the palace, at Cancuén,
          rivaled the buildings at the central acropolis in Tikal, one of the grandest
          seats of Mayan power in Guatemala. Earlier expeditions had either
          overlooked or underestimated the size and grandeur of the palace and
          the city around it, a prosperous center of commerce and crafts at the
          head of navigation on the Pasión River.

          The discovery and the first excavations at Cancuén were made this
          summer by archaeologists led by Dr. Demarest and Dr. Tomás
          Barrientos of the Universidád del Valle in Guatemala. The expedition is
          sponsored by the Guatemalan Institute of Anthropology and History, the
          National Geographic Society and Vanderbilt.

          "It's an extraordinarily important find," said Dr. David Freidel, a Maya
          studies specialist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, who has no
          connection to the work. "It's been a long time since a major palace
          complex has come to light. A scientific investigation of the ruins should
          help us understand political life in the late classic period of the Maya."

          The Maya civilization was at the peak of its power in Central America
          and Mexico from 250 to 900, known as the classic period. The king who
          completed the palace — inscriptions give his name as Tah ak Chaan —
          ruled Cancuén for about 50 years, beginning in 740.

          By this time, Dr. Freidel said, the focus of Mayan political life and state
          ceremony had shifted from the grand outdoor plazas to the palaces,
          which means that the buildings' art and architecture may reflect the
          changing relationships of powerful rulers, nobles and allies.

          Even a preliminary study of the site and its inscribed monuments has
          already produced one surprise: there is no evidence that the city's rulers
          engaged in any major wars with neighbors. Nor is there any sign of
          pyramids, the typically spectacular bases for temples and manifestations
          of the religious roots of a city's power.

          The absence of pyramid temples was the main reason previous
          archaeologists largely passed by the ruins and failed to investigate the true
          size of the palace.

          These discoveries alone may cause scholars to reconsider some of their
          ideas about the Maya civilization, Dr. Demarest said. Here was a city
          that appeared to prosper for hundreds of years without warfare or the
          usual display of religion as sources of the power of Maya kings,
          particularly toward the end of their dominance.

          "I have a book in press that I'll have to revise," Dr. Demarest remarked.

          Unlike other Maya cities, Cancuén appeared to use its strategic position
          at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian and other valuable
          commodities, to become a commercial power throughout the lowlands.
          Dr. Demarest said the city must have been larger, richer and more
          powerful than anyone had expected. Its rulers appeared to have been
          single-mindedly dedicated to commerce.

          Some of the first excavations of residences disclosed that the city had a
          relatively wealthy middle class and many workshops for artisans
          producing elite goods for trade far and wide.

          Jade is everywhere at the site, Dr. Demarest said. A young middle- class
          woman was found in her grave with 10 jade inlaid teeth. Workmen were
          buried with fine ceramic figurines with beautiful headdresses. At a
          workshop lay a 35-pound chunk of jade, which artisans had been slicing
          for pieces to manufacture ornaments.

          Other excavations turned up large amounts of pyrite, commonly known
          as fool's gold. Thin sheets of it were being used in making mirrors, one of
          the more prized possessions of the elite.

          All this might never have been uncovered if Dr. Demarest had not literally
          fallen into the discovery of the palace.

          After a decade of excavations at Dos Pilas and other sites in northern
          Guatemala, where he found ample evidence of a highly militaristic city-
          state called Petexbatún, Dr. Demarest decided last year to visit Cancuén
          to follow up a lead. Members of his team had found records of a
          marriage alliance between a Dos Pilas prince and a Cancuén princess.
          She then came to Dos Pilas to live in her own small palace.

          Seeing the architecture and crafts of Cancuén, Dr. Demarest said, "It
          looks as if the princess brought her own artisans, because the stonework
          on her palace is just like that at Cancuén and far superior to anything in
          the Petexbatún region."

          Then the archaeologists looked more closely at the ruins of what turned
          out to be the royal palace. "To the untrained eye, the palace looks just
          like a great, jungle-covered hill," Dr. Demarest said.

          While walking along the ruin's highest level, Dr. Demarest fell up to his
          armpits into vegetation filling one of the courtyards. "That's when I
          realized the entire hill was a three- story building and we were walking on
          top of the roof," he said.

          So far, archaeologists have only dug test holes into the palace ruins,
          enough to estimate the dimensions of the building. The walls are built of
          solid limestone. They enclose a densely packed labyrinth of rooms with
          20-foot-high corbel-arched ceilings. The team's leaders estimate it will
          take at least 10 years to excavate and partly restore the palace.

          They are making plans to deploy a larger team of researchers and
          excavators at the site next February, at the end of the rainy season. The
          region is free of civil war now, Dr. Demarest said, but the government of
          Guatemala has little presence there, and it is still a virtually lawless place.

          Dr. Demarest said the expedition has mobilized and trained the people of
          the nearest village, El Zapote, to stand guard over the new-found palace.